CHAPTER 13 -
CEMETERIES
Article I - Definitions: Application
Section 13-1 Definitions......................................................................................................
Section 13-2 Application of Provisions................................................................................
Article II - General
Regulations
Section 13-3 Burial Only in Cemeteries...............................................................................
Section 13-4 Disruptive
Activity Prohibited..........................................................................
Section 13-5 Desecration of Public and Private Cemeteries................................................
Section 13-6 Removing or Defacing Monuments and
Tombstones.......................................
Section 13-7 Hours of Operation........................................................................................
Section 13-8 Trees, Plantings, Landscaping........................................................................
Article III - Designation and
Sale of Cemetery Lots
Section 13-11 Cemetery Map Required...............................................................................
Section 13-12 Purchase of Burial Rights.............................................................................
Section 13-13 Rights of Owner of Deed or Certificate of
Burial Right................................
Section 13-14 Speculation in Burial Rights Prohibited........................................................
Article IV - Mausoleums,
Monuments, and Markers
Section 13-17 Mausoleums..................................................................................................
Section 13-18 Monuments...................................................................................................
Section 13-19 Markers........................................................................................................
Article V - Penalties and
Remedies
Section 13-21 Penalties and Remedies.................................................................................
Unless the context otherwise indicates, the
following words shall have the meaning indicated when used in this chapter.
(1) Administrator. The public works director
or other person designated by the Board to perform the functions and exercise
the responsibilities assigned by this chapter to the administrator.
(2)
(3) Marker. A plaque installed at
ground level at the site of a grave to indicate the name, date of birth, and
date of death of the person buried there.
(4) Mausoleum. A structure or building
substantially exposed above ground intended to be used for the entombment of
remains of a deceased person.
(5) Monument. A memorial stone or other
structure erected at a gravesite in remembrance of the dead.
The following sections apply to all cemeteries within the town:
Sections 13-3, 13-4, 13-5, and 13-6. The
remaining sections of this chapter apply only to cemeteries owned or operated
by the town.
No person may bury or cause to be buried the body of any deceased
person within the town limits in any place other than a church cemetery or a
cemetery operated by a governmental entity or a private cemetery licensed or
specifically exempted from licensing according to the North Carolina Cemetery
Act (Article 9 of G.S. Chapter 65).
(A) No person may drive any
motor vehicle of any kind in any cemetery except upon the main roads and
avenues provided therein for vehicular traffic.
(B) No person may drive any
motor vehicle or park any motor vehicle in any cemetery unless in attendance at
burial services or otherwise engaged in activities consistent with the use of a
cemetery as a cemetery.
(C) No person may take any dog,
horse, or other animal into any cemetery or allow any animal to run at large
therein.
(D) No person may intentionally
disrupt any funeral services or disturb the quiet and good order of any
cemetery by extremely loud or boisterous conduct. Except in the case of military funerals and
veterans or military commemorative exercises, no person may carry or discharge
firearms in any cemetery.
(E) No person may post or attach
any bills, posters, placards, pictures or other form of political or commercial
advertising within the cemetery or on the inside or outside of any wall or
fence enclosing any cemetery.
(A) As provided in G.S.
14-150.1, if any person shall willfully commit any of the acts set forth in the
following subdivisions, he shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be fined
not more than one-hundred dollars ($100.00) or imprisoned for not more than
thirty days, or both, in the discretion of the court.
(1)
Throwing, placing, or putting any refuse, garbage, trash, or articles of
similar nature in or on a public or private cemetery where human bodies are
interred.
(2)
Destroying, removing, breaking, damaging, overturning, or polluting any
flower, plant, shrub, or ornament located in any public or private cemetery
where human bodies are interred without the express consent of the person in
charge of said cemetery.
Provided nothing contained in this section shall preclude operators of
such cemeteries from exercising all the powers reserved to them in their
respective rules and regulations relating to the care of such cemeteries.
