Vandals lead Escalon cemetery to lock most gates after hours

At least a couple of people who tried to visit grave sites at the Burwood Cemetery in Escalon over the weekend said they were met with locked gates and “No Trespassing” signs.

Kari Hollenbeck said in an email to The Bee that she drove seven hours to put flowers on her mother’s grave, as she does every year, but could not get in. “I along with others who were afraid to cross the no-trespassing sign were not able to leave flowers. Most of the people I meet lived locally; I drove from Ventura,” she wrote. “I’ve been coming to this cemetery for years, all major holidays, never once experienced anything like this. ... This was first time in 10 years flowers weren’t placed on my family’s sites.”

A cemetery employee said vandalism has led to three of the four gates being locked after hours. “The past couple of weeks, we’ve been having problems with people coming in after everyone leaves and doing doughnuts in the back lot,” said Stefani O’Neill. “Then they started moving onto the grass.”

To restrict access, most of the gates are closed and locked after cemetery workers leave at 4 p.m., she said. One gate – along East River Road near the residential caretaker’s home – is to remain open all hours, O’Neill said. “We have a lot of people who think the main gate is the middle gate,” she said. “But it’s actually the one closest to the house on the property.”

O’Neill said the cemetery office is open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. weekdays but all gates open when other workers arrive at 8.

Burwood Cemetery, just east of Burwood Lane, is part of the Escalon Cemetery District. The district number is (209) 838-2924.

This story was originally published May 11, 2015 at 10:48 AM with the headline "Vandals lead Escalon cemetery to lock most gates after hours."