Heroes honored with wreaths at Houston National Cemetery

  HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Veterans are being remembered this holiday season with wreaths at Houston National Cemetery.

Thousands of people attended Saturday morning's ceremony, which included a moment of silence and a flyover in honor of the dead as part of National Wreath Day.

Volunteers placed nearly 40,000 wreaths on the graves of local veterans.

The annual Wreath Day started at Arlington National Cemetery 20 years ago and is now observed across the country.

(Copyright ©2012 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.) Get more Local »

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Historic Alief Cemetery now under maintenance of Harris County

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- The Houston area has some historic cemeteries that are badly in need of cleanup. Often it's done by neighborhood groups, but in Alief the job was just getting to be too much for volunteers.

So the county has stepped in to pay some tribute to the past and create a park-like space for the community.

Surrounded by traffic that passes by day and night is a reminder of what Alief once was -- a farming community founded on the fields southwest of Houston. And Alief Cemetery was its burial ground for pioneer families, with lives that bridged the 1800's and 1900's.

The hard life reflected in some of the markers and the ages at which they died.

Volunteers did what they could over the years. One man mowed it a bit at a time, day by day. A Boy Scout troop and students helped out, but more consistent attention was needed.

Over time, the cemetery was forgotten, but later rediscovered by Marie Lee.

"Where people threw their trash, where builders threw their old concrete, and it was just a big mess," said Lee, with the Alief Community Association.

She and other volunteers cleaned it up when they could, but the job required more than that. So their county commissioner took the Alief Cemetery on as a precinct project.

State law allows counties to maintain historic cemeteries without perpetual care. Harris County Commissioner Steve Radack decided Alief Cemetery qualified.

"You go from something that people are appalled by to something they take pride in," said Commissioner Radack.

On Tuesday, county crews mowed the grass, county inmates collected trash, and a survey was taken for a fence that will surround the cemetery.

For Ernest Kobs, a Precinct 3 employee, it's both a job and a labor of love.

"People have a fear of being forgotten and I want to make sure people are not forgotten," Kobs said.

There are ghost stories about the cemetery -- strange lights and tales of an apparition near the graves. That doesn't frighten Marie Lee. But if there are ghosts here, she hopes they'll appreciate what the living have done for the dead.

"They've got a good haunting place now. At least they can find where they want to go," Lee said.

It's the third cemetery project Precinct 3 has adopted. Radack sees it as creating a community asset which can serve as a park-like setting for neighbors.

The inmate labor is free. The only cost to the precinct is fuel to transport people and equipment.

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DNA links man to theft of three golf carts at Houston National Cemetery

Robert Torres, 32, is charged with theft.

  HOUSTON (KTRK) -- DNA from blood left behind at the crime scene has linked a man to the theft of three golf carts at Houston National Cemetery.

According to court documents, the cemetery foreman told police that he closed the cemetery on the afternoon of Friday, December 16, 2011 and when he returned the following Monday, he discovered that three utility carts had been stolen. The foreman said a fourth golf cart had been tampered with and blood was left on the floor.

In addition, two wheels were stolen off a utility trailer and the foreman told police that a pickup truck and a Chevrolet Uplander were damaged in an attempt to steal them.

On January 31 of this year, the Texas Department of Public Safety Crime Lab confirmed a DNA match between the blood left in the cart and a genetic profile belonging to Robert Torres.

Court documents state the total loss was more than $36,000.

Torres, 32, is charged with theft.

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DNA links man to murder of woman found near cemetery

  HOUSTON (KTRK) -- DNA evidence helped link a man to the murder of a woman killed nearly a year ago.

Jonathan Stephens, 26, is accused of beating and strangling 44-year-old Rachel Burrell. Her body was found in a ditch near a cemetery in the 600 block of Altic Street last March. Evidence from the scene was entered into a database and eventually linked Stephens to the crime.

Police say Stephens confessed and was arrested without incident.

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Vases stolen from local cemetery

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Adding insult to injury, grieving families who visit one cemetery are fed up with metal thieves targeting graves.

Going to lay out Christmas decorations at a relative's grave site is how a family found out a bronze vase had been stolen. And the cemetery in question says it has been hit before.

"As you can see next to my father's grave, that was probably a vase right there, that was probably a vase right there, but those look like there were taken a long time ago," David Gonzalez said.

The Christmas decorations are up at his father's grave site, but the slot where a bronze vase stood is now an empty hole.

"Augustin Gonzalez is my dad; this plot is reserved for my mother," he said.

Over the last two weeks someone stole the vase that cost the family a few hundred dollars back in 2005. Gonzalez believes it's the work of metal thieves.

"Of course if I where here when he was here, I would be angry at him and I would stop him," Gonzalez said.

And if you take a look around, finding a bronze vase anywhere in Forest Park Cemetery off Lawndale is a task. Slot after slot is hollow, a sight other visitors are used to seeing.

"If you see a vase, it ain't going to be there very long. They come in at night, after dark, and there is an opening in the fence down there by the bayou," cemetery visitor Edward Race said.

And Gonzalez's father's grave backs right up to the bayou where the fence stops.

Forest Park Cemetery's general manager says stolen vases are an issue; 18 were swiped back in July 18.

As for Gonzalez, it's upsetting, but he thinks the empty slot might just have to stay that way.

"We're not going to replace the vase, period. It will be stolen again. A plastic one just doesn't cut it and a brass one is just too vulnerable," he said.

