At its meeting on June 19, 2012, the City Council of the City of Mineral Wells, Texas approved several policy changes concerning the operation of the Woodland Park Cemetery. Among the changes were polices affecting the placement of items on gravesites to include American flags on the graves of Veterans. These changes would allow for the placement of American flags on the gravesites of Veterans for a two week period during both the Memorial and Veterans’ Day holidays. This was done in recognition of the long held practice in the community of placing flags at the graves of all Veterans in the Cemetery during that time of special recognition. The policy was adopted by the Woodland Park Cemetery Board following a number of meetings over a period of months at which the public had the opportunity to attend. The last two meetings of the Board were held with the specific idea of receiving citizen input on these new rules and policies affecting the Cemetery. The last of these meeting was publicized on the front page of the local newspaper. No one appeared or expressed any concerns or opposition to the proposed policy regarding the placement of flags on Veterans’ graves. Based upon that, the Board voted to recommend the entire slate of policy revisions to the City Council.
Within a few days, the City received a complaint from a local veteran regarding these rules of the placement of American flags on the graves of Veterans. The following day, a meeting of the Cemetery Board was called to reconsider this issue and determine if a change in the rules would be appropriate. That meeting is scheduled to be held on July 10. The City Council will meet in joint session with the Cemetery Board at that time.
The City of Mineral Wells would like to clarify its position in that this action was not in any way taken with the intention of bringing any dishonor or disrespect to any of our Veterans, past or present. To the contrary, the Mineral Wells community has a long and storied history with the military as this was the home of Camp Wolters and later, Fort Wolters during the World War II and Vietnam eras. This is a history which we celebrate and treasure within our community.
As noted previously, when concerns were raised about this matter, these concerns were taken very seriously and the process was set in motion to reconsider this issue. It is our belief that we can resolve this issue in a manner that will allow us all to honor our Veterans in a fitting manner.
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