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County attorney: law bans willful damage to cemetery plantings but allows routine maintenance; some ambiguity remains
Summary
County Attorney Mr. Hammock told the Caroline County Burial Sites Preservation Board that Maryland law forbids willful destruction of cemetery trees and plantings but expressly allows normal maintenance such as trimming, weed removal and grass cutting, leaving some implementation questions unresolved.
County Attorney Mr. Hammock told the Caroline County Burial Sites Preservation Board on Tuesday that Maryland law criminalizes willful destruction or removal of trees, plants or shrubs in a cemetery but also expressly allows “normal maintenance,” creating ambiguity the board said it must manage in practice.
Mr. Hammock read language from the criminal law provisions discussed in the meeting: “a person may not willfully destroy, damage or remove a tree, plant or shrub in a cemetery.” He added the statute also states the…
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