Latest / On Deathcare / Loan Shifts, Cemetery Disputes & a $21,000 Difference of Opinion

Transcript

Loan Shifts, Cemetery Disputes & a $21,000 Difference of Opinion · On Deathcare

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: Hi, I am Tony Russo,
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: and this is The Rest, your weekly rundown of news from around funeral service.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: Got a busy one this week.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_00: I've got a new part-time gig.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: There's more interesting things going on at Homesteaders,
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: the Selected V, I guess, Selected and Selected V, NFDA.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: Question is just getting hotter and hotter and there's other stuff going on besides that.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm going to get to all of it as I can.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: But before I get started,
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: as always, I'd like to thank my paid subscribers for supporting all of this.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: I've got to do this salon,
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: which I'm sure many of you saw or at least saw that was out yesterday.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: And those are the kinds of things that I really get a kick out of.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: I think that we can do some fun and interesting things here on On Deathcare,
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: and it is all because of the support of So if you have not yet subscribed
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: On Deathcare, the newsletter, do me a favor, swing over to OnDeathCare.com.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: I put everything out for my readers,
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_00: except for one Sunday column, which is for subscribers only.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: But everything else is free to read, and I try to keep it that way.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: And the...
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: The paid subscriptions are the primary way that gets done.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: Also, just real quick,
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: as part of the shout out,
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: I got a nice compliment from the guys,
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: from Matt Bailey particularly, but from the folks at...
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: The Graveyard Shift Podcast.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: And I'll link to it in the show notes.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, there's a clip of it.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: And they like what I'm doing and I like what they're doing.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, we have a mutual admiration society there.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: They, of course, like know stuff.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I talk to people and I repeat the stuff that they tell me.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: I'm pretty good at analysis, but they've got a really good bead on what it's like to do the job.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: And it's a great show.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: I know if you watch this or if you listen to it, then you already...
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: Watch or listen to The Graveyard Shift.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: But if you don't,
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: like I said,
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: I've got a link of their very flattering words in the show notes,
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: and I appreciate it.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: All right, let's get into it.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: Today is my first day as the part-time managing editor of ConnectingDirectors.com.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: I've got a bunch of stuff that I'm publishing over there.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: Nothing changes here at On Deathcare.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: I'm doing the same thing that I have always been doing and will continue to do.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: But there is a...
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: Broader number of stories that I can share over there.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: Lots of press releases I tend to not Sharepress releases here,
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: but over Connecting Directors, I kind of rewrite them.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: So I think that they're more focused toward the audience and publish them there.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: And of course, I do original reporting over there as well.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm pretty excited.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: I've got a couple okay stories coming out this week on Connecting Directors.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: And I've got a bunch of stuff already lined up for next week.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: So it'll be fun.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: Keep your eye out for the Connecting Directors stories.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: And of course,
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: when I report on them here,
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: I'll link to them in the show notes and I'll actually just link to my author page.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: So if I mention the story, you can look at it and see if you want to see it.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_00: But anyway, just a quick reminder, nothing changes here.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: Very excited about Connecting Directors.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_00: If you are interested in contributing at Connecting Directors,
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: you can reach out to me by tonyrusso at gmail.com and I can help arrange it.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: Or if you have a story that you want to tell or you have a press release
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: that you want to send, I can help you do all that and I'd be happy to.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_00: Don't hesitate.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: So now for real, let's get into the actual news besides my self-aggrandizing.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: It's kind of a breaking story.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_00: The bank corp is apparently no longer offering the loans that it was offering
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: through homesteaders,
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_00: which has been it was kind of a big deal when homesteaders announced it,
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_00: if you recall, maybe two years ago.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: The idea is that if you go to the bank as a funeral home,
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: they're just going to look at what your business is worth,
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: and that's what you'll have available for lending to expand or to grow your business
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: or whatever.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_00: If you're looking to buy a business, same thing.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: This former, I guess, plan from the Bancorp allowed funeral home owners to also
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: Use their goodwill as equity for the business.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_00: And by goodwill,
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: they really mean their pre-need accounts,
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: which can't be normally counted as part of a company's assets,
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: but in partnership with Homesteaders, they were able to win.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: Homesteaders is a huge insurance company.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: They hold a lot of the pre-need.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_00: They hold the pre-need for all the companies,
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: all the park lawn companies and all of the companies that park lawn buys
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_00: and other independent funeral homes that use homesteaders.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_00: So they have a nice big backstop there.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: But this wasn't about homesteaders as far as I can tell.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_00: This is about the bank court,
