It’s Bad Up North, Too
About a year ago, the Central Ohio funeral industry was shaken by a pair of fraud and theft investigations that closed one funeral home, and sent two funeral directors to prison.
Now it’s spread to Canada, apparently.
I supposed that’s not correct. It’s not a disease that can be spread. It’s just…what? Bad morals? Poor upbringing? That’s not a fair thing to say, as we don’t know anything about the parenting involved.
And the issue of theft and fraud in the funeral industry isn’t uncommon, unfortunately. An Alabama funeral director was recently arrested as well.
What can be done to prevent such crimes? Probably not much, sadly. The funds involved are typically held in trust by the funeral home, and the customers are relying on the integrity of the funeral home and its staff. Short of eliminating the trust option from pre-paid funeral contracts, I’m not certain anything can be done.
Why We Homeschool #4,852
We do it so our kids will never, ever be faced with something like this.
I know it wasn’t a strip search (although those have happened before in some schools), but come on. We’re talking about 8- and 9-year-old kids. Yes, they’re capable of stealing. But a physical search is wrong, no matter what. Aside from the fact that it’s against school policy, there are better ways to handle this. I think at this age, a letter home to all the parents explaining that $5 was missing from the classroom probably would have been a whole lot more effective. Legal, too.
And I Think I’ve Got It Rough
Up in Shorewood, IL (near Joliet), apparently people get pretty worked up over having to wait for funeral processions.
Clara Plut, 20, was recently stuck waiting for a funeral procession (for Troy Fire Protection District Chief Kerry Sheridan) to pass by. I’ve worked firefighter funerals before. They’re big. Think seventy-five cars easy, along with fire apparatus. Clara got perturbed about waiting, and texted a firefighter friend of hers, making what she thought was a joking comment about killing a firefighter.
Now, I don’t know if Clara really was that ticked off about waiting for the funeral. Nor do I know how well she knew the FF she was threatening. I DO know it was a pretty stupid move for her to make, and I think she’s learning that lesson as well. She’s lucky to just be facing a DC charge. These days, she could have been facing a terroristic threats charge, or telecommunications harassment, or both.
We’re the “Only Ones” in the bathroom
David Codrea, over at The War on Guns, has a section he calls “The Only Ones.” It was inspired by the now-infamous Miami DARE officer officer who shot himself during a classroom demonstration, just after claiming he was “the only one” safe enough to handle a gun. The basic idea behind “Only Ones” is how law enforcement officials often aren’t held to the same standards as we lowly civilians.
In all fairness to David, he can’t keep up with the flood of “Only Ones” situations, so I’m going to try and do my part.
My first “Only Ones” post comes from Fargo, ND, where ND apparently means “negligent discharge”:
FARGO, N.D. (AP) - A Cass County Sheriff’s deputy who accidentally fired his handgun in a courthouse restroom has been suspended for eight days without pay. Authorities said Dean Wawers, 57, also will receive a written reprimand in personnel file.
Well, it’s good to know they’re taking it so seriously. I mean, gosh. 8 whole days off? And a written reprimand?
Adult? 2-Year-old?
How come no one at the funeral home said “Gee, doesn’t this body seem kind of tall for a 2-year-old?” How come the mortuary transportation service didn’t notice the same issue?
Wasn’t someone paying attention here?
It’s good that the state is picking up the tab for fixing the error, but it seems like both the mortuary transportation service and the funeral home had the chance to catch the error, and missed.
Hypocrisy, thy name is Sugarmann
H/T FAP list and Arms and the Law…
A Federal Firearms License (FFL) is the license issued by the BATFE that allows a person to engage in the business of manufacturing, importing, or dealing in firearms.. Lots of people have them–some 50,000 or so at last count.
Josh Sugarmann is to guns as Fred Phelps is to gays. Sugarman founded the VPC, and used to be the communications director for National Coalition to Ban Handguns. He’s the guy who is popularly credited with developing and publicizing the term “assault weapon.”
What you now have to ask is “Why does someone like this have an FFL?” What possible justification would someone like Sugarmann come up with for having a federal license to buy and sell the thing he abhors so much, and wants to ban from pulbic ownership? Or does he think he’s special, and that only “certain people” should be able to own guns? To see his license for yourself, go to the EzCheck website, and enter 1 in the first field, 54 in the next, then 00725 in the last field.
It’s interesting to note that there’s no trade name listed on his FFL, which seems to be a violation of BATFE regs. One should also note that the premise and mailing addresses are the same as the business address for the Violence Policy Center.
I wonder if the District of Columbia allows gun dealers within the District. That would be ironic, given the ban on gun ownership that exists. Maybe Sugarmann is just getting ready to go into business when the ban is repealed?
Any comment from the VPC?
Red’s Trading Post has done some research into the zoning regs on Rhode Island Avenue NW. Seems like someone official should be looking into this. I’m sure it’s just a minor oversight.
Berkeley vs USMC
As if you needed any confirmation that folks out in Berkeley just don’t get it, well, here you go.
The Berkeley City Council is encouraging folks to actively impede USMC recruiting efforts there. The council awarded a parking place in front of the recruiting station to Code Pink, and passed a resolution “that encourages people to nonviolently “impede, passively or actively,’ the work of the recruiters.” Sad, and ironic, really. The Mayor is an Army vet, and he approves of what they’ve done. Yet, the lone dissenting vote on council is in opposition to the war.
In return, Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C, is going to draft legislation rescinding any federal earmarks for the city of Berkeley, and transfer that money to the Marines. That’s not chump change, either: $2.1 million would be a big help to the Corps.
It should be interesting to see how this develops.