[HISTORY: Adopted by the Cemetery Commissioners
of the Town of Orange; approved at Town Meeting 5-7-2007 by Art. 43.[1] Amendments noted where applicable.]
A.
For the mutual protection of lot owners and the cemetery
as a whole, the following rules and regulations have been adopted
by the Orange Cemetery Commissioners and approved by Town Meeting
vote, pursuant to the Acts of 1890, Chapter 264, and MGL c. 114, § 23,
as the rules and regulations for all the Town of Orange cemeteries.
B.
All persons entering the cemetery, including lot owners,
and all property of the cemetery, including lots sold, shall be subject
to these rules and regulations and further to such other rules and
regulations, amendments and/or alterations adopted, pursuant to state
and local law, from time to time. Reference to these rules and regulations
in the deed to a lot shall have the same force and effect as if set
forth fully therein.
As used in this chapter, the following terms
shall have the meanings indicated:
A burial park for earth interments, a community mausoleum
for vault or crypt interments, or a columbarium for cremated remains,
or a combination of one or more of these herein.
The original conveyance given by the Town of Orange to the
original purchaser.
A place for burial that is 12 feet long by 36 inches wide.
The permanent disposition of the remains of a deceased person
by cremation or traditional burial.
A numbered division, as shown on the record plot, which consist
of one or more graves.
Any means used by the Cemetery Department to locate corners
of the lot or grave.
The person duly appointed by the elected Board of Cemetery
Commissioners for the purpose of ensuring the proper maintenance of
the cemeteries and the enforcement of the rules and regulations.
Small, flush, stone items used to identify the interred or
the corners of a lot, usually placed at the foot of a grave; also
refers to those items given to United States veterans to identify
interred.
A large memorial placed at the head of a lot centered upon
deeded graves. Some regulations may apply to size and location of
a monument. Written permission from the Superintendent is required
prior to installing an oversized monument. A schedule of allowed monument
sizes, voted on August 21, 2002, is available from the Superintendent.
A reinforced concrete grave liner box. No vault over 34 inches
in exterior width will be accepted for a single grave. If a lot owner
needs to use a vault larger than 34 inches in exterior width, two
graves will be required for the interment.
A.
Employees of the Cemetery Department are not permitted
to do any work for the lot owners, except upon order of the Cemetery
Superintendent, and are required to be courteous to all visitors.
B.
All fees or charges for services are payable to the
Town of Orange. Cemetery employees are not to be offered tips or gratuities.
C.
Persons within the cemetery may use only the avenues,
roads, walks and alleys, and no one is permitted to walk upon or across
lots or lawns unless it is necessary to do so to gain access to one's
own lot. The cemetery expressly disclaims liability for any injuries
sustained by anyone violating this rule.
D.
Whoever uses, as a means of passage from one point
to another, not being thereupon at the time for any other purpose,
the premises of the cemetery in any other parts than the avenues,
roads, walks and alleys shall be fined not more than $20, pursuant
to MGL c. 114, § 42.
E.
Picking flowers, wild or cultivated, breaking or injuring
any tree, shrub or plant, or writing upon, defacing or injuring any
memorials, fence, or other structures within the cemetery grounds
by any person is prohibited. Violation of this rule is also a violation
of state laws (MGL c. 272, §§ 73, 74, and 75), under
which violators may be subject to criminal prosecution resulting in
fines and/or imprisonment.
F.
Motor vehicles must be kept under complete control
at all times. When meeting a funeral procession, they must stop until
the procession passes. They must not pass a funeral procession going
in the same direction. Motor vehicles must not be left with the engine
running, and the emergency brakes must be set when the driver is not
in his/her seat. Mufflers must not be opened nor the horn sounded
within the cemetery.
G.
The following are prohibited:
(1)
Driving more than 10 miles per hour within the grounds
of the cemetery.
(2)
Driving any wheeled vehicle, motorized or otherwise,
or riding any animal across or upon any grave, lot or lawn or parking
or leaving the same thereon.
(3)
Parking or leaving any motor vehicle on any road or
driveway within the cemetery at such location or in such position
as to prevent any other vehicle from passing. The management will
have any vehicle violating this rule towed at the owner's expense.
