# Grave concerns. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 25, 2013, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grave-concerns/651295 "2013-02-25T00:24:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![zamboniracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9a140/32.png) [@zamboniracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zamboniracer)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2013, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grave-concerns/651295/21 "2013-02-26T20:35:28Z")
> [@usedtobe](#): > > Look at ways to secure the stone so it would require heavy equipment to move it. > > Perhaps a hole 4’x4’x4’, with a 1" rebar loop protruding almost to the top of the stone, filled with concrete. > > Cut corresponding slot in stone, then pour high-strength cement over the rebar just before lowering the stone down onto the base. > > Most stones rely on gravity to keep them on their foundations, making them easy for drunk assholes to tip over. > > The stone is now, effective, a hundred pounds of granite joined to several hundred pounds of concrete - and the center of gravity is 2’ below the surface. > > It would require at least a medium-sized 'dozer to move such a thing. > > Propose this to the Priest - if his action is based on a fear of constant tipping, he should agree. > > If not, talk to the Bishop. About a week before going public. > It’s not like Bishops have a rep for intervening to stop bad behavior by a subordinate Priest. Usedtobe, what is your best dollar cost guestimate as to your first proposed solution? Talking to the priest/bishop would be a lot less expensive, I’m thinking. ---
**Author:** ![FrankJBN](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f0a364/32.png) [@FrankJBN](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FrankJBN)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2013, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grave-concerns/651295/22 "2013-02-26T20:41:01Z")
“Because jurisdiction often makes a difference in legal matters” While in general I would agree and in matters of alleged theft such as this I would tend to disagree, as indeed there are special and esoteric rules about cemetaries and graveyards I suppose it might well make a difference. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2013, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grave-concerns/651295/23 "2013-02-26T20:48:41Z")
> [@Larry\_Borgia](#): > > Could be GG Allin. Scroll to bottom of story. > > [http://swampyacresfarm.com/GGAllinsGrave.html](http://swampyacresfarm.com/GGAllinsGrave.html) Brilliant detective work Larry. What classy fans he has. ---
**Author:** ![FrankJBN](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f0a364/32.png) [@FrankJBN](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FrankJBN)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2013, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grave-concerns/651295/24 "2013-02-26T20:49:34Z")
That’s a hell of a find Larry Borgia. I would not be surprised if this is it. Based on the news article underneath, not restoring the gravestone to the grave seems a very reasonable course of action as it would seem to invite further desecration of what is thought to be (by those interring their relatives) holy ground. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2013, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grave-concerns/651295/25 "2013-02-26T21:16:19Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > Brilliant detective work Larry. What classy fans he has. Well, he was such a classy guy! Thanks for the complement, but all I did was Google a bunch of keywords from the OP. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2013, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grave-concerns/651295/26 "2013-02-26T21:42:56Z")
> [@Larry\_Borgia](#): > > Well, he was such a classy guy! True, he wasn’t going to be invited to tea at Downton Abbey or anything, but there’s a difference between disgusting behavior on-stage at your own concert, and that same disgusting behavior at a gravesite in a Catholic cemetery in a quiet New England town. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2013, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grave-concerns/651295/27 "2013-02-26T21:46:36Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > True, he wasn’t going to be invited to tea at Downton Abbey or anything, but there’s a difference between disgusting behavior on-stage at your own concert, and that same disgusting behavior at a gravesite in a Catholic cemetery in a quiet New England town. I concur. After reading the article, my sympathies are with the priest and the other families, who are having their loved ones’ graves disturbed by vandals on a regular basis. I can’t see GG Allin caring where he was buried, or wanting to be buried in a Christian cemetery at all. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2013, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grave-concerns/651295/28 "2013-02-26T22:19:51Z")
The OP asks about the legal standing of the deceased’s family, but it doesn’t sound like the family has any problem with the stone being stored out of harm’s way for awhile. If the family (GG’s mother, if it’s him) in on board with protecting the grave from vandals by removing the label, then friends and fans are SOL. I hope things settle down. This is a little, unfenced rural cemetary next to a highway. There is no security to keep up, beyond having the cops make a regular sweep through, which they’re doing. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2013, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grave-concerns/651295/29 "2013-02-27T22:02:52Z")
