K-9s, Pets and People Over Profit

NEW, SENSITIVE 3/30/2024. Try calling the cemetery office phone at 2-0-6-8-7-8-7-2-9-2 to see if you can get through to Julie and Steve Morris, "J.K. Morris, LLC", who own the cemetery, or anyone. It's a landline phone and the cemetery property owners appear to have taken the phone off the hook as you get a busy signal. Before that everyone with their legitimate questions, needs, and concerns could leave voicemails. However the cemetery office voicemail box would fill up and the auto voice would say the voice mail is full. No calls were returned. People are also leaving notes on the cemetery office door for the cemetery owners to contact them, but they are not hearing back. We have the Morrises' business cell phone numbers and emails and they aren't returning inquiries there either. Their lack of responses has been going on since the historic cemetery was designated a King County Landmark in 2022, which they fought hard against. What do you think of an active business in WA State, "J.K. Morris, LLC" (UBI # 602 777 028 expiration 11/30/2024), who owns the cemetery, doing this to its patrons and neighbors?

NEW, SENSITIVE 8/1/2023. We put facts here on our page and some reasonable commentary. We seem to be at an impasse with the cemetery property owners, Julie and Steve Morris, J.K. Morris, LLC. It boils down to use. This is a cemetery — sacred burial grounds. Add to that, the 2-acre historic Seattle-Tacoma Pet Cemetery est. 1950 is a King County Landmark and officially eligible for entry in the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). We are naturally standing for cemetery use and revenue from cemetery operations, plus care and maintenance of the cemetery. The owners have suspended cemetery operations and we don’t see much care and maintenance of the cemetery. See this story narrative chronologically and our latest update in the Updates section with photos. Cemetery patrons have their deceased beloved pets in freezers in their residences or at vets while trying to reach the Morrises and waiting for them to be buried with their other beloved pets. The Morrises are not answering the office phone. Why act like that? Why sell burial services and take money from vulnerable people and not talk with them?

The cemetery property owners are using the cemetery for industrial cell tower operations and answering the telecoms, however. We believe this historic cemetery with its significance and notoriety can bring in more than enough monies and prosper with cemetery use operations minus the tower. The industrial cell tower is not a cemetery use and doesn’t belong here. If the cemetery property owners would realign themselves with the cemetery use (an operating cemetery for over 70 years) and see the industrial cell tower for what it is — not a cemetery use and reassess — it doesn’t belong here, we could work together to create a win-win scenario for all parties and a new and prosperous heyday for our historic cemetery, a significant cultural resource in King County and the United States. The 100' industrial cell tower is incompatible. It's more serious than that. The 100’ industrial cell tower was placed inside an active burial block with graves and mourners and right next to neighbors’ homes in a community of color, immigrants, refugees, and low-income housing. The radio frequency radiation emissions coming from the industrial cell tower antenna are powerful and too close for safety to people and animals. 

NEW, SENSITIVE 6/1/2023. Well, we were hoping to see the 2-acre historic Seattle-Tacoma Pet Cemetery est. 1950 in beautiful shape for Memorial Day 2023. That did not happen. The cemetery property owners, Julie and Steve Morris, J.K. Morris, LLC, are wealthy and bought the cemetery for much less than what it was worth in 2012. Why buy a sacred burial ground for human and animal interments and not take beautiful care of it? Dumbfounded. Why put an illegal 100-foot industrial cell tower inside active Burial Block 13 with graves and mourners and desecrate the cemetery (breaking its historical concrete borders), get revenue from the multibillion-dollar telecom builder Crown Castle (commissioned by AT&T), and fail to maintain the cemetery? That big money deal started in 2017. That same year 2017, the Morrises got a ton of money also when they sold their lucrative pet cremation business, The S. Morris Co., to the acquisition company Gateway Services Inc. out of Canada. Where is all this money? The Morrises have more than adequate money to take care of the historic cemetery. Julie and Steve Morris, take your money and pride and put it here.

NEW, SENSITIVE 4/1/2023. Cemetery property owners, Julie and Steve Morris as J.K. Morris, LLC, continue to REFUSE to communicate with cemetery patrons and neighborhood residents. Why buy a 2-acre historic cemetery property in 2012 and do this? Seattle-Tacoma Pet Cemetery's est. 1950 (aka Seattle Pet Cemetery) office phone: 2-0-6-8-7-8-7-2-9-2. You will hear a bogus message that has been on there since at least September 2022 to this day. Is there no shame on the part of Julie and Steve Morris? How about for the dead? They don't care for the sacred burial grounds with human, pet, K-9 Officer, and service animal for the blind and visually impaired interments as shown by no mowing, no edging, no picking up of litter, etc. since July 31, 2022, when the professional Hispanic groundskeeper was let go by Gateway. Gateway is the cemetery business owner/operator that left on July 31, 2022.

