OKEECHOBEE -- Okeechobee County cemetery regulations are online on the county’s website www.okeechobeecountyfl.gov.

Cemetery rules include:

• Prohibited items include in-ground plantings, gardens, in-ground vases, ornaments, figurines, statues, pictures, glass or other breakable containers, trellises, shepherd’s hooks, in-ground plant hooks, votive candles, decorative stone, vigil lights (solar lights permitted as specified) and other similar commemorative articles of non-degradable materials.
• The placement of decorations is permitted for two weeks before and one week after a legal holiday. Birthdays, anniversaries, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day may be recognized beginning the week of said date.
• Graves may be bordered by granite or marble coping.
• The regulations state that no enclosure of any kind, such as fencing, landscape block, stones, concrete block, concrete curbs, brick, wood borders, hedges or ditches shall be permitted around any lot or site. There are exceptions for those that were “grandfathered in.” The regulations state that enclosures established prior to June 26, 2003 (when the regulations were first adopted) may remain so long as they are maintained in good condition.
• The 2015 regulations specify benches must be granite or marble. At their Sept. 24 meeting, county commissioners amended that to include “substantially similar materials."