H.
Children under 16 years of age are not permitted within
the cemetery, or its buildings, unless accompanied by a responsible
adult or having been given approval from the Superintendent.
I.
In order to maintain the solemnity of the cemetery,
the following activities are prohibited:
(1)
Loud or boisterous talking.
(2)
Loitering on the grounds or in any of the buildings.
(3)
Peddling or soliciting.
(4)
Placing of signs, notices or advertisements of any
kind.
(5)
Bringing dogs, other than service dogs, into the cemetery
is strictly prohibited.
(6)
Bringing firearms into the cemetery, except by a military
escort accompanying a veteran's funeral or attending memorial services.
J.
Special cases may arise in which the literal enforcement
of a rule may impose unnecessary hardship. The management, therefore,
reserves the right to make exceptions, suspensions or modifications
of any of these rules and regulations, without notice, when, in the
judgment of the management, such action appears necessary. Such temporary
exception, suspension or modification shall in no way be construed
as affecting the general application of such rules and regulations.
K.
The Cemetery Commission reserves the right to add
to, amend, alter or repeal these rules and regulations pursuant to
MGL c. 114, § 23.
A.
Persons desiring to purchase a grave, lot or lots
should contact the Cemetery Department, where the management will
aid them in making a selection and will issue a memorandum describing
the lot purchased.
B.
Before any stone, marker or shrubs are placed or planted
on a grave or lot, complete payment for the grave must be made to
the Town of Orange Cemetery Department for the lot, unless waived
by the Commission. Plots will be sold for cash at the time of signing
the purchase agreements. Plots may be purchased under a deferred payment
contract on which 30% of the purchase price must be paid upon signing
the contract and 10% of the purchase price is to be paid upon the
first business day of each month thereafter until the balance of the
purchase price is paid in full. If a plot is purchased under a deferred
payment contract and the purchaser fails to complete payment of the
full purchase price within 12 months from the date of the deferred
contract, the said contract shall be null and void at the end of the
twelve-month period, and the Commissioners will retain all monies
paid under said contract as liquidated damages or otherwise. The Cemetery
Commissioners will issue, when the lot is paid in full, a deed/certificate
of ownership for burial purposes.
C.
No lot or grave shall be used for any purpose other
than for burial of the human dead.
D.
No easement or right of interment is granted to any
grave owner in any road, drive, alley or walk within the cemetery,
but such road, drive alley or walk may be used as a means of access
to the cemetery or buildings as long as the management devotes it
to that purpose.
E.
The management reserves the right to:
(1)
Enlarge, reduce, replot, or change the boundaries
or grading of the cemetery, or a section or sections, from time to
time, including the right to modify or change the locations or remove
or regrade roads, drives or walks, or any part thereof.
(2)
Lay, maintain, and operate or alter or change pipelines
or gutters for sprinkler systems, water systems, drainage, etc.
(3)
Use cemetery property not sold to individual grave
owners for cemetery purposes, including interment of the deceased,
or for anything necessary, incidental or convenient thereto.
F.
The cemetery management and Commission reserves to
it and to those lawfully entitled thereto a perpetual right of ingress
and egress over graves for the purpose of passing to and from other
graves or lots.
G.
Descriptions of lots will be in accordance with the
cemetery plats, which are kept on file in the Orange Town Hall and
at the cemetery office.
H.
Management will take all reasonable precautions to
protect lot owners, and the property rights of grave owners, within
the cemetery from loss or damage, except for loss or damage from causes
beyond its reasonable control, such as damage caused by the elements,
an act of God, thieves, vandals, explosions, unavoidable accidents,
riots or order of any military or civil authority, whether the damage
be direct or collateral, other than herein provided.
I.
It is the duty of the grave owner to notify the management
of any change in mailing address.
J.
The instrument of conveyance, these rules and regulations,
and any amendments thereto constitute the sole agreement between the
Cemetery Commission and the grave owner. The statement of any employee
or agent, unless confirmed in writing by the Cemetery Commissioners,
shall in no way bind the Cemetery Commission, the management or the
Town of Orange.
A.
The general care of the cemetery is assumed by the
management and includes the cutting of the grass at reasonable intervals
and the raking and cleaning of the grounds.
