On Memorial Day, there will be flags placed on each of the 416 graves of veterans buried in the Ortonville Cemetery.
Beginning this year, those flags will be paid for by Groveland Township, within whose boundaries Ortonville Cemetery lies. Previously, under a verbal agreement with the Ortonville Cemetery Association, Brandon Township paid for the flags.
The Groveland Township board approved paying the $580.50 cost for the flags at their May 12 meeting.
‘The cemetery is in our township, we want them honored,? said Groveland Township Supervisor Bob DePalma.
Brandon Township Clerk Jeannie McCreery said by law, townships are required to provide flags for the cemeteries they own. The Ortonville Cemetery is privately owned, and so, the cemetery association is responsible for the flags there. McCreery said Groveland is under no obligation to buy the flags, but she asked township officials if they would be willing to pick up the cost this year, because the cemetery is in their township.
‘Had they said no, we would have paid for them, as we always have,? McCreery said. ‘Money is tight for everybody everywhere, but we would never deny a flag to a veteran.?