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December 30, 2005

Tire tracks over Swan Point grave upset family

PROVIDENCE -- On Christmas Day, Patti Benton went to Swan Point Cemetery to place a cross and silk poinsettias beside her mother's grave.

She said she was driven to tears by the sight of tire marks that crossed over the flat bronze grave marker and by the crack that had begun to form in the granite base beneath it.

Today, she and her husband, Roger Benton, confronted cemetery officials, demanding they fix the granite and stop driving backhoes and dump trucks over the marker in order to dig other graves. The Pawtucket couple said they want to be assured that heavy equipment hasn't crushed her mother's casket, spilling her remains.

Officials said that when equipment must cross a grave site, workers usually put down $250 Fiberglass-and-concrete boards to avoid causing damage. But they said that in digging new graves, it's not always possible to avoid crossing other grave sites.

Cemetery Vice President Anthony Hollingshead emphasized that the cemetery takes pains to maintain the 200-acre site, and he said the tire marks were an isolated problem.

More on this story in tomorrow's Journal and on projo.com...

- Journal staff writer Edward Fitzpatrick

Posted by Andrea Panciera  at 5:19 PM | Permalink