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In a message dated 11/8/04 8:43:49 PM, Mike Flynn in Boston sends us:
"Six Feet Under," the quirky HBO series about a Southern California family that runs a funeral parlor, will end its run after its upcoming fifth season.
Alan Ball, creator and executive producer of the ensemble drama starring Peter Krause, Michael C. Hall, Frances Conroy and Rachel Griffiths, says he feels the show has run its course.
"Working on `Six Feet Under' has been enormously fulfilling creatively, but if the show is about anything, it's about the fact that everything comes to an end," Ball said in a statement. Production on the final season is set to begin next week. HBO confirmed Monday it would be the show's last season, but hasn't said when it will air.
"I will miss working with such enormously talented writers, cast, staff and crew and I'll always be grateful to HBO for allowing and encouraging us to tell the story we set out to tell in a challenging and uncompromising way," Ball said.
In a message dated 11/1/04 8:17:56 AM, Anonymous sends us writes:
Is this cremation urn a security risk? It could be, say new government rules regarding its transportation through airports. Of ashes, underwires and radioactive colons
Era of heightened security creates new travel problems
By Brock N. Meeks
Chief Washington correspondent
MSNBC
Updated: 9:47 a.m. ET Oct. 28, 2004WASHINGTON - In this post-9/11 world even the dead don't get a free pass through airport security.
Today anyone transporting cremated remains through an airport security checkpoint must carry the ashes in a container that allows an X-ray machine to clearly see inside, according to the beefed-up scanning guidelines outlined by the Transportation Security Administration in September.
Prior to the rule change, crematory containers still had to be scanned, but if the X-ray machines couldn't see clearly inside the container, a simple letter or certificate of cremation from a funeral home was enough to by-pass further inspection. And before February of this year cremated remains weren't even initially scanned, passing through security on documentation alone.
It's not just bereaved loved ones who are finding travel in the post-9/11 world much more complicated. Similar situations are cropping up for everyone from women wearing underwire bras to those with prosthetics to recipients of recent nuclear medicine procedures.
The issue is far from trivial.
British orthopedic surgeons say more than half of the artificial implant patients they surveyed are setting off airport security alarms post-9/11. Meanwhile, with 16 million nuclear medicine procedures done every year and increasingly sensitive radiation detectors being deployed by homeland security officials, it's no wonder these radioactive patients are being turned into unwitting targets of law enforcement, says the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
And when it comes to transporting cremated remains by air, the TSA tightened its scanning procedures in the aftermath of the two Russian airliners that exploded almost simultaneously in August after two women smuggled bombs hidden under their clothes on-board the planes.
'We worked with the nation's funeral homes to educate the public on the best methods to move cremated remains through checkpoints in a manner that respects the deceased and maintains a high level of security.'
&emdash; Darrin Kayser
Spokesman, Transportation Security Administration
"We worked with the nation's funeral homes to educate the public on the best methods to move cremated remains through checkpoints in a manner that respects the deceased and maintains a high level of security," said Darrin Kayser, a TSA spokesman. The containers must be "security friendly." TSA recommends they be "constructed of lightweight materials like plastic or wood that are more friendly to our security process," Kayser said.
If the ashes can't be properly scanned they must be transported some other way because the containers aren't permitted to be checked luggage unless they can be screened, Kayser said, noting that TSA employees aren't allowed to open and inspect the containers.
That poses a big problem for people who want to transport their deceased loved ones. Nearly 680,000, or 30 percent of all deaths, in 2002 ended in cremation, according to the Cremation Association of North America.
Within the same time frame that TSA bolstered the procedures for inspecting cremated remains it also instituted a new physical passenger screening policy by approving the use of manual pat-down searches as well as giving screeners more latitude in whom they choose for so-called secondary screening, Kayser said.
The new pat-down searches are causing even more problems for women wearing underwire bras than before. Prior to the more rigorous physical inspection policy, the Internet was rife with first-person accounts of women who have been subjected to what they say are overly aggressive searches.
The issue is a sensitive one. "As a part of that procedure, our screeners will be doing a significant visual inspection of passengers and if they witness irregularities they will be able to use a manual pat-down search," Kayser said. Passengers can request the inspections take place in a private area. Also, any passenger is allowed to decline the search procedures without consequence as long as they are also willing to forgo their travel plans, Kayser said.
And during a U.S. conference in April, British orthopedic surgeons presented findings of a study they did showing that patients with artificial implants, such as hip replacements, were more likely to trigger airport security checkpoint alarms, setting them off 56 percent of the time since 9/11, up from 11 percent of the time before.
The TSA has special procedures when it comes to handling prosthetic devices, Kayser said, noting that it doesn't require anyone to remove an artificial limb.
Radioactive patients
To guard against the possibility of a terrorist's trying to smuggle a "dirty bomb" across our borders or into a major city, the Department of Homeland Security has equipped Customs and Border Protection officers with more than 10,000 personal radiation detectors, installed more than 270 radiation portal monitors at U.S. ports of entry and set up isotope identification detection systems in places like tunnels, rail stations, shopping malls and bridges, according to Robert Bonner, who heads the Customs and Border Protection division of DHS.
