Transients leaving mess at Fresno cemetery

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- An historic Chinese cemetery is overflowing with trash and waste, and a concerned Fresno resident says no one is cleaning it up.

The Sam Yup Cemetery is located at Hughes and Belmont avenues in West Central Fresno. The cemetery has been there since the early 1900s. Now, transients are making their way into the unkept lot and leaving a mess behind.

Tombstones with markings dating back to the 1800s also act as shelter for numerous vagrants who call this cemetery home.

"The property is not secured from unwanted and unwelcomed guests either, so people come and go as they please and obviously leave a lot of trash behind," said J.C. Robinson.

Robinson says he's a cemetery and history enthusiast. He's visited hundreds of cemeteries in the last 20 years but has never come across a burial site so neglected.

"It's really disappointing, kind of a shame," he said. "I would hate to have loved ones out here. Especially the history associated with this particular cemetery, I think its residents deserve a little more respect than this."

A spokesperson for the Sam Yup Cemetery says they're trying to find a cost-effective solution to keep people out. Fresno County tells Action News this is privately-owned land and they can only maintain the spillover of trash into their property. Neither parties were available to go on camera.

"The city told me that it has been an ongoing problem. When the city destroyed the homeless camps downtown it kind of scattered everybody," said Robinson.

The Sam Yup Cemetery is sandwiched between a county owned cemetery and another Chinese cemetery that's also deteriorating. People Action News spoke to who make their home on these burial plots said other homeless people leave trash that has accumulated over time.

The concern of vagrants living in this area isn't limited to this cemetery. Across the street, where the plots are maintained and security patrols the grounds, they also have issues with transients.