By ANGELO ARMBRISTER

Freeport News Reporter

angelo@nasguard.com

Island Administrator for West Grand Bahama Charles King said yesterday that relevant authorities are working quickly to bring full closure to the badly damaged cemetery in Eight Mile Rock.

His assurances come just weeks after a resident in Eight Mile Rock discovered the remains of a body part believed to have been unearthed during last year's storm.

Veronique Martin, whose story appeared in The Freeport News one week after she reported the morbid finding to Environmental Health, claimed that it has been some eight months since hurricane Wilma and there are open tombs still, with bones and clothing visible.

Administrator King said there has been an extensive clean-up campaign after Hurricane Wilma and the relevant authorities are still working to bring closure to that matter.

Hurricane season is almost here again and Mrs. Martin worries that if the proper authorities do not get those graves sealed off soon, they are going to have an even bigger problem when the next storm comes.

In the aftermath of hurricane Wilma, 54 coffins were unearthed from the public cemeteries in Pinders Point and Martin Town. Skeletal remains were also exposed and had to be recommitted, causing Prime Minister Perry Christie to declare that no new cemeteries would be built near the sea.

Noting that residents in that area need not panic, Administrator King said that there are no open graves and no access to any coffins in the cemetery located in Martin Town.

Mrs. Martin said the general consensus is that the grave site be sealed and memorialized with grass and a memory wall, where family members can come and visit if need be.

Suggesting that stone benches be put there and grass be planted, she said that there is already a budget in place for the up-keep of the site so maintenance should not be a problem.

According to Mr. King, engineers from the Ministry of Works have completed their assessments and are in the process of putting a plan in place to secure the cemetery.

He said the plan is to build a wall around the cemetery and clear the rocks and rubble deposited from Wilma's furry when it hit the south western coastline of Grand Bahama last year.

Mrs. Martin, in a Letter to the Editor of this daily, explained that her main concern is any heath risk that may be related with the incident.

"There is a stray dog problem and if my dog could bring home one part that we know of what about all the other dogs in the community? How can we be sure some contagious disease or diseases aren't being spread by the flies that are attracted to the exposed rotting flesh or the like in those open graves? How can we be sure that the awful odour we smell at times isn't a newly exposed dead body or a body part othat the dogs have carted about?," asked Martin.

Mr. King said he could not divulge anything until the Department of Environmental Health and the Ministry of Works had completed its investigations; however, he said he does not know of any health risk at this time.

He noted that the government will issue a full statement as it relates to this matter in very short order.