But those same devices employed to sniff out a terrorist threat are also turning recipients of nuclear medicine treatments into targets of law enforcement, according to the American College of Nuclear Physicians.
"There have been reports of patients who have had nuclear medicine procedures triggering radiation monitors in public transportation facilities," the ACNP said in a note to members last December. "Some patients who have been stopped have noted confusion among security personnel. Body searches and long delays have been reported," the ANCP said.
The ANCP's action came in the aftermath of a published informational notice from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. In that notice the NRC highlighted an incident in which a bus traveling from New York to Atlantic City set off a radiation alarm in a tunnel.
The state police pulled over the bus only to find that a passenger had, earlier in the day, received a nuclear medicine procedure. The rub, the NRC noted, was that the patient was told not to take public transportation for two days on the chance that the radioactive medicine might trigger a radiation security device.
"We started seeing these problems at the end of 2001, in the aftermath of 9/11," said John Jacobus, a health physicist for the National Institutes of Health. "A lot of the problem is that patients very often don't realize they are radioactive," Jacobus said. "For whatever reason it just doesn't come up in the conversation, honest to God."'A lot of the problem is that patients very often don't realize they are radioactive.'
&emdash; John Jacobus
National Institutes of Health
The NRC recommends that patients be given complete explanations about how the tests could set off alarms. The ANCP and NRC also suggest that patients be given a letter containing vital information about the procedure they can carry with them that can be given to security personnel if needed.
Jacobus says that informing patients about nuclear medicine treatments is sometimes a delicate dance between providing them with adequate information yet not making them feel apprehensive.
"Patients are injected with a very small amount of material, it's like a liquid, and the problem is that you don't taste it or feel it or anything like that," he said. "And then what happens, because they aren't apprehensive, they may not be as cognitive of the fact that they are, indeed, radioactive."
A concerted education awareness program seems to be paying off, Jacobus said. "And as a result, patients are getting smarter," he said. "If they do set off alarms they can tell the security people all about their nuclear medicine procedure and the homeland security people now understand that."
In a message dated 11/8/04 2:24:44 PM, Charles in Florida sends us:
http://www.getreading.co.uk/story.asp?intid=10717
Year's jail: man regularly gave teenager money for sexual favours
A FUNERAL director who indecently assaulted a teenage boy in the late 1980s has been jailed for a year. Colin Bennell, now 55, paid the youngster for sex acts after initially lending him cash for cigarettes and food. Bennell, of Blandford Road, Whitley, was introduced to the underage victim, who cannot be identified, by a family friend and began to lend him the money Hilary Neville, prosecuting, said: "In Bennell the victim found not only a friend but someone who lent him money for cigarettes and other food and a place the victim could go to watch TV and get away from his family."
One day he phoned Bennell and asked if he could come round and borrow money for cigarettes, the court heard. "Yes he could, but if he wanted money he would have to do Bennell a favour, something for him," said Miss Neville. "The defendant suggested the victim allow Bennell to perform a sex act on him. "The victim was not surprised by this, there had been previous conversations of a sexual nature. "He spent some time considering what he was going to do and walked very slowly to Bennell's house, knowing what lay ahead. "He made the decision to go, there was no pressure put on him." Bennell performed a sex act on the victim before giving him £20, the start of "regular" similar incidents where Bennell would pay the victim for sexual favours, Miss Neville added.
The victim eventually told family and friends about the abuse after moving out of the area and suffering "years of trauma", the court heard. He described the walk to Bennell's house as "like walking to his execution", said Miss Neville. During his arrest, Bennell, who the court heard was a funeral director, admitted having sexual relations with a boy at that time but said he didn't pressurise him. He said money had passed between them but it was mainly for cigarettes, Miss Neville added. Bennell was convicted of indecent assault at Reading Magistrates' Court on September 17 after admitting the single charge and faced sentencing at Reading Crown Court on Friday last week.
Anne-Marie Critchley, defending, said the victim and the defendant had both suffered abuse at the hands of older men when they were young. "Mr Bennell was devastated when he realised the suffering his behaviour had caused," she said. "He was arrested this year and immediately admitted the offence, this reflects the genuine remorse he feels. "Where there are elements of grooming, there was an existing relationship building up between the defendant and the victim, and it's very clear from the victim's statement he made a conscious decision to go along with this "There was never any force or physical pressure put on him. "Mr Bennell believed the victim was approaching 16 and believed he was happy to involve himself in the behaviour taking place between them."
Judge Christopher Critchlow sentenced Bennell to 12 months in prison.
A former Queens funeral director and his wife pleaded guilty yesterday to charges they scammed $3.1 million in life insurance payments by submitting fake death certificates to insurers.
In a message dated 10/18/04 5:25:36 PM, Robert in California writes:
Australia Funeral director arrested in death plot.
By Les Kennedy
October 19, 2004
By occupation, David Norman Ring dealt with death.
So when Antonia Volegoff spurned him three years ago, the Central Coast undertaker resolved that if he could not have her, then no other man would.
