Nancy Hart Memorial Park issued penalties

In December, The Sun reported on the State of Georgia continuing to consider placing Nancy Hart Memorial Park (NHMP) in its receivership. Since then, the Secretary of State’s Board of Cemeterians has steadily continued their investigation and new details have emerged.

NHMP is one of multiple cemeteries owned by Russell Young, who works out of his Winder office in Barrow County and also owns cemeteries in Franklin and Jackson Counties. Young has previously said that the cemetery’s conditions are due to low staffing.

On Jan. 16, the Board of Cemeterians officially issued an emergency order for NHMP to cease and desist their violations of the Georgia Cemetery and Funeral Services Act of 2000. The order, which is publicly available through the Secretary of State’s office, says the Secretary of State “determined it is in the public interest to issue this Emergency Order.”

The order came with a hefty civil penalty of $100,000 for negligence that has been investigated by the Board of Cemeterians. In addition to the $100,000 fine, NHMP is also required to pay $10,000 (to be paid within 30 days “of the entry of a final order by the Secretary of State”) to cover the Secretary of State’s office’s cost of investigation.

The order included a lengthy list of the Board of Cemeterians’ “findings of fact” concerning the state of the cemetery. These include sunken graves, vases broken or missing from grave markers, pieces of granite lying on the ground, and a myriad of other observations from an inspector between August to December 2023. Within the “findings” the report also notes instances in which Young “engaged in a persisting and systematic failure to provide for care and maintenance of the cemetery” after stating he would repair damage. This includes damage to its mausoleums, which Young reported a plan to repair in August. These damages still remained in December.

“[NHMP] will now have to answer to that cease and desist order, which means they’ll have to show cause and clean it up and fix it up, or there will be other remedies imposed by a judge,” Rep. Alan Powell explained. “Like all legal proceedings, they’ve got a number of days that they can respond and then there will be a hearing set up for the cease and desist at which time they can refute the charges made or not. And at that point it goes to…a ruling by the administrative judge.”

As far as criminal charges, Rep. Powell stated this week that he had not heard of any at this time; these would have been included in the emergency order. Rep. Powell stated the timeline for payment of the $100,000 fine depends on the judge’s orders, to be determined.

“Our concern’s with the good folks of Hart County and who have family members out there. Their concerns are that things aren’t the way they ought to be done, [so it needs to be] fixed up to where it’s presentable and people can get around to visiting loved ones,” Rep. Powell added.

One such Hart County citizen who has a family member buried at NHMP spoke to The Sun about the cemetery’s conditions. The source wished to remain anonymous.

“My mom’s grave was left in a mess the day she was buried. When I went back out there, in a couple of weeks her grave was fixed. Then when we had the downpours a few months ago…the grave was sunk in very bad,” they said. “It was definitely a mess when they closed my mom’s grave the day she was buried. They left about a foot trench all the way around that grave that was deep; it was not filled in properly.”

The source added, “That cemetery needs to be taken over by a local person…and there’s a lot of work that needs to be done. The sidewalks need to be fixed; they’re cracking. The steps–on one end of it you can barely walk down because you would fall and get hurt. It is in a mess.”

Another Hart County resident told The Sun the conditions at NHMP are “a shame and disgrace.”

“My mother is in that small mausoleum and it’s falling apart,” the source said. “I am very, very upset with it being in as bad shape as it is. The top is messed up and I know it’s raining,”

James Fulghum, Commander of American Legion Post 109 (who also spoke with The Sun in February 2023 about the conditions in NHMP), stated this week that the American Legion has taken it upon themselves to replace the American flags there because otherwise, they go unreplaced. He also pointed out that the cemetery is not wheelchair accessible. Fulghum’s mother and his father, a WWII veteran, are buried at NHMP.

“We got about 600 veterans buried out there at Nancy Hart. Me being on American Legion, it just burns me up, the way it is out there,” Fulghum said. “[Young] just don’t care…That’s the bottom line.”

“I don’t know if anything is ever gonna be done…but the state needs to take it away from [Young] and maybe let someone buy it, maybe someone local,” Fulghum said. “Someone that owns it local[ly] would keep it up, because they wouldn’t want to be living in their hometown with the cemetery looking like that…If you don’t belong to a church and don’t get buried in a church cemetery, this is Hartwell’s main burial place.”

Robert Sinners, communications director at the Secretary of State’s office, said the only update he could share at this time is that “our office is actively working with Nancy Hart’s attorney to find a resolution.”

Young was unavailable for comment before press time; similarly, The Sun was unable to reach his attorney by press time.