OPINION .;; -:Page 4 Wednesday, October 1, 1980 The Michigan Daily , 4-' M" Hig ins Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan 10 Vol. XCI, No. 24 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 Editorials represent a majority opinion of The Daily's Editorial Board 9 Dooming the Union plan CONSOLIDATING student power and gaining influence in Univer- sity decision-making is always an uphill battle. It's even harder when there are only few students fighting for that influence. On Monday night a student group drafting a proposed charter for the Michigan Union held an open meeting to solicit advice and support from students. Three students showed up. Those three students heard of plans to give students an influential role in the planning and administration of the Union by establishing a student majority on the governing board. Unfortunately, unless hundreds of -other students-hear of those same I Exclusive f moves to st HE SUBURB of Birmingham has long sustained an image of effete -snobbery and a reputation for disagreeable treatment of any who fall outside the white, upper middle class. Some residents of the city were em- barrassed several years back when a television documentary about a Bir- mingham family was aired, reinfor- cing the aura of exclusivity the town exudes. Judging from recent developments, it seems that some Birminghamites wish to preserve the status quo in- definitely. Mayor Gary Kain, for in- stance, has stated that those who want to live in Birmingham "ought to earn their way into Birmingham.'' Kain's statement came in connection with a city government proposal to Getting a n T HE AMERICAN branch of the Roman Catholic Church took an unusually humanitarian step Monday when it voiced concern for those Catholics who choose artificial birth control methods. All methods of contraception but the "rhythm method" were prohibited by Pope Paul VI in a 1968 communique. Archbishop John Quinn of San Fran- cisco, speaking for the National Con- ference of Bishops, addressed more than 200 bishops from around the world. He expressed understanding and compassion for that 76.5 percent of Roman Catholic women in the U.S. who feel, for one reason or another, that they cannot meet the Church's demands. I: rE plans, and decide to support them, the proposed charter is doomed to failure. Stacking the Union board with a student majority is an unprecedented suggestion; several key ad- ministrators feel that such a distribution of power would disenfran- chise alumni and faculty groups and they will almost certainly oppose the plan. We are not sure whether a student- controlled Union board is a good idea. But we would like to see the proposal have a fighting chance of survival. Two other charter hearings are scheduled for tonight and tomorrow night in the Union. We urge all mem- bers of the campus community-and especially students-to attend. irmingham iy that way convert a certain piece of property into a parking lot. The property may be the only possible site in the city for the proposed construction of a senior citizen housing development. It is depressing to think that the average American's increasing tolerance for the disadvantaged-or the just plain different-seems in no way to have affected the prejudices of Birmingham's prosperous residents. But then, many Birminghamites see themselves as being better than average. For the time being, it seens the value of a home in Birmingham will rely on the city's homogenous makeup. Perhaps we are too idealistic, but we look forward to the day when diversity and cooperation will be the key to a living place's desirability instead. \ /\ f \ XI 1I I Mixed-up ashes and multiple cremations in California :1 tew rhythm He asked also that the world hierar- chy recognize the "significant number of theologians" who do not accept the Vatican's teaching on contraception and noted that the many spiritual leaders who disagree with the con- traception ban have inadvertently cast doubt on the Church's authority overall. Obviously, Catholic men and women are legally free to follow whatever con-_ traceptive methods they deem fit, but it seems a shame that in order to limit the sizes of their families, observers of the faith have to make a choice bet- ween sexual abstention and violating the dictates of their spiritual leaders. Archbishop Quinn's admirable stand should help to mitigate some of the problem. LOS ANGELES-California funeral home practices have served as the butt of some classic humor and scandal over the years, from Evelyn Waugh's The Loved One to Jessica Mitford's The American Way of Death. But rarely has there been a controver- sy so bizarre-and so revealing about funeral practices-as that which now grips Califor- nia's funeral industry. The issue is whether some of the crematories catering to the new "no frills" funerals in California are burning more than one body at a time, and then getting the ashes mixed up. THE CONTROVERSY is compounded by the fact that the claims of both sides in the dispute are colored by self-interest. The issue may pertain 'to other states as well, but it is particularly bitter in California because the state's burgeoning cremation rate is double that of the rest of the country. Although cremations don't necessarily imply inexpensive sendoffs, a growing num- ber of cremations in the state are handled by firms that charge as little as $250 to simply pick up the body, cremate it and scatter the ashes. There is no embalming, body viewing, funeral procession, or flowers. THE STATE'S traditional funeral direc- tors, who lost court battles in the 1970s designed to keep the low-cost companies out, are upset about this threat to their business and say the upstart companies lack dignity. The death industry nationwide is watching what happens here, because as similar low- cost funeral firms spring up in other states, the battle in California provides a preview of how nasty the fight can be. Take the case of the alleged multiple cremations. ROBERT KILBURN, a former mortician with a rather unfortunate name, owns Funeral Supply Internationale, a company that makes refrigerated storage units for bodies. His workshop is in the deseft near Beaumont, and he travels the stateselling his "Kool Kave Koold Kabinets" to funeral homes and crematories. It should be pointed out"that in 10 years of selling his equipment, only one has been bought by a no-frills cremation com- pany. It was on a sales trip to an Orange