Cheyenne's city cemeteries are rapidly filling up

“It's a dead man's party, who could ask for more?

Everybody's comin. Leave your body at the door.”

– Oingo Boingo 

BY RICHARD JOHNSON

How many of you think of death? The loss of a loved one? Who will be the executor or have the power of attorney? 

The siblings fight for items and the pieces of the pie left to them in the will. Damn, they aren’t even in the ground yet. 

Do we even have a family plot? You better hope you do because the local cemeteries don't. 

Here’s some statistics 

Lakeview: 554 – Most of these spaces are along the fence lines or are single spaces throughout the cemetery. Many are near roadways, directly under trees and do not allow for family plots. These spaces have proven to be less desirable to the public and hard to sell.

Beth El: 251 – Available to the general public – most are single spaces    

Veterans: 522

Green Burials: 104. These, according to funerals.com, are: burials that emphasize

Lakeview Cemetery has few spaces left for purchase.

simplicity and environmental sustainability. The body is neither cremated nor prepared with chemicals, such as embalming fluids. It is simply placed in a biodegradable coffin or shroud and interred without a concrete burial vault.

You may think the “Pet Sematary” route is the way to go, but according to city code: "No person shall inter the dead body of a human being within the city unless such interment is made in a cemetery and in the manner provided by this chapter." 

Keeping in the horror movie theme, at least we won’t have “Poltergeist” under city code.

If you think this isn’t a serious topic, maybe a statement from the Laramie County coroner will show the gravity of the situation:

“Our cemeteries are running out of room, whether they are privately owned or owned by the City. The population is growing each year, no matter if we like it or not. Due to the rising cost in burials, more people have started turning to cremations for their loved ones. When burying someone not only do you have the cost of what the funeral home may charge you, you also have the cost of opening and closing of the graves, and that’s a cost most don’t think about.

“You still have your large portion of families who still believe in old-school burial as you may call it. With that being said, if the population keeps rising like it has, then more land needs to be designated for the city or funeral homes may have to buy more land to accommodate the population growing for local burials.”

In the libertarian vein, most would say, “Let the private sector handle it.”

So far there haven’t been many offers to the city to pick up this macabre industry.

Community Recreation and Events, which manages the cemeteries (someone might want to think about changing cemeteries to another agency), has tried to have an additional cemetery added near the High Plains Arboretum west of the city. They have tried to place on the sixth-penny ballot more cemetery space, to no avail.

On the next ballot, this needs to be present, just for health reasons alone. Currently, there is no funding to make this happen. 

It always come down to money, and just like funerals, cemeteries aren’t cheap. You want to speak of needs vs. wants, here is a topic that isn’t going away. 

Death isn’t a fun topic, and I’m sure grieving families really don’t want to hear, “There is no room at the inn.” 

To paraphrase “The Princess Bride,” never argue when death is on the line. It’s inconceivable.

Richard Johnson is a former City Council member from Ward 3, on the city’s east side.