Watchdogs Take To Social Media To Blast Olivehurst Cemetery Conditions
OLIVEHURST (CBS13) – A group that calls themselves the "grave posse" is pushing for better maintenance of the gravesites at Sierra View Memorial Park.
"It has been years of complaining," Christine Giusto said.
There's been no rest for Guisto at her family's final resting spot.
"Military, family members, they were all babies covered in 6 to 8 inches of grass, mud, water," Guisto said.
Video Guisto posted on Facebook shows the condition: overgrown sod covering gravesite markers, leaving the names of those laid to rest hidden.
The post attracted attention from others with family buried at the cemetery, sparking a backlash against the business that manages the sacred grounds.
"We pay them to take care of it and make it a nice place," said Melissa Gillaspie, another person frustrated with cemetery maintenance.
Gillaspie also complained about the cemetery's care of her families plots.
The complaints did lead to cemetery cleanup. Extra workers were brought in to trim all the grass back.
"They shouldn't have had all these people complain about it before they took some kind of an action," Gillaspie said.
The national company that owns Sierra Vista cemetery, Pennsylvania-based StoneMor Partners, did not respond to requests for a comment.
The California Department of Consumer Affairs shows the cemetery has a clean license.
Guisto is still concerned the recent fix won't be maintained and says she'll stay on the case.
"They got the wrong girl, I'm not walking away," Guisto said. "It's gonna be kept this way, and if I have my way it's going to be better."
Christine says since posting her video more than 50,000 people have viewed it. Some with family buried at the cemetery have come back to clean their own loved ones' gravesites.
If you would alert officials about the condition of a gravesite, the California Department of Consumer Affairs has set up a website: http://www.cfb.ca.gov/consumer/complaints.shtml.
