FORT SMITH, Ark. — Some families have been left angry and confused after a local cemetery removed personal items from graves.
Susie Nolte's father Danny passed away a little over a year and a half ago from lung cancer. Now, the tradition for Nolte and her son is to share ice cream with her dad at Oak Cemetery.
"It says 'Papa Candy,' because every time the kids would come over, he would come out with handfuls of candy. And the kids would come up and say, "Papa Candy, Papa Candy". So, his nickname stuck as Papa Candy throughout his whole life.
"As he was going through cancer at the end, he always wanted ice cream. He wanted a root beer float," Nolte added.
Nolte visits her father's grave often and makes sure to keep it well decorated, but that suddenly changed for the Noltes on Wednesday.
"I came back out yesterday to decorate for St. Patrick's Day to find out that everything had been removed. I was extremely angry and upset that everything was gone," Nolte shared. "Now, I don't know what we're going to do. Because it was a tradition that we came out and painted things to place around his cemetery plot. Now we can't put anything there."
In February, Oak Cemetery was mandated by the Fort Smith Parks and Recreation Department to remove all decorations and items around gravesites to better maintain the condition of the plots.
"When there are little figurines and fences and things of that nature on the ground, it takes additional time to maintain the cemetery. Also, it is in city code that items such as that are not permitted," said Fort Smith City Administrator Carl Geffkin.
He adds that signs were placed around the entrances beginning in September along with two city ordinances notifying residents of the removal.
Geffkin says the city has collected all the items and will keep them in storage until March 22nd for owners to collect.
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