The Clayton County Board of Commissioners voted to permit the transfer of 67 graves during a recent commission meeting. The request to relocate the .28 acre area of the former Union Bethel AME Church Cemetery came from the present owner of the property, Stephens Industries, which also paid for the transfer.
The graves will be placed at the Perpetual Care Cemetery, 350 Upper Riverdale Road in Jonesboro, where 343 graves were previously re-interred in Nov. 2009. The owner recently acquired more of the former church property and again asked Clayton County for permission for the re-interment, which has so far cost nearly $500,000.
In 2009, the state NAACP called for the state attorney general’s office to investigate a county board after it voted to move about 300 African-American graves from that same site. The civil rights organization alleged that all of the commissioners received political campaign donations from Stephens Industries.
Company officials said it made political donations, but not to gain approval for removing the graves. Eldrin Bell, Clayton County Commission chair at the time, said he disclosed receiving money and felt the project was in the best interest of the county.
The company contends it has not disturbed a single grave, and said it is put the graves in a more accessible location.
Information: Mike Reynolds at 678-638-4128 or Brockington and Associates Inc., 3850 Holcomb Bridge Road, Suite 105, Norcross, GA 30092.
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