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: but it's also about a little bit of a squeeze that,
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: we've been talking about a little bit as like I said,
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: I think there are people contrary to popular belief.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: I think there are people in private equity who are getting a little nervous about
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: the returns, you know, and this is the second thing.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: And it's just whether Bancorp is a private equity or not,
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: we could argue it's a private label bank.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: So it's not precisely the same thing.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: But anyway,
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_00: Homesteader says they are looking for a new partner and they are in talks
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: with other banks to see if they can offer the same thing.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: And I guess we will see more of that going forward.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: Like I said, I read this 20 minutes ago and I'm recording this now.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: So Everything with a grain of salt, and I'll be following up on it hopefully next week.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_00: But for now, there is a link to the initial homesteader's statement in the show notes.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: Take a second to talk to you about Ralph Buckner Jr.,
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_00: who recently,
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: I guess,
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: filed a complaint against the Hillcrest Memorial Gardens
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: and Sunset Memorial Gardens cemeteries in Bradley County, Tennessee.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_00: He is a Cleveland, Tennessee funeral homeowner, and I reported on him recently.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe two years ago,
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: a little bit more because he had a kerfuffle with the people to
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_00: whom he sold his funeral home.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: So Mr.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_00: Buckner was getting out of the funeral home business and he sold his funeral home
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: to this other company and they didn't do a good job or they got
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_00: Bad luck, I guess is the best way to put it.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_00: Because after a while, they entered into a suit with Mr. Buckner.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_00: They said that they bought the funeral home for like $12 million
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: and it was worth like really $3 million.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_00: And First of all, let's pretend that's true.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_00: That's on you.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_00: If you pay $12 million,
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_00: if you can write a check for $12 million and you don't notice that you're overpaying
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: by $9 million, you didn't deserve that $9 million in the first place.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_00: But what was really interesting is before the suit even started, Mr.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_00: Buckner was looking to get back into the funeral business
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_00: because he thought they were doing a really bad job.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_00: With his funeral home and he wanted to open a competing funeral home.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_00: A lawsuit ensued.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: They failed to prove that.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: Mr. Buckner forced them to overpay for the funeral home that they bought.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_00: They went out of business.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_00: He bought his funeral home back at auction, which I don't know.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_00: I like to think of him as the good guy in this.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_00: So that pleases me.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_00: But anyway, so that was the most recent story about Mr. Buckner.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_00: More recently, it's a sadder story.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_00: He went to visit some of his family, which included his daughter and the...
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: In the local cemetery only to discover deplorable conditions.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_00: The mausoleums were coming apart.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_00: The crypts were cracked.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_00: There was standing water.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_00: There was a bad air conditioner that was blowing all sorts of filth around.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_00: And there's a link in the show notes to the story.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_00: And in that story, there are a link to his complaint, which is like 12 pages long.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_00: It's got pictures.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_00: It's got Very, very detailed.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_00: This is not a gentleman who you just want to blow off if you do a deal with him.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_00: And if you're going to learn the hard way, I think that's what it is.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_00: There's kind of an absentee owner running the cemetery.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: And so...
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_00: Mr. Bruckner filed a complaint with,
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know who it is in Tennessee,
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_00: the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance over those conditions.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_00: And if they're not addressed, then he is going to sue the cemetery.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_00: And all of this was to say,
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_00: if you are the cemetery owner, refer back to the story I just told you.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_00: This does not seem like a guy who takes bad funeral service.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_00: Lying down.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, he literally got back into the business because the people
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_00: who bought his business weren't doing what he had hoped they would do.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_00: So anyway, there's a link to the story in the show notes.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_00: And good luck to Mr. Buckner.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_00: I hope the funeral, the cemetery gets turned around.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_00: In other,
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_00: poorly kept cemetery news,
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_00: the Western Star Cemetery in Catonsville,
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_00: Maryland, not terribly far from me, but far enough.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_00: Has been accused of not taking good enough care of its cemetery.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_00: The groundskeeping at the old Frederick Road Cemetery has declined according
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_00: to families since the original owner died a decade ago.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_00: The owner,
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_00: which is listed as Har Rose Incorporated,
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_00: is not in good standing with the state and doesn't have a phone number
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_00: or any contact information that anybody can find.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_00: So Volunteer groups are going out to check the cemetery.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_00: Two things here.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_00: Thing number one, what does perpetual care do?