NEW, SENSITIVE 2/1/2023. Amazing, not in a good way, how Gateway and Julie and Steve Morris are handling cemetery patrons to this day. See below for more information and what to do.

NEW, SENSITIVE 12/1/2022. Since our last update below, Gateway, the cemetery business owner/operator named below, skipped town and are not fulfilling their contractual obligations for expensive burial packages that they sold before their lease supposedly ended on 7/31/2022. Cemetery patrons have not received the memorial markers they paid for! The poor beloveds' graves don't have their tributes. We do not know who is officially operating this historic cemetery for our beloved humans and animals at this time. The state made a formal inquiry to Julie and Steve Morris, J.K. Morris, LLC, the cemetery property owners, but the Morrises are refusing to answer any calls on the cemetery office phone 2-0-6-8-7-8-7-2-9-2 or emails from the government, cemetery patrons, the public, and news media. Previously we reported to you that Gateway told us to call the "current owner and/or operator", but won't help us with who that is if it's not them. Please contact us using the white and green contact button next to "Organizer" for more information, or if you have information you wish to share.

NEW, SENSITIVE 10/1/2022. Gateway, the cemetery business owner/operator named below, says they have "no further connections" to the cemetery, however that does not match their actions. Gateway is contacting cemetery patrons after their lease supposedly ended on 7/31/2022 and appears to be doing other cemetery-related business. For e.g., burying, and receiving memorial markers and placing them on graves, etc. We do not know who is officially operating this historic cemetery for our beloved humans and animals. The state made a formal inquiry to Julie and Steve Morris, J.K. Morris, LLC, the cemetery property owners, but the Morrises are refusing to answer any calls or emails from the government, cemetery patrons, and the public. Gateway is telling us to call the "current owner and/or operator", but won't help us with who that is if it's not them. Please contact us using the white and green contact button next to "Organizer" for more information, or if you have information you wish to share.

NEW, SENSITIVE 8/1/2022. Gateway Services Inc. dbas West Coast Pet Memorial and Seattle Pet Cemetery, the cemetery business owner/operator, pulled out yesterday. They did not renew their lease. We do not know who is officially operating this historic cemetery for our beloved humans and animals. The state made a formal inquiry today to Julie and Steve Morris, J.K. Morris, LLC, the cemetery property owners. We will provide their answer when we get it. Please contact us using the green contact button with any questions and/or concerns.

Selling out their trust obligations for a better deal for the land. Breaking promises with K-9s, pets, and people! Gateway Services Inc. is denying your very existence. We have over 20 people buried here along with hundreds of pets, K-9 Officers and other service animals. Please consider donating to our preservation efforts and legal path forward for their protections and for equity and justice for our multi diverse, marginalized unincorporated South King County neighborhood. We are the patrons, family and friends of patrons, and residents neighboring the historic Seattle Pet Cemetery est. 1950 at 23646 Military Rd S in Kent, WA, USA. Check out our story for details! Photo credit: KIRO 7 TV News.

Serenity

Once a serene, peaceful, and pastoral setting, a safe and quiet, two-acre, 72 year old cemetery in a park-like setting. This is our emerald gem, our unique and storied historic and cultural resource in our multi-ethnic South King County neighborhood and greater community at large for people of all cultures to pay their respects and remember. Never to be forgotten. The end of his service for the people, City of Puyallup PD K-9 Officer Chad "Metro K-9 22", having dedicatedly served and tragically died from injuries in the line of duty, lays to rest in peace here. So quiet for our gentle vegetarian lioness, Little Tyke, having survived a traumatic birth at the Tacoma Zoo and shown what true resiliency is like in life at the Hidden Valley Ranch in Auburn, lays her head to rest here in peace. A chosen and beautiful place for Mrs. Marilyn Auer, a woman who loved her pets, to rest in peace with her 8 beloved pets, together in perpetuity. Beloved family members and families laid to rest here, not to be disturbed, at our sacred burial grounds. Our beloved historic cemetery has officially been determined eligible for King County Landmark Status and entry into the Washington State Register and the National Register of Historic Places. 

