Cemetery Trustees Chair Fires Back

Peter Bergin, chairman of the Cemetery Trustees took issue with several statements made during a Friends of Cemetery Fields forum last week.

By law, Bergin maintains the Cemetery Trustees have a responsibility to manage the 47.5-acre parcel as a future cemetery when the board assumes control of the land that was purchased with Cemetery Trustees funds in 1993.

"This land has always been under control of the Board of Cemetery Trustees since the 1993 purchase," wrote Bergin in an e-mail. "Since the land was purchased with the Cemetery Trust Fund money, and not town taxpayer monies, the Town of Amherst has never ever had any control over the use of the Cemetery Fields land."

He also wrote the current and temporary recreation use by the Town of Amherst is only by the permission of the Cemetery Trustees; by virtue of an agreement of use signed by the Cemetery Trustees and the Board of Selectmen in 1998.

During last week's forum, members of the grassroots organization and town officials said they hoped a compromise could be reached to use some of the land for recreational purposes as well as future cemetery space.

Bergin was one of two Cemetery Trustee members who were invited to participate in the panel, but declined. When asked why he chose not to participate in last week's forum via e-mail, Bergin replied:

"The Cemetery Trustees did not participate in Andy Rowe's event because we have already made our points... over and over again. We had spoken to the public, via our meeting on May 7, 2013, in numerous media articles, and our position, as required by the New Hampshire Superior Court settlement of 1999, has not changed."

Bergin also did not agree with statements made by Brad Galinson, the selectmen's liason to the Cemetery Trustees, that the crux of the argument about Cemetery Fields is whether cemetery space can co-exist with recreational fields.

"The crux of the argument is not about the co-existence of cemeteries and rec fields," Bergin wrote, "it is about the Court Settlement of 1999 which states:

'that the recreational use of the Cemetery Fields shall terminate no later than September 1, 2014 and the premises shall thereafter be utilized for cemetery purposes. This restriction shall apply as long as the premises known as Cemetery Fields are held in trust by the Amherst Cemetery Trustees, as they are acknowledged to be held at the present time."