Thousands of horrified family members converged upon the cemetery, looking for answers. To some, the disruption of a loved one’s remains ripped open the wounds of grief, and survivors felt as if they were experiencing the death and loss for the first time. More than 200 families planned to file a class-action lawsuit against the cemetery’s owners. According to lead attorney Paul Shuldiner, “There’s a lot of grief, bewilderment and anger” among the families. Understandably so.

What happened at Burr Oak Cemetery?
Burr Oak is ­– or was – the final resting place of approximately 100,000 people. It is a historic cemetery, where many prominent African Americans are buried, including Emmett Till, the 14-year-old whose lynching and torture in 1955 in Mississippi helped ignite the civil rights movement, as well as blues singers Dinah Washington and Willie Dixon, boxer Ezzard Charles, and several Negro League baseball players.

Four current and former cemetery employees, including the manager, have been charged with dismemberment of human bodies, a felony that carries a sentence of 6 to 30 years in prison upon conviction. At a news conference, Dart said he suspected that “irregularities” had occurred at the cemetery for at least four years and possibly much longer. He also warned that the desecration could involve many more bodies than the original estimate of 300.

Why did they do it? Greed, according to officials, who say the accused employees resold burial plots and split the money they made, approximately $300,000. To make room for the new burials, the cemetery workers allegedly excavated some caskets and dumped human remains and headstones in an unused part of the cemetery. In other cases the workers crushed caskets into the ground and buried new ones on top of them.

Families who want to know what happened to their loved one’s remains may be in for a long and frustrating wait. Members of FBI evidence-recovery teams, some of whom worked on the 1995 Oklahoma City federal building bombing and the 9/11 crash of United Flight 93 in Pennsylvania, are sifting through evidence. According to FBI spokesman Ross Rice, it’s impossible to estimate how long the probe will take.

If there’s a hero in this story, it’s the cemetery worker, referred to as “Employee A” in court documents, who accidentally came upon evidence of the disturbed graves. Ignoring warnings from the exposed workers to keep his discovery to himself or risk losing his job, he told another coworker about what he’d seen, and that coworker reported the crime to the cemetery’s owners.

Military Cremation Urns and Flag Case

In the U.S., we honor the veterans of our Armed Forces for their service and their sacrifice. The cost of serving one’s country is great, after all; military personnel typically face financial hardship, prolonged separation from their loved ones, and tremendous risk of physical, mental or emotional illness and injury. Some pay the ultimate price, dying in service to their country.

But many veterans die in poverty, and while the U.S. government provides funeral benefits for qualifying veterans, gaining access to those benefits can be a challenge. In many cases, families may not know or understand the benefits their loved one is entitled to, or they may not know how to claim them.

Kindness and Gratitude, Multiplied
A couple of years ago, Andy Scheid, of Andrew T. Scheid Funeral Home in Millersville, Pennsylvania, learned of a World War II veteran who had died penniless. Scheid was moved by the veteran’s unfortunate circumstance to provide, at no charge, a burial with full military honors, even ensuring that the deceased, a Purple Heart recipient, had a proper suit to wear.

As a result of that experience and his determination to help other veterans and their families, Scheid became a provider of Veterans Funeral Care (VFC) services.

Veterans Funeral Care
Founded in Clearwater, Florida as “the first full-service funeral home in America built to serve the veteran and military community,” VFC has grown into a network of more than 100 providers, all dedicated to assisting loved ones with every detail of cremation and funeral arrangements for veterans and their families. Beyond coordinating funeral logistics, VFC also assists families in applying for all applicable veterans’ benefits, Social Security benefits, and life insurance and arranging military honors.

Veterans Funeral Care purports to save families up to 40% on the cost of a traditional funeral or cremation. A good part of that savings comes from taking advantage of available veterans’ benefits, such as burial in a national cemetery. All honorably discharged veterans and their spouses and dependent children are entitled to a free burial plot, cemetery marker and burial vault at any national cemetery, which can add up to a savings of $6,000, according to the VFC website. With the cost of a traditional funeral often exceeding $10,000 in the U.S., the average cost of just under $3,800 for a VFC funeral is a godsend for many veterans and their families.

“Private or general, you’re all the same”
Scheid, whose interest in veterans’ causes stems from his father’s service during the Korean War era, says his primary goal is to make sure veterans’ families are aware of all the benefits they’re entitled to. “(T)he majority of veterans are not wealthy people. Whether you’re a private or a general, you’re all the same,” says Scheid.

Some Victorian-era cemeteries in central London have already begun to turn away new burials, and many others throughout the country are nearly full. Now, from the land of those charming double-decker buses comes a revolutionary idea for dealing with the problem of cemetery overcrowding: double-decker graves.

Under the proposed plan, remains would be exhumed and re-interred in a small casket. Using a method called “lift and deepen,” remains would be buried up to three meters (approximately 10 feet) deep, with one set of remains buried on top of another Exhumation would be limited to remains more than 100 years old, and then would take place only with permission from descendants of the dead, if they can be located.

