Charges against a Michigan crematory owner of improperly disposing human remains have been dropped. A North Dakota honor guard’s work load has tripled during the COVID-19 pandemic. And a fight over the future of a burial ground at the Alamo in San Antonio, TX, is brewing. These stories and more are in the week in funeral news.

NEWS

Man Arrested for Desecrating Burial Ground While Running from South Carolina Deputies
By Tim Renaud (News 13)
A 31-year-old man has been arrested for running from deputies and desecrating a burial ground in South Carolina. Read more here.

Body Disposal Charge Against Michigan Crematory Owner Dismissed
By Corey Williams (Associated Press)
A judge has dismissed a charge of improper disposal of a body that was filed against the owner of a crematory in Washtenaw County, MI. Read more here.

Lawsuit: Maine Cremation Business Kept Taking Bodies Because It “Needed the Money”
By Steve Collins (Sun Journal)
The owner of a now-shuttered Lewiston cremation business allegedly told an employee to keep taking bodies it couldn’t care for because it “needed the money.” Read more here.

Burial Ground Under the Alamo Stirs a Texas Feud
By Simon Romero (Yahoo! News)
A new battle over the Alamo in San Antonio, TX, is brewing, as Native Americans and descendants of some of San Antonio’s founding families seek protections for the human remains in a burial ground there while Texas officials press ahead with a contentious $400 million renovation plan for the site. Read more here.

CORONAVIRUS NEWS

Religious Burial Rituals Slowly Resuming After Shift Forced by Pandemic
By Nadia Bokhari (NC Health News)
As more is understood about the transmission of COVID-19 some 19 months into the pandemic, some religious communities in North Carolina are breathing sighs of relief at being able to return to preparing bodies for burial as they have traditionally done for centuries. Read more here.

Honor Guard's Funeral Duty Triples Due to COVID-19 Pandemic
By the Associated Press
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a major impact on the honor guard at Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota, increasing the number of funerals in which these volunteer men and women have provided military honors. Read more here.

The holiday season of giving is upon us beginning with “Giving Tuesday,” on November 30, 2021. 

Traditionally observed on the Tuesday following Thanksgiving, Giving Tuesday is a global movement that encourages people to share their blessings and give back.

In this spirit of reflecting on our blessings, we ask that those in the funeral industry give back by contributing to the New Jersey Funeral Service Education Corporation. By doing so, donors can assist the next generation of leaders in funeral service with training, support and outreach.

The NJFSEC is dedicated to helping those training to enter funeral service to be better funeral directors and more prepared to help families and provide leadership to those that will follow them as well. Your donation has a ripple effect, not simply on the next generation, but on the generation after that.

Considering the challenges that the funeral industry has faced over the past two years, your generosity is needed now more than ever. Eligible New Jersey resident mortuary school students can apply for NJFSEC scholarship awards. These scholarships help students who show promise get the education needed to obtain licensure in New Jersey.

Support over the years has allowed the NJFSEC contribute more than $100,000 to aid our future licensees and further the missions of hospice and palliative care workers, suicide prevention counselors and individuals that work in crisis and grief management, organ and tissue donation, social work and geriatric care.

Please consider a tax-deductible contribution to the NJFSEC as part of your end-of-year financial planning. It is only with your continued generosity that funeral service can tell its story and continue to invest in its future during these unprecedented times.

Click here to download the donation form. Complete the form and return it by fax to 732.974.8144 or mail to:

New Jersey Funeral Service Education Corporation
P.O. Box L
Manasquan, NJ 08736-0642

With gratitude, the NJFSEC thanks you.

The number of COVID-19 deaths in 2021 has surpassed the total for 2020, according to data provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The CDC reports that 388,478 people have died of COVID-19 in 2021 so far. In 2020, a total of 385,347 people died of the virus. The 2021 number will grow higher. There is more than a month left in the year, and numbers reported to the CDC lag behind real time.

In addition, only 25 people died of COVID-19 in the first two months of 2020, according to the CDC.

The numbers are sobering, considering that a vaccine designed to lessen the impact of the virus was introduced in the last days of 2020. But a large segment of Americans have not yet been vaccinated, and some refuse to, influenced by a vociferous anti-vaccination movement that has spread on social media and other platforms.

Equally troubling is the fact that a greater percentage of deaths in the U.S. during 2021 are attributed to COVID-19 than the percentage in 2020. The CDC figures show that 11.3 percent of all deaths in 2020 were because of COVID-19, while in 2021, that figure is 13.3 percent.

“We have the very unfortunate situation of not a high level of vaccine coverage and basically, in most places, a return to normal behaviors that put people at greater risk of coming in contact with the virus,” Jennifer Nuzzo, an epidemiologist and senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, told The New York Times.

