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Taphophilia (dot) Com...
A repository of morbid curiosities:
Thanatology and Taphophile Issues, Cemetery,
Funeral Industry and Death Related News.
A Taphophilia Thank You...
Taphophilia (dot) Com would not be possible without the knowledge, experience and talent of DarkestWeb. From its conception and early development, DarkestWeb was faced with many challenges; from inspiring and motivating, to providing guidance and direction. The continued dedication and support has produced results greater than ever expected, and for this, I owe a huge debt of gratitude.
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Graveyards of Chicago:
The People, History, Art, and Lore of Cook County Cemeteries
By Matt Hucke And Ursula Bielski. Discover a Chicago That Exists Just Beneath the Surface - About Six Feet Under! Take a tour of Chicago's permanent residents! Please visit the Lake Claremont Press website to purchase your copy of Graveyards of Chicago today!
Green-Wood Cemetery Arcadia Publishing announces the release of Alexandra Mosca's historic account of one of New York's most famous cemeteries. Aracdia Publishing's Images of America series has an extensive catalog of many cemetery publications! Please visit Arcadia Publishing to purchase your copy of Green-Wood Cemetery and to browse other available titles!
Men of Mortuaries Calendar
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Epitaphs: The Magazine for Cemetery Lovers By Cemetery Lovers
For information regarding subscriptions, single issues, submission guidelines, deadlines, classifieds or advertising for future issues, please visit The Cemetery Club.
Guardians of the Soul: Angels and Innocents, Mourners and Saints, Indiana's remarkable cemetery sculpture
with photography by John Bower and foreword by Claude Cookman is now
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West Springfield Massachusetts: Stories Carved in Stone by Rusty Clark features information on early New England gravestone carvers with more than two hundred photos and illustrations. Please visit the Dog Pond Press website.
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WYOMING Funeral homes dispute nears end |
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Written by DeadGirl
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Wednesday, 14 December 2005 |
CHEYENNE - A nearly decadelong legal dispute between the directors of two competing funeral homes in Worland finally may be ready to give up the ghost.
The Wyoming Supreme Court on Monday ruled that undertaker David Veile had no sound argument for asking the high court to reverse a district court's order. The high court said it would impose sanctions against him for pressing the appeal.
Veile's family started the Veile Mortuary in Worland in 1921. It was the only funeral home in town until 1995, when Michael Bryant opened Bryant Funeral Home Inc.
Since competition came to town, Veile has filed complaints charging that Washakie County officials funneled business to Bryant's funeral home improperly. Veile has argued that county officials have sent Bryant more than his share of accident victims and people who die without leaving instructions about any particular funeral home preference.
In 1996, Veile filed a complaint with the Wyoming State Board of Embalming. The complaint charged that Bryant, who served part-time as a deputy county coroner, had violated state law by steering business to his own mortuary. Bryant denied the charge.
After what the Supreme Court called "protracted legal maneuvering," the state board in 2002 ruled that Veile had failed to show sufficient evidence to support his allegations against Bryant.
Veile appealed the board's decision to district court, which ruled that it didn't have standing to review the board's action. Veile then appealed the district court's decision to the state Supreme Court.
The high court ruled last year that the district court did in fact have jurisdiction to hear the appeal from the board of embalming. But the Supreme Court also ruled that the board was right to throw out Veile's case in the first place.
The Supreme Court sent the case back to district court with the provision that costs should be awarded "to the prevailing party."
Veile then filed papers in district court claiming that he was the prevailing party and stating that Bryant owed him $1,698 in costs. When the district court ruled that Veile was not the prevailing party in the Supreme Court decision, Veile appealed back to the Supreme Court as a pro se litigant, or someone who represents themselves in court without a lawyer.
"We can discern no good faith legal basis for this action," Monday's ruling read. "And we do not excuse pro se litigants from the requirement that an appeal be supported by a cogent argument."
The court ordered Bryant to file a statement of his costs and expenses he incurred in responding to the appeal. "Upon review, we will award an appropriate amount in the form of sanctions," it stated.
Attempts to reach Veile and Bryant on Monday were unsuccessful.
This week's court ruling isn't the first legal dispute between the two Worland funeral home operators. In 2001, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower federal court's decision denying Veile's claim that the Washakie County Coroner's office had unfairly diverted business to Bryant's funeral home.
In the federal case, Veile claimed county officials had failed to follow a policy of rotating business between the two funeral homes equally. The district court ruled that Veile had failed to prove that he had a legal right to handle the bodies.
The federal appeals court also affirmed a jury verdict awarding Bryant $176,000 on a counterclaim that Veile had stalked him.
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Taphophilia?
taphophilia (taf′ō-fil′ē-ă)
ORIGIN:
From the Greek words taphos, meaning "tomb" or "sepulcher" and philia, meaning "attraction or affinity to something, in particular the love or obsession with something"
DEFINITION: 1. An excessive interest in graves and cemeteries. 2. A love or fondness for funerals, graves, and cemeteries. 3. In psychiatry, a morbid attraction to graves and cemeteries
Quote Repository
“The Impartial Friend: Death, the only immortal who treats us all alike, whose pity and whose peace and whose refuge are for all -- the soiled and the pure, the rich and the poor, the loved and the unloved.” Mark Twain
Shirtless and Sculpted
The Men of Mortuaries 2008 Calendar is now available! All sale proceeds benefit KAMMCARES, a breast cancer foundation.
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