Additional Update on Grave Marker Situation at Bohemian Cemetery
September 23, 2024
Assalamu Alaikum,
We have received several questions following our recent communication about the grave marker situation at Bohemian Cemetery. In response, we held a town hall meeting yesterday to update the community. We are now following up with all our members to provide an update and further clarifications on the current situation, and to outline the steps we are taking to support our community.
Muslim Community Center (MCC) has a contractual agreement with Bohemian Cemetery for the maintenance and care of the section of the cemetery we own. This agreement includes considerations to allow for efficient management of the cemetery, and requires that all grave markers be purchased through Bohemian Cemetery and approved by MCC. Bohemian Cemetery holds the right to remove any unapproved decorations or installations.
This policy has been in place since the agreement was executed (January 14, 2010), although it has not always been enforced vigorously by the Bohemian Cemetery. Over time, unauthorized installations such as grave markers, benches, fences around graves, and other structures were added to graves, often without proper installation. This has made routine maintenance and access to the cemetery grounds challenging and resulted in complaints about the maintenance. Recently, Bohemian Cemetery informed us of their plan to enforce the agreement and remove these unauthorized installations.
In accordance with the above decision, Bohemian Cemetery staff removed many of the non-compliant/loose installations including benches, fences around graves, and several grave markers. We understand that approximately 100 grave markers were impacted. Bohemian Cemeterys workers moved these stones to a designated storage space near a storage container in the cemetery; MCC was not involved in the decision on where these markers would be stored.
Some recent media publications have shown images of this storage area near a container and referred to it as a dumpster. We want to clarify that this container is not used as a dumpster but is a storage location. However, we understand the negative way that this has been perceived, and we have worked with the Bohemian Cemetery this past week to have all the headstones moved and stored near the administrative building, respecting the sensitivity of this matter.
As a reminder, MCC is not involved in the operations of installing or removing grave markers. MCCs role is limited to processing requests, which we took over on July 23, 2022 to allow us to improve management of the cemetery related requests for our community. Additionally, besides nominal processing fees, all monies related to funeraland related expenses are maintained separately by MCC to pay the relatedexpenses (e.g., to Bohemian Cemetery) or future cemetery space.
The MCC Board of Directors held an emergency meeting over a week ago to discuss this issue further and explore how we can help our community. Based on this meeting, we planned and conducted a town hall session with the community, and also received authorization to reimburse the installation costs (paid to Bohemian Cemetery) for the impacted graves to install compliant grave markers. While we work with the families to identify compliant markers for installation, MCC will work to install temporary markers.
If you are one of the families impacted by the removal of these grave markers, you are encouraged to contact us at 847-999-3618 to coordinate the installation of compliant grave markers and receive reimbursement for the cost of installation. Additionally, for those facing financial difficulties, MCC is committed to providing assistance with other associated costs on a case-by-case basis.
We have already assisted several families in installing compliant grave markers as of September 23, 2024. We are also proactively making every effort to reach out to the families who may be affected to discuss the situation and provide support. If you have been impacted or know of anyone that is impacted, or simply wish to discuss this matter further, please contact us at [email protected] using the subject "Bohemian Cemetery Grave Markers."
Finally, MCC acknowledges that we could have done better in communicating and managing this situation for our community. We deeply regret the distress this has caused and are conducting a thorough review of the relevant policies and protocols. Our aim is to identify areas for improvement and ensure that we can provide a more respectful and supportive process in the future.
We sincerely apologize for any hurt this situation may have caused and appreciate your understanding and cooperation as we work to address these concerns.
JazakAllah Khair,
Masood Bijapuri
Masood Bijapuri
President
The Muslim Community Center