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A repository of morbid curiosities:
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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.
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Lawsuit filed in federal court against New Hampshire crematorium |
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Thursday, 02 June 2005 |
By Mark Jewell, Associated Press Writer | June 2, 2005
BOSTON --A woman who alleges her father's remains were mishandled is suing a New Hampshire crematorium and Massachusetts funeral homes in the first federal complaint filed since the crematorium was shut down by authorities in February.
The lawsuit Lorraine Hunt of Quincy filed in U.S. District Court on Thursday is similar to recent complaints in state courts that seek certification as class-action complaints on behalf of customers of funeral homes that contracted with the crematorium.
Hunt's complaint alleges Bayview Crematory "commingled bodies while they were cremated, failed to keep accurate records of the bodies" and either failed to return remains to families or returned them in urns mixed with the ashes from other bodies.
An attorney for the crematorium, Gerard LaFlamme Jr., did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
Hunt alleges the remains of her father, Robert Lowe Cashman, were mishandled in April 2004 after they were entrusted with a Quincy funeral home -- Hamel, Wickens & Troupe -- and taken to the crematorium in Seabrook, N.H.
John Boyle, a lawyer for the Quincy funeral home, said there is no evidence that it or other funeral homes did anything wrong or knew about problems in handling remains at Bayview.
The lawsuit seeks damages for negligence, intentional emotional distress and other alleged breaches of trust.
In addition to Bayview and the Quincy funeral home, defendants named in Hunt's lawsuit include Bayview's owners; seven other Massachusetts funeral homes; and three organizations that set industry standards on handling human remains.
The complaint says the funeral homes "turned a willful blind eye" to the problems at Bayview and were "motivated by greed" to use Bayview's services even though it was known to be "a shoddy operator."
The Bayview Crematory was shut down after authorities executing a warrant for financial records found a decomposing body in a broken refrigeration unit, two bodies in the same oven and ashes without identification. Bayview had never registered with the state, as required by law, and was never inspected by the state.
Most records concerning the crematorium's operations remain in the hands of the Rockingham County Attorney's office and are sealed pending the outcome of an investigation.
The probe led to charges against two assistant medical examiners alleging that they took money from crematoriums without overseeing the process as the law requires.
Last month, investigators said they were examining remains of at least 25 bodies that had been cremated at Bayview and were confiscated when police raided two Massachusetts funeral homes. Authorities said the documentation police found did not clearly identify all the remains.
Attorneys for the Melville, N.Y., law firm that filed Hunt's lawsuit -- Lerach, Coughlin, Stoia, Geller, Rudman & Robbins -- said it was the first case against Bayview filed in federal court.
The complaints filed so far in state courts against Bayview and other defendants include a lawsuit last month in Essex County Superior Court by Paul Anzalone of Mansfield and 35 other Massachusetts plaintiffs.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2005/06/02/lawsuit_filed_in_federal_court_against_new_hampshire_crematorium_1117743198?mode=PF |
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