Families oppose cemetery relocation

LAKE PANASOFFKEE - A plan to move an African-American cemetery -- graves and all -- is drawing fire from family members and historians.

Sumter County officials propose moving the Panasoffkee Cemetery to clear the 75 acres of county-owned land for an industrial park.

There's no word on how much it would cost the county to move all of the graves, but County Administrator Bradley Arnold says it would bring good jobs and boost the local economy.

But Alva Russell, whose grandmother is buried here, is outraged.

"I think it's very degrading to a race of people. It's very degrading knowing they don't care about ancestors," she told FOX 13.

Russell's grandmother, Susie Russell, was the last to be buried here in 1956. The oldest marked grave dates back to 1888. But crews hired by the county have found dozens of unmarked graves.

Billy Ray, vice-president of the Sumter County Historical Society, believes Black Seminoles may be buried here. Ray says runaway slaves and Seminole Indians formed a community near Lake Panasoffkee in the early 1800's.

Ray and others from the community will ask Sumter County commissioners Tuesday to block the plan to move the cemetery.