Run Down Resting Place

CHICAGO (CBS) -- Flooded lawns, teetering tombstones and overrun weeds.

It's not a welcome sight for visitors at Willow Springs cemetery this Memorial Day weekend.

For days CBS 2 has investigated the problematic conditions.

CBS 2's Jeremy Ross has the story from Mount Glenwood Memory Gardens.

CBS 2 visited the cemetery twice this week. On Friday, crews were tending to the lawn. That was not the case earlier this week. One man said that's rarely the case.

It is hard for Gary Coon to be in Mount Glenwood Memory Gardens West. It is his grandmother's final resting place. Audrey Bonkowski died more than four years ago. And since that time, Coon has grieved and cleaned up the area around her plot, adding that her grave isn't the only thing needing attention.

"I've seen like knocked over headstones, like fallen headstones," Coon said.

He described debris as well as standing water he fears, at times, is standing over graves. Earlier in the week CBS 2 spotted overgrown grass and dandelions dangling.

On Friday, crews were seen cutting the lawn and trimming weeds days after CBS 2 started asking questions why.

"It's just a damn shame," Coons said.  "It's the nicest it's looked in the four and a half years I've been coming here."

The state of Illinois telling CBS 2 it will issue citations including the conditions of the roads and failure to adequately mow.

It's not the first time the cemetery's owners have been accused of upkeep issues. Federal court documents from 2002 show a lawsuit claiming their roadways have not been maintained. Broken vaults and graves covered with wooden planks.

Some of the old allegations seeming to resurface in new concerns.

"It's sad. There's nobody ever  in the office," added Coons. "It said on the door to make an appointment (to) call."

CBS 2 left a message for comment on the story.

Coon is left with a combination of frustration and grief.

"I just wish there's more that I can do," he said. "I wish that someone would take ownership and take pride because someone's loved ones are here."

The message left by CBS 2 has not been returned.

No word from the state on its next steps. CBS 2 will be sure to followup.