A Memo on Burr Oak Cemetery was good political cannon fodder in the Illinois Governors Race. At the time of this post the results are not clear in the Governor democratic primary in Illinois . But what is clear is that that the horrible grave scandal At Burr Oak Cemetery and associated memo are a big a factor in the governors race between Pat Quinn and Dan Hynes.
Now it is quite unclear why the Grave Desecrations known about in 2003 were not reported to Law Enforcement by Perpetua and Slivy Edmonds Cotton a Perpetua Manager in Charge of Burr Oak. It is my opinion that Pat Quinn was making something out of nothing in the last days of the campaign with his Burr Oak cemetery attacks on Hynes.
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In The Illinois Governors Race Candidates are fighting over the Burr Oak Cemetery Scandal. The scandal has come back to life because of these politicians. They are calling each other incompetent.
But in reality the situation is simply a cover up by the funeral Company Perpetua, and Silvy Cotton, a Burr Oak Cemetery Manager.
“Our office doesn’t have a role. We audit the books of cemeteries,” Hynes told ABC-7. “It’s shameful that the families of Burr Oak have to relive this and see this tragedy politicized because Pat Quinn wants to win an election.”
“I told [ABC reporter Chuck Goudie] we had not seen [the memo], were not aware of the contents and the details of it were not discussed in the meeting,” Hynes’ campaign spokeswoman Carol Knowles told Huffington Post Chicago in an email. “I also told [Goudie] that if Ms. Cotton was aware of something illegal/inappropriate she should have immediately reported it to the appropriate legal authorities.”
But in the same piece from ABC, Quinn brought the full-court press. “The Burr Oak Cemetery scandal is the worst scandal…in American history. Grave robbing going on and there was information about that in 2003. Why didn’t the comptroller know about it? He’s in charge of that office and they have a duty, he does, under law to make sure things are done right.”via www.huffingtonpost.com
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Carol Knowles of the Illinois Comptrollers Office is correct-Perpetua Manager Silvy Edmonds Cotton is responsible along with others at Perpetua Inc.
The Illinois Comptroller knew about Grave desecration at Burr Oak Cemetery in 2003 It Just so happens that the Illinois Comptroller is in a tight Race for Governor.of the State of Illinois with the now Governor Pat Quinn.
2009 Burr Oak Cemetery Scandal: Illinois Comptroller Dan Hynes Knew about Scandal in 03-Your Funeral Guy
In the case of Burr Oak Cemetery, it comes down to one Company Perpetua Inc and one person, individual- a 2003 manager named Silvy Cotton According to the news report mentioned here. The Illinois regulator Comptroller Hynes also was aware of a grave desecration problem Burr Oak at Burr Oak Cemetery.
Illinois regulator “Dan Hynes knew” about the grave desecration in 03 and it is big politics in Illinois. Hynes is running for governor. Hynes only regulated the money, but because he knew of desecration he should have turned the matter over over to Law enforcement.
In E_Mails to me Silvy Cotton, threatened legal action against me for bringing out her involvement by blog post in the Burr Oak Horror.
Congressman Bobby Rush did a good job summarizing National Cemetery Reform this week in a hearing in Congress. The reform comes in response to the horrific Burr Oak Cemetery Scandal that occurred in July 2009.
The Bereaved Consumers Bill of Rights Act provides comprehensive National Cemetery Regulation for the first time in US History.
Here is part of the Congressman’s opening statement : At the hearing on the Bereaved Consumers Bill of Rights Act of 2009 “Planning for one’s own, or even a loved one’s death, is typically a “once-in-a-lifetime” experience. It is often compounded by unpredictability.But just because death all too often comes like a thief in the night, bereaved consumers should not be left wondering who, in fact, was the real thief…death or the cemetery salesperson?
“On September 25, 2009, I introduced the “Bereaved Consumer’s Bill of Rights.” Today, my Subcommittee is reviewing this draft bill at its first hearing of the new legislative session. To help us consider the measure, I am grateful to the accomplished panel of witnesses who have prepared testimony and saw fit to be here, today, to comment upon the merits and drawbacks of this important bill.
