Mr. Hains, You wrote: You don't have to worry about private contractors working for the local government, being paid by the job, and driving Zero-turn radius Xmart, or Skagg mowers that cut grass at 10 mph, and have a mower deck made from 1/4" thick steel, running into any, let alone some number of headstones and damaging them. As an individual and a business owner who hires private contractors for different purposes, I'm wondering why you as the "person in charge" (so to speak) don't require the contractors you hire to do a job properly? When I hire a contractor to do a job, the job is either done right - to the specifications or requirements I set out in the beginning - or the contractor isn't paid until it *is* done right. If the contractor causes damage, I expect the CONTRACTOR to be responsible for the repairs done correctly. As "local government" can you not set out your expectations and require that the mowing contractors do their job properly and not destructively? Could you set aside a little of that budget you have to contract out specialized trimming around the stones? You also wrote: You know what? Based on the posts I have read on this board, I have gotten the impression that most of you here live in counties that have governments that have NOTHING to do with maintaining and MOWING the cemeteries, let alone restoring them. Maybe some of the cemeteries are better off when government isn't involved. Doing the job improperly is not only, in the long-term, causing more harm but if the job has to be done again in the future, it costs even more. It sounds to me like you are trying to justify your methods because of the inablity to hire decent contractors to do the mowing. Diana Craig Busche --------------------------------- Click here to donate to the Hurricane Katrina relief effort.