Home Office Minister Paul Goggins said the plan is likely to run into strong resistance, mainly on religious grounds, and interviewers found that visitors at one 150-year-old cemetery were indeed uneasy with the notion of reusing graves. One woman acknowledged that reusing graves to save space makes sense on a practical level; nevertheless, she found the idea to be “quite disturbing.” According to the Government, reusing graves would not only open more space for burials, but also provide income for cash-strapped cemeteries.

Plans to survey all 25,000 burial grounds in England and Wales this year for space shortages and other problems come nearly three years after Members of Parliament (MPs) recommended recycling long-forgotten graves to save historic cemeteries from decline.

About 72 percent of the 600,000 people who die in the UK each year choose cremation over burial. But MPs warn that unless the space shortage in cemeteries is resolved, most people will no longer have a choice.

More than a records archive
Launched in November 2008, Names in Stone is an online repository of cemetery records. But while the ability to access burial records online is nothing new, Names in Stone goes a step further by providing actual burial maps – a real boon to historians, researchers and genealogists trying to locate and document burial information.

The site’s searchable database allows online visitors to view photographs and see the precise location of a gravesite as well as the names on adjoining cemetery plots, according to David Day, president of Names in Stone. In addition, researching burial records online gives users access to information that may or may not be recorded on a headstone, such as birth or death dates and names of parents, without having to deal with the logistics and costs of traveling to the actual locations.

Accessible public information
Cemetery mapping capabilities are provided by Spatial Generations, a software product of Gateway Mapping, Inc., an Orem, Utah company. Currently, approximately 100 cemeteries across the country are included in the Names in Stone database, most of them in Utah. Users are encouraged to contribute by inviting local cemeteries to participate, using online mapping tools to add smaller cemeteries with 200 or fewer plots, and sharing photos and other relevant information with the online community. Although burial information is a matter of public record, Names in Stone adheres to a policy of obtaining authorization from individual cemeteries to publish their records

The ability of users to find burial information and locations online is welcomed by cemetery staffs, for whom it will save many hours of research. In cooperation with Teleflora, a national floral delivery service, Names in Stone even allows visitors to order flowers online for delivery to the gravesite of a family member.

“Conventional cemetery Web sites provide an alphabetical listing of burials,” says Day. “Names in Stone shows you where someone is buried.”

Temporary Cremation Urn

Following the death of 69-year-old Pauline Corthell, her daughter, Noel Nightingale, thought long and hard about what to do with the plastic urn that contained her mother’s cremains. Ultimately, Noel decided to honor Pauline’s memory by burying her ashes in the family’s cemetery plot in Laramie, Wyoming.

On March 28, Noel and her husband boarded an Alaska Airlines flight for Denver at Sea-Tac Airport. Before their flight, Noel reviewed the U.S. Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) guidelines for transporting the deceased. She packed the urn containing her mother’s ashes in a box and placed the box in her luggage, which she checked at the airport, confident she was complying with all regulations.

Temporary Cremation Urn Package

A shocking discovery
Upon landing in Denver, Noel and her husband drove to Laramie for the burial service. The ground had been opened to receive Pauline’s cremains and a headstone was in place, but when Noel’s husband opened the suitcase and removed the urn, it felt much lighter than it had when they packed it. They discovered a note from the TSA, informing them that their luggage had been inspected; when they opened the urn, Pauline’s ashes were missing. The note did not mention what happened to the cremains.

At first Nicole blamed herself, thinking she must have done something wrong, but she had not. The TSA’s website warns that if a passenger wishes to bring a cremation urn onboard the plane in their carry-on luggage, inspectors must be able to view the urn’s contents through the x-ray machine. But Noel checked the suitcase containing the urn rather than carrying it on, and the TSA’s website clearly states:

Out of respect to the deceased and their family and friends, under no circumstances will a screener open the container even if the passenger requests this be done.

The TSA is now attempting to identify the screener who inspected Noel’s luggage and find out what was removed and why.

More guidelines for transporting cremated remains
The TSA’s website offers some additional guidelines for flying with a cremation urn:

• Cremation papers or documentation from the funeral home or crematory alone are not sufficient to allow an urn to pass through the airport security checkpoint. Inspectors must be able to view the urn’s contents on the x-ray.
• Passengers should check with the airline they will be flying, as some airlines do not allow cremated remains in checked baggage.
• Because cremation urns are made of different materials and thicknesses, passengers are encouraged to purchase an urn made of a lighter weight material that can be successfully X-rayed.

Lost luggage is a fairly common problem, and passengers can gain peace of mind by purchasing an urn that’s certain to pass inspection for carry-on. The Temporary Cremation Urn Package includes an airplane-safe black plastic temporary urn with a top-opening snap lid, a shipping box, and a plastic liner bag and twist-tie. An optional identification plate can be engraved with identifying information, reducing the risk of loss. Again, be sure to ask your airline about their policy regarding transportation of cremated remains.

Neptune Society, Inc. – an organization that provides simple cremation services for people who want cremation but don’t want to deal with a funeral home – is the company, and Las Vegas couldn’t be a more appropriate place for its meeting. Why? Because Las Vegas is the cremation capital of the nation.