Ms Volegoff and her new man, Craig McKenna, would simply vanish. That was the plan. Both bodies would be disposed of at a crematorium at Port Macquarie.
But a year of plotting the murders came to nothing when a friend reported Ring, 39, to Blacktown police.
This planned crime of passion was disclosed when Ring, the director of Southern Cross Funerals in Woy Woy, faced Blacktown Local Court yesterday charged with three counts of inciting his friend, codenamed "the Source", and an undercover policeman, "Vinh", to murder Ms Volegoff and Mr McKenna.
Ring is accused of having plotted to kill the couple at Doonside between September 14 last year and January 8.
An apprehended violence order was imposed on him after a violent confrontation with the couple last year in which Ring claimed he was hit with a crowbar.
In facts tendered to a magistrate, Jennifer Betts, yesterday, police alleged Ring's friend had told them he was disturbed by conversations in which Ring was proposing to harm Ms Volegoff to "exact payback for breaking up his relationship".
"The accused requested the Source procure an unregistered vehicle and assist him in kidnapping Volegoff, give her a drug overdose and then dispose of her body by burning the procured car," the police facts sheet alleged.
"During the same conversation, the accused requested the Source's assistance to inflict grievous bodily harm injuries upon McKenna, thereby confining him to a wheelchair."
Police launched an operation involving electronic listening devices and an undercover officer posing as a hit man named Vinh.
Police alleged that on December 15 Ring met Vinh at a service station at Ourimbah, on the Central Coast, and gave him background information to help him find the couple.
On December 23 Ring gave Vinh $100 for expenses during a taped meeting at a McDonald's outlet at San Souci in which Ring allegedly said he was willing to pay between $8000 and $10,000 to have the couple killed.
Police said Ring told the Source in January that he could not afford to pay the hit man but he still wanted them murdered.
It was not explained to the court why police did not act against Ring in January. Instead, they arrested him last Friday at the Southern Cross Funerals office at Woy Woy after advice from the Director of Public Prosecutions.
Ms Betts denied Ring bail and adjourned the case to Penrith Local Court on Friday.
THE White Cliffs of Dover are where Brits would most like their ashes scattered when they die, a survey has revealed.
The landmark - immortalised in Dame Vera Lynn's wartime song There'll Be Bluebirds Over (The White Cliffs of Dover) - beat Mount Everest as favourite final resting place.
Niagara Falls, the Great Barrier Reef, Australia, and the Grand Canyon, Arizona, completed the top five in the Age Concern Funeral Plans poll.
The charity's Sharon Dobson said: "The White Cliffs of Dover is a symbolic place. It's evocative. Maybe it's that people are proud to live in Britain."
The survey of people of all ages found 43 per cent wanted their remains sprinkled somewhere famous. Only one in 20 preferred a crematorium.
Ms Dobson said: "People have strong feelings about where they want their ashes scattered but often don't make them clear to relatives.
"We're trying to encourage people to talk about it. It can make it something a bit special that says something about the life they lived and celebrate it."
But just two per cent of people plan their own funerals.
Michael Abrey-Bugg, also of Age Concern, said: "Mount Everest may not be practical for all, but it highlights a need for us to make our wishes clear before we die."
note: what about The Ganges River?
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INDUSTRY NEWS
White House Conference on Aging Unveils New Web Site
FCC Publishes Updated 'Do Not Call' Regulations
ICFA NEWS
ICFA 2005 Convention & Exposition Program Now Online
Wide World of Sales Looking Toward Record Attendance
ICFA Announces Wide World of Sales Contest Winner
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INDUSTRY NEWS
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WHITE HOUSE CONFERENCE ON AGING UNVEILS NEW WEB SITE
The White House has announced plans to schedule its Conference on Aging next
year, October 23-25, 2005, at the Hyatt Regency Hotel on Capitol Hill.
Although the details of the meeting are still in the planning stages,
information and updates can be found on the conference Web page at
http://www.whcoa.gov.
Held every 10 years, the agenda for the conference is being developed and it
is not known at this time whether any funeral-related issues will be
included. A series of "listening sessions" are in the process of being held
at various locations around the country that will determine, in part, the
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upcoming conference will focus on the needs of the "baby boomer" population,
that is, those individuals born between 1946 and 1964. The ICFA has contacted
the conference organizers and will received information as updated.
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FCC PUBLISHES UPDATED 'DO NOT CALL' REGULATIONS
Last Friday, the Federal Communications Commission published its final rule
on two changes in the Do Not Call requirements of the Telephone Consumer
Protection Act. The FCC shares enforcement of the Do Not Call registry with
the Federal Trade Commission; however, FTC jurisdiction applies to interstate
calls or calls made from one state to another. FCC jurisdiction applies to
both interstate calls and also to intrastate calls or calls made to numbers
within the same state.
The new FCC rule povides a 15-day "safe harbor" from violations when
telemarketers place autodial or prerecorded message calls to numbers recently
ported from wireline to wireless service. This rule is effective on November
8, 2004. The FCC has also adopted the requirement passed by Congress that
telemarketers must update their Do Not Call lists every 31 days by accessing
the national Do Not Call registry operated by the FTC. The previous rule
required updates every three months. The new 31-day rule will become
effective on January 1, 2005. For more information, check the FCC Web site at
http://www.fcc.gov.
