Oakwood Sexton Hal Heagy, left, and Board President Ken Locke are shown in a discussion during the Oakwood Cemetery Board of Regents meeting Thursday, Aug. 7. Photo by Jacki Gorski.

By Jackie Gorski
Times-Union

WARSAW — Oakwood Cemetery Board of Regents was updated Thursday, Aug. 7, on where the cemetery was in the process of possibly purchasing a neighboring property.

Sexton Hal Heagy said he has talked with Tom Kinch. A drawing was made up in regards to what parts of his property Kinch wants to keep, which includes the house and a little bit of the pond. Kinch’s property is in five different sections and the city of Warsaw is paying to have the property replatted.

Part of the problem is the city owns part of Kinch’s garage and used to own his driveway. Heagy said the replatting will get everything cleaned up. If Kinch approves the replatting, Heagy said appraisals for the land will then be sought out.

“We’re just taking it kinda slow because Tom has some concerns on some different stuff and I told him nothing happens without him, basically,” Heagy said.

Kinch’s concerns deal with what would happen if he doesn’t like the price he is offered. Heagy said then the deal won’t go through. He noted the cemetery is not planning on taking the property through eminent domain.

“No, we’re not. No, I’m sorry. I’m going to say that publicly. No. That is not our intention,” Heagy said, noting they are trying to purchase some property he thinks the cemetery can do some good with.

Heagy said he wants to clean up the woods by the back gate as he thinks the cemetery could use that as a cremation garden. He also wants to clean up the pond and put a walkway around it.

Later in the meeting, Heagy talked about a garden the cemetery decided to put in. “We’ve had a little ups and downs. Critters have kind of got us a little bit,” he said. However, the cemetery was able to give 40 pounds of produce — made up mostly of sweet corn, onions, green peppers and tomatoes — to The Salvation Army.

He doesn’t know if the garden will yield any fruit, but he is hoping cemetery staff will be able to grow a little bit more and maybe open it up citywide.

In other business, the board:

• Heard from Board President Ken Locke, who said it is being looked into to have another historical walk at the cemetery, tentatively in September 2026.

• Heard from Heagy there is fence behind the office that needs repair and it is on Custom Fencing’s schedule with the fence to possibly repaired in the fall.

• Heard two employees were hired: Shane Smalley and Joshua Bahney.

• Heard electrical power is being installed for the southeast gate.