Las Vegas cremations 2 to 1 above national average
According to the Cremation Association of North America, 70 percent of all final dispositions in Las Vegas in 2007 were cremations. That’s twice the national cremation rate of 35 percent, according to Shawn Myers of the National Funeral Directors Association.

Las Vegas funeral directors and national analysts alike attribute the city’s ranking to its large transient population. (Few families in Vegas are able to claim several generations buried in a given cemetery.) And while Las Vegas is the clear cremation leader, cremations in all western states except Utah outpace the national average. (Utah’s large Mormon population eschews cremations for religious reasons.)

National cremation rate also shows growth
The national cremation rate, on the other hand, has risen gradually over the past 10 years. Dion Joannou, the CEO of Neptune, believes the change can be linked to deaths among Baby Boomers, who are less likely than their parents to adhere to traditional customs. Others point out a simple matter of economics – many people choose cremation because it less expensive, while others are selling burial plots for cash and opting for cremation instead of burial.

Recession influences cremation urn choices
Jim Lee, funeral director at Hites Funeral Home & Crematory in Henderson, Nevada, says the effects of the economic recession can also be seen in the cremation urns people choose. Hites offers a range of cremation urns, from inexpensive plastic urns to expensive, hand-cut crystal urns, but according to Lee, “People maybe see urns like cars: You can get from point A to point B in a Cadillac but also in a Kia.”

Source: Las Vegas Sun

Even if you could never imagine giving up your own cell phone, you might choose c) or d) after being in the frustrating position of trying being distracted by someone else’s private cell-phone conversation in a public place like a movie theater, a restaurant, or a meeting. If you’ve wondered how anyone gets so attached to a phone, you probably haven’t heard about the latest trend.

According to Ed Defort, publisher of American Funeral Director magazine, one of the top funeral requests today comes from people who want to be buried with their cell phones. Other gadgets, like Blackberrys, Game Boys and iPods are also popular take-it-to-the-grave items, but apparently none so popular as the cell phone.

In a 2007 survey of common funeral rite requests conducted by British charity Age Concern, being buried with a mobile phone was second only to being cremated with a pet’s ashes. (Other common requests involved performing various actions to make sure the survey respondent was actually dead prior to burial.)

Now, we’ve heard of people who want to be buried with a bottle of Southern Comfort or some memento or other personal belonging, so maybe going into eternity with an electronic device isn’t totally off the wall. But you may be surprised to know that some family members, like the wife of a Manhattan attorney, not only place a cell phone in their loved one’s casket, but also continue to pay the phone bill or have the phone number engraved on the headstone. Sure, the battery eventually loses power – but then there’s always voice mail . . .

In prosperous times, most people have enough cash to meet expenses and even put aside something for a rainy day. They hold onto their assets or sell them for major, one-time wants or needs, like funding a year of college or a luxury vacation.

But now the rainy day has come, and for many it’s turning into a torrential downpour. Financially squeezed families are looking to cut costs any way they can, and funerals are one area they target, foregoing limousine rides, expensive caskets and elaborate tombstones in favor of simpler and less costly services and merchandise, according to funeral experts. With bills piling up, “luxuries” like burial insurance premiums tend to land on the bottom of the stack, and that tiny piece of real estate in the cemetery suddenly represents a mortgage payment or food on the table for a month or two.

If you’re thinking of selling burial plots for some quick cash, though, keep in mind that while the proceeds from the sale of cemetery real estate may keep the lights and telephone on for a few more months, selling a burial plot is definitely not a money-making proposition. As in the broader real estate market, many sellers and few buyers have driven down prices, creating a buyer’s market for cemetery plots. And according to  Ken Brant – marketing director for GraveSolutions, a multi-listing website for the sale of cemetery property – sales can be slow, with plots taking up to 15 months to move.

Maybe you heard about the accident on the evening news, and now you recall the tragedy every time you pass the makeshift memorial. Or perhaps you say a silent prayer as you wonder who the victim was and what happened at that location. Either way, the memorial has served its purpose: to tell passersby about someone’s husband or wife, mother or father, friend or neighbor who died on that spot.

Grief Therapy for Survivors

Roadside memorials can be therapeutic for survivors, according to E. Jean Scully, psychotherapist, bereavement counselor and retired professor at the School of Social Welfare at Stony Brook University. Scully states, “When a loved one is violently taken, it leaves you unable to say goodbye . . . and creates a helpless need to connect to that spot.”

Jackie Quiram would agree. When Jackie’s best friend, Liz Brick, was killed in a car accident, Jackie wanted to mark the spot where Liz died, but she couldn’t find a suitable cross for the purpose. Jackie finally made her own weather-resistant oak cross, attached artificial flowers and a framed photo of Liz, and placed the memorial at the scene of Liz’s accident. Months later, Jackie launched Roadside Memorials to make the crosses available to other mourners.

Highway Safety Headache

These simple, poignant reminders of lives suddenly ended are not without critics, however. As roadside memorials become more common, some states, such as Texas and West Virginia, have taken measures to ban them.

Most recently, the family of a Florida teenager who died in a train accident was informed that they’d have to remove a roadside memorial honoring their son. Florida Department of Transportation officials claim the memorials cause safety hazards and hinder mowing operations.