Weeds Choking Concordia Cemetery
EL PASO, Tx. – Thanks to Storm 2006 and the flooding rains, the oldest burial ground in El Paso is overrun withgreens rivaling a jungle.
An ABC-7 viewer e-mailed his concerns about the seemingly out-of-control growth in Concordia cemetery in central El Paso, just west of the Spaghetti Bowl.
Weeds several feet in height arepractically choking the towering headstones hereinthe city’s oldest organized cemetery.Much of the cemetery is full of those types of weeds, some reaching heights of four feet tall.
Patricia Kidney, the President of the Concordia Heritage Association, tellsABC-7 they contract with the West Texas Probation Department to clean up the area. According to Ms. Kidney, twice a week, anywhere from 60 to 70 probationers spend a total of eight hours pulling weeds from around the headstones and grave markers.
Kidney adds the crews haven’t been able to clean up the cemetery recently because of the heavy rains for the past few weeks, but they have managed to control the growth in certain parts, especially near the gravesite of the infamous gunslinger John Wesley Hardin.
Ms. Kidney says, “It’s important to make sure the areas where the tourists are gonna go – that’s the first area that we want to get cleaned up.”
She addsthat shewants the entire cemetery weed-free by the end of October.
If any residents want to help clean up the cemetery, they cancall the Heritage Association at 591-2326.
