By Eason Franklin
The Lowndes Signal

Lowndes County residents are being recruited to help clean up a local Ft. Deposit cemetery.
Some members of the Ft. Deposit community are holding their second clean-up day to improve the appearance of the Myrtlewood Cemetery on July 24.
The event will start at 7 a.m. at the Myrtlewood Cemetery located behind the Alabama Power building in Ft. Deposit and residents are encouraged to bring weed eaters, push-lawnmowers and clippers.
Volunteers will be contributing to previous cutting from town crews by trimming grass and brush from around headstones.
“We want to encourage street crews to feel comfortable to leave sufficient space around graves and let citizens come in and weed eat,” said Frieda Cross.
The event began in November 2009 by Bruce McCarty, Ren, Charles and Derrell Heartsill, Rev. Eric Jackson and Rev. Dennis Carlton with the help of Ft. Deposit Mayor Fletcher Fountain in honor of Wanda McCarty.
“The community project started for those with family in the cemetery,” said Ren. “We then reached out to other counties and communities to contribute to the beautification of the cemetery.”
Ren said the community event is being organized to be held every three months.
During the last event, over 100 volunteers contributed by picking up trash in and around the cemetery and lawn equipment to cut overgrown areas not able to be reached by lawnmowers alone.
McCarty said that all help from volunteers and local churches would help the clean-up move along more quickly and keep the volunteers out of the heat.