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Posted: Friday, 13 November 2009 6:02PM
Burials resume at Burr Oak Cemetery after scandal
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ALSIP, Ill. (AP) - Burials have quietly resumed at a historic black cemetery in suburban Chicago where former workers were accused of digging up hundreds of graves in a scheme to resell plots for money.
Authorities overseeing the Burr Oak Cemetery said Friday that more than 20 burials have taken place since October, although the facility remains closed to the general public while workers repair the grounds.
``It's a step to the ultimate future opening of the cemetery,'' said Howard Korenthal, the facility's court-appointed administrator. He said he hoped Burr Oak, which remains under bankruptcy protection, could open to visitors later this year.
Authorities shut down the cemetery in July and charged four workers with double-stacking some remains or simply tossing others in an alleged moneymaking scheme that stretched back at least five years.
Carolyn Towns, 49, Keith Nicks, 45, and Terrence Nicks, 39, all of Chicago, and Maurice Dailey, 59, of Robbins, all have pleaded not guilty.
About two burials now take place each day at the cemetery near Alsip, with employees locking the gates afterward, Korenthal said.
He said ongoing repairs include paving roads and erecting new signs to help future visitors find their way around the 150-acre grounds, the resting place of many notable black Americans, including civil rights-era lynching victim Emmett Till.
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Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
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