David Copeland has five family members buried at Dade Memorial Park Cemetery. He’s been regularly going to the cemetery since the early 1960’s when his grandfather died.
"I try to come here once a month," Copeland says. "When I do, I make an effort to see my parents, grandparents, my brother. I have a lot of people here."
About two years ago, Copeland says he started noticing a change in the care and maintenance of the cemetery.
"I was seeing complete overgrown grass and weeds on the markers," Copeland says. "I got to the point where I did complain. I went to the office and let them know how I felt and they said they were going to take care of it."
When months passed and nothing happened, Copeland says he filed a complaint with the state in 2014 and saw some results. But it wasn’t long before he says the problem started creeping up again.
"At that point I said, ‘you know, I’m not gonna bother again,'" he says. "I’ll just take my weed whacker with me, every time I come, I just whack ‘em good and I do."
Then he heard about NBC 6 Responds and decided to give us a call.
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"I got an email from you guys that you actually called them up and spoke to them and someone promised you, from the cemetery’s side, that they were going to do something," he said. "I thought, 'Oh, that’s good.'"
Caballero Rivero Dade Memorial Park sent NBC 6 the following statement:
"We are committed to providing all families with a well-maintained environment for visitation and remembrance. An attractive and serene environment is best attained through regular maintenance of the cemetery grounds. With summer season upon us, we’ve hired new professionals to assist with the task and ensure the grounds are properly maintained for our families. We are happy to report that the grass in the cemetery is now trimmed."
During a recent visit, Copeland was pleased to see the grass and weeds trimmed around his family members’ graves. He hopes the cemetery keeps its word.
"They ought to treat the dead right," he said. "When you take their money and promise somebody you’re going to perpetually keep their plots up, you would hope they would follow through with that."
Florida’s Department of Financial Services regulates cemeteries and funeral homes. Since 2013, consumers in our state have filed nearly 200 complaints on cemeteries for a wide variety of issues, including problems with care and maintenance of cemetery grounds.
If you’d like to file a complaint with the state on an issue with a cemetery or funeral home, you can click here for more information.
