by Joseph Back

Oakland Cemetery will soon be getting a new sign with depot-sourced elements, following the breakdown and removal of the old sign and pending the pouring of a new slab.

Up at 624 North Franklin, meanwhile, a house that burned under suspicious circumstances in March has just had to address a reported rodent infestation on site, with calls from Stanley police chief Lance Weiland for the city to take action in the interest of public health. Weiland had previously called for rodent control action which was done by the property owner, with fallout “Although the property owner is trying to address the problem at the property, the fallout from that is the issue the rats are causing once they leave the property and end up dying elsewhere,” Weiland wrote of the problem property. With maggots and flies caused when the rats die, the long-term solution, could be razing the site.

“In speaking with the insurance company, the short of a long story that I am getting from that is that a best case scenario is that it would be the turn of the new year before they would be to the point to have the property taken down, site cleared, and ground restored,” Weiland wrote, then turning to the county health end. “The county health department would only get involved if the property was inhabited by humans as their role then would be to potentially placard it until the necessary changes are made. As this is not a situation where someone is living on the property, a raze order would appear to be the most appropriate option at this point to move forward with addressing the matter.” Pending further developments then, expect flat ground at some point on north Franklin Street.

Down at the cemetery, meanwhile, the question of building a new sign to replace the old one was brought up in the report of public works operator- in-charge John Hoel, “We removed the old sign/ planter box at the cemetery as it was in very poor shape,” Hoel wrote the Council of the sign on Pine Street. “We will be pouring a new concrete slab in place of the old sign. Our plan is to use two of the fence panels we removed from the depot and mount the stone signs to those panels to create a new sign,” he wrote. The public works department would be meeting with Jim Lorenz of Excel Steel to discuss options for support columns for the panels.

“Once all of this is in place the columns would be Abel to have stone or some other type of decorative item attached to them to dress up the sign,” Hoel went on. “As far as flowers go, we currently have two large flower pots that can be placed in front of the sign each spring with fresh flowers. This will look very nice and be a very cost effective replacement for the old sign/planter box.”