Taphophilia.(dot) Com - Houston company fined for neglecting cemeteries

Welcome

Taphophilia (dot) Com...
A repository of morbid curiosities:
Thanatology and Taphophile Issues, Cemetery,
Funeral Industry and Death Related News.

What's at Taph?

Taphophilia Home

Thanatology Forums

Taphophile Weblinks

Taph's Article Archive

Taphophilia Library

Donating to Taphophilia

Contact Deadgirl

Deadgirl Recommends

Dig Deeper

Literature

Topics at Taphophilia

Deadgirl's Dictionary

Cemetery Photography

Carved in Stone

Cemetery Snapshot

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.

Houston company fined for neglecting cemeteries

Friday, 17 June 2005

Associated Press

LITTLE ROCK Ã¢â‚¬â€ A Texas company that owns four cemeteries in Arkansas has been ordered to pay almost $38,000 in fines and other costs stemming from complaints about the upkeep of its property. Conditions at all four cemeteries owned by Cemetery Holdings LLC are "deplorable," said Judy Roberts, a senior examiner with the Arkansas Securities Department, which reports to the Arkansas Cemetery Board on cemetery operations.

Roberts said at a board hearing Friday that each of the cemeteries had overgrown grass and weeds; broken, chipped or destroyed markers; holes in the ground and roads; and ant beds. Relatives of those buried in the cemeteries had similar accounts and complained of paying for markers they never received.

The board ordered the company to pay $37,826.25 and directed company owner Mike Graham Jr. of Houston to appear before the panel within 20 days.

Cemetery Holdings manages Edgewood Memorial Park in North Little Rock, Memorial Park Cemetery in Pine Bluff, and Rest Haven Memorial Gardens and Arlington Memorial Cemetery, both in El Dorado.

At Memorial Park in Pine Bluff, Roberts said, she saw piles of trash and mausoleum plaques held on with duct tape. Mary Campbell of El Dorado told board members that, more than a year ago, she found her husband's headstone at Rest Haven Memorial Gardens chipped, and deep ruts, made by a backhoe, running across his grave. She said she reported the problem, but nothing was done.

Brenda Bratton of Pine Bluff said she wanted to be reimbursed for the $1,642 she paid for an angel footstone she ordered in 1998 for her 12-year-old daughter's grave. She said she paid for it in installments, until she paid it off last year, but has yet to see the footstone.

Others complained of relatives being buried in the wrong plots and of purchasing plots they later learned were sold to other customers.

Of the four cemeteries, Edgewood was the only one that made deposits to a perpetual care fund, as required by the board.

Wayne Fuquay, a Houston-based consultant for Graham, testified that the deposits weren't made because the money wasn't available.

"I find these conditions terrible and deplorable, but ... the cash flow for these properties does not cover the payroll," Fuquay said.

But Fuquay also testified that Graham owns at least two houses and pays $15,000 a month in rent for his Houston office, and Mike Spades, an attorney for the Securities Department, said Graham should be able to cover the costs of maintaining the cemeteries and making the perpetual care payments.

Spades recommended that each of the cemeteries be fined the maximum $3,000 for improper maintenance, that the three cemeteries owing money to the perpetual care fund pay the maximum $5,000 fine for failure to pay, and that the three cemeteries pay the money they owe.

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/business/3221356

< Prev		Next >

[ Back ]

SEO by Artio