Tears In First Parish
Posted on August 2, 2016 by Kathy Clark
Everyday when I come in to the cemetery off Centennial the piles of dog poop are growing in number and size. Evidently cleaning up the First Parish and Clark cemeteries has opened up a new dog park as well as a short cut and easy access to the party center in the back corner of Clark.
I was cleaning marble fragments in hopes of finding the missing pieces of our Douglass family graves. Didn’t find any new engravings, just blank pieces. I sat on the ground next to our cousin William who gave his life as a Union Soldier. There was a fresh pile of dog poop on his grave.
A lady walked into the cemetery with two dogs. I asked her if she had bags to pick up after her dogs who were clearly in the cemetery to do their job. She took offense and said there were bags in her satchel. She let the dogs off the leash to run all over the place. Then a lady came in from Oval Park and let her three dogs go. I watched one of the dogs poop. After some time I decided to walk over to Clark. I passed the nice fresh poop from lady number two.
As I neared the wall to go into Clark. The women came out with all five dogs on the loose. Lady number two practically ran for the Oval Park exit, calling Rufus and Nellie as she went. Lady number one headed back to Centennial, all the while muttering about me being crazy and mocking the way I was standing with my hands on my hips. (Sorry lady, my back was hurting from weed chopping.)
Thus, the tears. I am not asking for thanks for what I do, but I don’t like being disrespected and treated like some kind of weirdo.
Good Morning Gloucester 
Please people, be respectful and clean up after your dog.
A group of us are working to clean up and restore the broken headstones.
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Kathy ~ thank you so much for what you do. As a visitor, coming hometown Gloucester, a visit to the cemetery is always a part of my stay. I appreciate the care, thought and time you take to do what you do.
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Bad dog owners,
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Ohhh Kathy, I am so, so sorry that happened to you.
Thank you for all that you do for the cemetery.
I’ve been thinking a great deal about littering and troublesome dog owners and think our community can up with solutions, in addition to the excellent ones already in place. I think this is a winter project.
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First it’s the dog owners ignoring the beach restrictions and harassing people and nesting plovers. Now it’s the dog owners defiling cemeteries with dog poop. When is the City going to stop kowtowing to the CRAZY PET PEOPLE?
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Thank you for the dedication and work you have toward maintaining the cemeteries. I’m sorry that you have had rude encounters with a a few disrespectful dog owners. I have brought my dogs to a cemetery only briefly if I’m there to care for the flowers. They usually stay in the car and I don’t allow them to urinate or defecate on someone’s grave. A cemetery isn’t a park. I think so many don’t have a place to let their dogs run and view the cemetery as a “safe zone”. They really need to be responsible and clean up!!
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Please, I know it makes good press to post “horror stories” about bad dog owners, but a lot of us are going above and beyond to get along and find solutions, If you have a complaint and can identify the miscreants, have the courage to report these scofflaws to the authorities who can do something about it. Also, please be aware that the fewer legal places dogs can be (and btw dogs are not allowed in any cemeteries in Gloucester) the more people either try to disappear into the shadows with their dogs or alternately just ignore the laws that are currently on the books. We need more and better options and practical laws for the thousands of dogs and their human who live here, They and we are not just going away. Only one dog park for off leash dogs for the 5 “summer months” of the year is hardly adequate, Let’s be realistic here.
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Where do I make a report? I have a photo of the unleashed dog in full process of doing his business! When owner whistled to the dog, from his yard, the dog ran to him, went up the clif and into the house. I asked the owner to remove the poop ~ 3 feet from my beach chair ~ nope ~ they both went in the house. Please advise and I will provide ~
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P.S. Kathy and all who are working on clean ups of all sorts in Gloucester, thank you. You have my sympathy, truly. Many dog owners are doing the same, and we pick up all sorts of litter, not just pet litter if we see it when we are out walking our dogs. It is remarkably frustrating to see that some people just don’t seem to care or they are too entitled to think the laws or plain old common decency are meant for them.
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Sorry to see this I did post but got moderated! 😦
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