This is part 2 of the post found here: http://www.phillyblog.com/philly/610394-post40.html

Souderton borough may take charge of cemetery
By:MIKE PIFER, STAFF WRITER
01/10/2001

Souderton Borough Council Monday night approved a
motion to authorize the borough solicitor to prepare
all the necessary documents to transfer ownership of
the Hillside Cemetery to the borough.

The solicitor's office is now preparing a petition for
ownership to file before Judge Stanley Ott in the
Orphan's Court in the Court of Common Pleas of
Montgomery County, said Borough Solicitor Elvin
Souder. Borough Manager P. Michael Coll said if the
court approves the petition the borough will take over
the cemetery within three to six months. The borough
will probably be forming a committee to run the
cemetery, said Coll, though who will be on the
committee hasn't yet been decided.

Because of legal and financial problems, the cemetery
seemed to be headed towards a state of disrepair, said
Mayor Charles Allebach. "We had an inkling of this
some time ago," he said.

Following the meeting Council President John Young,
who is also chairman of the cemetery committee for
Zion Mennonite Church, said the borough will probably
hire an outside lawn care company to maintain the
grounds at Hillside. But until borough officials have
the proper paperwork, nothing is definite. "We just
don't have the details yet," Young said.

In recent months the cemetery has been the object of
controversy.

A descendent of one of the charter members of the
Hillside Cemetery Corporation and responsible for its
day-to-day operations, R. Bruce Fenstermacher, began
in 2000 to collect what corporation shares he could
find with the hope of being declared sole proprietor
of the cemetery. Since it was unclear who owned many
of the shares in the corporation, Fenstermacher said,
he wanted to "clear up the mess of ownership" and form
an appropriate group which would be responsible for
its operation. To locate all the shareholders,
however, would have been impossible, he said. He did,
however, collect commitments for 26 shares.

Though approximately 70 shares were still outstanding,
Fenstermacher said he had plans to approach the county
court with the commitments to see if he might be
declared majority shareholder in the corporation and
have a board of directors formed. "Someone has to be
the owner," he said. He said he also wanted the
borough to be involved. "Had I gotten majority
ownership ... my plan was to approach the borough to
be involved at some level," he said. "It's a community
cemetery, and what organization is guaranteed to be
here forever but the borough?"

After cemetery trust funds were found to be missing
last March, however, Fenstermacher abandoned his
plans. Evidence was discovered that John Snyder,
entrusted with perpetual care funds for the cemetery,
had transferred monies from the cemetery trust fund
into the accounts of his own business, J.S.
Industries.

Snyder, who is Fenstermacher's brother-in-law, made
arrangements to pay compensation, but after remitting
$45,000 he failed to make any further payments and was
subsequently arrested on charges of theft by unlawful
taking, theft by deception, misapplication of
entrusted property, receiving stolen property, forgery
and passing bad checks. During a Jan. 4 hearing in
district court in Souderton the forgery and bad check
charges were dropped. Snyder is scheduled to face the
remaining charges in county court March 16.

Although the matter with Snyder is yet to be resolved,
there should be sufficient revenue to keep the
cemetery "self-sufficient," Coll said. The borough now
is waiting on the solicitor's accounting of all
available funds for the cemetery and the results of a
title search prior to the final action of the court as
far as ownership, he said.

Currently Fenstermacher and Jim Maza, an attorney, are
responsible for operating the cemetery. Fenstermacher
is receiver of the day-to-day operations. Maza was
named receiver at a Dec. 11 county court conference.

"People ask me why I do this," said Fenstermacher when
interviewed last week. "I've done it as a volunteer
because I have pride in the community I live in."


A century of history

"The meeting for the object of organizing a cemetery
company was called to order at 7:45 p.m. at Landis and
Co. store as agreed upon for a business meeting,"
states the first entry (dated Sept. 21, 1894) in the
handwritten minutes of the Hillside Cemetery
Corporation. The charter was approved by the county in
December 1894.

