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.

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.

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.

CemOps has been warning for years now this would happen, and with an industry determined to continue giving negative media and court accounts to feed on, it is happening.

This is an industry that needs to get engaged immediately in self regulation that will satisfy these most recent calls for federal regulation, or expect further regulation that will only set back an industry that continues to ignore all the signs of being included in new federal law.

The arrogance of the cemetery profession, thinking they will continue to escape the long arm of federal legislation, is about to come face to face with reality. We have communicated on numerous occassions with varying officers of corporations, regional and private operators, and not for profits, who have thought they would be left unencumbered as not very important to federal interests.

It is apparent now this is no longer the case. There are so many fresh cases involved now, and mounting cases, that the head of steam toward further regulation cannot be ignored any further.

Reference our website: http://www.cemops.com

You will see this has been warned against for some time now. We are here to help and continue to be the best resource a cemetery owner could have, whether private; religious; public; or municipal. Years of experience and tribulation have taught us best practices and needed policy and procedure no matter the size of your company.

Google news alerts come across the internet many times daily with issues in our industry. If we are seeing them, others are too. Congressman Rush, among others, have seen enough. They are now acting and the time for correction of present policy is now. We are here to help. We cannot help if you do not contact us. We have offices in the Southeast United States, in the Midwest, and in the Western Region.

Our message is clear. We hope you are finally hearing it.

The Burr Oak Cemetery scandal in Chicago, the newest out of LA, and the list goes on and on. If these companies understood this simple principle, the negative news accounts would not be happening.

CemOps has been contacting companies for years now, offering services before and when news breaks, to lessen the occurences that are now nationwide news. If these companies that own locations nationwide would simply perform more on site investigations, these issues would not be so prevelant. Many times it takes an outside agency to get to the root of troubles, and when everything is handled internally, friendships and blind trust can get in the way of good business principles.

The only answer to this is to “trust but verify.”

You may have all the faith in your local management group in the world. But if you seldom visit the location, you have no idea whether operations are proper or not. If you have those in charge of these locations that make you comfortable, but never check to see if they are truly doing their jobs, then you have no defense when these occurences hit the news.

Too many times, issues arise when those trusted persons are in charge, and you just know things are being handled in the proper manner. If you trust this with no execution of periodic due diligence, you get exactly what you deserve. If you blindly allow operations to take place with no periodic investigation because you are comfortable with location or area management, and a news item appears, then you get exactly what you deserve.

CemOps has been here conveying this message now for years, and it has fallen on deaf ears. The news articles continue to grow in numbers and horror, but the messages fall on deaf ears. An outside, disinterested party is what it takes to uncover these items and fix them before the news media or courts are necessary. But those in power continue to ignore the messages and fall into their comfort zones until something breaks like the latest two in Chicago and Los Angeles.

There is help out here for those who wish to pull in their egos and use the professional help available. There is help out here that is considerably less expensive than class action lawsuits that cost millions of unnecessary dollars to defend. There is help out here for insuring your well thought out policies and procedures are actually being followed. There is help out here……………..

Think you don’t need it? Set yourself up some google alerts and read every night like we do, the accounts of events that shake this death care industry to the core. Set up google alerts for cemetery, funeral homes in financial trouble, cemetery news alerts, etc. You will see there is a need for more diligence in this industry.

If you aren’t willing to do this, then call those out here that are set up to help. Or, continue to suffer the consequences when it is discovered you aren’t protecting yourselves and the families you serve to the fullest extent. It’s your choice, which to date is not working, or the accounts would have stopped a long time ago.

There is nothing more frustrating than to have the expertise necessary and be ignored. If this industry is not willing to correct itself, then the government will surely step in. As you read this, Illinois is calling for more legislative controls. Other states are showing similar interests, yet the industry continues to ignore the inevitable. It is only inevitable due to the lack of true interest of assurance in this industry.

This is a wake up call. Maybe the final one.