03.27.10
Posted in Green burials, cemetery awareness, cemetery news, news alerts at 11:52 am by Administrator
Per my title of this post, I am speaking to my personal (not professional) dislikes toward green burials. My first question is: Is this a fad, or is it here to stay? My second question here is: Do the families that are having this marketed to them understand the difference between green and traditional burial? ALL the differences?
To answer the first question: Green burials are great if you are into getting back to the old ways of performing burials. No casket expense, no vault expense, no memorial expense because in a true green burial space no memorial is allowed. This for a burial business means little or no streams of revenue to keep the cemetery profitable and in business. In 20 years, when the business is no longer solvent what happens to those burials? Who looks after the properties and maintains any record of those burials? I offer this as a brain teaser to this question: Many pioneer cemeteries and other old non marked cemeteries are disturbed annually with new road construction, new housing developments, etc. etc. I see this as a repeat of those same issues, 50 or 100 years from now. So for those who preach green, I want to know how they intend to protect the sanctity of these “new” green burial places for generations to come? Or, does that matter?
I just read an article out of the Midwest about a green burial cemetery that was just approved. I noticed a local funeral director had spoken about “green embalming fluids”, and unless something new has come about; I have never heard of such a thing. Embalming is one of the items taken off the list of expenses with a green burial. I want to know where these “green embalming fluids” are being purchased. If they exist, it sure isn’t industry wide knowledge. The funeral directors I know have heard nothing about these either and I have asked. I also have found no reference to this in industry trade magazines. I have seen the new biodegradeable wicker looking baskets for burial and other items of that nature, but nothing relative to green fluids for embalming. I’ll look again, but if such a thing exists someone post a comment on this and let me know where to look this up.
For my second question, and this will surely upset the green folks, but if this was MY family being buried I would want to know: If I am not allowed the option of a casket, or a burial vault, what happens to my loved ones body when the burial is complete and a couple of tons of dirt are dumped on their body? This is a viable question, considering I buried my Dad, Grandmother, and Grandfather some years back and would not care for the visual this gives me. Personally, I like the idea that my loved ones weren’t crushed by the weight of the dirt during backfill. That gives ME peace of mind. And unless I have completely missed something, I remember the entire reason for the ceremony or funeral is for the living, not the dead, which means I have to remember what – when the time comes for me to make those decisions again?
I am not prepared to speak professionally about how this green movement will play out. I, like many, have more questions than answers. As long as I have questions, I will continue to lean on the side of traditional.
I am open for debate on this topic, and as I have shared in this article I am not expressing professional opinion/s on this matter. I am curious and apprehensive, and have many questions. I am concerned that families are not getting the complete story when they are being given this as an option. For now, I call it a fad. Only time will tell whether I was full of it or not.
Permalink
03.13.10
Posted in cemetery awareness, cemetery management, cemetery news, cemetery publications at 6:03 pm by Administrator
IT’S SPRINGTIME!!!!!! Are you excited or worried at your cemetery?
April 26, 2009 on 4:39 am In Sound Off No Comments
A subject not often approached, is the attitude in cemeteries when springtime finally rolls around. It’s no longer cold, the snow and ice are gone, the trees are coming alive, the grass is turning green, it just seems like the good Mother Earth is coming alive once again. A reason to feel excited, unless you have done a poor job of preparing for it.
You may be thinking, “what in the heck is this about”?
It’s simple. Along with all the beauty that comes with spring, also comes all the visitations by family and friends to your cemetery grounds. They come and leave decorations, figurines, and many other momentos on the graves of those they dearly miss. Many of these folks have not been able to get out to the cemetery for months, due to the road conditions or weather. So they are coming out in force this time of year. So what is wrong with this, you may ask? Nothing would be my response, as long as you have kept EVERY LOT OWNER UP TO DATE WITH THE FLORAL RULES AND REGULATIONS OF YOUR CEMETERY.
Why the caps on this? Already, I have responded to three articles this spring, regarding families upset about cemetery floral rules and missing items from graves. In these articles, the families feel disregarded and the cemetery feels the families are being unreasonable. In one article out of Michigan, families stated they picked a particular municipal cemetery over others in the area, simply for their lack of rules on the matter. Now guess what. Someone has complained about how messy the place looks, and the city has decided to either enforce non existant rules, make new rules and enforce them, or just clean the place up. Whichever case it is, communications was obviously not existant! And the latest out of Kentucky, where the rules and regulations HAVE been in force, with posted signs in the cemetery and still they are taking hits from the client families because those posted rules and regulations have not been enforced consistently in the past. It’s a delicate balance, enforcing rules and continuing to satisfy the needs of your client families. It seldom is comfortable for either side, but it is necessary.
