4 i • The Jerry Ross Band Skyline & The Back Street Horns State Rules Suzanne Jolicoeur is cemetery commissioner in the office of cemetery regulations for the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Development in Lansing. She said the cemetery holding company is actually CRS Management, owned by Clayton Smart of Oklahoma. CRS owns 27 cemeteries in Michigan, including Woodlawn Cemetery in Detroit, where civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks was buried last week. Jolicoeur believes that CRS is trying to standardize its fees and policies in the state. She said higher fees for weekend burials are common in the Detroit area, where many cemetery workers are unionized. She added that the state's authority is limited to monitor- ing cemetery trust funds. Jolicoeur said the CRS chief executive officer for Michigan is Wade Reynolds, with offices at Roseland Park Cemetery in Southfield. Calls to Mr. Reynolds were not returned. Representatives of Congregation B'nai Moshe and Congregation Shir Tikvah were negotiating separately with Oakview Cemetery officials, where both synagogues have sec- tions. Oakview, also owned by CRS, is in Royal Oak, south of 12 Mile Road and east of Rochester Road. Higher fees for Sunday burial have been a longtime poli- cy there. Joanne Levy, administrator at Shir Tikvah, said the congrega- tion wants to get policies in writ- ing from Oakview officials. Sharlene Ungar, administrator at B'nai Moshe, said the congre- gation met with Oakview officials in September"and they have been very accommodating." She said several issues, including Sunday fees, remain to be addressed. Chapels Miffed Jonathan Dorfman of the Dorfman Chapel in Farmington Hills was upset about the higher price for Sunday burials and the JN November 10 - 2005 lack of compassion for the Kossack family from B'nai Israel Memorial Gardens. "If you take over a Jewish cemetery," he said, "you have to be sensitive to Jewish traditions. They seem to be more focused on sales of caskets and vaults than they are on people. And people are being pressured to buy." Otto Dube, a funeral director at Kaufman Chapel in Southfield, said the interment prices at Oakwood have always been dou- ble for Sundays "and we object to it also:' Rabbi Boruch Levin, executive director of the Hebrew Memorial Society (HMS) in Oak Park, agreed. In the rare case where a funeral is held on a legal holiday, he said, the charge is tripled. Someone who died on a Friday would have to wait until Tuesday for burial if cost were an issue for the family, he said. It violates Jewish custom, "is prohibitive and upsetting. "Some of the Jewish organiza- tions feel they are at the mercy of the cemeteries:' the rabbi said. "They don't seem to understand the issue until it happens:' HMS' Hebrew Memorial Park in Macomb County has non- union, gentile workers, Rabbi Levin said, and "we try to respect their holidays. We haven't had a burial on Christmas for six years; but when we had it, we had it. The crews see that we respect them and that this is not a regu- lar thing." As for Sunday burials, the rabbi believes that the Jewish organizations need to negotiate with the cemeteries to rectify the higher charges. Work shifts can be arranged, he said. Meanwhile, Sam Kossack's daughters have their own response. "It's a moral issue as well as one of discrimination:' said Marilyn Tomaszewski."I told [B'nai Israel Memorial Gardens] that they lost two more people who would have been buried there — my husband and myself. "But I'm sure they don't care' ❑ Visit our web site www. lorioross.com Newsmaker Joyride - •Rumplestiltskin •LUSA •Nightline •Persuasion •Cassens Murphy Band 'Simone Vitale Band •Intrigue •Sun Messengers •Radio City Hot Ice 10-1/10 ABS STU/LING ItiTliafiltiMINT Call for free video consultation Since 1972 248-398-9711 1043036 25% OFF November 1C9 11, 12 *Reg. price merchandise. Excludes accessories and previous sales. Se0 C,P up, Kok) oh, &at 06- thz P,0,14, bo ut iqu e 7415 Orchard Lake Road • West Bloomfield • 248.737.2666 Mon-Fri: 10am-6pm • Thurs: till 7:00 • Sat: 9:30-5:30 29