“Among H.R. 3655’s provisions, the bill would require the FTC to require ALL funeral goods and services providers, and not just “for profit” funeral homes, to do the following:
The Legislation was written in response to the Horriffic Burr Oak Cemetery Scandal outside Chicago
* provide consumers with accurate, itemized price information for each specific funeral good or service offered for sale;
* prohibit these providers from misrepresenting what federal, state, and local laws require in protecting consumers;
* include disclosures in pre-paid contracts regarding fees or penalties to be assessed for cancellation or transfer, by the purchaser, of burial, cremation, or entombment rights to different facilities, and * retain records of the date and location of each burial, cremation, and entombment as well as the corresponding rights of disposition (i.e., perpetual or term), and make those records available to federal, state, and local governments.
“In drafting this Bill of Rights, I have been earnest in respecting existing states’ laws. The bill would authorize both the FTC and the States Attorneys General, and other designated state entities, to enforce its requirements.-via www.house.gov
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This is a light in a dark place, A National Funeral and Cemetery Consumers Bill of rights.
Here is a “first news report” on a hearing that took place in Congress today on National Legislation coming in response to the Burr Oak Cemetery Scandal. Congressman Bobby Rush had a hearing today January 27th 2009, on the Bereaved Consumers Bill of Rights Act. The bill is H.R.3655.
NEWS-Hearing on Cemetery Reform in Washington DC today
2009 Burr Oak Cemetery Scandal inspired National Cemetery Reform Legislation
“WASHINGTON–In the wake of hundreds of grave desecrations at the historic Burr Oak Cemetery in south suburban Alsip, House Democrat Bobby Rush of Chicago wants to bolster federal consumer protections governing the sale of funeral goods and services.
Rush today led a congressional hearing to examine whether the FTC, which regulates funeral homes, should have its purview expanded to include cemeteries, crematories and sellers of caskets, urns, monuments and markers.
Most cemeteries operate as non-profits, a realm the FTC generally does not investigate, said Charles Harwood, deputy director of its Bureau of Consumer Protection. Under Rush’s proposal, the FTC would take oversight of such cemeteries.
The Burr Oak Cemetery made national news in July when it was learned that hundreds of corpses had been unearthed over several years anddumped into a weeded area of the cemetery or double-stacked in other graves.
The cemetery is the resting place of Emmett Till, whose murder helpedfuel the civil rights movement, and blues singer Dinah Washington,among other notables.
A Service Corporation International Cemetery, 500 graves desecrated, was a contributing factor in the Legislation
Rush said the horrific activities at Burr Oak were not an aberration,citing new allegations of desecrating graves and reselling plots later surfaced in Mission Hills, Calif., and DeKalb County, Ga.
“Just because death all too often comes like a thief in the night,” he said, “bereaved consumers should not be left wondering who, in fact,was the real thief: death or the cemetery salesperson.”
Patricia Brown Holmes, a retired judge who led an Illinois task forcethat led to tougher, just-enacted laws governing cemeteries in thestate, spoke in favor of Rush’s measure.
Holmes said the average consumer thinks of a funeral home and cemetery as one in the same, even though under federal laws, funeral homes areheavily regulated and cemeteries are not.
The National Funeral Directors Association also supports the measure,said Randall Earl, who has a funeral home and crematory in Decatur,Ill.
NFDA Eecutive Earl wante to be sure Wallmart Caskets are Covered
He told the panel that existing FTC rules pertaining to funeral homes do not cover casket sellers such as Wal-Mart and amazon.com, so the association wants the rules updated to cover them.
Under Rush’s proposal, new FTC regulations would require cemeteries andthe other newly covered sectors of the death-care industry to provide pre-sale price disclosures.
Misrepresentations would be prohibited and clear contracts itemizing goods, services and prices would be required.
A representative of the International Cemetery, Cremation and FuneralAssociation said cemeteries and funeral homes were best regulated at the state level. Paul M. Elvig said most cemeteries operated as nonprofits, including those run by religious, municipal and fraternal organizations, and the new regulations would disproportionately affect them “in ways that would never pass a cost/benefit analysis.”
Rush’s bill, called the Bereaved Consumer’s Bill of Rights Act, has five co-sponsors.”
–Katherine Skiba WGN 720-via mobile.wgnradio.com
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House Subcommittee on Commerce and Energy held the hearing.
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