Ludington Law Suit

[Terry Lee Grams]

When a City Forgets What Truly Matters

For more than eighty years, the noon and evening siren in Ludington marked the passing of time for our community. It began in the early 1940s as a curfew warning for young people and endured through generations as a small, familiar sound of home. Yet one man, identified only as John Doe, presumably recently arrived in town—claimed the sound triggered his post-traumatic stress disorder, and the City quickly agreed to silence it. The siren was not broken; the City simply decided that preserving one person’s comfort outweighed an entire community’s tradition.

I don’t question anyone’s suffering, but the City’s readiness to surrender that heritage stands in sharp contrast to how it treats another issue—one that should move any conscience. My grandmother, Eva Grams, purchased family burial lots decades ago in Lakeview Cemetery. Those deeds established a simple and enduring right: that her descendants would always have a resting place together. Over time, the City issued new deeds for the same lots to others, displacing the Grams family’s original rights. All I have asked is that the original deeds be restored to the estate so that every descendant may retain the right of burial as our grandparents intended.

Rather than correct the error, the City has chosen to fight. It has hired two law firms to defend a position that defies both logic and decency—spending public money to deny a family the right to its own gravesites. There is no claim for damages, no attempt to exclude anyone, only a plea to restore what was lawfully purchased and morally obvious.

A city that silences a harmless siren to spare one man’s distress should not harden its heart against a family seeking only dignity for its dead. Compassion should not depend on the nature of the complaint or the political cost of conceding a mistake. True civic integrity is measured not by how we handle convenience, but by how we handle obligation. One of Eva’s sons has already been denied burial on the family burial plot.

If Ludington can set aside pride long enough to end a long-standing tradition for one newcomer, surely it can find the humility to honor its oldest tradition of all—respect for the families who built this community and still rest beneath its soil.

[XLFD]

I can vouch for the integrity of Terry Grams; he's one of those rare people who will stand on principle and base his decisions on truth and honor.  This seems clearly to be a breach of contract by city hall and it seems clear that those who have true power at city hall, City Manager Kaitlyn Aldrich and Mayor Mark Barnett, two folks who probably had never heard of Ludington for most of their lives before arriving here, are willing to waste tens of thousands to hire the Mika Meyers law firm to defend their villainy.  Illegally doing so because the city council has never approved of this. 

Kudos to City Attorney Ross Hammersley for being honorable enough not to take on this evil defense of what amounts to grave robbing.  I hope he has finally realized that the city corporate is being ran into the ground by bad decisions.

[Freedom Seeker]

How did this happen? History? Mediation before lawsuit? Characters involved?

[Terry Lee Grams]

This began around 2007–2009, when the City of Ludington began issuing new or substitute deeds for the Eva Grams family burial lots at Lakeview Cemetery without following its own ordinance or state law.

My grandmother’s Last Will and Testament specifically referenced those gravesites and directed that they be available for her children and their descendants. Yet the City re-issued deeds without notifying all heirs, without opening probate, and without obtaining or surrendering the original deeds that remained in family custody.

I only learned about it around 2018, after a first-tier heir — one of Eva Grams’s own children — was denied burial next to his mother. That discovery led to numerous meetings and correspondence with City officials trying to resolve the problem privately. Despite those efforts, deeds have continued to pass from one party to another while the family’s lawful and intended rights remain ignored.

My goal has never been financial — it’s simply to restore the original family deeds and burial rights to the estate, so every descendant of Eva Grams is treated as she intended.

[Freedom Seeker]

Thank you Terry for some history. It seems the COL could have solved this ethically back in 2018. What a shame. I'm sorry for what you are going thru.

[Freedom Seeker]

Reprehensible if the City of Ludington (COL) has "double-sold" cemetery plots. More deplorable that they hire two attorney firms to defend their error (if so) and can't sort this out in a civil manner with a humble apology.

I'm sorry for what you and your family are going through, Terry Lee Grams. Prayers that COL comes to their senses and fixes this with civility but lean to what X says ... with a Mayor with the civility of the city of Pontiac and a new clueless city manage.  I've seen similar stupid, wasreful defenses of COL failures and this will probably be another stupid case of COL wasting taxpayer money in a time when many citizens are struggling financially which leads to COL raising fees to cover their errors.  Is there a better word to describe these actions than reprehensible?  Deplorable?  

[Anna Auer]

The feeling of loss and frustration when seeing your rights taken away is exactly like playing Geometry Dash, just passing a difficult section, thinking you are safe, then suddenly a new obstacle appears, your heart sinks, you feel like screaming. Only when the original documents are returned, everything is back to order, like completing an extremely difficult game level a sigh of relief and complete comfort, but still lingering with the tension you just experienced.