01.13.10
Solutions To Stop The Onslaught Of Negative Press
Latest in the string of negative media accounts, is the scandal out of Chicago at Burr Oak Cemetery. We have read 29 separate media accounts on this one cemetery scandal, being reported locally-regionally, and now nationwide. Every news organization is covering it now, and the owners of Perpetua are missing in action.
Where it may be a wise choice to distance themselves, in their opinion-the news agencies and sheriff department are pulverizing them at every turn. Most recently, a sheriff department audit reveals there are possibly 9,000 more bodies buried in this cemetery than it can accomodate at full capacity. Perpetua has done nothing to publicly combat this, and the idea of there being that many beyond capacity just doesn’t add up. Recent statements in those same media articles relate burials are taking place without event, and no new disturbances of old graves are taking place.
If you consider both these completely contradictory items being stated in the same article, you would think a spokesperson from Perpetua or their legal firm would be taking the opportunity to speak out. To date, nothing. All that is coming out about this company is they have filed for bankruptcy protection. No damage control will be disastrous for this company. People have no choice but to believe what they read, because nobody else is giving them any information to the contrary.
The other concern with this and a number of other issues in the cemetery, funeral and crematory industries is who is watching over these locations? How could this have gone on without notice, if anyone was ever showing up from the headquarters? What about the previous owners? If there is truly thousands of burials more than the cemetery can hold, why isn’t there any mention of previous owners and their possible roles? Calculating 9,000 burials overage, if the cemetery is performing 350 burials annually would mean this has been ongoing for over two decades. If the news stories are anywhere close to true, and the sheriff has truly audited the location properly-how could this go on for over two decades without being caught? Baffling, isn’t it?
CemOps has long offered to be the eyes and ears of ownership. To be the ones that go into locations and discover improper operating issues for the owners and report back so things can be corrected and kept in house. To be the ones that assist owners of any size in discovering weaknesses and building on principles to turn them into strengths.
Cemetery, crematory and funeral companies spend tens of millions every year on legal fees to defend themselves in court, pay for their legal departments, and/or develop policies and procedures that are obviously not being followed consistently globally. We have offered as a professional aid to help with the front end of this and save these companies countless millions by identifying issues for correction long before they become of interest to the media. Self regulation if you will.
We have seen the fiscal destruction of businesses and family/community trust when nobody is apparently watching. Companies buy out cemeteries from each other, keep the existing employees with little of no further reference or background checks. A few visits take place in the beginning (sometimes) then these locations go on the clock. If there are employees kept who are not upright (re: Burr Oak), the new owner gets the surprise of their lives when the lawsuits and media accounts hit. A little due diligence, another offering of CemOps, and followup will route out most of these type concerns long before reason for news or court coverage. There is your value, if you are willing to take advantage of it.
Finally, how can anyone believe in the case of Burr Oak, a sheriff has the necessary tools and skill sets to audit a cemetery? No offense intended, but a complete forensic inspection is in order now that these numbers have been reported, as it is highly unlikely this sheriff knows how to differenciate the different type burials, which could affect numbers and space or acreage/availability or recognition of poor records keeping/fraud on the part of the four indicted in this story. It takes industry knowledge to get to the bottom of this, and industry savvy of having learned discovery in difficult circumstances and record keeping practices of both healthy and unhealthy operations.
CemOps is still here. Still watching. Still waiting for the industry to understand the value that is CemOps. Our fees represent a small fraction of the costs associated with these claims. Our fees discover these issues before anyone else so they can be corrected and the families are no longer negatively impacted. Beyond the legal fees and destruction of reputation, the entire industry suffers at the hands of such items.
