angry-again: Thank you, couldn't have said it better myself...

tink0803,
I'm sorry for your loss but everyone dies, and we all do mourn in different ways, but as I stated before ALL cemetaries have rules, you may not have been told about them, or you were too distracted to pay attention at the time, but that is something people should consider when choosing a place of burial. I do have family and friends at all 3 of them in town, and regardless of how mad you are, you broke the rules, got your stuff tossed out. Live and learn and dont take it out on other people cause you were too lazy to look at the rules. I know milton lawns has a sign right when you drive in with the rules and regulation on it.

Cement planters are available at places like K&W greenery and other larger landscape locations. Also several types of shepherd hooks are allowed in Mt. Olivet. I am sure if anyone needs help placing a cement pot, they could ask the grounds crew to help. Maybe even call ahead.

I think there should be a notice up at the cemetary about where you can buy the cement planters and a notice that the cemetary will help you place it on the grave. I know my 87 year old mom could not in any way lift a cement planter. I understand their reasoning for cement but also they should provide the means to get the planters placed there.

I am glad to see that there are many of us grave owners in Mt. Olivet, not complaining. No matter how it was handled, it wouldn't please all. Lets not forget that we as Christians, need to set an example. Rude comments and false accusations do not accomplish anything. Change the things we can and accept what we can't. The end result here is we all need to follow the Regulations of Mt. Olivet Cemtery.

My father is in a small cemetery with limited rules. It is a nice park like setting. He has only been there for about 4 years. This past spring my mother and sister went for a visit.
They could not find him. The neighbor’s grave had some hollyhocks planted around it. Well these reseed themselves and had completely overgrown my fathers gravestone.
Rule have there place.
As far as when they chose to enforce the rules, I think the article is clear, This is the time of year when the maintenance staff has to deal with these problems.

If Mt. Olivet enforces this rule then Mt. Thabor and Calavary cemeteries in Beloit need to enforce this rule also. These cemeteries are also Catholic and are taken care of by the SAME maintence crew. Also how are the eldery people suppose to get flowers to their loved ones grave if they have to use cement pots? Carry the bag of dirt to the grave, go back to their car and get the flowers and then sit on the grave and plant the pots? I'm sure that is going to be real safe. I'd love to be the one to find an eldery person who has fallen down in the cemetery trying to carry everthing to the grave just because they have this rule that they now choose to enforce. With the price of a grave in these three cemeteries ($1,000.00+) and the opening/closing fee($ 830.00 before 3:00 p.m. on a weekday then add $185.00 an hour after 3:00 p.m.) they charge. The families should be able to have whatever type of container they choose to have

"angry-again" and "thinkaboutit" do you have family members buried in either cemetery? If not then keep your comments to yourself. Like I said below, my brother just recently died, and NO-ONE, really no-one, told or gave my parents any kind of fricken rule list of any sort, never even mentioned it, the only piece of paper they received was the damn bill. I think if rules are in place, a notice at the time of paying the couple thousand dollar bill would be appropriate, no one is complaining about the rules, it was just the very rude way of showing and enforcing their rules. If you do have a loved one or some-one you care about you obviously have not gone down there to try and find the flowers you left. Have a good weekend, and stay safe!

I agree there should be regulations for decorating grave sites at the cemetery and believe the staff should enforce the regulations on a consistent basis.
I do; however, question when the cemetery management chose to begin this compliance.
The manager of the cemetery refers to an incident last summer when a well-intentioned loved one placed a golf ball on a grave. The mower hit the golf ball, sending it through a neighbor's storm door.
If something that dangerous happened, why wait until mid July, the next summer, to enforce the rules? Why wait until folks have invested in planters and nurtured the flowers for half of the summer, only to find them in a discard area of the cemetery?
Wouldn’t it have been helpful to read of the cemetery’s intention to begin enforcing their regulations in 2008 in a church bulletin a few weeks before Memorial Day?
Wouldn’t it have been helpful to post a sign at the cemetery entrances so people knew of the change at the beginning of summer, as they brought their planters in to the cemetery?
My other concern is the cement planter we have on my father’s grave cost approximately $200.00 and is so heavy it takes two of us to move it to the cemetery each year.
My mother is fortunate to have me and my siblings to do this. What about the widows/widowers who may not be as fortunate? I feel bad for the people who might want to honor a loved one by placing flowers next to their grave but would not be able to do so because a cement pot was too heavy.
In addition to that, my mother was blessed to be in the position to afford this planter but what about those who may not be so fortunate? Doe’s this mean people who can not afford a cement planter can not honor their loved ones, with flowers?

