HAVERHILL — It's said fences make good neighbors.
In the case of Hilldale Cemetery, the issue of a fence is making for a less-than-neighborly situation.
The folks in charge of maintaining the cemetery's private section are at odds with their neighbor, the city, which is in charge of a section commonly known as the paupers cemetery.
The Hilldale Cemetery Association said installing a fence between the private section and the paupers section will help stop people from dumping debris there at night. That dumping happens when the gates to the private section are locked and vehicles enter the grounds through the entrance to the adjacent paupers section. The fence also could serve as a roadblock for snowmobiles that last winter raced around and caused damage, including knocking over headstones, the association said.
"We have enough chain-link fence, which was donated to us, but we need the city's help in digging the post holes and installing the posts," said Thomas Spitalere, president of the cemetery's board of directors.
Theresa Brown, board treasurer and secretary, said that she and board member William Copeland met with Mayor James Fiorentini in August to discuss the fence and were told they had his support.
"Since that time, Andrew Herlihy (Fiorentini's chief of staff) has been telling us that the city can't afford it," she said.
Copeland said that last month, a local fence contractor provided his board with an estimate of $800 to dig the holes and install fence posts. He said he provided the mayor's office with that estimate.
"Andrew (Herlihy) called me back to say the city could not afford $8,000, but I reiterated it was $800 and not $8,000 and to explain that to the mayor," Copeland said. "We've been waiting for an answer ever since."
Copeland said his board and volunteers will install the fencing and could use help from the city's Parks or Highway departments.
"We'll take any help we can get," he said.
Yesterday, Herlihy told The Eagle-Tribune he would research the matter, but he failed to call back to comment for this story.
The matter was placed on tonight's City Council agenda by Councilor James Donahue at the request of the cemetery association.
The association's leader said they want to have the fence up before winter.
"People have been entering the cemetery through the city entrance and dumping illegally, out of site of the road," Spitalere said. "The association cleans up what it can. And we anticipate another kind of problem this winter. We worry that snowmobiles will return and cause other problems."
The so-called paupers cemetery is where people with little or no money are buried.
Since January, the cemetery's new board of directors, along with volunteers, have removed truckloads of trash and brush from the private Hilldale Cemetery. They have reset dozens of toppled and broken headstones and are continually on watch for vandalism and trash dumping.
The board held various fundraising events this year, including ghost hunts and yard sales, to help pay for cemetery maintenance and restoration efforts.
Copeland said his board also is working with railroad officials on a plan to install fencing at the rear of the cemetery where it borders train tracks and a sand pit. He said this is an entry point into the cemetery for people on dirt bikes who have been causing problems on the property.
"A few weeks ago someone took down a no trespassing sign and cut up trees we were using to block paths the dirt bikes were using," Brown said. "They even took the wood."
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