THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, February 9, 1996 TAG: 9602070145
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: Ida Kay's Portsmouth
SOURCE: Ida Kay Jordan
LENGTH: Medium: 80 lines
The long-running discussion over an old graveyard on the farm that became the Long Point subdivision doesn't seem to be over.
I.J. Richardson, who says his cousins were buried on the site many years ago, recently took me on a ride over many of the places that were the big truck farms of his childhood. Over the past 20 years, those once-productive rural areas have become even more lucrative subdivisions.
I got a fantastic tour, with an oral history I wish I had tape-recorded.
Anyway, when we got to Long Point, Richardson stopped near the last remaining tree at the place where he says as many as 25 bodies are buried, members of the Grimes and Deans families. Only four were disinterred back in 1974 and moved to Olive Branch, Richardson says.
However - and here's the problem - there are no markers left to show where those graves are.
Since 1974, there have been incidents involving other remains. A construction worker was arrested and charged with stealing four gold teeth from a skull. A skeleton was turned out of the ground back in 1987, when the discussion involving the cemetery began in earnest.
The subdivision developers have resisted all family efforts to leave the gravesites in place. That would cost six building lots and a road through the subdivision. At this point, the section of Long Point where the old cemetery was located is just about the last segment of the fast-selling subdivision.
Richardson has tried over the years - more than two decades - to get the city to step into the situation, but the city says it's not public business.
In some ways, I see why the city wants to stay out of the situation. Each person who has owned the property has contended the responsibility for the graves was that of the previous owner.
Of course, it's against the law to move bodies without family permission and also to build over graves. That's why you frequently see little fenced-off graveyards in the middle of a cornfield in rural areas. As long as the land is not being developed into dense subdivisions, it may be cheaper to leave the gravesites in place - at least for the time being.
But that is not the case at Long Point.
Richardson still thinks the city has the responsibility to go to court to stop the use of the known graveyard. The city doesn't agree.
The main point for Richardson is obeying the law.
``I don't want the law broken,'' he told me as we sat there near the place where he knows some of his ancestors are buried.
Probably the only way any city or city officials would get involved would be if a human bone were found unearthed at the site.
Whatever happens, it seems to me that this long-running discussion could have been prevented by the city many years ago.
In 1974, when one developer applied for rezoning to permit development on the old farm, the courts ordered removal of the graves. Apparently, four graves marked by headstones were moved, and the company subsequently contended it was unaware other people were buried there.
In fact, the first owners and the second owners got into a dispute over responsibility after the skeleton turned up about 10 years ago.
At any rate, if the rezoning was delayed to remove bodies from the site, then the city should have followed up and delayed approval of the subdivision until it was certain the graveyard had been removed.
Or, perhaps the Planning Commission and the city departments involved could have approved the plan conditionally.
City Attorney Tim Oksman says the city has no responsibility in this case, and maybe it doesn't. But it seems to me that the city should establish a policy that would prevent similar situations in the future.
I'm not sure how many more large pieces of undeveloped land there are within the city limits, but I'd be willing to bet there are several places where old graveyards exist. Planning department staff members should be required to check out the sites for every request for rezoning and for subdivision approval. Any graves discovered should be noted and the Planning Commission should be informed before it votes on the requested action.
I know it's tempting to overlook details when you are anxious to attract large developers to build places like Long Point. But no city can afford to be callous about the past. And allowing bodies to be dug up willy-nilly definitely is callous. by CNB