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you know,
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_00: I've written all these stories about how important it is to have perpetual care,
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_00: but there doesn't seem to be any penalty except your quote,
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_00: good name, unquote, for just taking the money and not taking care of the cemetery.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that I think that's bad, right?
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_00: I think that it's something that needs more addressing than, oh, wow,
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_00: I guess that they just didn't plan well enough,
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_00: so now this cemetery is going to just fall to pieces.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_00: So that was the first thing.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_00: The second thing,
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_00: and this is a very,
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_00: very Maryland thing,
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_00: and one of the reasons I love living in Maryland so much,
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_00: not to worry, the state has a too-dumb-to-succeed situation.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_00: It's actually called an abandoned and neglected cemetery fund,
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_00: which they established to attack this very problem.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_00: And here on the eastern shore of Maryland, there are lots of family cemeteries.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_00: It's very rural.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_00: There are a more than fair number of cemeteries that could use a little spit and polish.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_00: But...
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_00: Unfortunately, even though they established the fund, they didn't put any money in the fund.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if you can say you established a fund with zero dollars.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_00: I think you can only say you plan to establish a fund.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_00: So they have been planning to establish a fund since.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_00: Since October 2025, but have yet to put any money in the fund.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_00: So that helps zero people,
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_00: except whoever,
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_00: whatever politician patted themselves on the back for having the bright idea
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_00: to claim that they were going to have a fund,
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_00: which I guess was enough,
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_00: which was, oh,
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_00: all right, well,
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_00: as long as we're going to have a fund,
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_00: we don't have to worry that these people are taking advantage of this.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_00: Um, bereaved individuals.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_00: So anyway, link to that story in the show notes.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, I'm sorry, but wait, there's another story out of Catonsville, which is a nicer story.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_00: And I wrote about it on Connecting Directors and I will put a link to the show notes.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_00: I also wrote about it on,
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_00: On Deathcare last week when I spoke with Craig Witzke,
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_00: um, who owns Candlelight Funeral Home by Craig Witzke in
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_00: So in my story last week,
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_00: and I'll link to that in the show notes,
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_00: he was very much like Mr.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_00: Buckner,
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_00: disappointed that all of his family funeral homes
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_00: that had been sold had not been doing what they could from his perspective.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_00: And so his daughter was interested in becoming a funeral director.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_00: So he opened another funeral home.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_00: But to distinguish himself from all of the Witskies that aren't Witskies in
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_00: the area, he called it Candlelight Funeral Home by Craig Witski.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_00: But they have established this Before I Die wall,
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_00: which is a really great community outreach art project.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_00: It's something that's common in a lot of cities.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_00: You know, they'll put up a chalkboard wall and people write, you know, before I die.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_00: And then, you know, you just take care of it.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_00: You check it in the morning, make sure nobody...
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if I wrote anything horrible on there,
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_00: but it's a good way to get people thinking about their mortality,
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_00: which is Only makes sense.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_00: And now at the Candlelight Funeral Home, it's not in the funeral home.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_00: They have like a pavilion outside.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_00: They call it a gazebo.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_00: And people in the neighborhood, they use it to come and they have lunch.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_00: Some people come and play games.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_00: They have bridge parties or mahjong or something like that.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_00: It's really neat.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_00: So anyway, the details of that are in the story.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_00: But I don't want to give Catonsville a bad name.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_00: I just want to give that Cemetery a bad name
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_00: because these guys are doing everything they can to make it a welcoming kind
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_00: of death positive scene in Catonsville.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_00: So anyway, link to all of those stories in the show notes.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_00: This week I was supposed to speak with a gentleman named Joe Vanella.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_00: He is a funeral director from New York who is going to be featured in an upcoming,
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_00: not featured, who's participating.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_00: In an upcoming reality TV show competition show called The Traitor's New Blood.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_00: I think it comes out on September 17th.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_00: It is on NBC and Peacock insofar as there are different things.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_00: We couldn't get the timing right.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_00: And I watched some of the trailer to get a sense of it.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_00: And I forgot how...
