ORD 2000-26 - Cemetery Hours 10-10-2000ORDINANCE NO. 2000-26
AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF HUNTSVILLE, TEXAS, AMENDING SECTION
21.01.06 OF THE CITY CODE TO PROVIDE HOURS WHEN CEMETERIES WITHIN
THE CITY ARE CLOSED TO THE PUBLIC AND TO PROHIBIT PASSING THROUGH
THE CEMETERY OR GATHERING THEREIN FOR NON - CEMETERY PURPOSES;
PROVIDING A PENALTY; PROVIDING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE; AND DECLARING
AN EFFECTIVE DATE.
WHEREAS, cemeteries within the City of Huntsville have been vandalized and misused and
the City desires to address this inappropriate behavior;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF
HUNTSVILLE, TEXAS, that:
SECTION 1: Title 21 "Offenses and Miscellaneous Provisions," Part 21 "In General,"
Section 21.01.06 "Cemetery Property - Damaging," is hereby amended to hereinafter read as follows:
21.01.06 Cemetery property — Gathering Therein, Passing Through and Damaging and
Closure to Public.
A. If shall be unlawful for any person to cut, break or otherwise injure, mutilate or deface
any tombstone, fence, head or foot board, vault, monument, enclosure, tree, shrub or ornament in
any cemetery in the City.
B. 1. All cemeteries within the City shall be closed to the public between one half -hour after
sunset to one -half hour prior to sunrise. Owners of cemeteries shall post appropriate and
conspicuous signs at entrances to cemeteries notifying the public of the hours that the cemetery is
closed to the public. A person commits an offense if the person intentionally or knowingly enters
or remains in a cemetery at a time when the cemetery is closed to the public.
2. Section 21.01.06 shall not be construed:
a. To require that members of the public found inside a cemetery during
the hours that it is closed to the public must be requested to leave
before being subject to prosecution under Section 30.05 of the Texas
Penal Code; or
b. To prohibit the City or the cemetery owner, their officers or employees
from requesting persons in the cemetery to depart, and if they fail to do
so, be subject to prosecution under Section 30.05 of the Texas Penal
Code; or
c. To prohibit the prosecution for any other crime that may have been
committed in the cemetery.
C. It shall be unlawful for any person to walk, run, bicycle, pass through, or cross a cemetery
from a point outside the cemetery to another point outside the cemetery unless the person is
attending a burial or has visited a grave site.
D. It shall be unlawful for any person to meet another person or persons at a cemetery unless
such meeting is for the purpose of attending a burial or visiting a grave site.
E. It is a defense to prosecution under this Section if the person is employed by or his
performing services to a cemetery.
F . An offense under this Section shall be a Class C misdemeanor punishable by a fine of
$1.00 to $500.00.
SECTION 2: If any portion of this Ordinance shall, for any reason, be declared invalid by any
court of competent jurisdiction, such invalidity shall not affect the remaining provisions hereof and
the City Council determines that it would have adopted this Ordinance without the invalid provision.
SECTION 3: This Ordinance shall take effective immediately from and after the date of its
passage.
PASSED AND APPROVED THIS 10TH DAY OF OCTOBER, 2000.
CITY OF HUNTSVILL , TEXAS
William B. Green, Mayor
ATT T:
Danna Welter, City Secretary
APPROVED AS TO FORM:
Paul C. Isham, City Attorney