Cemetery says grave site decorations must go

FROSTPROOF (FOX 13) - Selena Cruz goes to Silverhill Cemetery to reconnect with her departed loved ones. Her bother Angel and her sister Milagros, who died at birth, are buried there.

Their graves are decorated with brightly colored artificial flowers and other mementos. But soon, they will have be gone. The city has decided to enforce a decades-old ordinance that bans that kind of decoration.

Cruz says she is angry and sad.

"It's messing with our family members," she told FOX 13. "And that's all we have left of them, that's where we come to mourn our loss."

Families have until November 10 to clear the banned items off the grave sites. The rules are not new. They go back decades.

"The intent for us is to bring people into compliance with something that has already been there," said Frostproof Mayor Rodney Cannon.

People will have a chance to ask city councilmembers to reconsider at a meeting this Monday, October 17, at 6 p.m. at city hall.