The ICCFA is supporting Cemetery Reform Because of the horrific Burr Oak Cemetery Scandal
The International Cemetery Crematory Funeral Association (ICCFA) is open to reform of the Death Care Industry. Death care is what happens from the funeral home to the cemetery. The Burr Oak Cemetery Scandal in the Chicago Area has stirred up calls for cemetery reform.
At Burr Oak in cemetery near Alsip Illinois 300 graves were desecrated. 2 sections of the Cemetery are a crime scene. Bones were discarded and piled up. The scope and nature of the Burr Oak Crime is an unspeakable horror.
Reform is not the total answer. More laws are needed. Regulation is needed.Enforcement This is true both on the Funeral side and the cemetery side of the business of death. Laws enforced do not always prevent crime.
Bob Fells, the general counsel for the Virginia-based International Cemetery, Crematory, and Funeral Association said his organization is open to beefing up regulation to prevent atrocities like the one at Burr Oak. “This is so essential to cemetery operation, the integrity of the gravesite,” said Fells, who cautioned that stronger legislation still won’t be able to stop criminal activity. “If somebody wants to walk into a bank and rob it, you probably aren’t going to be able to stop them. It’s a similar thing with illegal disinterment,” said Wells.
EDUCATION NEEDED
If folks are educated about what is involved in the Funeral and Cemetery Process in death care there will be less crime. They will not be ripped off when there is good laws enforcement and EDUCATION about the Funeral and Cemetery Process.
Funeral Industry |Funeral Blog by Your Funeral Guy.
Education must start Funeral Process and how everything ties together. The best place is to do that is here
On October 9th 2009, Otrib.com recommended Your Funeral guy’s book for saving money on Funeral Costs.
Funeral Costs and General Facts
For advice on how to minimize funeral costs, read:
“Rest in Peace: Insider’s Tips to the Low Cost Less Stress Funeral,” by R Brian Burkhardt.
To learn more about your rights as a consumer, visit the Federal Trade Commission’s funeral-facts page……
In August 2009 Your Funeral Guy was repeatedly referred to as NicheProf -Naymz by Bloggers and News organizations on the web.
In July 2009, the blog yourfuneralguywordpress.com was featured in the top 100 blogs WordPress.com blogs, it’s called a Hawt post.
Quote from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel May 10th 2009.
Your Funeral Guy in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
‘The entire funeral industry model is changing, said R. Brian Burkhardt, a funeral director in Wheaton, Ill., who blogs about the industry at yourfuneralguy.com.
Consumers are spending less on funeral services, the result of the economic downturn. “People are cutting back because they have to,” Burkhardt said. “People are walking in and demanding less.Check out the full Milwaukee Sentinel Journal Article .
Quoted Speaking Up for NFDA Integrity
Your Funeral Guy -Quoted in the Funeral Service Insider a Kates-Boylston Publication 0n April 6th 2009.
Randall L “Earl is also coming under fire on the Internet.In his blog “Your Funeral Guy,”
Your Funeral Guy Quoted in KatesBolyston Publication The Funeral Service Insider
states that Earl’s involvement with alleged misdeeds at the IFDA
may hurt the national association.
He writes, “The integrity of the IFDA has been destroyed. THE INTEGRITY OF THE NFDA, NATIONAL FUNERAL DIRECTORS
ASSOCIATION NEEDS TO BE QUESTIONED ASWELL.”
When contacted by phone, Burkhardt had more harsh words for the leaders at NFDA. “I see the integrity of the
profession as a little at stake here,” he says. “And I would think that (Earl) would want to put
that above being treasurer of NFDA
or anything like that. The profession needs as much integrity as it can get right now, and him
being on the executive board is not good for the whole mess.”
The Quote from Newsweek March 16 2009
BUSINESS: “Where Death Comes Cheap” (p. 45). Associate Editor Matthew Philips reports ……. “There’s a major movement toward low-cost options right now,” says R. Brian Burkhardt, a funeral director in Wheaton, Ill., who writes an industry blog called Your Funeral Guy.
Your Funeral Guy on the Funeral
“Those businesses that adjust will do fine — and those that don’t will be gone.”
Your Funeral Guy was Quoted in World Net Daily on Illinois Senator Roland Burris and a funeral Ponzi Scam
Quote from World Net Daily posted January 16th 2009.
R. Brian Burkhardt, a funeral director in the state and the author of a book on saving money on funeral costs, told WND he noticed a year ago that the fund set up under the license granted by Burris had reported a $40 million loss – $59 million at the most recent reporting.
“One of the complaints that have been made against the IFDA is that excessive
“Quite frankly, the money should go for the living,” says Mr. Burkhardt.
Your Funeral Guy was Quoted in National Post
“Why should you put $15,000 in the ground for a funeral when the money can go to your
R.Brian Burkhardt Rest in Peace Book mentioned in National Post of Canada
grandkid’s education or to a relative?”
“If you take away all the emotion from the situation, it is a contract negotiation. Funeral directors will negotiate with you for a lower cost,” Mr. Burkhardt says. For example, he says, you can opt not to have the body embalmed.
There are many uses of mock or fake funerals. Some uses are Political Protest, Education, Comedy, and funeral fraud. Funeral Fraud has been in the news lately concerning two women in LA who conducted Mock (fake) funerals on fake dead people and collected life insurance money. The scam seems to have blown when one of the two offered a doctor 50,000 dollars to falsify a death certificate.
According to the AP the total of the amount the women tried to Scam was 1 million dollars.
Then there is a comedy where Bill Murray will be playing a funeral director in the movie “Get Low.” This is a movie about a man back in 1938 who wanted to know what it would be like to plan his own funeral. He created his own mock funeral and attended it. This movie is relevant to funeral cost. It is a comedy thriller that will spell out step by step what is involved in a funeral.
Mock funerals are often used in political protests as was recently the case as University of Tennessee students set up a mock funeral on the steps of the State Capitol in Nashville. They were protesting a lack of education funding. In New York City this year they had a mock funeral for the G train.
Mortuary Schools and high schools often present mock funerals to educate the public on what goes on at funerals and the average cost of funeral.
Mock funerals are also pictured in DUI education Videos. In South Korea mock funerals are part of the motivational business.
Fake Funerals most often appear at Halloween.
Mock funerals are a useful educational and motivational tool. They can be an effective form of Political Protest. Consumers stay away from Mock Funerals that are funeral fraud. Fraudulent activities at funerals come in many forms.
Funeral Industry|Funeral Costs blog by Your Funeral Guy. your funeral guy
Education must start Funeral Process and how everything ties together. The best place is to do that is here
your funeral guy
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