LEBANON, Ill. – Tearful residents in Lebanon, Illinois, are expressing outrage over a recent cleaning at College Hill Cemetery that they say went too far, resulting in the removal of gravesite tributes that had remained on some gravesites for years.

In the parking lot outside City Hall, a dumpster held flowers, wreaths and mementos cleared during the recent cemetery cleaning. The city oversees the cemetery’s maintenance.

Residents addressed the city council, sharing the pain of losing loved ones and the heartache they felt upon visiting gravesites, only to find heartfelt tributes removed. 

“There was a little matchbox car my grandson had put there 15 years ago when he was two,” said Connie Alvey, a grandmother who frequently visits College Hill Cemetery. 

She expressed her distress over the cleaning, which stripped away memorials to her loved ones, including her granddaughter.

“Today would have been my granddaughter’s sixth birthday, so it was very hard for me. We don’t have her,” Alvey said. “We don’t have anything else to give her other than honoring her by putting things on her grave.”

City leaders said notices were published in a local newspaper prior to the cleaning, which was intended to prepare the cemetery for Easter. 

Some officials apologized on Monday, acknowledging they did not realize the full extent of the heartache the cleanup would cause.

One alderman said this was the first year the cleanup work was not outsourced. Another alderman noted the city was following an old ordinance in need of revision.  He said the existing ordinance leaves some confusion over what is allowed at gravesites and needs to be updated.

Janet Carthy, another heartbroken resident, is devastated over the loss of long-standing tributes from her husband’s gravesite. 

“I have changed out his flowers for every season for the last six years, and to see them gone is devastating,” Carthy said.

Determined to retrieve some of the removed items, Carthy went dumpster diving. She said that those items hold far more than just material value. 

“They mean everything to me,” Carthy said. “It’s the only way that I have to give something to my husband, to be able to talk to him, to give myself a little peace and comfort.”

Elected officials have stated that they will work to amend the old ordinance, which they believe is outdated. 

Residents, however, expressed frustration over what they called a lack of communication.

Alvey said the cleanup resulted in a great deal of pain for those already suffering from the loss of a loved one.  

“It just feels like they’re being desecrated, and their memories are being dishonored, and it’s very hard,” Alvey said.