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ICFA NEWS
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ICFA 2005 CONVENTION & EXPOSITION PROGRAM NOW ONLINE
The ICFA is wagering on a full house for its 2005 Convention & Exposition,
March 30 - April 2 at the Las Vegas Hilton. "Betting on Success: It's More
Than Luck" will bring together 1,000+ cemeterians, funeral directors,
cremationists, memorial designers and suppliers for a program focused on the
future of the profession as well as the skills, qualities and product
offerings needed to succeed.
Highlights include a keynote presentation by Tyler Cassity of the renowned
Hollywood Forever Cemetery; a talk-show style panel sponsored by the ICFA
Women's Forum; numerous "how to" breakout sessions; educational tours of Palm
Mortuaries, Cemeteries & Crematories; a supplier Expo with more than 200
booths; numerous networking receptions; and more!
A complete schedule and session descriptions are now available online at
http://www.icfa.org/ac05.htm.
The exhibitor prospectus is available at http://www.icfa.org/prospectus05.htm.
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WIDE WORLD OF SALES LOOKING TOWARD RECORD ATTENDANCE
Registrations have begun pouring in for the ICFA's Wide World of Sales,
January 13-14 at the Hilton New Orleans Riverside. With three months to go,
registrations are far outpacing previous years', and the ICFA's hotel room
block is already above 50 percent capacity.
Don't miss this opportunity to network with hundreds of your fellow cemetery
and funeral service colleagues and to learn practical, "how to" techniques
from 20+ experts addressing topics ranging from lead generation, to effective
presentations, to family service follow up, and more.
Register today to reserve your spot! Visit http://www.icfa.org/sales05.htm or
call 1-800-645-7700.
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ICFA ANNOUNCES WIDE WORLD OF SALES CONTEST WINNER
Congratulations to Denise McCormick, Coastal Mausoleum Estates, Kingsland,
Georgia, winner of the Wide World of Sales contest and recipient of a free
registration to the conference!
Thanks to all who participated in the contest. All entries will be printed in
the ICFA Playbook, a binder filled with handouts for conference attendees to
take home. The variety of answers submitted will provide attendees with a
great idea bank for the three contest questions: What is your best
prospecting line? What is your best closing statement? and What is the one
thing every preneed sales counselor needs to know?
For information on the Wide World of Sales and to register, visit
http://www.icfa.org/sales05.htm or call 1-800-645-7700.
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The ICFA Internet Expo at http://www.icfa.org/expo/index.html is the largest
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funeral home owners and operators will find more than 300 providers in over
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Check it out today!
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Topics discussed to date have included vault selections, staff incentive
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In a message dated 10/12/04 5:59:06 PM, Kevin in Louisiana writes:
For a century, it was standard practice at many American insurance companies: When it came to burial insurance, blacks were charged more than whites for the same coverage. The small policies paid just enough for a modest funeral. Millions were sold, many to poor black families in the South. Now the industry is being called to account. Insurance regulators in many states, including South Carolina, have filed complaints. Lawyers representing black families have brought class-action suits. And companies with policies sold by scores of insurers &emdash; unwilling to defend what society now views as indefensible racial discrimination &emdash; are settling out of court.
The industry has settled 16 major cases since 2000, according to interviews with insurers, state regulators, and lawyers for policyholders. Those cases covered 14.8 million policies sold by 90 insurance companies between 1900 and the 1980s. Together, the settlements require the companies to pay more than $556 million &emdash; most of it in restitution to policyholders or their survivors, but some of it in fines, legal costs and charitable contributions.
More cases are still being adjudicated, but they involve relatively small numbers of policies. The settlements don't threaten the stability of the life insurance industry, which has resources to cover $25 trillion worth of policies. As of 2002, more than 21 million old burial policies worth $16 billion remained in force, according to the rating firm AM Best Co. But by the 1980s, the small policies had become unprofitable and few new ones were being sold. "We believe in our heart of hearts that this practice is a thing of the past," said Jose Montemayor, a Texas regulator who chaired a committee on the topic for the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. Jack Dolan, spokesman for the American Council of Life Insurers, a trade group, said the insurance industry settlements are best understood "in the context of America's complex history of race relations." Burial insurance, also known as industrial insurance, originally was developed in Britain for sale to factory workers. Introduced in America in 1875, it spread nationwide, taking especially strong hold in black neighborhoods in the Southeast. There, insurance agents peddled the policies door to door, promoting them as a way for people to ease the financial burden that would otherwise fall on surviving family members. Some families skimped on food to pay the premiums, the Federal Trade Commission said in a 1979 report.
