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SUNNY Temp: 91 °F Wind: NNW at 6 mph Thursday, August 29, 2002 SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map EXTRA Cyberchef E The People Golf Job Network Headbone Zone Wellness Connection Movie Times Newspaper in Education Oregon CarZone Outdoor Journal Personals Prime Times Real Estate Tempo A & E TV Times W3 Magazine CLASSIFIEDS Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Find Everything E SOUTHERN OREGON Destinations Automotive Communities Employment Entertainment Publications Real Estate Recreation Shopping Calendar ABOUT US FAQ What's New Advertise Home Delivery Classified Ad Contact Us Media Kit Jobs @ Mail Tribune Email Story to a Friend June 10, 2002 The Oregon Cemetery and Mortuary Board says the Central Point Cemetery's paperworkdoes not match that of the business operating the cemetery. Central Point Masonic Lodge, which owns the cemetery, says it is nonprofit, not a business. Mail Tribune / Andrew Mariman State demands Masons register cemetery Oregon Cemetery and Mortuary Board targets Central Point’s 150-year-old graveyard By BUFFY POLLOCK for the Mail Tribune CENTRAL POINT — Some local Masons who have faithfully cared for the city’s oldest-known cemetery for more than a decade had their feathers ruffled recently when the state appeared from nowhere to enforce regulations the Masons have never heard of. When the Central Point Masonic Lodge purchased the nine-acre Central Point Cemetery on Hamrick Road in 1990 it was "more or less a favor to the Odd Fellows," explained lodge historian Bill Best. "We basically gave them $2,000 because they needed the money and because the cemetery’s maintenance had just gotten to be too much." For 12 years, the old graveyard has been a community service project to preserve part of the community’s history and, said Best, eventually to provide an acre of open space to build a new lodge adjacent to the cemetery. The most activity while the cemetery has been under control of the Masons has been in the form of phone calls from genealogists and annual cleanup efforts by Scenic Middle School students. But never a word from any state agencies. "All of a sudden we started getting these nasty letters," said Best, from the Oregon Cemetery and Mortuary Board stating that the 150-year-old burial site’s paperwork did not match that of the business operating the cemetery. "It’s just ridiculous. We don’t operate a cemetery. We own it but we don’t bury people in it. They (the state) want the cemetery to be registered under an assumed business name, and they want to charge us fees. "We’re nonprofit, and we can’t have a business where we make a profit, and we don’t. Every now and then somebody does get buried there, but it stopped being an active cemetery before we ever got hold of it. "The people buried there came over in covered wagons and settled this area. Our intentions are, if someone wants to be buried there, they have to be from one of the pioneer families or a Mason." Descendants of pioneers are charged $100 for maintenance and are responsible for handling interment issues. After a series of phone calls, Best learned that the state not only wants the cemetery’s name changed — or the Masons to pay to revert to the original one — but they want cemetery volunteers to undergo background checks. "They just keep harassing the hell out of us, is what it amounts to. The background checks were our breaking point. It’s none of the state’s business where they’ve worked or what their personal information is. The same guy has been manager for 12 years." David Koach, executive director of the Oregon Mortuary and Cemetery Board, explained that while state regulations could be confusing for small cemeteries, the state is just trying to consistently keep track of burial sites. "They do own the cemetery, and by allowing interments to take place, they are considered to be an operating cemetery." But, said Koach, to prevent the state from "feeing the little cemeteries out of existence," cemeteries with fewer than 10 interments in two years are exempt from license and background check costs. Since the cemetery was first registered in the mid-1980s, only a $60 application fee and a one-time fee of $10 for interments have ever been charged. However, the lodge had paid $150 in delinquency fees for not returning required paperwork. "We send ’em out and operating cemeteries are required to send them back in. If they don’t do many interments, it’s only the cost of a stamp," said Koach. While the state can also waive background checks, Koach said the cemetery is required to keep the state informed of the current manager’s name for a basic check to take place. Also, what is locally known as "The Central Point Cemetery" will continue to be identified by the state as the Central Point Masonic Lodge #135 Cemetery unless the Masons pay a $20 fee and apply for a name change. "Obviously there’s no such thing as an Oregon Mortuary and Cemetery SWAT Team that’s gonna come down and try to take the sign," Koach said. "Failure to comply, worst-case scenario, would mean revoking their license where they couldn’t allow any interments there, but we have no intentions of doing that. We’re just trying to treat everyone the same." "It’s certainly not a massive amount of money," argued Best, "It’s just all the harassment we’re going through over what’s basically a community service effort. The stupidity of all this is really quite fascinating. "And apparently they do enforce their penalties because they’ve hassled us for the last 12 years and hit us for $150 of late fees." Lodge members will decide June 19 whether to pay $20 to officially revert to the cemetery’s original name or decide to register as a pioneer cemetery, in which case burials would no longer be allowed. According to the state’s most recent correspondence, the Masonic Lodge has until June 24 to register for a name change. Buffy Pollock is a free-lance writer living in Medford. E-mail her at [email protected] Printer Friendly Version Email Story to a Friend Subscribe Archive: Click to Search Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright 1997-2002 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy web master feedback A D V E R T I S E R S