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_00: Reality television can make me feel so I'm going to take a pass this time,
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_00: although I reached out to Joe and and chatted with him briefly.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_00: You have to have minders with you if you're talking about the show while the show is on.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_00: And I just couldn't bear the idea of speaking to anybody with the minders in the room.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_00: It just it makes me feel icky.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm going to talk to Joe after the show is over and see how it went
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_00: and see how he did and see what he liked about it.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_00: He can't say any of that stuff now.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_00: He can only say how excited he is to be a part.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_00: And what made him join.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_00: But I wrote something up and I put it out there and there is a link to the show notes in that.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_00: But if you are a reality television viewer and you watch this show, tell me about it.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_00: Tell me how it is.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_00: If you want to check in,
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_00: if you want to do a Joe Vanilla report,
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_00: I would love it because I don't,
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_00: like I said, I don't have the spiritual energy to watch.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_00: To watch reality television, especially intercut with commercials, it's me, it's not you.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_00: But if you do, please, I would love to know about the show.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_00: I just don't want to have to watch it, I guess, is what I'm saying.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_00: But anyway, if you're into reality television, this is a time to check it out.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_00: And he had a really great backstory.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_00: His family,
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like I almost remember this,
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_00: but his family kind of had Difficulty deciding what to do with the funeral homes
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_00: that they own.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_00: So they ended up selling them to developers.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_00: He still works for Dignity Memorial as a sales manager.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_00: And he's an upbeat guy and really friendly.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_00: And I guess I hope he does well, unless he's the...
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know how it works.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_00: I hope he wins.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_00: I'm rooting for Joe Vanilla in...
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_00: Game I don't understand or know about or plan to watch,
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_00: but I'm on Team Vanilla for obvious reasons.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_00: But anyway, like I said, if you're a reality television person, reach out.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_00: I would love to hear how it's going.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_00: This is the first of two stories that I only understand a little bit.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't know if it's because the reporting is oblique or because the stories are too weird.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_00: So I have reached out to all of the relevant people in hopes of getting things straight.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_00: And this is the first one.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_00: It's about Raymond Wood Jr.,
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_00: a 54-year-old who died at Honor Health Four Peaks Medical Center in In Mesa,
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_00: Arizona.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_00: When the family called to say that the funeral home was on the way,
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_00: the hospital told the family, ah, the funeral home already picked them up.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_00: And of course,
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_00: the funeral home had not picked,
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_00: well, I'm sorry, A funeral home had picked him up, but not the funeral home.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_00: He was picked up by the SCI-owned Advantage Funeral and Cremation Services
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_00: and taken back to their care center and embalmed.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_00: And so after the hospital realized that they had been taken,
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_00: the family called Advantage and they said, oh, yep, we do have them.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know why.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry that it happened.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_00: We'll bring them back.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_00: But they had embalmed him without...
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_00: Putting his dentures in his mouth, which was something that really upset the family.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_00: He was...
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_00: I guess he was only 54,
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_00: so if he had had the dentures for a while,
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_00: they were something that he was attached to.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_00: But that was something that really upset the family.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_00: And then the regular funeral home got him,
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_00: and I checked, and it looks as if his services went off without any more hitches.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_00: And I believe he was cremated.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_00: So...
