HUGO, OK -- There are no rules on how to grieve. The process is different for everyone. But for some, visiting and even placing items on a grave can offer some comfort. There are new limitations on such actions at one Hugo cemetery. Stephanie Brletic reports.

Recent changes at the mount olive cemetery in Hugo have some family members angry because they have to abide by new grave decoration policies. Now, all flowers must be in vases or saddles on the headstone, not the ground.

Family members say they did not have enough notice to clear off their belongings before those things were cleared away.

Many say the Mount Olive Cemetery was a beautiful place to visit, but say now it's comparatively bare because of changes that took effect on May 1.

Family members like Amanda Coffelt aren't happy. She says her family should get to choose how to memorialize her brother.

"I felt like I was robbed. Those were our memories. You know, these were the things that we did to remember our loved one, my brother," Coffelt says.

Now, no one can place anything in or on the ground. Everything must go on the gravestone, all flowers must be in vases, and there are even limitations to when flags can be placed at veteran's graves.

But beyond that, families say they didn't get enough notice about the changes.

Christina Sherrod says she went to the cemetery the day after finding out about the new policy only to find herself looking through piles to retrieve her items.

"I called my supervisor the next morning to let her know I’d be late for work. I come out here and it was gone. It was like my husband had just passed away all over again," Sherrod says.

Still, Hugo city manager David Rowles says he also has family buried there and says the cemetery is very important to him and the community, so he wants everyone to realize that the new policies are not malicious. They are simply meant to improve the ability of groundskeepers to keep the area maintained.

"It’s just something we're trying to work through. It's a change, most changes don't hit everyone the same and people react to them differently and we're certainly willing to work through this change so that we can make everybody as comfortable as possible with the cemetery," Rowles says.

The city manager says there is always resistance to change but says it was necessary to keep the cemetery neat and give the property room to grow.