Mississippi County cemetery caretaker could sue owners of adjacent farm

CHARLESTON, Mo. -- Now that officials have determined who owns the farmland next to a cemetery, they say they can resolve a conflict by talking things out.

Harry Ishmael of Fruitland said during Thursday's regular Mississippi County Commission meeting he is willing to wait for that conversation to happen, but if it doesn't stop the damage to the Pinhook Cemetery, his next step is a lawsuit.

Ishmael has mowed the cemetery at County Roads 514 and 513 about six miles southeast of the East Prairie, Missouri, for 22 years. The cemetery has 20 to 25 graves, six of which are Ishmael's family members.

"I have some pictures," Ishmael said, including one that shows "two stones they moved where a pivot went through with a wheel."

The irrigation pivot no longer goes across the graveyard, he said, but other farm equipment has been running across the ground recently and leaving ruts.