County crematory-cemetery a year-and-a-half ago that Kilburn claims he saw five bodies put in- to a retort (cremation oven) at one time. "The bodies were on boards on carts in the garage," he said in an interview. "The bodies disappeared and the carts came back. I looked in the retort and saw more than one pair of feet." AT THE SAME place that day, Kilburn said, he also saw unclaimed ashes dumped in- to empty graves that belonged to other people. Four 30-gallon green plastic con- tainers of cremated remains were taken to By A llison En gel two open graves, he said, "and I saw them shovel them in and cover them with a little dirt." An hour or so later, graveside services were held, he said, and a casket lowered into each grave. Kilburn said he is sure none of the mourners knew the caskets were resting on the ashes of as many as 60 persons. Kilburn said he did nothing about his obser- vations, even though two days later he visited the same crematory and saw. 10 boxes oa . 'bench being filled with ashesrfrom ~a commonw container: and thenassigned individual names. Why was he silent? "We were involved in a business situation and it could have cost me $8,000," he said. HE ALSO DID nothing when he later visited another Southern California crematory and allegedly saw two bodies being burned together. Empty caskets, presumably theirs, were placed by the trash, he said. Kilburn said both crematories handled many cases for what is known in the industry as "direct disposal" firms-companies that don't require consumers to buy a casket, em- balming, niches or urns. "Direct disposal places go out for bids for their work," he said, and there is pressure for crematories to bid low to get the business. KILBURN FINALLY went public with his charges in the April issue of Mortuary Management, a trade magazine, in an article titled "Is It Time To Expose The Truth?" It did not, however, name names. "If you re in the funeral trade, it's rather obvious who we're talking about," he said. Also, he said, he didn't think they were isolated incidents. "I merely brought to a head a situation that is common knowledge." Those who oversee and regulate the industry vehemently disagree. "I KNOW OF no case in California where multiple cremations have taken place," said James Leahy, executive director of the In-, terment Association of California, the trade association for cemeteries and crematories. Although there is no specific law forbidding multiple cremations, Leahy said, they aren't done for ethical reasons. Leahy said it is illegal to put one person's remains in another's grave. Buying a cemetery lot gives you exclusive right to use the property, although it does not give you ownership of a piece of real estate, as many people believe. John Gill, executive director of the Cemetery Board, the state agency that regulates crematories, also disputed Kilburn's allegations. After the Kilburn ar- ticle appeared, Gill had an investigator pay unannounced calls to two Orange County crematories that handled bodies for "no frills" companies. No problems were found at either place, he said. THE FOUNDER OF the state's largest "no frills" cremation company, Charles Denning of The Neptune Society, and Tom Weber, founder of the original low-cost firm, The Telophase tSociety, both said they had no knowledge of bodies being cremated more than one at a time. Weber said it would be* foolish to do so: "You'd have to go to a higher heat, which would be horrendously expensive, you'd have all sorts of smoke and ash and you'd have to burn for hours and hours. It would be the biggest mess you ever saw." Kilburn said he recently' revisited the crematories in question and found they now have cleaned up their acts. But he said he thinks the practice of mixing cremated remains and taking bodies out of caskets to burn more than one at a time is still going on. So does Bud Noakes, a funeral director in Glenora who also writes for Mortuary* Management, which has been keeping the issue alive since April. Noakes said he has not personally witnessed any abuses, but has talked recently with a crematory operator who defended the practices. "That in my own mind was conclusive." "IT'S ALL DONE surreptitiously," he said. "The Interment Association and Cemetery Board know full well we cannot come up wthL proof." Noakes said he thinks the problem is directly related to the rise of no-frills cremation firms and goes so far to say that "mass cremations occur wherever you've got a crematory handling direct disposal business." Notably, most persons making such charges operate businesses which have been adversely affected by the "no frills" firms. Kilburn, by his own admission- depends on the traditional funeral homes for a market, is "doing all I can to keep them in business." Both Noakes and Mortuary Management* publisher Ron Hast are funeral directors whose businesses have been forced to adapt to competition from cremation firms. Hast has gone so far as to start his own "society" to of- fer low-cost funerals. The issue of possible cremation abuses did get a public forum at the state Cemetery Board's September meeting, and it voted to draft legislation making it illegal to cremate more than one body in a single retort. "The board was concerned but not horrified," said executive director Gill. "After all, we're still waiting for proof." Allison Engel is an associate editor of the Pacific News Service, for which she wrote this article. 4 /% i y t err s / V' N LETTERS TO THE DAILY: Mormon editorial ridiculous, To The Daily: As a reasonably devout Mor- mon, I cannot let your editorial about Judge Callister pass by without protest (Daily, Sept. 25). In the first place, it is ridiculous and insulting to suggest that Judge Callister's ch's leadership and membership, tried to obstruct its missionary program, and otherwise showed herself to be so far out of har- mony with Church doctrines and practices that excommunic- ation-which released her from do not know Judge Callister's views on these subjects,I do know that many of my fellow Mormons would favor Constitutional Amendments that would allow prayer in public schools and to ban abortions under all but the gravest circumstances. (As for insulting* pears all-but-dead, a really cynical Mormon judge could decide to rule in favor of the ERA extension knowing that it would make no practical difference now, but could come in handy sometime in the future. Such a judge might deserve to be kicked womrem!mwa -.