Graveyard Decoration Rules Upsetting Families Trying to Grieve

SOUTH AUSTIN, TX -- The city of Austin plans to crack down on restrictions regarding grave decorations, and a private graveyard is receiving backlash for doing the same.

The private, traditionally Hispanic Catholic Assumption Cemetery near South Interstate 35 has had a rule in place since 1953 that limits families to one pot of flowers per grave, but has only recently started enforcing it, KVUE reported. The city of Austin has also proposed rules to restrict the decorations that families may place on the graves of their loved ones.

The newly enforced restrictions have not been well received by some families. Over the past seven years, Gracie Baeza has come to Assumption to visit her stillborn grandson at least once a month.

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“For sure every holiday we used to come and decorate and then they suddenly told us we couldn’t. We still do but they come and throw it right away,” she told KVUE.

Cemetery Director Paul Krotzer argues the rules are being enforced so that the cemetery can be adequately maintained.

“These rules and regulations are here so that we’re able to mow, we’re able to weed eat and we’re able to maintain the cemetery and to bury other loved ones as we continue on in the future. This is sacred ground. This is holy ground to me. So I just want this cemetery to be maintained as best it can be and for it to continue to be a cemetery and not more of a shrine,” he told KVUE.

As a compromise, Krotzer has agreed to allow families to decorate their loved ones’ graves on birthdays, death anniversaries, Christmas, and Easter.

In the future, all city-owned Austin cemeteries could face similar restrictions. The implementation of these rules is currently on hold as the city works to develop a Cemetery Master Plan.

[Video courtesy of KVUE]