Typically, agents stopped by weekly to collect the premiums &emdash; often less than a dollar. Through regular visits, agents could see when families grew and press to insure each new member. Bessie Jones, 75, a retired domestic worker in Sarasota, Fla., says she bought a policy because "I had no money to bury myself." Eventually, she said, she bought at least a dozen more for her children and grandchildren. Instead of consolidating multiple policies into a single one at a better rate, black customers were encouraged to buy individual ones, policyholder lawyers say. By 1955, the high-water mark for burial insurance, American insurance companies held more than $40 billion worth in 155 million policies, according to the Federal Trade Commission.
Some industry behemoths, including Metropolitan Life, built their business largely on profits from burial insurance in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, according to government and corporate accounts. That racial bias built into these policies was long an open secret in the insurance industry. Insurance forms asked the applicant's race, and black were routinely charged more than whites for the same coverage, the insurance industry now acknowledges.
Typically, it was one-third more, according to lawyers representing black policyholders. Throughout the 20th century, an occasional government report, lawsuit, or news article questioned the morality or legality of this practice, but until recently, there were no big challenges. For decades, the insurance industry defended the discriminatory practice, arguing that blacks on average didn't live as long as whites, making them a worse insurance risk. "At that point, discrimination was considered an actuarial science," said Joanne Stone Morrissey, president of the insurance researcher Firemark Group in Morristown, N.J.
However, attorneys for black policyholders say, many insurers continued the practice long after it became known it was poverty, poor medical care and risky jobs &emdash; not race &emdash; that led to shorter life spans. That meant blacks still paid more than whites facing similar risks. In many cases, industry critics say, premiums paid over the years greatly exceeded the payout value of the policies. One couple, for example, spent $585 in premiums for a policy that paid a benefit of only $60, according to one lawsuit. Another policyholder paid $728 in premiums over 20 years for a $500 benefit.
That didn't necessarily break the law, said Mario Parcella, a lawyer for policyholders. But, he added, "it's part and parcel of what we consider a scheme to take advantage of African-Americans."
Some insurers accuse regulators of hypocrisy in coming after them for racial pricing. For decades, regulators "were aware of it, they blessed it, they told them use it; then here a number of years later, the departments of insurance go after the companies for using it," says Scott Cipinko, director of the Atlanta-based Life Insurers Council.
By settling cases out of court, insurers have avoided possible guilty verdicts and a public relations debacle.
In a curious twist, though, insurers who once shunned black business escaped liability.
"When many other life insurers in the first half of the 20th century refused to sell to African-Americans, MetLife sold policies that performed as promised," Metropolitan Life's chairman, Robert H. Benmosche, said when his company settled.
In a message dated 10/12/04 5:12:00 PM, Kevin in Louisiana writes:
October 12, 2004
For Hartwell W. Ragsdale II, it was never enough to operate a leading funeral home in San Diego's African-American community.
The trust and respect he engendered among generations of San Diegans at Anderson-Ragsdale Mortuary helped him make a difference, too, as a champion of equality and African-American causes.
"Whatever he had to do to bring about healing, he was there," said the Rev. George Walker Smith, a longtime friend. "If he saw an injustice, he had to speak out against it."
Hartwell W. Ragsdale II
Mr. Ragsdale, whose civic activism began shortly after he purchased and renamed Anderson Mortuary in 1955, died Wednesday at his San Diego home. He was 79.
In failing health for the past several years, he died of complications from surgery after a recent hip fracture, said his son, Hartwell "Skipper" Ragsdale III.
A third-generation mortuary professional, Mr. Ragsdale moved to San Diego from Phoenix to buy Anderson Mortuary at 26th Street and Imperial Avenue after its owner had died. In 1977, he moved the business to Federal Boulevard.
By 1999, the mortuary was serving about 350 clients a year and sometimes providing free services to the poor.
In the early 1960s, while building his business, Mr. Ragsdale served two terms as president of the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
He joined Martin Luther King Jr. in a civil rights march from Selma, Ala., to Montgomery, Ala., and took part in a nationwide picketing campaign to open segregated lunch counters to blacks.
He also fought restrictive housing covenants and headed a legal redress committee to help blacks obtain civil service jobs and promotions.
In 1984, he led a protest against the bay-front Inter-Continental Hotel's lack of a plan for hiring minorities.
"It's a community policy that hotels don't hire blacks," he said. "If the (Inter-Continental) hotel doesn't change its policies, we ought to throw up a picket line around the hotel."
The hotel later announced that 10 of 24 supervisorial positions had been filled by minorities.
At a time when the heavily segregated mortuary industry offered few opportunities to minorities, Mr. Ragsdale hired and nurtured young African-Americans.
One of them, Ted Mims, went to mortuary college with Mr. Ragsdale's help and later pursued a career in law enforcement.
"He was not only a mentor but was like a father to me over the years," Mims said. "He reached out to me at a very young age and showed me what being an African-American man was about."
Michael Brunker, executive director of the Jackie Robinson Family YMCA, praised Mr. Ragsdale for "going beyond the four walls of his business to engage in the community and show how you can make a difference."
"He was a magnetic personality and a great storyteller," Brunker added. "He knew how to treat people with dignity and respect, and you would walk away feeling as if he were your longtime best friend."
