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"A general (and conservative} rule of thumb is that protected structures <br />should be at least twice the. distance away horizontally as the depth of <br />the excavation. In other words, if the .pit were to be excavated 20 feet <br />deep the horizontal distance from the toe of the slope would be 40 feet <br />.tb prevent slope failure from extending into the protected structure. , . . <br />Based on conversations with the operator, they are'not awaze of the <br />exact depth to the bottom of the deposit but estimated it to be ,10 to 20 <br />feet. Assuming 15 feet, they would need to maintain a distance of 30 . <br />feet from the nearest structure, which is approximately the distance to <br />the. marked perimeter of the cemetery from the projected toe of the <br />excavated slope ofthe pit." <br />It is cleaz from examining the' enclosed Attachments C and D that there is not a 10- <br />foot buffer frbm the fence line, which is .the boundary of the cemetery; andthe <br />encroaching excavation is only about 10 to 15 feet from an actual grave site. <br />urther concern arises from the fact that this does not appear to be a <br />F soplristicated.cemetery with modern burial practices. It is doubtful that the <br />human remains interred in this cemetery are the standard six feet below the surface <br />of the ground. Mr. Espinoza and I commissioned a geologist,,Mr. Robert A. Doak, <br />Jr., to inspect the cemetery in April, 2005. Mr. Doak has over 50 years of <br />experience in the field of geomorphology. Mr. Doak concluded that to bury a <br />corpse at that cemetery at the depth of six feet, the persons conducting'the burial <br />would have to penetrate two to three feet of boulder gravel. However, there are no <br />stones piled on or near the surface at this grave yazd, suggesting that the gravel bed ' <br />has never been penetrated, therefore the graves may be as shallow as four feet deep. <br />Aggravating this concern is the change in the surface drainage of the azea <br />around the cemetery, resulting from the Road and Bridge Employees' removal of the <br />topsoil, then piling it in lazge mounds along"the southernmost edge of the Castillo <br />Pit. Mr. Doak concluded that this would change the surface drainage ofthe <br />Page 6 of 11 <br />