City considering cameras to protect historic cemetery, graves
Published 4:17 pm Monday, March 15, 2021
- (Photo courtesy of Visit Vicksburg)
Complaints involving problems at Cedar Hill Cemetery are prompting city officials to consider installing video cameras in the city-owned cemetery.
“People are desecrating the cemetery,” Mayor George Flaggs Jr. said. “They’re driving cars over the graves and everything. It’s all over the cemetery. Some folks are over-decorating them in violation of the city ordinance, but mostly it’s desecration.”
Flaggs said the city’s plan is to install a camera system would not only allow police and other officials to monitor the cemetery but also allow people to view the grave of a relative on their computer and order a plot for themselves.
“You can either pick a site and we’ll know or you can look at the grave of a loved one or one you want to order,” he said. “Go on the computer to pick out a plot and used the automated system to order it.”
Built in 1838, Cedar Hill is one of the oldest active cemeteries in the United States.