The Centre for Natural Burial

An ordinance concerning the dead still is stirring up a lively debate.

By Jennifer Burk

More than two months after the Bibb County Commission passed a cemetery ordinance restricting how and where bodies may be buried, opponents and supporters of the law still are arguing the issue. Beth Collins, CEO of Summerland Natural Cemetery, and her partner, Summerland President Jim Wood, have been to just about every commission meeting since the ordinance passed. They’ve handed out literature and implored commissioners to repeal the ordinance, which has halted their own plans for a natural cemetery in east Bibb County near the Twiggs County line.

“The law is wrong and it’s outrageous, and it’s based on misunderstandings,” Collins said in a telephone interview. “We have done a lot of research, and we’re confident of what we’re doing.”

The cemetery ordinance, which doesn’t apply to existing cemeteries, forbids placing graves within 1,000 feet of any known well, aquifer, lake or stream that state environmental officials determine needs a stream buffer. It also requires bodies to be buried in leak-proof caskets or vaults.

The ordinance is intended to protect the health and safety of residents, many of whom fear decomposing bodies will contaminate the air, soil and water supply.

Natural, or “green,” cemeteries such as the one Collins and Wood propose, use natural burial practices in which bodies are not treated with chemicals and are buried in a biodegradable coffins or shrouds.

Collins and other opponents of the ordinance say it is overly strict and essentially prohibits building any new cemeteries in Bibb County. Half the county sits over the Floridian aquifer, and most other land has some water underneath it.

It also discriminates against certain religions, such as Judaism, Islam, Buddhism and paganism that require minimalist burials, they say.

“These regulations would make it impossible for me to be buried as my religion tells me it must be,” Elizabeth Hanson, a Macon resident and a Buddhist, told commissioners at a recent meeting.

As for soil and groundwater contamination from decomposing bodies, opponents of the measure say residents and commissioners are misinformed.

Collins, who lives in Bonaire, said she has approval from a soil scientist and other environmental groups as part of a requirement from the Macon-Bibb County Planning & Zoning Commission.

Her land is high and dry, and the soil is made out of clay that will stick to pathogens to help stave off contamination, she said.

Twiggs County resident Osborne Smith, who lives about a half-mile from the proposed cemetery, is skeptical. The proposed site slants down to two streams, Donnan Branch and Stone Creek, he said.

“You bury on the top, that water’s going to go down,” he said.

People on both sides of the issue have presented the commission with studies that they say support their claims. The bottom line, some residents say, is that Collins and Wood can’t definitively prove the environment won’t be contaminated.

“You don’t never say never,” said Jerry Fincher, a Twiggs County resident who lives near the proposed cemetery. “It’s always a possibility.”

RESIDENTS SUPPORT THE COMMISSION’S DECISION

Meanwhile, east Bibb and Twiggs residents who agree with the ordinance also have continued to attend meetings to show commissioners their support.

Fincher said he and his neighbors, many of whom rely on well water for drinking, are tired of being criticized for their opposition to the green cemetery project.

“We’ve been called stupid. We’ve been called ignorant. We’ve been called insular,” Fincher told commissioners. “We don’t care how they bury these people as long as they don’t bury them in our neighborhood.”

Donnie Bryant, president of the Fall Line Preservation Association and pastor of Swift Creek Missionary Baptist Church, said east Bibb has been viewed as the dumping ground of the county for years.

Various industries, rock quarries and kaolin mines all have brought jobs to the county but at the expense of the environment in east Bibb, he said.

In 1986, residents opposed the Swift Creek Landfill on Davis Road when it was first permitted as a site for construction debris. Eight years later, it received a permit to open a new section for household garbage.

Some residents, such as Edna Roberts, viewed the addition of household garbage as a bait-and-switch. Roberts, who lives just across the Twiggs County line, and others fear a similar situation could occur with the cemetery.

“East Macon is the stepchild of Bibb County, and it has been for years,” she said. “I am tired of seeing eastern Bibb County stepped on.”

Bryant said the cemetery ordinance is a step in the right direction, and elected officials finally are starting to realize the value in east Bibb.

“You can only do so much harm to the environment in east Macon before it will affect people in the whole county,” he said.

Bryant said he’d like other counties and the state to adopt similar cemetery regulations.

The Twiggs County Commission already is in the process of adopting changes to its own cemetery ordinance that would prohibit green burials.

“If this was happening in Bibb, then the next logical thing was Twiggs would be a prime place to try this effort again,” Twiggs County Commission Chairman Ray Bennett said.

TIME’S RUNNING OUT

For Collins and Summerland Natural Cemetery, time is running out.

The planning and zoning commission requires that the cemetery be completed within a year of receiving approval, and that came in April 2008. After that, they must start over with the process, Collins said.

The land still needs to be surveyed, and time on a $50,000 construction loan is running out. Collins and Wood already have invested more than $100,000 out of pocket in the project, Collins said.

Collins said she hopes the commissioners will rescind their decision. Otherwise, she said she may be forced to take legal action against the county.

“We don’t have a lot of time left,” she said.

Bibb County Commissioner Lonzy Edwards, who proposed the cemetery ordinance, said he’s not changing his mind.

“I think we did what we needed to do to deal with a problem that should have been dealt with a long time ago, based on the fact that there was almost no regulation on cemeteries in Bibb County,” he said. “People have the right to be concerned about the quality of their drinking water.”

Edwards said he wants to further flesh out the county’s cemetery ordinance to deal with disinterments and possibly escorts for funeral processions.

Bibb Commission Chairman Sam Hart said he talked with Collins last week and then spoke with the other commissioners.

“No one was inclined to change,” he said.

Information from The Telegraph’s archives was used in this report.

To contact writer Jennifer Burk, call 744-4345.