In Walnut, a Cemetery Sales Pitch Is Looked at Gravely

The decision may have grave repercussions, but the City Council is trying to make it tougher for cemetery solicitors to go door-to-door with burial plot sales pitches.

“I don’t want them knocking on my door,” Councilman Thomas Sykes said. “When I want a hole in the ground, I’ll call them.”

Sykes joined Councilman Ray Watson and Mayor Bert Ashley in a 3-0 vote last week denying a request by Rose Hills Memorial Park to have business license fees waived for its door-to-door solicitors. That means the Whittier cemetery will have to pay a fee of $100 per solicitor.

Ken Nungesser, an executive vice president at Rose Hills, said it’s the first such denial he’s aware of in his three years at the cemetery. The cemetery employs about 150 sales people canvassing various San Gabriel Valley cities. Nungesser said the extra expense could prompt the cemetery to trim its Walnut sales force from five solicitors to two.