Fireworks over cemetery policies

The city of Coeur d’Alene made two mistakes in its handling of some visitors on the Fourth of July.

The first mistake was locking a group of them inside Riverview Cemetery just after 7 that night when they refused to leave.

The second was quickly making promises under pressure that should have been more carefully considered first.

In case you missed it, a couple whose son was born on the Fourth of July and is buried at Riverview makes an annual event of celebrating the holiday near his grave. He was just 3 when he died eight years ago, and the family is joined by friends who choose to celebrate his short but bright life in what they consider fitting fashion, with dinner in the cemetery and a view of the fireworks over Lake Coeur d’Alene.

Unlike previous years, this time around a parks employee asked the visitors to leave and locked the gates to the city’s two cemeteries, Riverview and Forest, “to help prevent damage to this sensitive property,” a city spokesman said. Tempers flared on the Fourth when the visitors refused to leave and the gates at Riverview were locked. The city said enough space was left between the locked gates for people to squeeze through, an assertion that the trapped people denied. The group’s vehicles were outside the cemetery, and the visitors waited until a supervisor showed up to let them out.

Appropriately, the city apologized to the visitors for locking them in. But we wonder about the wisdom of determinations made after some public outcry.

According to a spokesman, the city will now keep the cemeteries open on future July Fourth nights. “Our intent was fully and absolutely to protect this sacred ground from fireworks damage, and we understand the family’s concerns,” the statement read.

So the family’s concerns outweigh those of dozens or perhaps hundreds of other family members who might prefer the cemetery closes at night “to protect this sacred ground?” Says who?

The confrontation and subsequent public relations nightmare could have been avoided had closure been posted at the cemetery that day. Better still, before deciding on any policy, the city Parks and Recreation Department could have done some simple research to see how other families with loved ones interred there would feel about keeping open or closing and safeguarding the grounds on a night known for full-blown partying.

We appreciate city officials’ sensitivity to a very delicate issue and quick response in apologizing. But we can’t help but think they overreacted and inadvertently compounded the problem, which just might blow up in their faces next Fourth of July now that everyone knows celebratory visitors are welcome to mingle with the dead.