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• DEADWOOD, S.D. (AP) -- Two families are battling over a burial plot in a Deadwood cemetery and the City Commission is caught in between.
• Carlton Spindler, 81, says his family owns the Oakridge Cemetery plot where Anita Gorder was buried on March 23. He told City Hall on April 1 that wants Gorder's remains moved so that he can be buried next to his wife of 40 years when he dies.
• "'This is not an April Fool's joke.' I mentioned that when I went in," he told the Rapid City Journal.
• Gorder's family also believes it has a legitimate claim to the plot and is objecting to the commission's vote this month to move her remains at the city's expense.
• "We both have legitimate paperwork that says we both own the plot," son-in-law Mike Thomas told the commission this week, according to the Black Hills Pioneer. "We have the same paperwork as the other guys."
• City officials informed Gorder's family on April 10 that her burial plot was one of six bought by Spindler's late father in 1962 for $40 each, plus $180 in perpetual care fees. The lot was mistakenly resold to the Gorder family in 2006.
• The Spindler resale is not the first mix-up at the city cemetery, former city auditor Janet Mason told the Journal. In 2010, she discovered that the city had lost track of her family plots.
• "This is not the first time that lots were resold," Mason said. "I hope they get the books straightened out in City Hall."
• Mayor Francis Toscana told the Journal that the current plot confusion is an "aberration" that does not reflect rampant record-keeping problems at the cemetery.
• Toscana apologized to the Gorder family this week and said the reburial will be delayed while officials decide what to do, according to the Pioneer.
• "We realize how difficult an issue this is for people with their loved ones, so we're trying to do the best thing for all parties," he said.
• Spindler said he sympathizes with the Gorder family but wants the issue resolved quickly.
• "I've set my sights for 90. I've got nine more years to get this worked out," he told the Journal. "I hope it won't take that long. I tried to laugh, because it don't do no good to cry."
(Continued on page 24)
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