PIONEER
CEMETERIES COMMISSION
(a California 501(3)(c) Non-Profit Public Benefit Corporation)
EL DORADO
COUNTY
PIONEER
CEMETERIES COMMISSION
(a California 501(3)(c)
Non-Profit Public Benefit Corporation)
An EAGLE Flies...
In 1999, EDCPCC member
Phil Kelly began to work with Boy Scout Joseph Prioriello to assist Joe with his
Eagle project. Joe had decided to perform his project on a cemetery.
Phil Kelly showed him the Skinner Ranch Cemetery, where El Dorado County
pioneers James and Jessie (nee Bernard) Skinner and three of their sons are
buried on a small hill to the west of where their ranch house had been located.
By the time Joe saw this
little cemetery, it had met some unfortunate times. By 1981, the
tombstones stood silent testimony to the once bustling Skinner Vineyard and
Winery that was built by Scotsman James Skinner during his lifetime in this
county. The house was gone, and the wine cellar and distillery structures
had long since crumbled to decay or had been bulldozed into oblivion to make way
for progress and development.
All that was left of
Skinner's ranch was a portion of the cellar (now integrated into the Cameron
Park Nursery), a tiny remnant of the distillery wall (now behind mobile homes in
the mobile home park near the corner of Cameron Park Drive and Green Valley
Road, and the cemetery. (Click here to see the 1981
photos.)
In 1987, trucks loaded
with fill dirt began to dump their loads on the southwest corner of Green Valley
Rd. and Cameron Park Dr., just east of the little unfenced graveyard referred to
in deeds as the "Skinner Burying Ground." Neighbors who were
concerned about the cemetery rushed to the site and began to clear the weeds and
grasses and to erect a fence. (Click here
to see photos of this clean up and the news article that was published about
it.)
Around 1990, the present
shopping center with the Circle K and Round Table Pizza Parlor was built.
The developer cut the east bank of the cemetery that was only fenced in 1987,
without obtaining any archaeological site work to determine the potential for
the presence of graves outside the newly fenced "boundary."
By the time the shopping
center was completed, the ingress/egress access road had disappeared from the
developer's deed and the developer had provided a separate ingress/egress to
this cemetery without any regard for the previously deeded access. (Click
here to see the 1987 photo showing the access road prior to the construction
of the shopping center.)
Although the developer
installed a pretty white picket fence, by 1996 area teenagers had managed to
have their way with the fencing and the tombstones. They were fast
dismantling the fence and someone had written graffiti in black fingernail
polish on the tombstone of James and Jessie Skinner.
As fortune would have it,
a young man was in need of a community service project so we asked him to help
clean up the Skinner Ranch Cemetery. For a one person project, he did a
very good job, although there was not much he could to about the damaged
fence. (Click here to see the photos of this 1996
clean up.)
When Joe Prioriello
arrived at the site, he knew immediately that he would have to replace entire
sections of fencing. The problem was where to find matching pickets.
Joe decided to manufacture them himself. (Click here to see the photos of Joe's
Eagle project in progress.)
Joe also agreed to take
on the repair and resetting of the tombstone of James Skinners' lifelong friend
and ranch hand, David Reid. EDCPCC had recovered this stolen tombstone
during a "Tombstone Amnesty Project" in the Fall of 1996. Broken
in six pieces, it was feared that if it was repaired and reset that it might
take to "walking" again. Joe set the stone in a large concrete
base sufficient to deter anyone from taking it.
Joe completed his project
in late 1999. He did an outstanding job of repairing and repainting the
fence. He erected a sign at the gate, and EDCPCC placed a Welcome/Warning
Sign at the entrance also.
The cemetery remained in
good condition for approximately seven months. Then the vandalism began
yet again. We were all broken hearted, especially Joe.
The reality here is that
the County of El Dorado approved two development projects - the commercial
shopping center on the corner and the Cameron Glen Estates residential
development south and west of the cemetery, without any regard for the effect
those projects would have on the cemetery.
The first developer's
mitigation was to provide the pretty picket fencing. It was inadequate to
provide any protection whatever. The County apparently didn't care, even
though at the time the County had unlawfully "declared" it to be a
Pioneer Memorial Park and had supposedly taken responsibility for it.
When the Cameron Glen
Estates project was first developing, the planning department informed the Board
of Supervisors that County Counsel had advised that the cemetery was a Pioneer
Memorial Park and the County's responsibility. Apparently that means that
the County does nothing to provide mitigation for impacts associated with the
projects that might stall a project out. Again, the County did nothing to
protect this cemetery.
Those who have acted to
attempt to protect it are the members of the community at large who DO care what
happens to this little cemetery. And finally, along came Joseph
Prioriello, a Boy Scout with the
goal of attaining his Eagle rank.
We believe through Joe
Prioriello, an Eagle flies....
On Tuesday, June 18, 2002, the Board of Supervisors will approve Agenda Item No. 24 on the Consent Calendar of their regular meeting. Agenda Item No. 24 states:
24. Supervisor
Humphreys recommending Certificate of Commendation to Joseph
Prioriello who has achieved the rank of Eagle Scout, Troop 700.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Authorize Chair to sign.
Joe's Eagle Award Ceremony will take place on Saturday, June 29, 2002. We
extend our gratitude to him for his efforts to help preserve and restore the
Skinner Ranch Cemetery. We congratulate him and wish him as much success
in his life as he found in the work he did on this cemetery.
We know Joe has the right
stuff to more than just fly. We envision he will soar...
Congratulations,
Joe! Best wishes always....
from the
Members of the
EL DORADO COUNTY PIONEER CEMETERIES COMMISSION