|
Welcome
Taphophilia (dot) Com...
A repository of morbid curiosities:
Thanatology and Taphophile Issues, Cemetery,
Funeral Industry and Death Related News.
What's New at Arcadia
Historic Burial Grounds of the New Hampshire Seacoast By Glenn A. Knoblock
Arcadia Publishing has releases a new title in the Images of America series, the historic account of the cemeteries along the New Hampshire Seacoast. This collection is a must for anyone interested in local history, genealogy, or colonial-era art. Please visit Arcadia Publishing to purchase your copy of Historic Burial Grounds of the New Hampshire Seacoast and browse other cemetery books!
Green-Wood Cemetery By Alexandra Mosca
Arcadia Publishing announces the release of the 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.
Announcements
Quoting Death in Early Modern England: The Poetics of Epitaphs Beyond the Tomb By Scott L. Newstok
An innovative study of the Renaissance practice of making epitaphic gestures within other English genres. A poetics of quotation uncovers the ways in which writers including Shakespeare, Marlowe, Holinshed, Sidney, Jonson, Donne, and Elizabeth I have recited these texts within new contexts. Visit Palgrave Macmillan and purchase your copy today!
Living by the Dead By Ellen Ashdown with illustrations by Mary Liz Moody.
A memoir about living beside a cemetery--and about the members of my family who came to rest at Roselawn Cemetery in Tallahassee, Florida. Please visit Kitsune Books for more information.
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!
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 with photography by John Bower and foreword by Claude Cookman
Indiana's remarkable cemetery sculpture is now available. Please visit Studio Indiana for more information.
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.
|
|
Funeral director sues Harrisburg-based cremation service |
|
|
|
|
Written by DeadGirl
|
|
Monday, 16 August 2004 |
Associated Press
GREENSBURG, Pa. - Two lawsuits filed against a cremation society contend that a funeral director from a licensed funeral home must be involved in cremations.
Scottsdale funeral director Robert B. Ferguson Jr. filed a lawsuit in Westmoreland County court that contends the Harrisburg-based Cremation Society of Pennsylvania has illegally crossed the line into offering funeral-related services and is unfairly taking his customers.
The Pennsylvania Funeral Directors Association has filed a similar lawsuit against the same cremation service in Dauphin County court.
Ferguson contends the cremation society offered funeral-related services such as body transportation, document preparation and counseling about memorial services.
"There are a number of organizations, it appears, that are trying to step into the funeral directors' turf, in effect, and that's what this company has been doing," Ferguson's attorney, James Lederach, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for a story in Sunday editions. "Funeral directors mediate bereavement and handle our dead, and that is a valuable service ... We haven't gotten to the point where people are willing to ship mother off to the Cremation Society of Pennsylvania in a brown wrapper."
It's important for consumers to work with a licensed funeral director and a funeral home because there's more to the job than handling the body, said Patrick Lanigan, the spokesman for the Allegheny County Funeral Directors Association.
"It's insurance to the consumer that things are done right and properly, because we have our licenses on the line," Lanigan said.
Some of the complaints against the Cremation Society of Pennsylvania were based on old practices and the company no longer offers to arrange funeral or memorial services, said cremation society attorney Jordan Cunningham.
After a July 2002 Commonwealth Court ruling, the cremation society stopped having sales agents arrange contracts and has a funeral director handle contracts, Cunningham said.
Harrisburg funeral director Dale Auer opened the crematory in 1981 and still owns it, Cunningham said. But Auer no longer operates it because the state Board of Funeral Directors suspended his funeral license in January for three years because of his criminal conviction for tax fraud.
Another funeral director operates the cremation society, but it is not a licensed funeral home, which is a subject of legal objections.
Ferguson and the statewide association of funeral directors have filed complaints against the cremation society with the State Board of Funeral Directors, which is investigating the company's practices.
About one in 11 Americans and about one in 23 Pennsylvanians were cremated in 1980. Today, nearly one in four Americans are cremated and the rate in Pennsylvania increased fivefold over the last two decades, according to the Cremation Association of North America.
While the majority of people will still choose traditional burial, more consumers are choosing cremation because of cost, simplicity and concerns about the environment, said Cremation Association of North America Executive Director Jack Springer.
http://www.centredaily.com/mld/centredaily/news/politics/9409843.htm |
|
