TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) - Florida senators are pushing for an additional $200,000 in state funding to inspect the site of a now-defunct reform school where an untold number of bodies were buried.
Sen. Kelli Stargel said Monday that providing the funding is "the right thing to do" and could give closure for families that lost loved ones buried in a cemetery at the former Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys. The Panhandle school at Marianna was closed in 2011, largely for budget reasons.
Stargel, R-Lakeland, says the Senate has recommended the funding.
Stargel says the funding would back an inspection by University of South Florida researchers who have been using ground-penetrating radar and test excavations to locate and identify gravesites. Officials believe there may be unmarked graves and unaccounted bodies of boys who died.