Razor wire, hazard and warning signs

Now can you imagine a cemetery landowner since 2012, Julie and Steve Morris, with 30 years past experience in death care, leasing our two-acre, limited and sacred burial grounds for K-9s and other service animals, pets, and people, "Burial Block 13" with graves, to an $80 billion telecom infrastructure corporation, Crown Castle, and sublessor $135 billion telecom cell carrier corporation, AT&T? And Gateway Services Inc., having bought the business from the Morrises in 2017, the cemetery business owner/operator, standing by saying they have nothing to do with it and going along advertising the cemetery to this day without the massive cell tower project in it? The Morrises and Gateway have sold expensive burial plots and markers to patrons, never once mentioning that a cell tower project would be placed at our cemetery and inside a burial block with graves! Cemetery patrons were not even notified and invited to any community meeting about the project as the residents immediately adjacent to the cell tower were. Imagine a 2500 square foot "compound", a "Minor Communication Facility" including a 100 foot monopole tower complete with razor wire, hazard and warning signs together inside a burial block with graves and mourners. Who in their right mind would think this is a good idea?! We had peace here. Not now! Already, Crown Castle has blamed "vandals"and "COVID" for their errors and omissions in the damage to our cemetery. We are not anti-technology, just for safe technology and the appropriate and responsible placement of cell towers. 

Big corporations steamroll as local governments give way

The patrons, family and friends of patrons, and residents neighboring the historic Seattle Pet Cemetery est. 1950 at 23646 Military Road South in Kent, WA, USA, are fighting this ‘non-cemetery use’ massive land use action inside a burial block with graves they allege has violated numerous state cemetery laws, damaged the cemetery, disturbed graves, and is endangering public safety. Humans, pets, and K-9 Officers and other service animals are interred at our small, two-acre 72 year old historic cemetery. Cemetery property owners, Julie and Steve Morris, the cemetery business owner/operator, Gateway Services Inc., and the telecoms corporations, Crown Castle and AT&T, did not disclose human remains nor the historic or cultural significance of the property in and around this allegedly unlawful ‘non-cemetery use’ project to King County Permitting Division or the FCC. King County is allowing the subsidized and fast-tracked 5G roll-out to bootstrap local planning and oversight and is not prioritizing the protections of its citizens. Washington State Department of Archeology & Historic Preservation (DAHP) has communicated with King County Permitting Division letting them know we have a cemetery and the state law protections thereof and correcting King County on their erroneous presentation of the law. State law reads in RCW 68.04.020, " "Human remains" or "remains" means the body of a deceased person, including remains following the process of cremation, alkaline hydrolysis, or natural organic reduction. This also includes the body in any stage of decomposition." Cremated human remains are human remains. Please be assured your beloved person is a human being upon cremation in the State of Washington.

Public health endangerment

This 'non-cemetery use' massive cell tower project is set to impose unwanted radiofrequency (RF) radiation on burial plot holders, visitors, and neighbors. This federal action, the subsidized and fast-tracked 5G roll-out, requires an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) which was not done. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) was sued in a landmark case heard Monday, 1/25/2021, in the U.S. Court of Appeals, D.C. for this very reason. In the U.S. at the federal level an EIS is a report mandated by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) to assess the potential impact of actions "significantly affecting the quality of the human environment". The FCC is violating the NEPA in this major federal action, the subsidized and fast-tracked 5G roll-out, and is not protecting public safety. The FCC has refused to update their 25 year old science when determining the safety of RF emissions! The telecom industry doesn't want the truth to come out. But time's up for relying on 25 year old science for evaluating cutting edge wireless technology and the aggregate effect of multiple devices.

Pushing back with laws and ethics

Since the FCC has not done an EIS, and King County is not, we are asking the State of Washington to stop construction and prevent activation of this “Minor Communications Facility” project immediately so it does not go live, as it has not been determined safe, and force removal of this facility at our cemetery based on numerous violations of cemetery law. With the legal counsel of famed Land Use and Environmental Attorney at Law, David Bricklin, on retainer, and direction of the Washington State Attorney General's Office, a 35-page letter of complaint with multiple exhibits was submitted to the Washington State Department of Licensing and Funeral and Cemetery Board. The preservation efforts are backed by the Washington State Department of Archeology & Historic Preservation (DAHP), Washington Trust for Historic Preservation, and SoCoCulture. The campaign is funded in part by a small grant from 4Culture (not included in funds raised reflected by GoFundMe). 4Culture’s mission is to fund, support, and advocate for culture to enhance the quality of life in King County.

Together we will protect the living and the dead

Please consider donating to our preservation efforts and legal path forward for the protections of our deceased beloveds laid to rest here, the patrons, the family and friends of the patrons, the residents immediately adjacent to the cell tower project, and all the visitors from the greater community who visit and pay their respects at our unique historic and cultural resource. Thank you and please share.