> [@Yllaria](#): > > The OP asks about the legal standing of the deceased’s family, but it doesn’t sound like the family has any problem with the stone being stored out of harm’s way for awhile. Actually, reading the linked website, there is the following comment: > [@](#): > > \*\*UPDATE(May 2010): I got in touch with Merle Allin (via his website). He emailed me the following: > > **"THE MOTHER F** \* CATHOLIC PRIEST HAS TAKEN THE STONE AND IS HOLDING IT HOSTAGE. I AM GOING TO SUE THAT F\*\*\*\* IF I CAN FIND A LAWYER IN N.H. THAT WILL TAKE THE CASE. YOU CAN READ THE ARTICLE THAT WAS IN THE PAPER HERE. > MERLE \*\* So apparently the family is not happy with the situation. I certainly sympathize with the priest, given the nature of the acts going on. It would be one thing if it were just leaving lots of stuff there as tributes, like beer or signs or such. But defecating? I think disinterring and moving him somewhere else makes sense. Where, though? Apparently the fans think this kind of shit is acceptable, so where can you move the body where they can either do these things or be prevented from doing these things more effectively? Certainly this cemetary isn’t set up for that kind of security. ---
**Author:** ![usedtobe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@usedtobe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usedtobe)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2013, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grave-concerns/651295/30 "2013-02-28T03:33:01Z")
Rural areas have abandoned “family” plots left when the pioneering familes decided that the place wasn’t going to be home to their descendents forever after. As a Scout, we made some money taking a weed-whacker (a real one) to a couple of these in the county which had ended up on public rights-of-way. Such a weed-overgrown spot would be ideal for a tiny town with a body is doesn’t want. But legally - what is the obligation created when you allow someone to plant a body in a cemetery you own? My anchor-it idea was based on the usual problem of stone tipping - a much more likely problem with a stone. If the problem is garbage being left, then you would not want any ID on the grave. And yes, if you find a performer who shits on stage attractive, I suppose shitting on his grave might be an appropriate remembrance - some people get flowers, some people get whiskey, some people… ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2013, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grave-concerns/651295/31 "2013-02-28T17:31:26Z")
What about if the family want’s a marker but the cemetary doesn’t want the “tributes”? ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2013, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grave-concerns/651295/32 "2013-02-28T17:55:21Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > Actually, reading the linked website, there is the following comment: > > So apparently the family is not happy with the situation. > > I certainly sympathize with the priest, given the nature of the acts going on. It would be one thing if it were just leaving lots of stuff there as tributes, like beer or signs or such. But defecating? I think disinterring and moving him somewhere else makes sense. Where, though? Apparently the fans think this kind of shit is acceptable, so where can you move the body where they can either do these things or be prevented from doing these things more effectively? Certainly this cemetary isn’t set up for that kind of security. That quote is from GG’s father. We’re into pure speculation here, but it says in the photocopied article on the website that GG is buried in Littleton because that’s where his mother lives. Also, his mother took him and his brother away from their father 40 years ago. So while his father is still his family, he’s quite possibly not the one who selected and paid for the cemetery plot and gravestone, and thus would have little or no standing for what should be done with the gravesite. ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2013, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grave-concerns/651295/33 "2013-02-28T17:58:31Z")
You know it’s funny but the very first thing I thought of when I first read this thread was GG Allin, because I knew HIS gravestone was a site for revelry and hooliganism. Odd that this might be (is?) the case. I only just learned about GG from the dope here a few months ago! ---
**Author:** ![usedtobe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@usedtobe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usedtobe)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2013, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grave-concerns/651295/34 "2013-02-28T23:32:35Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > T… would have little or no standing for what should be done with the gravesite. Actually, if there was a Q of who got the body - father or mother, and mother won (which kinda sounds like), the fact that he didn’t get the body assures the father does not have standing - which may explain why he’s having trouble finding a lawyer to represent him. (Well, that and the fact he’s a fruitcake) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grave-concerns/651295.md?page=1)