A Fresno cemetery has been shut down by the state for unlicensed activity.
Chapel of the Light Cemetery in southwest Fresno has been barred from selling plots after being accused of financial mismanagement.
The big picture: The State Cemetery and Funeral Bureau fined the Chapel of the Light Cemetery $5,000 for operating without a valid license. The cemetery’s license expired at the end of last month.
- Three other cemeteries in the Bay Area that are also operated by owner Buck Kamphausen were also fined $5,000 last month.
- According to multiple reports, Kamphausen wanted to transfer the cemeteries to Evergreen Ministries.
- Kamphausen argued that the cemetery is now a church cemetery because of it being under the control of Evergreen Ministries, which would make it exempt from state control.
- But the state disagreed and did not grant the exemption.
Driving the news: A Solano County judge issued an order against Evergreen Ministries in January, saying it was formed for the purpose of avoiding governmental regulation and is a scheme of financial mismanagement by Kamphausen.
What they’re saying: Kamphausen told SFGATE that his cemeteries have all been operating with the proper permits, despite what the state has said.
- “You don’t need a license to be a church,” Kamphausen told SFGATE. “So all the churches that have cemeteries, they don’t have to make reports to the cemetery bureau.”
- Kamphausen also spoke against the ruling from the Solano County judge to ABC 30.
- “We haven’t mismanaged funds,” Kamphausen told the station. “Mmost everything they put out, right from the start, was a lie. We are appealing their ruling.”
