Many families who have loved ones buried at Erie’s Lakeside Cemetery are frustrated because of a lack of upkeep.

We received several calls to our newsroom Monday from family members in tears over seeing tall grass, trash, and uncared for plots when they got to the cemetery. Families tell us this is unacceptable any day, but especially on Memorial Day, which is dedicated to honoring and mourning those who lost their lives in the service.

Timothy and Kim Aldrich’s family spent four hours on Monday pulling weeds, trimming grass, and picking up trash.

“It was a mess,” Timothy said. “I mean it was high and some of the gravesites are covered completely.”

“It breaks my heart and is very sad,” Brenda Mitchell said in tears.

Her father is a veteran and she visited the cemetery to honor him. She walked into a situation worse than she has ever seen at Lakeside Cemetery.

“It was just very upsetting that to see how the grass is so overgrown, the garbage is just piled up over there, and to me it is totally unacceptable,” Mitchell said.

There are flags on many of the tombstones and we were told the American Legion placed them there.

Most of the grass on the east side of the cemetery is knee-high and families we spoke to told us that is never acceptable, but especially on Memorial Day.

“It’s sacrilegious to do this on this particular day,” Keith Nelms said.

He and his wife went to the cemetery to visit his in-laws and he was in disbelief at the conditions.

Kim Aldrich said she and her husband have had multiple people in their family in the military.

“So this is like a slap in the face,” she said.

“It’s an insult to them,” Timothy Aldrich said. “I mean, is this any way to treat them for what they did for us for our freedom.”

In addition, one woman at the cemetery spent over four hours cutting the grass with scissors and making a path next to her husband’s gravesite. He is a Vietnam veteran who passed away in January.

Others reached out to the office at the cemetery and did not hear back, so some left notes on the office door. One reading in part, “Our vets and citizens deserve better.”

We also reached out to Lakeside Cemetery several times on Monday and have not received any comment.

Families we spoke to said they know the community is willing to help and there are no excuses.

“They need to come and take care of it so that others can visit and pay tribute,” Keith Nelms said.

Brenda Mitchell said asking to clean up is not a lot to ask.

"Just give the respect that these people deserve,” she said.