As provided in G.S. 14-140, if any person shall, unlawfully and on
purpose, remove from its place any monument of marble, stone, brass, wood, or
other material, erected for the purpose of designating the spot where any dead
body is interred, or for the purpose of preserving and perpetuating the memory,
name, fame, birth, age or death of any person, whether situated in or out of
the common burying ground, or shall unlawfully and on purpose break or deface
such monument, or alter the letters, marks or inscription thereof, he shall be
guilty of a misdemeanor. Provided that
nothing contained in this section shall preclude operators of public or private
cemeteries from exercising all the powers reserved to them in their respective
rules and regulations relating to the use and care of such cemeteries.
(A) The town cemetery shall
remain open to the public throughout the year from sunrise until sunset.
(B) No person may enter the town
cemetery at any time other than the hours of operation established by
subsection (A).
(A) No person may plant, prune,
or remove any tree, shrub, flower, grass or other plant of any kind except with
the consent of and in accordance with the directions of the cemetery
administrator.
(B) The cemetery administrator
may enter any lot and remove or trim any tree, shrub, or other plant that encroaches
upon any other lot or any walkway, or driveway, or other part of the cemetery.
(C) The cemetery administrator
may remove from the cemetery all floral designs, flowers, weeds, or plants of
any kind from the cemetery as soon as they deteriorate or otherwise become
unsightly.
(D) Artificial flowers used in
floral decorations may be used in the cemetery but a limit of two months is
established as a reasonable period of use of such decorations. After two months such arrangements will be
removed and disposed of by the cemetery administrator.
Sections 13-9 and 13-10
Reserved.
(A) There shall be maintained in
the town clerk's office an official cemetery map which shall depict, as
accurately as possible, the boundaries of the town cemetery and the location
and dimension of all lots within the cemetery.
(B) Burial rights in all lots
shall be sold in reference to the official cemetery map.
(A) The town shall sell burial
rights in cemetery lots in accordance with the provisions of this chapter and
the schedule of fees adopted and revised from time to time by the Board, a copy
of which schedule shall be maintained in the office of the town clerk. Under this schedule differential fees may be
charged according to whether the person purchasing a lot or intended to be
buried in such lot is or is not a bona fide resident of the town at the time of
purchase.
(B) A deed or certificate of
burial right shall be issued to the person who purchases a burial right. The deed or certificate shall identify the
purchaser and the specific lot or lots to which the deed or certificate
applies.
(A) The deed or certificate of
burial right entitles the owner thereof (i.e., the purchaser) to use the
designated lots as a place of burial, subject to the terms and conditions of
this ordinance and subject to the town's authority to operate, regulate,
control, and abandon cemeteries.
(B) Upon the death of the owner
of a deed or certificate of burial right, all rights evidenced by such deed or
certificate shall pass to the owner's heirs, legatees, or devisees in the same
manner as other interests in personal property.
(A) No person may purchase or
otherwise acquire any burial right for the purpose of sale or exchange.
(B) No person may sell or
exchange any burial right for a profit or gain.
Sections 13-15 and 13-16
Reserved.
No mausoleums may be placed or located within a town cemetery after the
effective date of this chapter.
Monuments may be placed only in areas so designated on the
[Amended October 14, 1986]
Individual lots shall be marked with a bronze or stone marker placed
flush with the ground on an apron. Such
marker may not exceed 7 '6 " in length or
36" in width. Double markers may be used if the combined width does not
exceed 72".
Section 13-20 Reserved.
(A) A violation of any of the
following provisions shall constitute a misdemeanor, punishable as provided in
G.S. 14-4: Sections 13-3, 13-4, 13-7,
13-8, 13-14, 13-17, 13-18, and 13-19.
(B) Violations of any of the
sections listed in subsection (A) shall also subject the offender to a civil
penalty of one hundred dollars ($100.00).
If a person fails to pay this penalty within ten days after being cited
for a violation, the town may seek to recover the penalty by filing a civil
action in the nature of debt.
[Amended July 13, 1993]
(C) The town may seek to enforce
this chapter through any appropriate equitable action.
(D) Each day that a violation
continues after the offender has been notified of the violation shall
constitute separate offense.
(E) The town may seek to enforce
this chapter by using any one or any combination of the foregoing remedies.