After being closed for more than two years, Evergreen Funeral Home and Memorial Park is back in business.
The state's Department of Consumer Affairs' Cemetery and Funeral Bureau on Monday approved a funeral license for the cemetery, according to Kim Brown, spokeswoman for the Department of Consumer Affairs.
The once beleaguered burial ground (previously known as Evergreen Memorial Park and Funeral Home) was shuttered in June 2007 after the cemetery's operator surrendered its licenses to the bureau. Since last year, the cemetery's been under new management, in the hands of a group of Bay Area investors called DLS Inc.
The funeral license will allow Evergreen to conduct funeral services at the business. Still, the business will need to apply for a cemetery license to sell new burial plots. A crematory license will also be needed before the business can conduct cremations. Burials can still be conducted at the cemetery on pre-owned burial plots, according to Laura Singh, Evergreen's funeral director.
Singh said it's unknown when the new management will apply for the cemetery and crematory licenses.
Conditions at Evergreen went south after it closed in 2007. Broken headstones, knee-high weeds amid dead patches of lawn and unkempt graves comprised only a few of the complaints by residents with loved ones buried there.
Today, the cemetery's lawns are verdant and freshly cut. The crimson carpets inside the mausoleum are vacuumed and clean. The weeds and overgrown grass have been trimmed away from the headstones, and coats of new paint grace the cemetery's main office.
Singh described conditions as "scary" at Evergreen when she first arrived at the property eight months ago. The cemetery now uses five groundskeepers, one full-time. The business also passed a recent facilities and fire inspection by the Department of Consumer Affairs. "We just went to work," Singh said.
After the cemetery fell into disrepair in 2007, a group of families took matters into their own hands, trimming the lawn and taking care of the premises.
Ralph Sharp, a 47-year-old Merced resident with nearly a dozen relatives buried at Evergreen, including his grandparents and brother, said the reopening of the business is encouraging. "I think it's a step forward," Sharp said. "I think the cemetery looks great. They're doing a good job out there. I'm truly encouraged that they've come this far."
Ralph Gonzalez, 71, a resident with several family members buried in the cemetery, including his wife Annie and his parents, called the news extremely exciting, especially after years of him speaking out about the cemetery's ills. "I think it's a blessing," Gonzalez said. "It's a beautiful day for all of us."
Evergreen's problems began stacking up around June 2007, after the cemetery's operator, Sunset Services Corp., surrendered its business licenses to the state's Department of Consumer Affairs.
Evergreen also had $2.1 million in outstanding loans and eventually went into foreclosure.
The state had also denied Evergreen's applications for operating licenses twice since 2007 because Michael Wallace, who the state maintained was the previous owner of the cemetery, owed the state more than $44,000 in unpaid fines and fees.
Wallace owed those fines and fees because of a long list of violations that occurred while he was a director at Madera Funeral Home. Because of those violations, the state revoked Wallace's funeral establishment license and director's license in 2003.
According to a July 2003 Madera Tribune article, Wallace's citations centered around charges that he failed to provide contracted service and failed to provide services in a timely manner.
Some of the charges included misplacing the cremated remains of a client and failing to provide a refund to a family after they were offered a reduced rate for funeral service.
Singh said Wallace is no longer involved with Evergreen. She added that Evergreen's current operators signed a disclosure form with the Cemetery and Funeral Bureau, stating Wallace isn't involved.
In July last year, inspectors with the city's code enforcement division visited the cemetery, where they found a water-logged section of carpet in the mausoleum from a leaky pipe. Four people were living in the business' office.
Last September, the cemetery went up for sale at a public auction. No one bought the property, and it ended up in the hands of the investors.
Singh said an open house will be held at Evergreen in December.
Located at 1480 B St., business hours at Evergreen are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Reporter Victor A. Patton can be reached at (209) 385-2431 or vpatton@mercedsun-star.com.
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