Cemetery Board Plans to Map Graves with GPS

Even death is becoming high-tech. The city?s cemetery board hopes to soon have a digital record of graves that would allow people to go online and locate anyone?s final resting place. ?Anyone can get on the Internet and type the deceased?s name and find what [plots] they own, where they?re at and other information,? Jacksonville Cemeteries Superintendent Jim Pierson said.?

?Anyone can get on the Internet and type the deceased?s name and find what [plots] they own, where they?re at and other information,? Jacksonville Cemeteries Superintendent Jim Pierson said.

The project would involve a global positioning system-coordinated digital mapping of the city?s cemeteries.

Much of the funding for the project would come from an estate bequest, but additional funding sources are still being sought.

After its completion, it should provide for superior record-keeping as well as public research.

While this project is being designed as a public service, it also benefits those who operate and maintain local cemeteries.

?All our records are on paper and they?re not indestructible,? secretary Linda Moore said. ?This basically brings us into the 21st century.?

The board also discussed the possibility of expanding Diamond Grove Cemetery. Although plots remain, they are not in locations people want to buy.

The board is considering expanding the property to the west, but is running into some problems.

?[The land] is owned by a gentleman who it uninterested in selling to the city,? board member Tom Newby said. ?We need to find a way to fund this operation.?

In a piece of new business, the board discussed the replacement of a damaged headstone. The headstone, which sits on the plot of a deceased child, is a cement poodle that somehow had its nose broken off. Funds to replace the statue will come from the city budget.

Attempts to find a replacement statue have been difficult since concrete poodles are no longer made. The board will continue to search for a replacement but it may fall to the family to decide on a new monument.

Current regulations prohibit the use of such small and brittle monuments, but the statue, built 35 years ago, was sanctioned by the previous superintendent.

Source: MyJournalCourier.com