ATHABASCA – Athabasca County is taking on the replacement cost of stolen goods for the Peaceful Pine Cemetery near Rochester after nearly $7,000 worth of equipment was misappropriated earlier this year.
During the Nov. 28 regular council meeting, councillors voted 8-0 — Coun. Kelly Chamzuk was absent — in favour of a motion to donate $7,000 through its grants to organizations budget for the purchase of two John Deere riding mowers, a poly dump cart, two leaf blowers, four weed eaters, two fuel containers, shovels, and hand tools.
“Some cemeteries have aged out and have turned their entire operations over to the county out of respect to the people in the cemetery,” said Coun. Natasha Kapitaniuk. “I’m grateful that this community group continues to bring in the middle generation to maintain the cemetery.
“I think it’s prudent to give the group what it needs to keep running, so the cemetery doesn’t become a larger burden in the future.”
County CAO Bob Beck said administration had tried to run the lost goods through its own insurance first, but was unsuccessful.
Peaceful Pine is home to 608 memorials, and while it officially dates back to 1921, according to records compiled by former head caretaker Alastair Finlayson, closed off sections of the cemetery date back even further.
“There’s people that were in there before then without any records,” said Finlayson. “There’s a couple of spots where they dug and found bones, so they just kind of closed the areas off.”
Athabasca County provides mowing services for a number of cemeteries in its area, but Finlayson said the local volunteers are able to provide a higher level of service for their loved ones final resting place, efforts the community is proud of.
“We’ve got regular cleans up and projects, like putting in a new fence or a new walkway that we bricked,” said Finlayson. “Everybody comments on how nice it is. All that kind of stuff wouldn’t happen with the county.”
