Final insult

Even though we are one Roanoke Family, our background and ethnicity causes us to act differently in similar situations. I was in attendance at the Baptist Ministers Conference and was made aware of a new policy involving one of our cemeteries.

The Williams Memorial Park at 943 Westside Boulevard instituted a new policy on August 20, 2001, of which I and many other ministers were not made aware of. The policy states: "Any funeral service that lasts over 1- 1/2 hours from time of scheduled service, the family will be charged an additional $50 per 1/2 hour. We are here waiting to lead the funeral procession in and we are losing too many working hours when we have to wait for 2 to 3 hours for the funeral procession to arrive. We are asking the funeral homes to give us a call when the service is running late."

This policy is directed primarily to the African American community. The African American community normally takes longer to say "good-bye" to its relatives than most other communities. The funeral service, in our culture, is very special. It dates back to the days of slavery when the slave funeral was the only time when the slaves could congregate and conduct a religious service without interruption from the slave master. The slaves were given the day off and the slave preacher was allowed to give the eulogy. The service lasted for hours.

The Williams Memorial Park is named after an African American mortician C.C. Williams. Many prominent African Americans are buried there. I can understand being cognizant of the hours of operation of the cemetery, but to restrict a funeral service is ludicrous and very insensitive. A person pays for the cemetery plot then pays a fee for opening and closing the grave and now is penalized $50 per half hour based on a time that is set by Mr. C. J. Lynch. No other cemetery has this policy.

Williams Memorial is not the only cemetery in Roanoke. Unless this policy is changed, I encourage those who have purchased plots at Williams Memorial Gardens to express in writing and phone calls your opposition to this policy to Mr. Lynch at 540-362-3059. To those who have not purchased burial plots, go elsewhere.