In New Jersey, the pandemic had a much more significant impact in 2020 than it has in 2021. During 2020, 18,143 deaths from COVID-19 were reported to the CDC, 19 percent of the total number of deaths in the state. In 2021, however, 8,388 COVID-19 deaths have been reported, which is only 11.6 of the total number of deaths.

The epicenter of the pandemic shifted from 2020 to 2021. States such as New Jersey in the Northeast bore the brunt of the COVID-19 impact during 2020, but in 2021, states such as Florida began to feel greater effects of the virus. For example, 21,828 people died of the virus in 2020 in Florida, which was 11.6 percent of total deaths. In 2021, 37,212 people have died of COVID-19, 16 percent of total deaths. Florida’s vaccination rate is 61 percent.

New Jersey currently ranks eighth in the number of total deaths from the virus, according to The New York Times. It ranks seventh in the percentage of people fully vaccinated. A total of 67 percent of New Jerseyans are now fully vaccinated, well ahead of the national rate of vaccination, 59 percent. Vermont ranks first among states with 73 percent of its residents fully vaccinated.

Webster

Our sincerest condolences to West Jersey Funeral Directors Association member Mark A. Webster on the death of his mother, Irene Delores Webster, who died on November 21, 2021.

Peacock

Our sincerest condolences to Joseph G. Peacock, of the Dodge Company, on the death of his mother, Patricia A. Peacock, who died on November 21, 2021.

More historic Black burial grounds are found in New Jersey. A family sues a New York funeral home after the wrong body is buried. And Muslims in a small village in Poland take on the task of burying dead refugees near border with Belarus. These stories and more are in the week in funeral news.

NEWS

COVID-19 Victim’s Children Sue Funeral Home for Burying Wrong Person
By Yaron Steinbuch (New York Post)
The 11 children of an 87-year-old woman who died of COVID-19 have accused a Long Island, NY, funeral home and its director of negligence in an $88 million lawsuit after the firm buried the wrong person. Read more here.

More Historic Burial Grounds for African Americans Discovered in New Jersey
By Ricardo Kaulessar (NorthJersey.com)
How many African American burial sites are there in New Jersey? As it turns out, there are more than the 50-plus sites that were identified in an unofficial database published by NorthJersey.com and the USA Today Network in August. Read more here.

Catholic Confusion over Cremated Remains is Widespread
By Fr. Kenneth Doyle (Catholic Sentinel)
When a loved one dies, Catholic families find themselves wondering what the rules are for the cremated remains, commonly known as ashes. Catholics, of course, know that cremated remains aren’t to be kept in an urn in the home­–or scattered to the wind, as they were in “The Big Lebowski.” Or do we know that? Read more here.

Declared “Dead,” Man Found Breathing in Mortuary Freezer
By Sharad Gautam (India Today)
A man declared “dead” by doctors was found alive after he was kept in the mortuary freezer for over seven hours in India. While the family’s sorrow turned to happiness after finding the man alive, they alleged negligence on the part of doctors who had declared him dead. Read more here.

A Muslim Burial for a Migrant Whose Life Ended Near the Poland-Belarus Border
By Paul Workman (CTV News)
It’s not very far from the village of Bohoniki, Poland, to the country’s troubled border with Belarus. As hundreds of migrants tried to sneak or force their way into Europe, held back by walls of razor wire and soldiers in battle dress, the Tatars of Bohoniki–Muslims with a 600-year history in the village–took on a tragic and solemn duty. They began to bury some of the dozen or more who died on the way. Read more here.

Hart Island, NY, Burials Taken over by Tree Landscapers, Uprooting Families’ Hopes for Transformation
By Derek Kravitz and Jacob Geanous (MuckRock)
New York City has tapped a landscaping company with no experience running cemeteries or public spaces to help transform Hart Island, the long-neglected gravesite of thousands killed by COVID-19, into a refuge for families and other visitors. Read more here.

An email offering the New Jersey State Funeral Directors Association’s mailing list for sale has once again been making the rounds in a phishing attempt and should be ignored and immediately deleted, the NJSFDA is urging.

The email, with the subject line “NJSFDA Email List,” does not come from within the NJSFDA nor is it sent by any of its representatives.

When a person or business receives a phishing email such as this, the following steps are recommended:

• Do not open the email if it appears suspect.
• If you do open the email and realize it is suspect, delete it immediately.
• Do not download any attachments that are included in the message. Attachments can contain malware that can infect your computer.
• Do not click any links contained in the email. They may take you to fraudulent websites.
• Do not reply to the email. 

The NJSFDA does not offer, share or sell member information.