Mr. Ragsdale helped found the Catfish Club, which provides a weekly forum for political discussions, and the former San Diego Coalition for Equality, which emerged to foster understanding and healing after the Rodney King-beating trial verdict of 1992.
For more than six years, he served on the board of the Triple Crown Alliance, which was formed to help gang members find work through public projects. His interest in youth also was reflected in his role as a Big Brother to inner city teens, some of whom he tutored at his funeral home.
He was one of 10 San Diegans named Citizens of the Year in 1992 by the City Club of San Diego and the San Diego Jaycees. In 1999, he received the YMCA of San Diego County's Human Dignity Award.
Mr. Ragsdale's dedication to community service, which he shared with his late wife, Hazel, stemmed from his business success.
"The community makes my living for me and I'm part of the community," he told The San Diego Union in 1977. "If it's successful, I am, but I have to put something back, not just drain from it."
Mr. Ragsdale was born in Okmulgee, Okla., and raised in Ardmore, Okla., where his father operated Ragsdale Funeral Home.
At Douglas High in Ardmore, he played trumpet in the school band, quarterbacked the football team and played basketball.
"During football season, he would do a quick change, march in the halftime show, and return to the field to complete the second half of the game," his son said.
Mr. Ragsdale continued his athletic career at Langston University in Oklahoma and later graduated from San Francisco College of Mortuary Science.
In 1948, he joined a brother, Lincoln J. Ragsdale, in opening a mortuary in Phoenix. Their father provided the impetus, helping to construct the building and giving them a hearse and limousine.
Mr. Ragsdale traced his heritage in the funeral business to a grandfather, William Ragsdale, who moved in 1889 from Arkansas to what is now Oklahoma.
After operating a livery stable, Mr. Ragsdale's grandfather took an embalming course and began renting horse-drawn hearses.
Mr. Ragsdale was known to many of his friends as a consummate fishermen.
His annual trips to Alaska yielded a bounty of halibut and salmon, which he generously shared.
When San Diego leaders were forming the Coalition for Equality, Mr. Ragsdale provided enough salmon to feed 125 members who gathered at a Mission Valley church, the Rev. Smith recalled.
"He won their hearts by feeding their bellies," Smith said.
Mr. Ragsdale's community service included positions on the San Diego Crime Commission, the Holiday Bowl Committee and the Super Bowl Committee.
In 1999, he received a lifetime achievement award from the National Funeral Directors & Morticians Association.
Mr. Ragsdale's wife, whom he married in 1951, died in 1994. She was among the founders of a local chapter of Links Inc., a national organization devoted to providing role models and mentors to young black males.
Mr. Ragsdale's daughter, Rosalind, who had been a student at a mortuary college in Orange County, died in 1977 in an auto accident in Oceanside.
Survivors include his son, Hartwell "Skipper" Ragsdale III of San Diego; and a grandson. Both followed Mr. Ragsdale into the family business.
A viewing was at Anderson-Ragsdale Mortuary, 5050 Federal Blvd., San Diego and service at Bayview Baptist Church, 6126 Benson Ave., San Diego. Interment in Mount Hope Cemetery.
The theft of a grandmother's remains from a grave in a country churchyard in Staffordshire was claimed by extremists yesterday as a victory in the global campaign for animal rights.
Read the full story click this link http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/crime/story.jsp?story=571232
http://www.funeralwire.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=14378
"He came by once and said he wanted to be a funeral director," said the funeral home's general manager, Rick Ingersoll. "But after you talked to him, you realized something wasn't quite right." The full story click here.
In a message dated 9/30/04 1:50:24 AM, Jon in California sends us:
Los Angeles, California &endash; The hall is tastefully decorated &endash; oversized Renaissance images grace the walls, many bearing quotes from classic philosophers. The soothing, soft lighting works to draw in the large space, making it tranquil, almost cozy. This inviting décor, a perfect counterpoint to this extraordinary exhibit, puts the wary at ease, and enhances the viewing experience of those who came enthusiastically, knowing that an unforgettable experience lay ahead. From this gentle beginning of the presentation, to its dramatic crescendo, Dr. Gunther von Hagens' Body Worlds, at the California Science Center until January 2005, rivets, amazes, and above all, educates.
An unexpected host &endash; a human skeleton &endash; greets the visitor entering the hall, dangling ivory-white from its steel pole. Its form inclines to the left, gently pointing the way to the exhibit ahead. Glass cases gleam beneath the diffused lights; in them lie a variety of human internal organs, all real, in varying states of pre-mortem health or disease. Some are all in one piece, others cross-sectioned, or in "slices" which resemble nothing so much as thin sheets of stained glass. All have been preserved by a method known as "plastination," a process invented by German physician and scientist Dr. Gunther von Hagens to preserve human specimens for medical education. Complete human bodies preserved by this method are referred to as "plastinates."
The visitor, moving along, soon encounters the first plastinates, each in a different pose, each created to instruct the observer about a different system of the human body. One specimen, near the exhibit's beginning, has a standing skeleton with its bony hand resting on the rest of its body. This plastinate shows in strong relief the two complementary systems. Just yards away, in a large glass case, sits a "chess player," his brain, which in a "living" chess game would be working hard, is visible, as is his spinal cord and most other internal organs.