Ten charter subscribers each bought 12 shares of stock
in the corporation worth $25 each, for a total of
$3,000. One of the founders of the cemetery was
William F. Goettler, also the original publisher of
the Germania Gazette, which later became the Souderton
Independent. According to Maza, several local
undertakers were also among the original subscribers.

In April 1895 about three and a quarter acres of land
between Central Avenue and East Chestnut Street,with
frontage on North Second Street, was purchased for
$900 from Sarah Benner, widow of Isaac Benner, as
burial grounds. More than an acre of land bordering
Central Avenue and Fourth Street was added to the
cemetery in 1940.

A tract of the land was sold to the Souderton
Furniture company in 1950.

Today there are three parts to Hillside: a north and
south section divided by Sunny Hill Drive, and a third
area known as the Sunny Hill section. The cemetery has
3,480 lots, 1,000 of which remain unsold.
Approximately 1,800 - 2,000 people are buried in the
cemetery. Many of the founding fathers, business
people and artisans of the borough are interred there,
including former Souderton Independent editor Rolland
Albright and E. Merton Crouthamel, the Souderton
educator for whom the elementary school is named.
Others buried at Hillside include builders Ralph Drace
and Melvin Nice; grocer Abner Moyer; Harvey Shelly,
one of the original proprietors of Shelly &
Fenstermacher Lumber Co.; Edwin Weidman, a plumber,
and clothing manufacturer Milton Zendt.

In 1943, said Maza, the corporation applied to the
I.R.S. for non-profit status and a trust account was
established at Union National Bank. Shares in the
corporation, however, were sold as late as 1957, when
the Zwingli Church on Wile Avenue bought 13 shares for
$150. According to Linda Giannone, secretary at
Zwingli, the church sold its stock in the cemetery in
1972.

When the cemetery was founded, Souderton Mennonite was
the only church congregation that had burial grounds
located within the boundaries of the borough.
Allebach, who at one time in his capacity as president
of the church council at Zwingli was on the cemetery's
board of trustees, said other area churches were
involved in the corporation but eventually backed out.

A Hillside plot containing eight burial lots sold for
$250 in 1960. An individual lot now sells for $600.
Originally, individual owners had the option of either
taking care of plots themselves or paying into a
perpetual care fund. For more than a quarter century,
however, all purchasers have been required to pay a
one time perpetual care fee.

In the 1940s and 1950s Hillside was a large part of
the town, said Fenstermacher, who works as a pilot and
occasionally flies over the grounds. The cemetery
isn't any smaller or less significant in the borough
now than it was a half-century ago, he said, it only
looks smaller because of the houses and other
buildings that have gone up around it.

"I'm happy that the borough has decided to take over
the cemetery,"

Fenstermacher said following the council's decision
Monday night, "but saddened because it may be the end
of my involvement."

On the average, between 15 - 20 people are buried in
the cemetery every year, said Fenstermacher. The last
burial, he said, was about two months ago.
©Montgomery Newspapers 2007

This is part 3 of this thread: http://www.phillyblog.com/philly/610400-post41.html

Souderton borough takes over Hillside Cemetery
By:MIKE PIFER, STAFF WRITER
03/29/2001
Everything but the formalities are over for the
transfer of ownership of Souderton's Hillside Cemetery
to the borough.

"Officially, we don't have the paperwork yet, but it's
all in the works to be done," said Souderton Borough
Council President John C. Young.

During a March 19 hearing in Montgomery County Court
Judge Stanley R. Ott indicated approval of ownership
of the cemetery to the borough, said James Maza,
receiver for the day-to-day operations of the
cemetery.

"My expectation is in the next few weeks the borough
will take control," said Maza.

Young testified at the March 19 court hearing that the
borough was prepared to take over ownership and
operation of Hillside. Young said the cemetery would
be self-sufficient and money for its operation would
be taken from the perpetual care fund and from the
sale of burial lots. Hillside's assets will be kept
separate from borough capital, he said. A committee
appointed by borough council will oversee the
operation of the cemetery, Young added.

According to Maza, cemetery assets now consist of
$62,000 in the bank.

