A SpongeBob headstone is causing quite the controversy. Cemetery officials removed the headstone for the Iraq Veteran after determining it was inappropriate.
The family for Kimberly Walker, 28, created a headstone featuring SpongeBob Squarepants as it was her favorite character. The cemetery had approved the headstone design of a smiling SpongeBob in an Army uniform with Walker's name and rank, however after it was installed at the Spring Grove Cemetery on Oct. 10, the cemetery told the family that it would have to be removed, the Associated Press reports.
For a photo of the headstone, click here.
The cemetery says that 7-foot headstone must come down. "We've decided that they aren't appropriate for our historic cemetery and they can't be displayed here," cemetery President Gary Freytag told AP, adding that the employee who approved the headstone design made a bag judgment call. An identical headstone which was made for Walker's living twin sister was also removed.
Freytag said the cemetery is at fault and they will be meeting with the Walker family to try to make a compromise, such as a more traditional gravestone with a small representation of SpongeBob. He added that the cemetery is prepared to reimburse the family for the headstone which cost a total of $26,000 and they'll pay for the new ones. "I feel terrible that it got to this point but I'm hoping we can come out at the other end of the tunnel with a solution," he said.
Walker was an Army corporal assigned to the 2nd General Support Aviation Battalion. She served two year-long tours in Iraq in 2006 and 2010 as a petroleum supply specialist. She found killed in a Colorado hotel room eight months ago. She had been strangled and beaten to death by her Army sergeant boyfriend on Valentine's Day.
Walker's twin sister, Kara Walker, says the family is very upset as a lot of thought went into the headstones. Walker's entire bedroom is full of SpongeBob decorations. "It is frustrating that you entrust a cemetery to have your best interest at heart and accommodate you and your family at a hard time ... and because they don't like it they're going to take it down," Walker told AP. "My sister served our country and most people try to accommodate veterans and try to take care of them," she said. "For them not to accommodate and respect what my sister sacrificed, not only for my family, but for everyone else in this country, really bothers me."
She says the only way the cemetery can fix the problem is by putting the headstones back. The family had six pre-paid plots on the land. "They already brought enough grief and pain to the family," she said. "We want what we paid for and what I know my sister would have wanted."
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