HENSLEY, Ark — After the passing of her mother just over a year ago, Tracey Turner decided to have her laid to rest on March 4, 2021 at Rest in Peace Cemetery in Hensley, Arkansas.
As if it wasn't already enough to be dealing with the loss of a loved one, Turner said her troubles with the management began when the cemetery wouldn't give her a date on when her mother's headstone would be mounted.
Turner said she paid $1,800 for the headstone, and for about a year now, it has just sat outside of a shed in the cemetery field, along with dozens of others.
The company who created the headstone offered to mount it for free, but when Turner reached out to Rest in Peace Cemetery to ask they could do it, they said they wouldn't allow it.
"The manager mounts it himself. He said I owed him $236. Which I have no problem with that. I asked him to give me a receipt and a tentative date and he's not willing to do either one," said Turner.
Turner ran into yet another issue in May, when she was having her brother buried next to her mother's grave. She noticed that her mother's casket was partially exposed and it was also damaged.
When questioned regarding the headstone situation, and the various allegations of neglect, Percy Webb, management operator for Rest in Peace cemetery said that most of the people who have complained, don’t own property at the grave yard.
He also mentioned that the cemetery was once in a corrupt court order receivership which was overseen by the Arkansas Cemetery Board.
"I’m not concerned about my reputation or the peoples money where this is concerned. This is by no means a reflection on the current board that our current governor restructured into what we have now. Thank God for governor Hutchinson for his an his staff wisdom," said Webb.
In regards to Turner's allegations with her mother's casket, Webb said that it's common without a burial container, and that what happened has been out of his control.
Despite what has happened, she still has a right to disinter with the proper paperwork. Turner said she wants Rest in Peace cemetery to pay for the disinterment, but management has not been on board.
There have been many negative reviews online regarding the cemetery, including social media posts about the deplorable conditions.
"I came out to visit my parents grave. He (Webb) had covered up the whole row with fresh dirt. So I called him and asked when was he going to dig those graves back up so you can see the headstones and his remarks were 'If you want it done, come dig it up yourself," said Cheryl Yancy.
She, along with other families, decided to create a grass roots petition to hold Webb and the company that owns the property responsible.
"It's now actually in the law's hand, because the commission board has turned it over to the legal attorneys now," said Yancy.
The Arkansas Insurance Department said that the actual owner of the cemetery operates out of New Jersey, and that they've received numerous complaints.
Consumers are encouraged to file a complaint, and once received, it will be forwarded to the cemetery for a response. The response is then received and reviewed.
Yancy said that all families who have had complaints, should fill out a form so that they can be held accountable.
Meanwhile, Turner mentioned she'll be back and forth between Atlanta and Arkansas until there's a resolution, and that she won't stop until something is done.