My My I am really shocked. Yes I am sure there are rules and I am sure people break them. I know I would. Yes I would take care of the flowers on everyones graves and you would not have to pay me as you do those who care for it now. People need to bring what they need to bring and you have different beliefs, not for me to judge. I am so sorry that we are not allowed to even grieve in our own ways. Next it will be what color for the week you can have. Please let people vent they need to feel the way they need to feel.

How sad. Seeing all those thoughtfully placed pots of flowers tossed in a bin like that. Not everyone can afford concrete pots and a less-expensive flowerpot is the best some can manage. I suppose there is some consolation that prayer, reflection and memories are free and don't get in the way of lawnmowers and weed-whackers.

For goodness sakes! Either follow the RULES or suffer the consequences. PERIOD. Here's an idea for those of you who seem to think it is necessary to place items out of line, create your own memorial garden in your own yard and decorate it however your little heart desires.

You're right ... it's unrealistic to expect a pristine headstone every time I visit, and that's why I do go up and clean them off regularly. However, I've been going to this cemetery for many years and I don't think it's ever looked this bad since ownership (or whatever) changed in the last few years.

I do understand there are two cemeteries, and it was in Mt. Olivet because we were next to my grandmother's grave, which is in Mt. Olivet. And I'm not complaining because I've broken the rules ... I've stopped putting things on the 8 graves of relatives up there because the one time I did and they threw things in the dump pile, I decided that was it. I wasn't going to waste the time and money to have it thrown away. I do visit my relatives quite frequently, however, to clean the grass off the headstones.

"Janesgirl"-Don't you think it's a bit unrealistic to expect a cemetery marker to stay in perfectly clean condition and not get any mown grass on it? Are you ticked-off at the birds for crapping on it too? When I was a kid, I used to go with my grandmother to the cemeteries where loved ones were buried and we would manicure the grass around the headstones, take a damp rag and clean them off, etc. It was a loving and caring tradition that I feel she passed down to me, as no one else in my family does it. I now tend to my grandparents and parents graves and consider it a part of honoring their memories and a continuation of the grieving process. And what "Angry-again" said about the condition and length of time that stuff gets left is right on. Some cemeteries look like dumps for faded and weathered gaudy fake flowers. Maybe if some of you who are complaining the loudest had to perform the maintenance for a couple of months, you would better understand the situation.

Just be lucky you can leave things there. My Mom and Grandparents are buried in a Catholic cemetery in Palatine Il. To "serve you better" all head stones were lowered to ground level and NO full season decorations are allowed. Mowing occurs on the first weekend of each month, everything except recent burials are cleared off at that time. No plastic flowers are allowed April - Novemebr. Flags are allowed on Veterans graves on holidays only. etc etc.
I go there twice a year, and have leveled my mom's marker twice because the lawn mower's tires have run over it.
I'd love to be able to decorate, but can't...

Complain, complain, complain...
The rules were there already, some people just chose not to follow them. The cemetery was doing you a favor allowing it until it got out of hand (a favor they now see they shouldn't have done).
I think putting a notice in the bulletin was quite nice of them, they could have just removed the items without any notice.

Too many people think "the rule doesn't apply to me" (insert rule here) and do what they want. Then, when the rule is enforced; they cry about it; "he/she did it first", "so-and-so did me wrong", "but I wasn't the worst offender", etc...
I get so sick of that attitude.

I cant believe that there are so many people complaining about this, if they didn't clean up some of the stuff people leave at the graves, people would have the wade through waste deep crap to get to thier own family's site, not to mention the trip hazards everywhere. Do you think the maintenance crew has time to stop at each grave, and get off thier mowers to move the junk away, then get back on, mow it, and then get back off, and put all your stuff back? The places would never get mowed or trimmed out that way! come on! look at all the junky fake flowers that people leave out there until they fall apart. most people dont come back to get them at winter either. Put some tasteful monument or flowers at your grave sites following the rules, and maintain them and you would never have a problem with it! I assume the people complaining here are breaking the regulations, and thats why they are upset. LOL
They all have rules as to what can be placed and how long it can stay, there has to be for everyone's own benefit. The people who work at these places work hard for mediocre wages, Give 'em a break.

I'm pretty sure the cemetary doesn't have the addresses of every family who has a relative buried there. Too much of a burden for them to have to do that as well.

Why wouldn't the cemetary just send out a letter directly to all the families? All they really did was make postings at the local churches, and then only gave people a few weeks to respond? Seems like a pretty poor way of notification to me.

