Aug. 30--LAWRENCE, Mass. -- Sheriff Frank G. Cousins Jr. will send a crew of inmates from the Essex County Correctional Alternative Center to begin a community service project at Bellevue Cemetery tomorrow.

"We have an attack plan put together and will be ready to begin Monday morning, and we're going to go at it until we get it cleaned up," Cousins said.

The sheriff confirmed he agreed to help get the city's historic cemetery back into shape after being contacted by state Sen. Susan Tucker, D-Andover, who requested he get the prisoners involved after reading a story in last Sunday's Eagle-Tribune about overgrown and unkempt graves at the cemetery.

Richard Beeley, 85, of Methuen and his daughter, Dottie Hildebrandt, 59, of Salem, N.H., complained about people having to wade through knee-high grass to visit the gravesites of loved ones. They were outraged that some monuments were hidden under months of unmowed grass and weeds.

"I've had people come to me in tears about their parents, relatives, grandparents ... the condition of their graves," Tucker told The Eagle-Tribune last week.

"I called Frank (Cousins) as soon as I read the article, and I called Tom Ferris (Bellevue Cemetery superintendent) and I called the mayor (Lawrence Mayor Michael Sullivan). And I said 'get this going.' The sheriff was very responsive. He called me back in two hours and said he's going to get work crews up there," Tucker said.

Stories published by The Eagle-Tribune in 2000 about poor conditions at the cemetery prompted Cousins to offer prisoner labor from the CAC, also known as "The Farm," at the end of Marston Street near Interstate 495. Prisoners who were near the end of their county jail sentences volunteered for the community service project as an alternative to staying at the Essex County Jail in Middleton.

More than three dozen inmates spent several weeks mowing grass and clearing brush that had grown wild for years. But protests from union leaders discouraged city officials from future use of the jail house work crews.

"I hope the unions are receptive this time," Cousins said in an interview.

"She (Tucker) thinks the union issue will be fine and this won't be a problem. The bottom line is we want to get a jump on it and get this back under control. It's really a shame that it's happened, and there's no excuse for it. I feel bad for the people's loved ones who are up there. Hopefully, we can get this project done," the sheriff said.

Mayor Sullivan, City Councilor Nicholas Kolofoles -- who is also a longtime member of the Bellevue Cemetery Board of Trustees -- and Ferris were also involved in talks last week to get the cemetery cleaned up.

A work crew of 12 to 16 inmates supervised by correctional officers will show up at the cemetery between 8 and 9 a.m. tomorrow, ready to do whatever Bellevue Cemetery Superintendent Ferris wants done, according to Essex County sheriff's spokesman Paul Fleming.

The work crews will be involved in clearing brush, cleaning up debris, mowing tall grass, trimming overgrown trees and other work to spruce up the cemetery grounds.

"The sheriff considers this a top priority and the crews will be there until the job gets done," Fleming said.

"Sheriff Cousins is committed to turning that cemetery into a dignified resting spot. So, they're going to spend some quality time there to get the situation rectified," he said.

Ferris previously has embraced the idea of enlisting the services of sheriff's inmates "to get caught up." The cemetery workers got behind in grounds maintenance over the summer because of equipment that needed repairs was unavailable over a 10-day period, Ferris said.

But he also noted that manpower continues to be a major issue. He has a staff of three full-time workers to maintain about 115 acres of grave sites. That work force is about a third of what he said is needed to do the job. Back in 1984, the cemetery had a crew of nine full-time workers.

Cousins said the sheriff's office has worked on inmate public service projects with Ferris previously, when he worked for MassHighway.

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