I have personally witnessed for years, a fairly sizeable lack of concern for passing out floral regulations in cemeteries. The Family Service Counselors or Cemetery Sales Staff are asked to pass these rules out to every family they sell cemetery property to, whether it is on a preneed or atneed basis. I can tell you, it just doesn’t happen on any level of consistency. The Family Service folks don’t get paid to do this, they are generally commission only. In order to make commissions, they have to sell stuff. They can’t sell stuff (they think), if they push rules and regulations on people. That is #1 in this perennial problem. Problem #2, is when it is known they don’t pass these out regularly, it isn’t seen to it that someone else does.
Now, it really hurts to be on the maintenance crew. They are out in the cemetery, maintaining the grounds. They make little money, and are charged with the task of making the cemetery look nice at all times. They have to perform burials, and keep the area safe at all times, as well. They take the initial flak for the missing items from gravesites, most times accused of being the ones to steal the items. Items that are hardly of value to anyone beyond the families that left them for their loved ones. If they are leaving things of real value, then what do they expect? These are public thoroughfares, and valuables will disappear if left in plain site. That is seldom the case though.
My wish for the spring of 2009 & now 2010? Everyone get along. Everyone talk to each other. If there is a problem, go to the management and speak with them in a tone that would cause everyone to want to make things right. Management team, do the same. Family Service, don’t sherk this duty of passing out the regs. It is critical to the emotional well being of the families you make a living from serving. Maintenance, if you see an item that looks like it is valuable, talk to your manager about possibly boxing or bagging the item respectfully and tagging it with the deceased name and storing for a period of time so the family can retrieve it intact. The largest complaint I hear from families is when they find their items in a “pile” in the back of the cemetery. Bottom line, they feel they and their departed loved one have been disrespected. Everyone working in the cemetery has the ability to positively impact that perception.
That is my wish. In 2009 and now 2010 let’s all do a better job of communicating our needs and expectations. In 2009 and now 2010 let’s start the process of eliminating the spring time blues. Spring time should be a time of great joy, it’s so much more beautiful out than a month ago. It is up to us all to keep it that way, and together we can do it.
Have a Great Spring!!!!!
I have reprinted this post over the years in the hopes of finding common ground between all the parties involved in cemeteries. Still, the news agencies report upset families and the cemetery shows reluctance to fully speak to the media about the reasons for removing decorations in the early spring. There are many valid reasons to perform this clean up, the least of which is appearance. The first and formost reason is safety, but seldom do you hear this spoken about. Why? Unless the cemetery being complained about has suffered a legal loss due to personal inury from flying debris or read about another, they just don’t talk about it. I hope the instance of media events on cemetery spring cleanup drops this year. I hope communications improves among the interested parties. It’s a new day and I hope for a new way.
Permalink
03.07.10
Posted in cemetery consulting, cemetery law, cemetery management at 4:45 pm by Administrator
Over the weekend, Mississippi has news coming out about cemetery merchandise and service funds being misapropriated. These news items, as stated many times before, can do nothing but harm the death care industry consumer faith and give ammunition to those special groups that would like to see the death care industry fail.
Never covered in any of these news accounts or blogs, is the simple poor method of performing audits at the company or state level, and the lack of tools/training invested in these groups. The auditors are simply accoutants hired to look over documentation requested, usually a percentage of contracts and burial records from the previous year, then those findings are put against accounting records from a home office or accounting firm. This is hardly the type audit necessary to discover anything beyond “surface” issues.
The set up for a cemetery or funeral home or crematory inspection or audit is where the problem begins. Days or weeks in advance the location is notified of a pending audit. With that notification, there are items marked to have ready for the auditor. The auditor comes in, looks over those items pulled for inspection and if nothing seems out of order that is the end of the audit. Too many times, in the few states that actually perform inspections of crematories, the inspector doesn’t want to pry. If a crematory is presently in use, the inspector schedules another day to come back. This is a bad mistake.
In the cemetery or funeral audit, the inspector has precious little time to commit to one location. These state agencies are historically understaffed and under funded, and have many more locations to cover than people to cover them. The agency they work for has to watch their budgets very closely, as they come from the general fund of the state. These agencies can be trained properly to become self supporting, which would also afford them better training and tools; but this is a tough sell when old ways are hard to break. Or the states need to consider privatizing the audit/inspection capacities. Privatization would cost them less, and gain them much better control over issues present. Privatization would also raise accountabilities and reduce the desire or ability to misapropriate funds or manage poorly.
Here’s wishing for a time when everyone cares to do things right every time on both sides of this issue. Here’s wishing for a time when both sides will open their minds to better methods and accountabilities. http://www.cemops.com
Permalink
