Tree branches, pipe fittings and a construction cone sit in one of the open grave plots at Greenwood Memorial Park in Centralia in this Chronicle file photo from 2014.
Centralia’s abandoned, long-troubled Greenwood Memorial Park has a new path to restoration — if city officials can reach an agreement with the cemetery’s incarcerated owner.
State legislators included $250,000 in the 2018 Supplemental Capital Budget for the purchase of the cemetery, money that the city can use to buy the property if it establishes a cemetery district.
Local lawmakers said the city has been amenable to taking over the property, but no firm plan is in place. Complicating matters is the fact that the officials working to provide the funding have been unable to negotiate with Greenwood owner John Baker, who is currently locked up on an assault charge.
“There is a belief” that Baker is willing to sell the property, said Rep. Richard DeBolt, R-Chehalis, the ranking member of the House Capital Budget Committee. “He’s written a note, he’s told people, but we haven’t actually been able to speak with him because he’s incarcerated.”
Baker has had a troubled decade since the cemetery sexton was charged with threatening a woman with a gun in 2007. He’s currently locked away facing the same charge for a recent incident. In the past, he has also been accused of stealing from the cemetery’s endowment fund, violating anti-harassment orders, misdemeanor assault, trespassing and stalking. He technically owns Greenwood cemetery but is prohibited from entering its grounds through a court order, leading the Washington State Funeral and Cemetery Board to declare it abandoned in 2015.
The six-figure plan from the Legislature represents the latest effort to deal with the troublesome property.
“The maintenance has not been very good out there,” said Rep. Ed Orcutt, R-Kalama. “People have still been having problems accessing the grounds to do a burial. … The last thing anybody should have to go through is a hassle like this when they're already grieving.”
After various attempted workarounds, including a proposal to redefine what constitutes an abandoned cemetery, lawmakers decided the best solution was to try to put the property in the hands of local government.
“It’s important to our community,” said Sen. John Braun, R-Centralia, adding that similar cases throughout the state helped build broad support for the funding. “It's always more valuable and successful if you can figure out how our local issue is similar to statewide challenges.”
The funding language reads as follows:
“$250,000 of the appropriation in this section is provided solely for the purchase of the Greenwood cemetery located at 1905 Johnson road. The city of Centralia must establish a cemetery district for the Greenwood cemetery.”
Now the city of Centralia must determine if and how to use that money to purchase the property from Baker and take on responsibility for Greenwood’s upkeep. The lawmakers said the city has been open to the proposal, though it has not yet publicly released a plan of its own. Questions about the cemetery were directed to City Manager Rob Hill, who did not respond Monday afternoon to a request for comment. The Centralia City Council meets Tuesday evening, though no cemetery-related item appears on its public agenda. The Council will convene privately in executive session following the public portion of the meeting to discuss “Real Estate.”
•••
Previous reporting from Chronicle Assistant Editor Natalie Johnson was included in this report.
