Crumbling cemetery shocks officials
By Jan TenBruggencate
Advertiser Kaua'i Bureau
Jan TenBruggencate • The Honolulu Advertiser
HANAMA'ULU, Kaua'i — The last time John and Dolores Germaine went to visit her mother's grave at Hanama'ulu Cemetery, they were stunned by what they found.
Headstones have fallen and burial sites are severely eroded at the county's Hanama'ulu Cemetery. Some families have put in stakes and corrugated roofing to prevent the collapse of graves. County officials promise action.
Gravestones had tumbled down hillsides, grass had overgrown entire sections and erosion had cut a deep swath through the Japanese section of the cemetery.
"You could see a casket rotting, the bones inside," John Germaine said.
The cemetery, which has served this plantation town and surrounding areas for a century, was once in the heart of the community.
But the old plantation homes around it have been torn down, and newer subdivisions pushed the residential community south, away from the graves of Hanama'ulu's founders. The community that once volunteered to maintain the site has drifted away or died off.
The cemetery lies on a fairly steep slope at the base of Kalepa. Without irrigation or regular maintenance, runoff has cut deep furrows, undercutting graves and washing away gravestones. Some families have tried to shore up erosion by piling rocks and staking sheets of corrugated roofing downslope from the graves.
County officials, alerted to the situation by The Advertiser after Germaine's call, were shocked when they visited, said Jenny Fujita, the county's public information officer. She said the situation prompted a review of conditions at each of the 17 cemeteries under county control.
"Over the years, the county has had a decrease in the amount of public participation in maintaining county cemeteries," Fujita said.
She said the county Department of Public Works was asked to prepare a report on maintenance requirements and determine whether outside help would be required to make major improvements at the cemeteries — such as the stabilization that may be needed at Hanama'ulu.
The next step will be to develop a budget for the work, Fujita said.
"We sincerely regret that this issue had not been addressed earlier, and thank those that brought it to our attention," she said.
Reach Jan TenBruggencate at jant@honoluluadvertiser.com or (808) 245-3074.
