SCOTT CITY CEMETERY PROJECT UNDER WAY

SCOTT CITY -- Clearing of brush, planting of trees and construction of an exit road are among projects in the renovation of Lightner Memorial Park Cemetery southeast of Scott City.

Twenty white pines were being planted in the cleared area Wednesday afternoon. The seedlings, about 6 feet tall, were planted next to a standing grove of southern yellow pine, which reach about 40 to 50 feet.

Roland Sander, owner of Sander & Sons Nursery at Gordonville, said the white pines will double their height in three years. He expects the pines to maintain their dense shape for several years and eventually provide a canopy of green for the cemetery.

The pines trees are in the southwest corner of the cemetery, near the site of the annual Memorial Day service, said Norman Brant, Scott City councilman and chairman of the city's cemetery committee. Many people sit under the trees for the annual service, he said.

"People like the pines trees," Brant said. Several residents told him to keep the tall pines when crews started cutting some dead trees and clearing the brush, he said.

Cutting trees and clearing the brush cost $3,260, Brant said. Planting the white pines and fixing the ground so that it can be mowed costs $1,350. Another $650 will be spent to survey the boundaries.

Brant estimated that 2,000 to 2,500 feet of new road will be built around the outer edge of the cemetery. The new road will provide an exit onto a blacktop county road at the southeast corner of the cemetery. Visitors to the cemetery now meet themselves coming and going with only the one entrance, Brant said.

The city plans to hire an engineer for the road, which should be complete with a gravel base this summer. Blacktop will be added to the 12-foot road next year.

Brant expects the engineer for the road to cost about $2,000. He didn't have an estimate on what blacktopping the new road will cost, but he knows the entire project will run over $10,000.

Funds for the cemetery are provided by a 5-cent property tax on each $100 of assessed valuation. On the city's assessed valuation of $23 million, the nickel raises about $11,500 annually in taxes for the cemetery. The cemetery fund had a balance of $104,000 at the end of February.

Brant said the road will open eight adjoining acres that the city purchased about 10 years ago for additional gravesites. He thinks the new area will provide enough space to the cemetery for another 25 years.

Mark Amick, co-owner of Amick-Burnett Funeral Homes in Scott County, said the southeast and southwest corners of the cemetery are the only open areas for new gravesites. The new road will make those areas much more accessible for funeral processions and anyone visiting the cemetery, he said.

Amick said his funeral home handles 30 to 40 burials at Lightner Cemetery each year. The cemetery became the former city of Illmo's property about 1940, he said. Illmo merged into Scott City in the late 1970s.

"Clearing the brush has made the area look a lot better," Amick said. "People who visit the cemetery want it to look good."