At this point, the visitor is directed to the third floor of the Science Center to explore the second portion of Body Worlds. It does not disappoint, boasting amazing displays of "bodies" made entirely of blood vessels (but maintaining a fully human, or, in one case, duck shape), and internal organs of every kind, many with tumors and other diseases in evidence. (In this part of the exhibit, a plastinated liver and lung are on display and may be touched and handled by visitors). Fetuses in stages of development from one week to eight months may be seen (this last fetus, in one of the most amazing and touching displays, rests within its mother, who died during pregnancy). The bicycle rider, and the final plastinate, the truly astonishing horse and rider, must be seen to be believed.
Dr. von Hagens created this method of preservation in the late 1970s as a way to maintain intact the organs, tissues, circulatory and nervous systems of donated bodies in a lifelike manner, while preserving flexibility of the body. (Preservation of the skin in natural flesh tones has proven to be more difficult, but research is ongoing to perfect this process, as well.) This remarkable method allows the bodies, bequeathed to von Hagens' organization during the donors' lifetimes, to be "plastinated" with a solution of polymers and other ingredients that preserves them down to the cellular level.
Dr. von Hagens may himself be seen at times at Body Worlds; he has created a series of educational talks and question-and-answer sessions aimed at both the general visiting audience and the potential body donor. Dr. von Hagens receives a tremendous number of requests about becoming a donor, and much information is available to those who wish to learn more. Jon Snyder, owner of Snyder's Embalming Service of California, has been selected by Dr. von Hagens to serve as his North American representative. Mr. Snyder will be in charge of the preparation of donated bodies in the United States.
As a perfect complement to the exhibit experience, the visitor may choose to first view the very excellent film "The Human Body," a collaboration between Discovery Pictures and BBC Scienceworld, in the IMAX theater just opposite the Center itself.
Body Worlds provides an incomparable educational experience for children and adults alike, and the visitor will find both groups abundantly represented at the exhibit. Anyone wishing to learn about the effects of such things as smoking, alcoholism, and other health-damaging activities will see blunt evidence of their deleterious effects. For all who visit Body Worlds, however, there will be a renewed appreciation of and respect for that amazing creation &endash; the human body.
For more information about Body Worlds, visit the following Website: http://www.casciencectr.com/Exhibits/Weingart/BodyWorlds/BodyWorlds.php.
- Liz Davenport
Series of Fla. hurricanes delay funerals the whole article
In a message dated 9/30/04 5:09:40 PM, Mike Flynn in Boston, Massachusetts sends us:
FORT PIERCE, Florida -- The four-in-a-row hurricanes that have disrupted lives across Florida have also delayed life's final journey for many. Funerals have been put off for weeks in some places because the ground is too soggy for burials or because scattered family members cannot be assembled.
Many undertakers have also had trouble finding doctors to sign death certificates. They have had to scramble to find electricity to run the refrigerated rooms where bodies are stored. Some have had to struggle just to find water to mix the embalming fluids and cleanse the bodies.
And many of those whose job it is to help people cope with the death of a loved one are dealing with heavy losses themselves.
"We've been tested," said Paul Buxton, who saw the Okeechobee funeral home he built up over 25 years damaged by Hurricane Frances, then wiped out by Jeanne.
Debbie Hatfield, 39, died Monday while awaiting a liver transplant. Buxton is hoping the water table beneath the cemetery will have dropped enough to have the burial next Monday.
"It's stressing," said James Hatfield, who is left to raise two young sons on his own. "The worst part is worrying about if it's dry enough to put her in the ground, and then worrying about the coffin coming back up out of the ground."
"We're limping," said Rick Haisley, whose Fort Pierce funeral home lost the roof of its chapel to Jeanne. The storm also damaged the roof of Haisley's riverfront house, so he and his wife have moved into the funeral home. But he added: "It's amazing how understanding the families are. They just want to hold your hand and cry with you."
The disaster had led to cooperation among funeral directors who might otherwise be competitors.
Roberson Funeral Home in hard-hit Port Charlotte lost power for 10 days after Hurricane Charley, and funeral director Ken Roberson worked out a "gentleman's agreement" with another undertaker to handle embalming and cremation. Tom Ralph bought five generators for his T.M. Ralph Funeral Home in Plantation, but did not need them and instead lent them to other undertakers.
Many funeral homes that lost electricity for refrigeration have resorted to embalming all bodies, even those that were intended for cremation, sometimes before the family has even decided how it want the remains to be handled, said Ralph, president of the Florida Funeral Directors Association.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apus_story.asp?category=1110&slug=Hurricanes%20Delayed%20Burials
For Immediate Release
Contact: Fay Spano or Katie Monfre
800-228-6332
2004 NFDA Convention & Expo Prize Winners Announced New Policy Board Terms Approved by House of Delegates
Brookfield, Wis. - This year's National Funeral Directors Association
(NFDA) Convention & Expo provided attendees with more than educational
opportunities, invaluable networking and a record-breaking expo floor.