B.
This general care shall in no case mean the maintenance,
repair or replacement of any memorial, tomb, or mausoleum placed or
erected upon lots, nor the doing of any special or unusual work in
the cemetery, except as authorized by the Cemetery Commission. Additionally
excluded is the reconstruction of any marble or granite work on any
section or grave or any portion or portions thereof in the cemetery,
caused by the elements, an act of God, thieves, vandals, explosions,
unavoidable accidents, or by the order of any military or civil authority,
whether the damage be direct or collateral, other than herein provided.
C.
Funds for this general care shall be provided by Town
appropriations pursuant to MGL c. 114, § 16.
D.
Pursuant to MGL c. 114, § 25, the Town of
Orange may receive gifts or bequests for maintenance of the cemetery.
These funds shall be paid to the Town Treasurer, kept separate from
other Town funds and accounts, and invested in accordance with any
stipulations from the grantor, if any. Proceeds of lot sales or rights
of burial shall be paid into the Town treasury and appropriated to
reimburse the Town for the cost of land, its care, improvement, and
embellishment, or the enlargement of the cemetery.
E.
Pursuant to MGL c 114, § 19, the Town of
Orange may receive, hold and apply any funds, money or securities
deposited with the Town Treasurer for the preservation, care, improvement
or embellishment of the cemetery or of lots in the cemetery. The Town
Treasurer shall invest these monies to ensure a maximum income.
The cemetery management or Commissioners reserve
and shall have the right to correct any errors that may be made by
it either in making interments, disinterments or removals, or the
description, transfer or conveyance of any interment property, either
by canceling such conveyance and substituting any conveying in lieu
thereof other interment property of equal value and similar locations
as far as possible, or as may be selected by the management, or, in
the sole discretion of the management, by refunding the amount of
money paid on account of said purchase. In the event such error shall
involve the interment of the remains of any person in such property,
the cemetery management or Commissioners reserve and shall have the
right to remove or transfer such remains so interred to such other
property, consistent with the law, of equal value and similar location
as may be substituted and conveyed in lieu thereof.
The laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts
govern descent of title to cemetery lots as well as other matters
pertaining to assignments, conveyances, devises, trust deeds and inalienability.
The management will assist any lot owner who desires information or
advice on questions pertaining to his/her lot.
A.
The cemetery will be open for interments at regular
rates between 8:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. Funerals
that will enter the cemetery after 2:00 p.m., Monday through Friday,
may be subject to extra fees. Saturday funerals are subject to higher
fees. No burials are to take place on Sundays, Memorial Day, Independence
Day, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day or New Year's Day. When Memorial
Day or Independence Day falls on a Saturday or Monday, and delay will
cause unreasonable hardship or inconvenience, interments may be made
on such days, but an additional fee will be added to the regular charge.
B.
Where immediate burial is required by state law or
under the rules and regulations of the Orange Board of Health, interments
may be made on Sundays and holidays, but an additional fee will be
added to the regular interment charge, and entrance to the cemetery
will be allowed only to the hearse and vehicles in the funeral procession.
C.
All funerals, upon entering the cemetery, shall be
under the charge of the management.
D.
Once a casket containing a body is within the confines
of the cemetery, no funeral director, or his/her staff, shall be permitted
to open the casket or to touch the body without the consent of the
legal representative of the deceased or by court order.
E.
Funeral directors, upon arrival at the cemetery, must
present the burial permit issued by the Board of Health.
F.
Lot owners shall not allow burials in their lots for
remuneration of any kind.
G.
One traditional burial and up to three cremation burials
or four cremation burials with no traditional burial are the maximum
allowed in any single grave. There shall be no interment of two or
more traditional burials in one grave, except in the case of parent
and child or two infants buried in one casket.
H.
When an interment is to be made in a lot, the lot
owner shall designate the location of such interment. Should the lot
owner fail or neglect to make such designation, the cemetery management
or Commissioners reserve the right to make the interment in a location
designated by the management.
I.
