A battle between two cemetery companies has left four Stafford Memorial Park graves unmarked for almost a year.
Virginia Memorial Gardens owned the North Stafford cemetery, located off Shelton Shop Road, last year. HCS Holding Co. took it over early last fall.
The four memorials were purchased during the transition of ownership.
The families want the stones placed at their loved ones' graves and don't care who does it. But the two companies are pointing fingers at each other, claiming the other is responsible.
"Frankly, I don't care who is at fault. I just want this resolved," Chuck Kinsinger of New York City wrote in a complaint letter he sent to the Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation in February.
Kinsinger's mother, Jane, who lives in Stafford County, bought a gravestone for her husband last year. She has a canceled check for $2,094.43, but still has no marker for her husband's grave.
Her son said he is frustrated that these companies, which are supposed to provide sympathy and understanding to the families of the deceased, have made "pingpong balls" out of those involved.
"I find it appalling that each of these parties claim to be the victim of the other when the real victims are my mother, who is out over $2,000, my father, and all the others whose graves go unmarked while these ghouls argue over them," he wrote in the complaint letter.
A Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation board member heard the case last week and agreed. He recommended that the cemetery board suspend the licenses of both companies if the four gravestones are not installed by Dec. 15. The cemetery board must approve the recommendation at its Oct. 12 meeting for that to happen.
But the recommendation does not say who is responsible.
"This is the best way for the board to ensure the memorials will be erected as quick as possible," said Mary Broz, director of communications for the department's office in Richmond.
The owners of the two companies have been at odds for more than two decades.
HCS was awarded the cemetery as part of an ongoing dispute that stretches back to the 1970s.
And the company sued Virginia Memorial Gardens earlier this month over the gravestones and other issues.
"[Virginia Memorial Gardens] was paid to do it, and they have to come in and fix it," said Caroline Smyth, a manager of HCS. "I could be a nice person and do it, but then I'm being a nice person out of my own pocket."
Louis Herrink of King George, who manages Virginia Memorial Gardens, says the money that his company collected for the memorials was deducted during closing from the amount HCS owed them.
Now what's left to decide is who is ultimately responsible for paying for the memorials.
HCS did volunteer to go ahead and install the memorials, the department said. The owners of Virginia Memorial Gardens--who still run Historyland Memorial Park in King George--can decide whether to get involved or not. But their license is equally in jeopardy if the situation is not taken care of by the deadline.
Smyth says her company is pleased with the board member's recommendation, is awaiting the approval of the board and has already ordered the memorials.
But that means the families will get their memorials before the ultimate decision about responsibility is made, she said.
Kinsinger said he feels the department gave his family and the others as much as possible, but he is still angry that the situation had to escalate to that level.
"It involved a considerable amount of time and expense," he said.
To reach MEGHANN COTTER: 540/374-5434 mcotter@freelancestar.com