DALLAS — A family who planned to celebrate the Easter holiday by visiting their loved ones at a cemetery in Southeast Dallas said that visit turned out to be traumatizing.
Latrice Hines was tearful and her voice shaky, as she recorded a video from Lincoln Memorial Cemetery for Facebook Live on Saturday.
"If y'all have loved ones out here, buried out here at Lincoln, y'all need to get out here and check on them,” Hines said in the video. ”This is uncalled for. This is really unacceptable."
Hines’ sister, Sandra Hines-Hoskins, was buried at Lincoln Memorial Cemetery three months ago. Right now, family members are describing the ground around her gravesite as appearing overturned. There are large piles of dirt near the plot. Large track marks from heavy equipment are present. There are also wooden boards that have allegedly been left in the area for weeks, among other issues. The family said the gravesite appears to have been desecrated.
“To be honest, I feel like I'm standing in the middle of a dump,” Hines said.
This isn’t the first time families have complained about conditions at Lincoln Memorial Cemetery.
“I was pissed off about the way this cemetery was being held,” Deven Venters said while visiting his family’s plots back in September 2022.
Several families, at the time, spoke out about problems including overgrown grass, damaged headstones, and loved ones’ grave markers sinking into the ground.
“We can't find them and they have headstones,” Tabrasha Remmy explained in September 2022.
Back then, the cemetery’s General Manager, J. Kirby Pulliam, said the issues were due to rain.
Several attorneys in Texas familiar with funeral and cemetery negligence cases said consumers do have rights under the law.
Patrick Carew and Rafael De La Garza have no connection to Lincoln Memorial Cemetery nor any of the families who spoke with WFAA-TV. Both attorneys advise anyone experiencing issues with a cemetery to first speak with the operator or staff about the problem.
“Often you can get to a resolution of your concern,” Carew said.
If the staff is unresponsive, there are other options.
“You may be able to pursue a complaint with the Texas Funeral Services Commission,” Carew said.
Attorneys also suggest filing a complaint with the Texas Department of Banking, the licensing and oversight agency for cemeteries.
“Documentation is a huge deal,” De La Garza said. He and his team suggest taking photos of any issues you observe, reporting them to cemetery operators, and requesting an incident report.
Consumers also have the right to pursue civil litigation, should it get to that point.
"As long as I got breath in my body, if I have to come out here every day, I'm going to do that. And I'm going to take pictures every day until something is done,” Hines said tearfully.
No one from Lincoln Memorial Cemetery has responded to requests for comment about the most recent concerns.