It also gave them a chance to win valuable prizes from a variety of
raffles and drawings, and a silent auction.
NFDA Silent Auction
NFDA's Political Action Committee (PAC) Silent Auction raised nearly
$17,000 from participants bidding on 110 items including gourmet food,
one-of-a-kind artwork, jewelry, and sports memorabilia. Money raised
through the auction will help support members of congress who support
funeral service and small business issues. Supporting these politicians
helps all of funeral service by keeping a strong pro-funeral service
voice in Washington, D.C.
The state of Utah took the top honor in the increasingly popular and
growing state basket competition, which included entries from 36 states.
Iowa received the second place ribbon and Maryland came in third.
New York wins big
The NFDA PAC Raffle created a buzz with its top prize of a fully-loaded
2004 Mini Cooper or $20,000. Jim McDonald of New York held the winning
ticket and opted for the cash prize. Annette Wolf, also of New York,
received $1,000 for selling the winning ticket. In addition, the New
York State Funeral Directors Association received a $2,500 bonus for
selling the most tickets in the raffle.
There was no winner in the must-be-present-to-win drawing. Therefore,
the prize money once again rolls over bringing next year's total to
$4,000. In a special drawing, Tom Wright of Mississippi won a remote
controlled toy version of the Mini Cooper that had been on display in
the Silent Auction area to promote the raffle.
Exhibitors win too
For the second year in a row, NFDA held a booth contest where attendees
could vote on the best booth design for both inline and island displays.
This year, Adfinity won the smaller booth contest and Wilbert Funeral
Services, Inc., was the winner in the island booth category.
While exploring the expo floor, many attendees took advantage of the
Wheel of Fortune and Race Track games. Those who tried their luck won
prizes that included a wingback chair, leather jackets, a walkie-talkie
set, DVD players, golf putters, and music CDs.
New Policy Board terms
The NFDA House of Delegates also met during the convention. This year,
the House of Delegates amended Article X of the NFDA Constitution
expanding the Policy Board Representative terms from one year to three
years. They also limited Policy Board members to two consecutive
three-year terms and instituted a policy of staggering the turnover so
that approximately one-third of the terms begin each year.
The 2005 NFDA Convention & Expo will be held October 2 - 5 in Chicago,
Ill.
NFDA is the leading funeral service association, serving more than
21,400 individual members who represent 12,486 funeral homes in the
United States and other countries. From its headquarters in Brookfield,
Wis., and its Advocacy Office in Washington, D.C., NFDA provides
advocacy, education, information, products, programs and services to
help members enhance the quality of service to families. For more
information, visit www.nfda.org.
The National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA) boasts that they are the leading funeral service association, claiming they serve 21,400 individual members who may work in or own the 12,486 funeral homes in the United States and other countries. From their beautiful headquarters in Brookfield, Wisconsin, and their Advocacy Office in Washington, D.C., NFDA has taken advantage of their position, claiming they protect consumers and are a true advocate for funeral directors and embalmers. Truth be told, NFDA advocates, first, for their own survival and when they are forced to, the association exclusively works for the funeral home owners and not for the protection of consumers nor for the benefit of any employee, non-owner funeral director or embalmer. NFDA also hosts an annual convention where the number of exhibitors is close to the number of attendees.
The preceding paragraph is just the opinion of John McDonough, NFDA member, after studying the organization closely since 1993.
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In a message dated 11/3/04 3:42:08 PM, John in South Dakota writes:
Funeral Director Pleads Guilty To Theft
A former funeral home director at Deadwood pleaded guilty to stealing money left over from pre-paid funeral trust accounts.
Mike Chaput pleaded guilty to a single count of grand theft as part of a plea agreement. He was charged with fourteen felony counts.
He was ordered to repay $23,557 dollars and faces a maximum of ten years in prison when he's sentenced in January. He also resigned yesterday as the Lawrence County coroner.
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Got any Hot News for us. Issues that involve funeral service, in your community, it in, Everything you see here was send in by someone just like you. If there is a newspaper article in your area, send the link and we can all learn from it, even if it is your opinion we all learn from one another. Any HOT NEWS OR SCUTTLEBUTT WILL BE POSTED IN THE READER'S WRITE BACK SECTION.
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Consider these steps for your life.
1. Work like you don't need the money.
2. Love like you've never been hurt.
3. Dance like you do when nobody's watching.
C YA
John
BOTTOM LINE: WE ALL WORK FOR THE BETTERMENT OF FUNERAL SERVICE PROFESSION AND THE DEATH CARE INDUSTRY THE CONSUMERS WE SERVE AND THE PROFESSIONALS WE WORK WITH. IF YOU SEE ANYTHING WRONG, IF SOMETHING HERE REALLY OFFENDS YOU, LET'S WORK TOGETHER. PLEASE NOTIFY FSPA IMMEDIATELY, YOU CAN E-MAIL TO lowellma@aol.com Or call FSPA in the United States Voice 978-458-6816 Fax 978-459-0115 or the old fashioned way through the mail at FSPA c/o 14 Highland Street Lowell, Massachusetts 01852-3399 USA
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