Does every one commenting know that there are 2 cemeteries side by side on North Washington St? I can assure you Mt. Olivet is not the Cemetery with the overgrown grass. Also we do not own the graves there, we own the rights to be buried in them.

I understand the need for rules, because as one poster said, things could look pretty junky pretty fast if people were allowed to do whatever they want. That being said, these rules are in place to make landscaping easier and more expedient. Fine - if the crews up there did a decent job of landscaping, I wouldn't mind following the rules. I have both my in-laws, grandparents, uncles, aunts, friends and eventually my parents, myself and my spouse will be buried up there. There have been numerous times when I've had to clean entire headstones off because grass was splattered every which way. My third grader took a field trip to this cemetery to see important people from Janesville's past. There was grass up the knees of some of these kids! It was outrageous and embarrassing. I totally disagree that Mt. Olivet is "beautifully landscaped."

Ya know, this kinda ticks me off. These people purchased these plots, they own them. I can't believe there are "rule" on how you can mourn your loved ones! People spent time planting things in nice pots, but because they can't fork over $50 for a "nicer" cement ones they get removed? TOTAL BULL.

I was very upset, my brother died early June, his head stone was just placed on Tuesday and they in no way told us they would be taking away some things from his grave, they actually specifically told us that everything would be placed back nicely, and they knew what we had because of him passing so recent. I had to spend almost a half hour trying to find two pots that contained two annuals that were placed in the spray that was on top of his casket. These two plants meant a lot to our family and when they spoke to us about placing the headstone, they could of told us about the fricken rules. Very poor communication and a very rude way of doing it. These pots and flowers mean something to someone, and this was just disgusting to see. There were pots with pictures and cards people left. I even looked inside the dumpster which was full of broken pots...etc...because they probably where careless and broke how many of them, and just threw them away. At the time I was looking for ours, a lady was trying to find something from her daughters site, which was a very special pot that meant a lot to the family, she was almost crying and as for as I know she still did not find it. Sorry for the rambling but this has been a awful year with deaths (relatives and people I don't even know) that this really ticked me off and was very upsetting.

Janesville people have a hard time when it comes to rules. Everyone wants to be a boss. Be thankful that they care what the cemetary looks like. I have never lived in a town that complains so much like Janesville does.

As a grave owner in Mt. Olivet, I believe that with so many ways to memorialize, regulations are necessary. Imagine if we all did what ever we wanted. We are not being told we can't place flowers, but that we need to be safer. Mt. Oivet is a beautiful and well maintained Cemetery.

My mother passed away and was cremated 2 years ago - her urn buried atop her mother's grave. During the burial planning it was discussed with our family by the funeral home and the cemetary about the restrictions. We were given the restrictions guide. We have violated the restrictions fully knowing that our momentos could be removed. That was our choice, BUT we also make sure that we maintain the site so that it does not disturb the maintenance crew or anyone else that may visit the cemetary. Rules are rules and if you choose to violate them you have to expect the consequences.

This is one of the reasons why I chose to have my daughter cremated. She's sitting on my living room book case and I can visit with her every day and honor her in my own way without someone telling me what I can or can not do.

The brochures of the policy are located at the cemetary entrances also. At least they didn't throw all the flowers and mementos out.

I see this as a great opportunity for the companies that sell headstones to also now sell cement flower pots. Although I understand the cemetary's reasoning behind the change, I think a fairer way to inform people would be to have a signs posted by the maintenance garage and entrance notifying everyone that effective, for eg. 10/1, strict enforcement would occur, giving notice to all visitors. Relying simply on bulletins at the four Catholic churches to get the word out is nuts...many out of towners visit the cemetary so would not have access to the bulletins, etc.

How sad, if you want to honor your dead, you have to be able to afford concrete vases. If you have a few relatives , the cost will add up. There looks to be alot of flowers in the picture that will be wasted

EarMuffs...I am not Catholic but my father's side is, you neglected to mention funerals also!

EarMuffs - "Most Catholics only go to church at Easter and Christmas" - are you out of your mind, writing something like that?!! What a prejudicial, ignorant, and untrue thing to say.

Two cemeteries in Beloit are also doing a massive clean-up of un-allowed things on and planted in the cemeteries. So if you have stuff on graves in Eastlawn and Oakwood cemeteries, your stuff might be removed.

Putting the notice in the church bulletins was not enough. Most Catholics only go to church at Easter and Christmas. There should have been an article in the paper long before the huge pile of stuff was gathered.