The management and the employees of the cemetery are
the only persons who will be permitted to open graves, with the following
exceptions:
(1)
When the cemetery is directed to make a disinterment
by judicial order and a certified copy of such order has been filed
with the management; or
(2)
When the Medical Examiner directs the disinterment
for the purpose of holding an inquest and has filed with the management
a legal, signed authorization to release the body to the Medical Examiner
or his/her lawful agent. In such cases, the Medical Examiner or his/her
lawful agent does the disinterment. Cemetery employees will not be
permitted to assist.
J.
In order to maintain a high standard of care and to
eliminate sunken graves caused by the collapse of wooden boxes, it
is required that all traditional burials must be made inside a vault.
The "outside" width of such vaults shall not exceed 34 inches. In
such cases where an oversize vault is needed to accommodate an oversized
casket, the lot owner will need to use two deeded graves. Burial vaults
may be procured from any source, provided that they meet the established
specifications. When cemetery employees handle or install such containers,
a reasonable charge will be made for such service.
K.
All charges for interment or services in connection
therewith shall be paid to the management before or at the time of
the burial.
L.
Arrangements for the payment of indebtedness due the
cemetery must be made before interment is made.
M.
The cemetery management or Commissioners reserve the
right to insist upon at least 36 hours' notice prior to any interment
and at least one week's notice prior to any disinterment or removal.
N.
All interments, disinterments, and removals must be
made at the time, in the manner, and upon the charges fixed by the
management.
O.
Besides being subject to these rules and regulations,
all interments, disinterments and removals are made subject to local
and state laws, bylaws, ordinances or regulations.
P.
The cemetery management or Commissioners will not
be responsible for any order given by telephone or for any mistake
occurring from the want of precise and proper instructions as to the
particular space, size of grave and location of a grave where interment
is desired.
Q.
The cemetery management or Commissioners will not
be liable for the interment permit nor for the identity of the person
sought to be interred.
A.
Monument gardens are permissible as long as they are
planted within the following guidelines:
(1)
Gardens shall not extend further than 12 inches from
the base of the monument.
(2)
No plantings or decorations shall be at foot markers,
with the exception of a veteran's flag. Plantings and decorations
may only be placed at the main lot monument.
(3)
Vines or creeping perennial flowers (i.e., phlox)
or rose bushes are not permissible.
(4)
Bark mulch and stones are not permitted in gardens.
(5)
Gardens may be edged with natural products only (i.e.,
bricks, rocks, pavers). No plastic edging, plastic fencing or metal
wire fencing may be used. The Cemetery Department will remove them.
(6)
No baskets or containers shall be wired down.
B.
No shrubs shall be planted without written consent
of the management. Shrubs shall not exceed 15 inches in diameter and
shall not grow higher than the monument (maximum height of three feet).
It is the lot owner's responsibility to maintain his/her shrubs within
these specifications. Any shrub planted without consent or overgrown
will be removed at the Cemetery Department's convenience.
C.
The management shall not be responsible for any kind
of plantings or lot decorations damaged by the elements, vandals,
thieves or other causes beyond its control. The management shall have
the further authority to remove all floral designs, flowers, weeds,
trees, shrubs, plants, herbage or decorations of any kind from the
cemetery as soon as, in the judgment of the management, they become
unsightly, dangerous, detrimental or diseased or do not conform to
the standard maintained.
D.
The Cemetery Department shall not be liable for floral
pieces, baskets or frames in which, or to which, such floral pieces
are attached nor for such floral pieces for memorial services held
in the cemetery.
E.
All decorations must be removed in the spring by April
15 and in the fall by October 1 for a period of two weeks for maintenance.
Decorations may be replaced after this two-week period.
F.
Cemeteries are closed between sunset and sunrise.
G.
Artificial flowers may be used to decorate lots between
December 1 and July 15.
H.
Family members and caretakers may place artificial
floral arrangements on the graves of their loved ones if they are
within 12 inches from the base of the monument, weighted down and
firmly secured to prevent blowing off the grave by the wind, from
May 1 thru October 1, in the cemeteries in the Town of Orange.
The management is hereby empowered to enforce
all rules and regulations and to exclude from the cemetery any person
violating the same. The management shall have charge of the grounds
and buildings, including the conduct of funerals, traffic, employees,
grave owners, and visitors, and at all times shall have supervision
and control of the cemetery and may remove any person violating any
of these rules.