The 4.5-acre tract, located on North Second Street,
has approximately 3,400 burial plots, of which 732
remain unsold, said Maza. Maza said that when the
borough takes ownership, plots will probably sell for
what they go for now - around $600.

There were 18 burials at Hillside last year.

Hillside was established as a non-denominational
cemetery, he added, so in a sense the original purpose
is being met by the borough taking over.

R. Bruce Fenstermacher, whose great-great grandfather,
along with a dozen others, founded the cemetery in
1894, said he had planned to locate the descendants of
the original shareholders and petition Montgomery
County Court for ownership.

Following the arrest of his brother-in-law, John
Snyder, accused of embezzling around $73,000 from the
cemetery perpetual care fund account, Fenstermacher
last November petitioned Montgomery County Court to
appoint another receiver for Hillside. Maza, a former
county commissioner with a law office in Souderton,was
appointed. Both the court and Maza commended
Fenstermacher for caring for the cemetery and awarded
him a retroactive management fee of $100 per month for
the past nine months.

"I'm happy with the outcome and the judge's decision,"
said Fenstermacher.
©Montgomery Newspapers 2007

It's just history!

Are we to gather from these articles that you are expecting-or hoping- that the owners (past or present) will be arrested and jailed for theft of funds? If so, great. If they did what you say they did, they deserve it. Good riddance to them, IMO.

Are we also to gather from these articles that you are expecting-or hoping- that the city of Philadelphia will someday take ownership of Greenwood? If so, that's a different story, IMO.

Philadelphia is not Souderton.

And even if the city did take control of Greenwood, what would they do with it? Be careful what you wish for.

Would they dump hundreds of thousands and thousands into it to restore the house? Doubt it. Would they dump thousands and thousands into it to restore the graves in disrepair --especially in the back 30-40 acres where they can't even be accessed? I doubt that too.

Maybe the city WOULD take control of Greenwood. Maybe they would claim a hardship, get a variance (if they city even needs to do that)---and put in the crematoriums anyway. I'm sure we have lots of homeless and indigent who could find their final resting place at Greenwood.

Or maybe the current owners file bankruptcy, walk away, and it just sits and sits for years to come. No biggie there either. Nothing has changed since they took ownership anyway.

Or..maybe Councilman Danny Savage could get the Redevelopment Authority to buy it like the Art Holiday. Wouldn't that be fun?

Basically, nothing's changed. Bad guys go to jail. Cemetery rots.

At least we know you're watching. And they know you're watching. So, that at least is the good news.

__________________
United we stand. Divided we fall.

I am not saying anything. Draw your own conclusion as to what will be the conclusion.

What I am saying is that there are parallel worlds here, and with Greenwood, no rules apply.

The Souderton articles are just a comparison as to how different municipalities handle criminal conduct.

There were never any charges of any criminal conduct in the case of Greenwood. Nor do I expect that there will be.

This whole situation kind of reminds me of a line from the movie "Chinatown." http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/chinatown/about.php

At the end of the story, the good guy knows the whole truth of the whole scandal, when the cop says:

"Forget it, Jake. It's Chinatown."
--Walsh (Joe Mantell) to Jake Gittes (Jack Nicholson)

There is no justice. There will never be any justice.

There is just an illusion of what we believe justice should be.

Sorry to dissappoint but since the cemetery has been under the scrutiny of the Orphan's Court Judge for the last ten years, virtually every cent has been accounted for.

But you may be right, nothing's changed. "Cemetery rots".
The "good news" is fleeting though. Who's watching the people who are watching the people? You may have the fox guarding the hen house.

Since nobody posted the NCA Agreement or the Orphan's Court Settlement Agreement:
Next up, in cronological order, the unembellished "HISTORY" of the cemetery grounds. All someone has to do is ask, assuming someone cares. (Hint, its not as interesting as you think)

Emeritus, you're right! This "truth" thing is great! Now I know how you and bones and mynorthwood feel all the time. Quite a rush(no pun intended).

Just an opinion but, it seems to me people with something to hide fear "entrapment". No?