Memorial Park put under city’s control

Cemetery owner's rights dissolved

Nina Bair thought she was going to spend today cutting the overgrown grass around her husband’s grave for Memorial Day weekend. Nobody at Memorial Park Cemetery was going to do it, she said.

“My guy who does my yard was going to meet me out there tomorrow to mow,” Bair said Wednesday afternoon.

Instead, city crews got busy sprucing up the East Lawrence cemetery Wednesday – after a judge ordered control of Memorial Park be temporarily transferred to City Hall.

It’s the first step, officials said, to making the city the permanent owner of the cemetery, 1517 E. 15th St.

“Fantastic!” said Bair, who has been a longtime critic of the cemetery’s upkeep. “That is the best news I’ll ever get.”

The move came nearly a year after relatives began public complaints about maintenance at Memorial Park, and months after state officials concluded the cemetery owner – Houston-based Mike Graham & Associates – had failed to comply with state funding and paperwork requirements.

Kansas Atty. Gen. Phill Kline filed suit this week in Douglas County and Shawnee County district courts, claiming the company had “abandoned” Memorial Park and West Lawn Memorial Gardens Cemetery in Topeka. The Lawrence case was unsealed Wednesday.

“The management and mismanagement of the Lawrence Memorial Park Cemetery is of such a nature as to shock the conscience of the court,” Deputy Atty. Gen. Bryan Brown wrote in the filing.

Officials at Mike Graham & Associates would not comment Wednesday.

City Manager Mike Wildgen operates a riding mower at Memorial Park Cemetery. City Hall took possession of the cemetery Wednesday morning, after a Douglas County judge signed an order dissolving the rights of the much-criticized previous owner. City crews got right to work, trimming dead trees and cutting grass in the cemetery, where relatives have complained about shoddy maintenance.

‘Broken beyond repair’

Problems at the cemetery first came to light in August when about two dozen people told the Journal-World that the cemetery was mowed infrequently, and that roads and trees were not properly maintained.

“We’d have to go out there and take care of our own,” Bair said Wednesday. Her husband, Floyd, is buried at the cemetery. “I’m not in the best of health, and I’m 77 years old.”

Throughout the summer and fall, complaints also were leveled that graves were being left unmarked for extended periods because the company was not installing tombstones in a timely manner.

Allegations against cemetery

The Kansas Attorney General’s Office alleges that Memorial Park Cemetery owner Mike Graham & Associates of Houston violated state law by:

¢ Failing to properly establish and maintain a fund dedicated to ongoing upkeep of graves.

¢ Refusing to submit to an audit of cemetery finances.

¢ Failing to file required annual reports since 2000.

¢ Failing to properly fund a “merchandise trust fund” for pre-paid cemetery markers and other items.

¢ Violating the Kansas Consumer Protection Act through poor cemetery upkeep and unresponsiveness to consumers.

“A check of our decades-deep divisional database reveals that only one cemetery in the recorded history of this division has generated more complaints,” Natalie Hogan, a special agent in the attorney general’s Consumer Protection Division, wrote in an affidavit accompanying the lawsuit.

The ownership structure of the cemetery, Hogan wrote, “is broken beyond repair.”

The attorney general moved on the lawsuit after City Hall shut off water to the cemetery May 17. The bill hadn’t been paid, officials said.

The suit asks Judge Robert Fairchild to order a $10,000 payment for each violation of the consumer protection law, dissolution of Mike Graham & Associates’ ownership rights, and for the cemetery to be permanently placed into receivership with the city of Lawrence.

Such actions are rare. Kline’s office released statistics that show this week’s cases are the first filed against a privately held cemetery since at least 1994.

City crews trim tree limbs near the James Naismith memorial in the cemetery.

‘Good timing’

The timing of the suit gives officials a chance to prepare the cemetery for Memorial Day weekend.

“Is it good timing? Yes,” said Whitney Watson, Kline’s spokesman. “Was it planned timing? No.”

City Manager Mike Wildgen operated a riding mower Wednesday morning at the cemetery.

“We’re doing everything we can to get the area ready for Memorial Day – mowing, tree-trimming,” he said. “There’s a lot of dead trees; we’re going to get rid of as many of those as we can.”

Though City Hall was initially reluctant to take control of the cemetery, Wildgen said the public would benefit from the new arrangement.

“In the long run, it’s perpetual care by a municipality that’s never going to go away,” he said. “The downside is, cemeteries don’t make money. This is going to be like other services, and it’s subsidized.”

Roy Pennel’s daughter is buried at Memorial Park. He was pleased by Wednesday’s news.

“I think the city will keep it up better than what they were doing, that’s for sure,” he said.

Bair agreed.

“It’s been a strain,” she said, “knowing our loved ones weren’t being taken care of.”

video6News video: City takes charge of cemeterytextMemorial Park put under city’s controltextSimilar cases seen in other statestextLawrence Memorial Park Cemetery petition (.pdf)textLawrence Memorial Park Cemetery temporary restraining order (.pdf)textLawrence Memorial Park Cemetery temporary restraining order part 2 (.pdf)textLawrence Memorial Park Cemetery notice to patrons (.doc)text Relatives call for better cemetery care (05-16-05)video 6News video: Residents express anger with officials about cemetery (05-15-05)text Cemetery woes spur meeting (04-23-05)video 6News video: Maintenance issues still plague local cemetery (04-22-05)text Cemetery settles 15 complaints (04-08-05)video 6News video: Memorial Park Cemetery owners settle with customers (04-07-05)text Bill would establish cemetery oversight, limit predatory fees (03-05-05)text City looks at buying troubled cemetery (02-17-05)video 6News video: City leaders begin budget talks (02-16-05)text Cemetery probe now in hands of Kline (01-15-05)text Education, city growth expected to be among big stories in 2005 (01-02-05)video 6News video: Attorney general investigating Lawrence cemetery operations (01-14-05)text Employees, clients say cemetery ownership lax (11-05-04)text 6News video: Unmarked grave stones spark anger among residents (11-04-04)text Cemetery fails to meet maintenance requirement (10-14-04)text 6News video: Cemetery instructed to improve maintenance (10-13-04)text Cemetery maintenance deemed disrespectful (8-24-04)video 6News video: Cemetery maintenance draws complaintstext Police seek information on cemetery vandalism (08-17-04)text ’05 city budget gains approval (08-11-04)