cemetery becomes battle ground Reporter: Randy Moore WTVW CHANNEL 7 Ohio County, KY June 14 -- An Ohio County, Kentucky family is furious about the desecration of a historic cemetery in the tiny town of Echols. The cemetery is believed to be a slave and Indian burial ground. The family says it is certain that graves have been looted and they suspect that a house is actually resting on several final resting places. Getting to the bottom of this is going to take a lot of time and work. Marie Boss,87, always thought she'd be buried in Tunnel Hill Cemetery, right next to her husband, Ben. Randy: "When your time comes, do you want to be buried there?" Marie: "Well, I did, but I changed my mind." And here's why. Tunnel Hill Cemetery is in ruins. Linda Moss says the cemetery used to be a slave and Indian cemetery and blacks continued to use it until 1991. That's when Linda buried her father there. A lot of Linda Moss' family has been buried there. She says a lot of the graves have been vandalized. She says some have actually been dug up and robbed. "When they buried someone, they was buried with their valuables like that gold, rings, artifacts, arrowheads, bows and all that," explained Tim Moss. We did come across a depression in the ground that looked like it could have been the work of grave-robbers. Randy: "Somebody dug it up? Linda: "Uh huh. And there were stones here. They all had markers. You don't see nothing'." The markers might be gone, but the memories are not. Linda moss remembers graves all over the ground. Moss says there are even graves...under a house on the property. Donald and Kathy Holland don't believe it. They moved in 1989. Their side yard is where the road to the cemetery used to be. They don't mind visitors to the graveyard, they just don't want them driving through the yard to get there. Donald: "Ya'll don't understand. That's my septic tank system right there." Linda: "You don't understand that's graves right there." Randy: "What's the issue for you all, just access to your families grave sites? Linda: "Yeah and get off those graves. Like a said, that is a grave. Those are graves." The Hollands say they can't understand Linda Moss's sudden interest in the cemetery. They say they've only seen her here twice in the last ten years. After meeting with the sheriff, the Hollands agreed to allow the Moss's a right of way out on the edge of their property. "Something like that...we'll work it out with them," Donnie said. "But I don't want them to come across my septic tank." But the Moss's won't agree. They say the old right of way was taken from them and they can't afford to build a new one. Besides, Linda Moss says the issue is bigger than the right of way. Linda: "You cannot build on no cemetery. What are you going to do about destroying those markers and all that stuff, shooting them up and all this stuff?" Sheriff Elvis Doolin: "Well, that's why we're investigating." Randy: "As you continue to investigate, will you be looking to see if, indeed, there are graves on the Holland property and even under the Holland house?" Sheriff: "I will do the best I can." In the meantime, Marie Moss will look for another final resting place. "Don't think I want to be there." We checked with various governmental agencies. County Judge-Executive Dudley Cooper says because a county road is not involved, he has no jurisdiction. Property valuation administrator Jason Chinn says because cemeteries are tax exempt, he has no jurisdiction. And no one seems to know who owns the cemetery. The Holland's rightly own their 3-quarters of an acre, but the Moss's say the Holland house was originally a much smaller store building. They say over the years, the house and yard have expanded over the top of the cemetery. That's going to be very difficult to prove, but Linda Moss says she is not going to give up her fight to protect the sanctity of the cemetery and we will follow her progress. ==================== Please Pray for my daughter Tabitha and grandaughter Hallie. Protect Our Children & Prevent Domestic Abuse http://endabuse.org/programs/children/ "Children are the anchors that hold a mother to life. " Sophocles