Sharing some links regarding Ohio House Bill 168 which just passed and is now headed to the Ohio Senate for review and hopefully will gain passage as well.
And,
Sadly, even active (current burial) cemeteries can become victims; victims of their owners who abandon them, which should be unheard of.
Fairview Memorial Park in Delaware County and Grandview Memorial Park, Ravenna, in Portage County, Ohio have lacked proper ownership for quite some time due to their owners becoming involved with criminal activity.
Also, there are two cemeteries in southern Ohio where the owners fled the state: Floral Hills Memory Gardens, Circleville in Pickaway County; and Floral Hills Memory Gardens in Chillicothe, in Ross County.
Volunteers are often the ones who are left behind to care for these "orphaned cemeteries" while they await new owners, which can be a long time coming. These are
cemeteries that have current and future burials; yet no one to maintain their grounds
and gravesites or their records.
Hopefully, House Bill 168 will also pass the Ohio Senate as it is the best legislation put forth to address these issues, and deserves to be enacted to save any other cemeteries that one day may be faced with such an unfortunate fate.
