‘Emotions are high.’ Controversy flares over moving graves from historic KY cemetery.
A small cemetery on a steep hill in Clay County is enmeshed in controversy involving history, memory and school safety.
The Hoskins Cemetery covers a third of an acre and has about 80 grave sites. Those include the graves of some veterans and descendants of Native Americans, according to supporters.
Clay County resident Angela Hacker said the oldest known burial in the cemetery was in 1893, and that two Civil War veterans are buried there.
Hacker said she is related to one of them, Robert Cody Burns. Burns was the uncle of James Anderson Burns, who became a key figure in Clay County history founding Oneida Baptist Institute in 1899 to try to stop feuds among families by providing Christian education.
The controversy arose because the cemetery is on land owned by the Clay County Board of Education, and it wants to move the graves.
The pushback has been emotional.
“They believe their ancestors wanted to be buried there and should remain there,” Hacker said of people who oppose the move.
People against the disinterments marched through downtown Manchester Thursday before a meeting on the issue, carrying signs and chanting “Educate, don’t desecrate,” at times.
Sharon Allen, attorney for the school system, said the plan to move the graves does not indicate a lack of respect for those buried in the cemetery and their family members.
Rather, the issue is school safety, Allen said.
The cemetery overlooks Manchester Elementary school, just 45 yards away at the closest point, and also overlooks the playground and athletic facilities that include a track, the football field and bleachers.
It might have been a good spot for a cemetery when it was created more than a century ago, but in this day of all-too-frequent mass shootings, it is uncomfortably close to the schools, Allen said.
“Having this cemetery where it is is clearly a safety issue,” Allen said.
Allen said some opponents have charged that the school board wants to clear the cemetery to make room for upgrades to athletic facilities, including construction of baseball and softball fields, but that is not true.
The school system is pursuing improvements to athletic facilities nearby, but plans do not call for any of them to be on the site of the cemetery, she said.
In fact, a copy of the plans dated April 29, before the controversy arose, shows the new baseball and softball fields down the hill from the cemetery, with the cemetery intact and a new road to it provided by the school system.
“That’s just flat out wrong, flat out a lie,” Allen said of the idea that the school board wanted to clear the graves for a baseball field.
Allen said the idea to move the graves originated with people who have relatives buried in the cemetery. They contacted school officials and said they would like to have graves relocated, Allen said.
While it wasn’t part of the original plan, moving the graves would create other options for the school system to use the site, Allen said.
The school system had the cemetery surveyed and found 82 potential grave sites. Some were marked only with weathered gray rocks, which is common in old cemeteries in Eastern Kentucky and Appalachia.
Some of the spots may not be graves. It’s not clear exactly how many people are buried in the cemetery, and descendants have already moved at least nine graves, Allen said.
The Clay County Fiscal Court would have to approve a measure in favor of moving the graves, and then the school system would need a permit from the state for each grave. The disinterments and reburials would have to be overseen by a licensed funeral director.
Allen said the school board will seek approval soon from the fiscal court to move the graves.
If the fiscal court approves, opponents may sue to try to block moving the graves, House said.
The fiscal court held a meeting Thursday to take comments on the issue.
Several people spoke against moving the graves, arguing that families chose the cemetery for a reason and that it wouldn’t be right to move the remains of their loved ones now.
“Their graves should be sacred,” James Sizemore told magistrates and Judge-Executive Johnny Johnson.
Supporters questioned the notion that the location of the Hoskins Cemetery is a safety issue, saying there are hills overlooking other schools in the county.
The last burial in the cemetery was in 2005, but supporters said it hadn’t been abandoned. Family members maintained it for years and still visited at times, and families have plans for future burials there, several people said.
Deborah Bray said she couldn’t stand the thought of her ancestors’ bones being dug up.
“That physical aspect of that tears my heart up,” she said.
The opponents pointed out that the main cemetery designated to receive remains from Hoskins Cemetery wouldn’t allow the historic grave markers to be moved with them.
Manchester attorney Stella B. House, who represents opponents of moving the cemetery, said that more than 2,000 people had signed a petition against the move.
“People that represent all walks of life are here today to say that these graves should be protected,” House said at the fiscal court meeting.
She also told the school board in a letter that it will cost $300,000 to $500,000 to move the graves, which could be put to better use for other purposes.
Allen said it isn’t clear how much it would cost to move the graves, but that the cost would be justified by the improved safety of not having a potential “sniper’s nest” overlooking school facilities.
Allen told the fiscal court that it is routine to move cemeteries for projects such as road construction. Workers moved two cemeteries in Clay County to make way for a road to the hospital, without a problem, she said.
Allen said that after controversy flared about the Hoskins Cemetery, a man who was on the state sex offender registry before he was pardoned in December 2019 by then-Gov. Matt Bevin went to the cemetery June 25 to make a video for his YouTube channel, pointing out how close the cemetery was to the elementary school and other facilities.
A few days later, someone representing a genealogy site did a live video from the cemetery. School officials didn’t know what was going on, so notified parents and canceled outside activities, Allen said.
The incidents have caused concern among parents, Allen said.
Missy Carnahan Roberts, who has ancestors buried in the Hoskins Cemetery, said she favors moving them to a cemetery where generations of her family would be together.
“I understand emotions are very high. People take their heritage very, very seriously,” said Roberts, who works for the school system. “You also have to take school safety very seriously. We live in dangerous times.”
This story was originally published July 9, 2021 at 1:47 PM.