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know who Advantage Funeral and Cremation thought they were taking.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_00: That's what's confusing.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_00: That's what's missing from the story.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_00: It's not, they didn't say they took the wrong body.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_00: They said they took the body by mistake.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_00: And so I don't know if this was,
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_00: they were just hanging around and they're like, hey, there's a body.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_00: We'll take that one.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_00: No idea.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_00: So, and of course,
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_00: they don't talk about,
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_00: so they have been clear that they do not talk about,
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_00: But anyway, link in the show notes.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_00: Phil Bankston has filed a complaint with the Kansas State Board of Mortuary Arts
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_00: against Park Lawn over a dispute of their pre-need contract with that company.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_00: His mother, Elaine,
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_00: was buried recently,
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_00: and she had purchased a pre-need agreement from Johnson County Memorial Gardens back
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_00: in 1977, and she
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_00: He says that the contract says that this funeral is paid for regardless
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_00: of future price increases now.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_00: In their response to the newspaper,
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_00: Park Lawn said that he doesn't understand what the contract says and
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_00: that it does not say that.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_00: And that is all the information there is.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_00: They have filed a complaint,
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_00: as I said,
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_00: with the Kansas State Board of Mortuary Arts,
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_00: which has given Park Lawn until September 18th to respond.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_00: And once they have a response, we'll see where that happened.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_00: So this was bought in 1977.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_00: With the expectation, anyway, that it would still be good in 2027.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_00: And they have billed him for $21,000,
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_00: which was about $21,000 more than he was expecting to have to pay for the funeral.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_00: You can understand the outrage.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_00: I do not know whether or not he...
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_00: Misunderstood the contract.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_00: As far as I can tell,
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_00: Kansas is one of those states where you can pay for the funeral and
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_00: the funeral home keeps the compounded revenue and then you get the funeral
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_00: when it's time.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_00: In some cases, we know that there are multiple different kinds of...
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_00: Contracts that can be written.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_00: It's just tough and it's just a bad look.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_00: You know,
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_00: it's always a bad look when someone says, well, yeah,
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_00: your mother was mistaken and now she's dead and it's just between you and us
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_00: and I'd like my $21,000, please.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_00: So we'll see how this all shakes out.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_00: Again, like at the last story,
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_00: I've got to keep on the phone and see who will tell me something else.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_00: That is meaningful.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_00: But for now, I'll link to the current reporting in the show notes.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_00: And that'll do me for this time.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_00: There are so many more stories.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_00: And if you are a subscriber or If you run over right now and subscribe to
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_00: On Deathcare.com, you'll get the rest of them tomorrow morning.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_00: I put out a Wednesday email called Beyond the Rest,
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_00: which includes the stories from this podcast as well as the stories that didn't fit.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_00: As I say every week, I try to respect your time and attention here.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_00: Which is, I understand, crazy valuable.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_00: And so I try to keep this short when I can.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_00: Today went even longer than I was hoping for it to go.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_00: But anyway,
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_00: if you want to see the rest of the stories,
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_00: just subscribe to On Deathcare at ondeathcare.com.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_00: And it will be out tomorrow morning.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_00: This show has been an On Deathcare production.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_00: It was written, edited, transmogrified, produced all the things by me, Tony Russo.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_00: I'm still having a blast doing it.
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_00: And I have a lot of fun stories coming up or interesting stories, some deep dives.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_00: On the off chance that you missed it as a subscriber or if you're not a subscriber
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_00: and someone forwarded this to you,
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_00: I'd like if you checked out the salon that I posted on Monday.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_00: I spoke with several members of selected independent funeral homes
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_00: who were debating,
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_00: rehashing all of the things that have gone on there between that organization and
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_00: the National Funeral Directors Organization and even more of the...
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_00: Drama that's leaking out of that.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_00: So check that out.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_00: There's a link to all that in the show notes as well.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_00: And finally, thank you as always to my paid subscribers who make all of this work possible.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_00: I had a couple people come on again this week.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_00: It just brightens my day every time somebody signs up as a paid subscriber.
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_00: I got a nice letter from a paid subscriber today who got a kick out of one of
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_00: the jokes in my Sunday column.
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_00: So thanks for the feedback.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for keeping me going.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_00: You guys send me emails.
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_00: It reminds me that people are reading It reminds me that people are listening
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_00: and it reminds me that I have to keep trying hard because you're real people
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_00: and you really want to know stuff and I really want to tell it to you.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_00: So that'll do it for this time and I will check in with you next time.