So determined are today’s big box developers, that they are willing to build their store literally over dead bodies. According to the Reidsville Review newspaper, a developer in Reidsville, North Carolina has inquired about digging up 429 dead people to clear the way for a new development that will be located right next to the new Wal-Mart now under construction. The Wal-Mart supercenter has stimulated developers to continue to use more land for retail, and future development next to the Wal-Mart means moving the remains of 429 people on a 2.3 acre site owned by the Little Salem Christian Church. Rockingham County officials seem undisturbed about the prospect of moving a cemetery. A developer would have to file a disinterment and reinterment form with the county’s health department, as well as gain approval from the county commissioners. The developer would also have to run a notice in the newspaper to notify next-of-kin about what is taking place, who would then have 30 days to respond. The developer, Tricor Southwest, based in Scottsdale, Arizona, contacted the county last February about the legal requirements of developing on a gravesite. A county official said that Tricor has already catalogued and mapped where the bodies are, in preparation for digging them up. The gravesite was used to bury poor people.
This just proves that developers have the power to raise the dead. Tricor can call this site the “Potter’s Field Mall” and have special sales events on Halloween. If the ghosts of those buried here rise and shop, its another 494 customers for the mall. Not only are we overbuilt with malls in this country, but now we are willing to move the dead to make way for our mindless shopping urges. For earlier stories of big box developers digging up gravesites, search Newsflash by “graves” or “burials”.
