Construction Noise Seeping Into Ceremonies at Fayetteville National Cemetery
By: Cassidy Hodges and Joel Kattner
Updated: May 30, 2012
"This is a very peaceful place," says Jeff Cumpston.
Fayetteville national cemetery.
"I don't know if you've ever came in here at 6 a.m. Oh you can feel the peace and the serenity on these grounds, it just touches your heart," says
But now . . .
"The hammering, the sawing and the noise," says Gloria Bailey, the cemetery director.
All sounds that veterans aren't happy to hear, especially during Monday's Memorial Day ceremony.
"They were playing taps and I could here this saw in the background. And it's like, really?" says James Shelley, an Army veteran.
The noisy neighbor is a new apartment complex geared toward students.
"Hopefully the people that move into these apartment will be the kind of folks that take some care with their neighborhood and maybe have some reverence for what surrounds them," says
But in the meantime, there's all kinds of banging.
"At some point we accept the reality. It may not be the one we choose," says Jeff Cumpston.
Because veterans didn't let the land go without a fight.
"There was a lot of effort made by a lot of people, my dad included, to try and acquire that property. They just weren't able to do it," says Cumpston.
So now, funerals are accompanied by this.
"The developers should really be aware of the placement of these apartments and the gravity of this place," says Shelley.
But Director Gloria Bailey says her hands are tied.
"My jurisdiction is within these gates and I can go over and ask, but I can't go over and tell them to stop working," says Bailey.
A lot of families aren't just upset about hammering, it's a matter of respecting those who gave their lives for our country.
"As a veteran, I feel that the men and women who are laid to rest here, they deserve the peace. Their loved ones and the people who come to visit, deserve, whenever they're here, to share in that peace and to have that peace," says Shelley.
Fayetteville national cemetery.
"I don't know if you've ever came in here at 6 a.m. Oh you can feel the peace and the serenity on these grounds, it just touches your heart," says
But now . . .
"The hammering, the sawing and the noise," says Gloria Bailey, the cemetery director.
All sounds that veterans aren't happy to hear, especially during Monday's Memorial Day ceremony.
"They were playing taps and I could here this saw in the background. And it's like, really?" says James Shelley, an Army veteran.
The noisy neighbor is a new apartment complex geared toward students.
"Hopefully the people that move into these apartment will be the kind of folks that take some care with their neighborhood and maybe have some reverence for what surrounds them," says
But in the meantime, there's all kinds of banging.
"At some point we accept the reality. It may not be the one we choose," says Jeff Cumpston.
Because veterans didn't let the land go without a fight.
"There was a lot of effort made by a lot of people, my dad included, to try and acquire that property. They just weren't able to do it," says Cumpston.
So now, funerals are accompanied by this.
"The developers should really be aware of the placement of these apartments and the gravity of this place," says Shelley.
But Director Gloria Bailey says her hands are tied.
"My jurisdiction is within these gates and I can go over and ask, but I can't go over and tell them to stop working," says Bailey.
A lot of families aren't just upset about hammering, it's a matter of respecting those who gave their lives for our country.
"As a veteran, I feel that the men and women who are laid to rest here, they deserve the peace. Their loved ones and the people who come to visit, deserve, whenever they're here, to share in that peace and to have that peace," says Shelley.
