Charles Yocke sat in his truck this morning at 7:30 a.m. along Fairmont Avenue so he could see if the Mt. Zion mudslide still was moving.
“It’s slid a little since yesterday,” said Yocke, the lone maintenance man for the burial ground. “Not a lot. Only a few feet … I can just imagine what it looked like when it really rolled about this time yesterday.”
That’s when approximately 125-150 grave markers were pushed and buried by a mudslide that began at the top of the small hill above the cemetery. Yocke said “thousands” are interred at Mount Zion, including about 400 American veterans and several grave sites that date back to the Civil War years.
“And a lot of people have been here checking on their parents and their grandparents to see if their markers were affected by the slide,” Yocke said. “We’re still an active cemetery and when we took control of it back in 2015, we had a lot of people helping us. Now, it’s pretty much just me and Paula Stein. We’re the only two volunteers left.
“We do have money for the grass cutting and weed eating thanks to someone who left us money for that when she passed, but we try to handle the rest. The burials and things like that,” the local contractor explained. “I don’t know what happens now, though, because we don’t have any money. Not for something like this. We’re going to need help with this for sure.”
W.Va. Del. Shawn Fluharty (D-5) confirmed that he’s spoken with the office of U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) yesterday and again this morning concerning resources for the rehabilitation of Mt. Zion Cemetery and additional assistance for those who have been and will be flooded this week in other areas of the Northern Panhandle.
“I have spoken with representatives of Sen. Manchin’s office and he will be in Wheeling today for a few different reasons,” the state lawmaker said. “I told them we’re going to need their support as soon as possible because what needs to take place at the cemetery will be far more than a group of volunteers can handle. I’m also trying to make contacts with other federal and state officials who I think might be able to help.
“Sen. Manchin is terrific at responding to things like this so I know I have to get in front of him today so I can speak with him about the specifics that I know now. One thing I will tell him is that we’ve seen flooding like this before in our neighborhoods and on Wheeling Island, and those folks will need help, too, but we’ve never seen anything like what’s happened at Mount Zion. That’s why, right now, I have to do my job to get them the help they need.”
Until Yocke hears more from Del. Fluharty government officials, he’s unable to formulate a plan for the burial ground’s future.
“The mud from the top of the hill just slid along the surface, and based on the damage, it must have slid at a pretty good pace when it first happened,” he said. “Since we took over in 2015, we’ve done what we could to maintain it and to make sure it looks the best possible for the families and their loved ones, but this is too big.
“We’re going to need help,” Yocke added. “For the sake of the souls buried here, including hundreds of veterans and others, I just hope we get that help.”
