Fairbanks to mediate Birch Hill Cemetery access argument
Published Monday, October 6, 2008
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Stumble It!FAIRBANKS — The Fairbanks Native Association is working closely with the city of Fairbanks and the owners of Birch Hill Cemetery in order to continue the tradition of winter burials for its Native constituents.
“FNA agreed to take on a plot of Birch Hill Cemetery so that we could continue to do winter burials,” said Doreen Deaton, interim Executive Director of FNA.
Most families in Interior Alaska wait until the frozen ground thaws before holding a burial service, but in the Native tradition, friends and family gather, sometimes for days, to thaw the ground for an immediate burial.
“This is something we’re doing for the community, and we would like to continue to provide that service by having access during the winter time to be able to honor and respect families that loose their loved ones,” Deaton said.
Since the city sold the cemetery to Fairbanks Funeral Home Inc., the traditional practice of winter burial has become complicated by land management disputes.
“Currently, we do not have (winter) access because the access road has been blocked by cemetery owners and the main gate is going to be locked soon and we don’t have a key,” Deaton explained.
The main gate is normally closed during the winter season when the cemetery’s burial operations shut down, which is why the Native community was given permission to build a separate access road to the Native plot.
When the city sold the cemetery rights to Fairbanks Funeral Home Inc. last year, the sale was made with an agreement that gave FNA access and the ability to manage and control its dedicated area without charge unless otherwise agreed between the two parties.
But the new owners complained about the access road in a letter to the city earlier this summer and asked FNA to decrease its burial area from 8 acres to about 2 acres.
“We don’t want to get into a dispute with the Fairbanks Funeral Home Inc.,” Deaton said. “We just want what was entitled to us for the purpose of winter burials which s a service FNA provides to the community.”
In the management agreement signed between FNA and the city in 2000, the land was designated for “exclusive use by the Alaska Native community.”
Though a total of 8 acres was designated, only 2 acres are considered adequate burial ground due to the slope of the land.
The remaining six acres is used for an alternative access road into the cemetery during the winter.
According to Deaton and FNA sources, former city Public Works director Dave Jacoby gave FNA consent to build the access road to Native plots during the winter.
“We’ve worked within our bounds,” Deaton said. “When we did go out of bounds, we worked with the city of Fairbanks.”
FNA and five other entities began the project in 1999, when Doyon President Morris Thompson and Fairbanks City Mayor Jim Hayes made efforts to help the Native community take over a portion of the cemetery, according to a press release issued by FNA in September.
The five other Alaska Native entities are the Tanana Chiefs Conference, Denakkanaaga, Doyon Ltd., the Alaska Native Veterans Association and the Interior Regional Housing Authority, which pledged to preserve burial traditions of the Native community at Birch Hill Cemetery.
The current owners of the cemetery were unavailable for comment.
Even though the city is no longer the owner of the burial grounds, officials continue to mediate an agreement between FNA and the owners of the Birch Hill Cemetery.
“We’re trying to see that an arrangement works out and we’re following through with this as a matter of overall public concern,” city chief of staff Pat Cole said.
Contact staff writer Rebecca George at 459-7504.
Community Discussion
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It would be helpful to know exactly what the letter said in the new owner's complaint regarding the access road and why they asked FNA to decrease its burial area from the 8 acres to 2 acres.
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The problem is Fairbanks Funeral Home Inc.; they attained a piece of land from the city, and now they want to utilize that land as much as possible for their own benefit. This is unethical and improper. If they decrease the FNA burial area from 8 acres down to 2 acres; then they can use that other 6 acres for their own and as they see fit. Hopefully, they will get a clue that this is wrong and they went into buying this land with knowledge of this previous arrangement in place.
“This is something we’re doing for the community, and we would like to continue to provide that service by having access during the winter time to be able to honor and respect families that loose their loved ones,” Deaton said. I think Deaton probably said "Lose their loved ones," although I guess the spirit is turned loose from the body upon death.
WOW! Follow the money I guess?
Why are the current owners unavailable for comment? Do they even live in Alaska? I went through the archives and found out that they BOUGHT the Cemetery and then received over $30,000.00 to maintain it. How much did the city receive in order to pay that much back to them? It doesn't make sense to me! So are the owners Fairbanks Funeral Home, Inc.? If so,who manages it for them........
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I believe a previous article stated that Fairbanks Funeral Home is owned by an Outside company.
Apparently these outsiders have no respect for Alaskans and their traditions. Nor do they respect their own word on legal documents.
The city had no business selling the cemetery in the first place. People paid money to bury their loved ones in a city-owned cemetery and have the right to expect it to continue as such. The city needs to accept responsibility for its cemeteries and stop treating them as step-children.
Thank you to the Native organizations for stepping up to the plate to properly care for a large segment of Fairbanks' population. Too bad our city government cannot do the same for all of our folks who have loved ones buried on Birch Hill.
THE CITY BLEW IT AGAIN..... I AM AMAZED THEY DID NOT SELL IT TO JOE USIBELLI.
Settle it in court, settle it once and for all. I am sure FNA could get a volunteer attorney to represent them. If the deed states they have use, they should be able to have a judge up hold the agreement.
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