Debris to be Removed from Cranston Cemetery

CRANSTON, RI—An enormous pile of garbage, including stacks of old tires, was dumped in Pocasset Cemetery.

And it's all going to be carted out soon.

George Daigneault, who has devoted himself as a volunteer at the cemetery, discovered the junk on Thursday morning. He said police and the mayor's office were been notified. But later, he said, he learned that there was a recent cleanup along the Pocasset River and the group that put in the effort has plans to have it removed.

Daigneault said he wishes he knew about the cleanup sooner, or he'd not called police. But it's hard to blame the man for thinking it was yet another illegal and disrespectful act.

The cemetery is routinely used by criminals to offload debris and garbage, but they rarely dispose of such a large amount at one time.

Daigneault spends hours at the cemetery unearthing buried headstones, organizing cleanups and giving the dead the respect they deserve. Time and time again, he's the one who discovers piles of brush and garbage, or toppled headstones and vandalism.

Dumping has been a repeated problem at the cemetery, which contains graves that date back to 1732.

One of the graves belongs to the only Congressional Medal of Honor recipient buried in Cranston: John Edwards, a Captain of the Top in the Union Navy who fought in the Civil War.

Before Daigneault came along to sweep away the decades of dirt, Edwards' plot was essentially forgotten. Today, it is framed with a spread of crushed stone and bordered with garden bricks. A silver star holds a United States flag in recognition of this man who refused to go below deck aboard the U.S.S. Lackawanna as rebel fire struck his vessel. He took the place of the first captain and continued to fight, which lead to the capture of the ram Tennessee and the destruction of Confederate batteries at Fort Morgan.

Diagneault, a retired Air Force Sergeant, like Edwards', is refusing to go below deck, too. Once again, he'll help clean up this mess.

For more information about the cemetery, and to be notified of cleanup and other volunteer opportunities, head over to the cemetery's Facebook page.