Equal Upkeep of Black, White Graves Ordered

A rusty wire fence separating poorly tended graves for blacks from nicely kept graves for whites must come down, says a judge, who also has ordered an end to 125 years of unequal upkeep in private Ryder Cemetery.

Weeds, trash and brambles have overrun the more than 200 black graves. For more than 10 years, blacks willing to buy the $200 plots have been buried on the well-tended side. But most blacks say they want to be buried near relatives on the other side.