I am writing this letter to express my concern with all the recent vandalism activity in Greenlawn Cemetery, as well as the maintenance of the cemetery.

It is unfortunate that the vandals have no respect for the loved ones laid to rest in the cemetery or their families. I agree that we need to take action to find these vandals and to prevent any new vandalism.

One concern with this is how the city can finance the prevention of vandalism. Our City Council seems to have their hands full with all the childish activity going on with the Council members. How can we trust them to make decisions for our city if all they are doing is acting childish?

Another concern I have about Greenlawn Cemetery is with the maintenance of the grave sites. My grandmother passed away a year ago on March 13. We questioned the caretaker of the cemetery about the condition of some of the grave sites. There always has been very little grass on several of the sites.

We were told that they can't get the mower (a riding lawn mower) there to cut the grass, so they spray the grave sites with grass and weed killer to prevent the grass from growing.

We then asked why they didn't use a push mower to maintain the grass. The response was that the city only has two employees working to maintain the cemetery and they didn't have time to use a push mower. Why is the cemetery named Greenlawn if they are killing the lawn because they don't want to use a push mower?

I personally find this disrespectful to the families and our loved ones laid to rest in Greenlawn Cemetery.

So, I ask the city of Portsmouth, what can be done about the two concerns listed in this letter? Is one more disrespectful than the other? I know that all the plots are sold within the cemetery, but should we neglect the ones who purchased these plots because the city can no longer profit from the cemetery?

William Scott

Portsmouth