Scott County to help maintain cemetery

BENTON, Mo. -- The Scott County government doesn't want to be involved in the cemetery maintenance business, but the county has no choice.

Last week the Missouri Attorney General office sought and received a court injunction transferring record-keeping duties of the Forest Hill Memorial Gardens Cemetery in Morley, Mo. While the injunction doesn't specify a legal obligation to provide maintenance and upkeep, county commissioners say they will do so anyway.

With warm weather approaching and the accelerated plant growth that comes with it, commissioners say the county has no choice but to maintain the cemetery or let the land become an eyesore.

"The concern right now is to start taking care of it now," said First District Commissioner Dennis Ziegenhorn. "We have an obligation to the constituency."