The general manager of Forest Park Cemetery says in most cases, if a client files a police report that they will replace the vase at 50 percent off.

(Copyright ©2011 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.) Get more Local »

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Protesters rally to fire vet cemetery director

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- It's the Fourth of July and all across the nation people are turning out to celebrate America's independence. But there are some in Houston who say one of our guaranteed freedoms is still under fire.

A local congregation of pastors is calling for the removal of the director of Houston's National Cemetery because of what they call religious bigotry. A crowd of more than a thousand gathers in the hemicycle of the Houston National Cemetery. And this rally, on the country's 235th birthday, ironically is about independence. "Lack of religious freedom, lack of religious expression is not religious freedom; it is a form of tyranny unfortunately," protester Brett Meyer said. The rally was born after a lawsuit and several complaints were filed against Houston National Cemetery Director Arleen Ocasio. A local pastor got a restraining order against the cemetery after being told to edit "Jesus" from his prayer during the Memorial Day weekend. Other veteran groups complained after they too were told to refrain from using "God" or "Jesus" during funerals. They also allege Ocasio closed the chapel and turned it into a conference room. "I brought my Bible, because I think it's important. I need to stand up for God. I need to stand up for Jesus Christ. Somebody's got to do it. I'm here," protester Nolan Connally said. The director claims she was only trying to make prayers more inclusive of other religions but a backlash now has state and federal politicians calling for her to be fired. "She needs to be terminated and so that's my opinion. I hope the Veterans Administration terminates her and gets someone in here that actually believes in the First Amendment," Congressman Ted Poe said. "I just don't think that when you're in a position of public trust that she holds, that she represents the values of the people of this state and this country," Congressman Allen Fletcher said. And many feel what's happening in Houston is part of a much larger issue across the country. "There is very much and agenda to remove God and all types of Christian things from our nation," Connally said. A nonprofit has also filed a lawsuit against the Veterans Administration and the Houston National Cemetery alleging "religious hostility" and "unlawful censorship." Messages for director Ocasio were not returned. (Copyright ©2011 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.) Get more Local »

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Police chase ends up in cemetery

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Police say a couple of suspected car thieves led them on a brief chase, with a young child along for the ride.

There are seven suspects in this case. They were in two different vehicles. There was also a four-year-old boy in the back seat -- not in a car seat -- during this chase that all ended in a cemetery.

There was a report of a stolen car and police tracked it down to a local apartment complex. Undercover officers identified the car and saw that the plates on the back had been changed. Then uniformed patrol officers approached the vehicle as it was leaving, along with another vehicle, out of the apartment complex.

Immediately, four people in the other car saw police and bailed out. All four were arrested.

The other vehicle then led police on a short chase which ended after the car crashed into a bayou at the back edge of a cemetery.

Three men jumped out -- two adults and one 16-year-old. The driver of the vehicle managed to escape through the woods, but authorities know who he is and expect to arrest him soon. The other two suspects are in custody -- an 18-year-old and the 16-year-old.

Also, in the back seat of the car was a four-year-old boy who is related to one of the suspects. He was uninjured, despite not being in a car seat. The child's mother arrived at the cemetery to pick him up. They left in an ambulance on their way to an area hospital to have the boy checked out.

The chase all began with an armed robbery that ended up with a stolen vehicle. Six of the seven suspects have been taken into custody.

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Cemetery may have flubbed grave plots

 HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Several children's graves may be mismarked and their families may not even know about it. The problem is at the Forest Park Lawndale Cemetery in southeast Houston.

This all came to light because of one Houston-area family. They started asking probing questions about their own loved ones gravesite. They'd been visiting it for nearly two decades. "The cemetery put these here so I could mark my son's grave," LeAnn Farrell said. For 16 years, LeAnn Farrell and her family have been coming to same spot at the Forest Park Lawndale Cemetery. "We stuff every time, every time. We bury cards, toys, key chains," Alicia Farrell said. The baby Farrell, lost during her pregnancy all those years ago after a bad car wreck, is buried there -- or so they all thought. "They don't know for sure. They're just assuming," LeAnn Farrell said. This week the family was finally going to put a headstone on Stanley Irwin's grave. "If you look on this paper here, and you go by the numbers on the papers, it don't match," Robert Irwin said. Their plans suddenly changed when they say a cemetery employee told them they've been visiting the wrong grave all this time. Farrell was furious. "Where I was sitting was someone else's little girl," LeAnne Farrell said. When we first asked general manager John Krasnick questions, he wasn't eager to answer them. "How is it that the plot information doesn't match how the graves are marked? I think that's a fairly simple, straight forward question. "I don't know that it doesn't," he responded. Krashnick agreed to meet with the family and about three hours later, they received some unexpected news. Farrell says she was told her son's grave is marked correctly but that several other children's graves may not be. "We don't know if the markers were placed incorrectly or if they shifted. While the folks at Forest Park found there was a problem, they are going to work with four families to correct the problem," funeral home spokesperson said. Farrell says her heart goes out to those families who may not even know about it. "I think all the mothers and fathers, sisters, brothers -- it doesn't matter -- need to know where their children are," LeAnn Farrell said. The funeral home spokesperson stopped short of calling this a mistake and instead called it problem because it's unclear what exactly happened. We'll keep you posted on what we find out. (Copyright ©2011 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.) 

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