Family locked in at Coeur d'Alene cemetery

COEUR d'ALENE — Bethany Mikolas said she has celebrated the Fourth of July at the Riverview Cemetery in Coeur d'Alene for the last five years, next to the gravestone of her son who shares his birthday with America.

Her family, and many others she met at Grief Camp, often join them at the cemetery the evening of the Fourth to watch fireworks, eat dinner, and celebrate the birthday of Eli Mikolas Griffin — who died eight years ago at the age of 3.

"Fourth of July is one of the only big important days for us that is actually really fun," Mikolas, a Moscow resident who is from Coeur d'Alene, told The Press. "The anniversary of his death is just really sad, holidays we just miss him, but Fourth of July is a celebration day."

However, Mikolas and her family were shocked this year when they were greeted by a Coeur d'Alene Parks and Recreation employee shortly after entering the cemetery at 7 p.m. The employee quickly exited his truck to tell Mikolas and her family that they had to leave, she said, so he could lock up the cemetery.

"I was trying to explain to him that we had just gotten there and that it was my son's birthday and he was buried right over there," Mikolas said. "I was just trying to tell him what was going on with us and he just kept interrupting me and cutting me off. He was really impatient and just said 'You need to get out.'"

Mikolas said she and her husband, Sean Scoggin, continued to question the employee in an effort to determine if there was a new policy requiring the cemetery to be locked on the Fourth of July.

"He got mad and said he was going to call his supervisor," Mikolas said. "I thought that was good and that it was just a misunderstanding that would get cleared up."

The employee, according to Mikolas, then locked the gates and left. Her family could not get out, and Mikolas said it was more than an hour and a half before the employee's supervisor showed up to let them out and discuss the incident.

Mikolas said the supervisor told the family multiple times that the cemetery was locked every year on the Fourth of July.

"I was really scared while it was going on. I was just really taken aback. It's a really hard day, even eight years later," Mikolas said. "We had been crying a lot and we were just looking forward to going there and relaxing and doing our thing. It was just really upsetting to be confronted with something so crazy while we were feeling emotionally vulnerable."

Deputy City Administrator Sam Taylor wrote in an official statement that city officials "deeply regret" that the incident occurred, and that they would like the community to understand the details of the event itself.

Each year, Taylor wrote, the city locks up tennis courts on the Fourth of July to ensure that residents do not launch fireworks from them, which would damage the courts. On Halloween, he wrote that the city locks up all of its cemeteries because "they can become frequent haunts for people who might damage areas of this sensitive property."

"This year, a parks worker thought it would be appropriate to also lock the two city-owned cemeteries (Forest and Riverview) in order to prevent fireworks from being launched in the cemetery," Taylor wrote. "This was fully intended to help prevent damage to this sensitive property, too."

Taylor wrote parks employees spoke with the family and notified them that the cemetery would be closed. However, he added that they declined to leave.

Since the family's vehicles were parked outside of the cemetery, Taylor said the employee locked up the fence with a chain, but "locked it at the very last link so that they could get through the opening on foot." Taylor added a parks manager came by after the cemetery was locked to further discuss the incident.

"We absolutely regret this incident and the Parks and Recreation Department has determined that they will no longer close and lock the cemetery on the Fourth of July," Taylor wrote. "Our intent was fully and absolutely to protect this sacred ground from fireworks damage, and we understand the family's concerns."

Parks Director Bill Greenwood, according to Taylor, received a voicemail from the family and contacted them back. Mikolos told The Press she appreciated the kind message of apology Greenwood left for them, but added that misinformation spread in media reports about how the gate being locked with enough space for them to leave felt like the city was backpedaling and that the apology was insincere.

"They shut it tightly on purpose," Mikolas said. "My kids could get through, but my husband and I couldn't get through and there was absolutely no way for us to get my grandma and her walker through a crack in the fence.”

"We appreciate the feedback and realize that, regardless of how it was locked up, it was not the right call,” Taylor said in response. “It won’t occur in the future and we continue to be very sorry and regretful for the decision."