Joe
Club Member
They just had this story on Fox2 news. Local residents and of course, NAACP reps, were on camera talking about what an insult this was, how disrespectful, blah blah blah.
Where was their concern when this place was in need of finances? Where was their checkbook to donate to stop this 'outrage'? Give me a freakin' break...
Sad to see of course, but break it down and it was a business.
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The bodies of five people and cremains for 22 others are on their way to the Oakland County Medical Examiner’s Office after the Pontiac funeral home sending them to their place of rest was foreclosed on this morning.
Pontiac Medical Examiner’s administrator Robert Gerds said the bank holding the note for the House of Burns Memorial Chapel, 195 South Blvd., has been working with his office for a couple of weeks to avoid mishandling of the remains. The 50th District Court in Pontiac scheduled the foreclosure to start at 3 a.m. today, he added.
“They can’t just push them to the street,” Gerds said this morning, referring to the bank. “They’re doing the right thing, or they’re trying to do the right thing. They’re trying to make the best that they can out of this.”
Dazed friends and family stood in the parking lot of the funeral home on Pontiac’s impoverished south side, the asphalt littered with the last remnants of 30 years of business for the Burns’ family.
Silk flowers were trampled on the ground, a pickup truck sat filled with office furniture. On the entry doors were two large pieces of yellow tape, barring entrance to the now vacant funeral parlor.
“Where is the respect for the families, for the community,” said an outraged Robbie Samples, 42, a Pontiac resident who said her parents and grandparents were close friends with the Burns' family. “When I saw this on the news, I knew I had to come out here and help, to show my support.”
Ltanya Williams stood next to her. “When they do this to this business, they do it to all of us, because we are family here.”
The Burns family was not present by mid-morning. H. Bill Maxey, a spokesman for the local chapter of the NAACP, said the family was too distraught to talk.. “They’re very tearful, and too upset to talk,” he said. “This did not have to happen and we need to help. This is our community.”
Maxey and others said the funeral home was known for providing services even when families could not pay.
He said the NAACP, local churches and supporters of the funeral home would be meeting within days to see what action, if any, can be taken.
The crowd that gathered to help was quiet and grim. Pontiac Police Officer Datanyen Myers arrived at 7 a.m. to keep an eye on the crowd and make sure the eviction went smoothly. He said people were mostly sad. “This place has been around a long time,” he said. “It’s part of Pontiac. This is where my grandmother had her services.”
When contacted this morning about what families whose loved one is at the funeral home should do, the woman who answered the phone declined comment.
“You don’t want to let nobody know nothing — you just want gossip,” the woman said, adding “have a blessed day” before hanging up.
Gerds said family members of the people who have been cremated can pick up the cremains if they have proper identification. The bodies will only be released to another licensed funeral director.
Gerds said he didn’t know if families had already paid for funerals slated to be held at Burns – or whether they would have to pay another funeral home, too.
Typically, just 1 in 16 deaths in Oakland County are handled by the medical examiner’s office, which investigates unnatural or questionable deaths. Out of 43 funeral homes in Oakland County, this is the first funeral home foreclosure Gerds has experienced.
http://www.freep.com/article/20081024/NEWS03/81024015/1005/news03
Where was their concern when this place was in need of finances? Where was their checkbook to donate to stop this 'outrage'? Give me a freakin' break...
Sad to see of course, but break it down and it was a business.
----
The bodies of five people and cremains for 22 others are on their way to the Oakland County Medical Examiner’s Office after the Pontiac funeral home sending them to their place of rest was foreclosed on this morning.
Pontiac Medical Examiner’s administrator Robert Gerds said the bank holding the note for the House of Burns Memorial Chapel, 195 South Blvd., has been working with his office for a couple of weeks to avoid mishandling of the remains. The 50th District Court in Pontiac scheduled the foreclosure to start at 3 a.m. today, he added.
“They can’t just push them to the street,” Gerds said this morning, referring to the bank. “They’re doing the right thing, or they’re trying to do the right thing. They’re trying to make the best that they can out of this.”
Dazed friends and family stood in the parking lot of the funeral home on Pontiac’s impoverished south side, the asphalt littered with the last remnants of 30 years of business for the Burns’ family.
Silk flowers were trampled on the ground, a pickup truck sat filled with office furniture. On the entry doors were two large pieces of yellow tape, barring entrance to the now vacant funeral parlor.
“Where is the respect for the families, for the community,” said an outraged Robbie Samples, 42, a Pontiac resident who said her parents and grandparents were close friends with the Burns' family. “When I saw this on the news, I knew I had to come out here and help, to show my support.”
Ltanya Williams stood next to her. “When they do this to this business, they do it to all of us, because we are family here.”
The Burns family was not present by mid-morning. H. Bill Maxey, a spokesman for the local chapter of the NAACP, said the family was too distraught to talk.. “They’re very tearful, and too upset to talk,” he said. “This did not have to happen and we need to help. This is our community.”
Maxey and others said the funeral home was known for providing services even when families could not pay.
He said the NAACP, local churches and supporters of the funeral home would be meeting within days to see what action, if any, can be taken.
The crowd that gathered to help was quiet and grim. Pontiac Police Officer Datanyen Myers arrived at 7 a.m. to keep an eye on the crowd and make sure the eviction went smoothly. He said people were mostly sad. “This place has been around a long time,” he said. “It’s part of Pontiac. This is where my grandmother had her services.”
When contacted this morning about what families whose loved one is at the funeral home should do, the woman who answered the phone declined comment.
“You don’t want to let nobody know nothing — you just want gossip,” the woman said, adding “have a blessed day” before hanging up.
Gerds said family members of the people who have been cremated can pick up the cremains if they have proper identification. The bodies will only be released to another licensed funeral director.
Gerds said he didn’t know if families had already paid for funerals slated to be held at Burns – or whether they would have to pay another funeral home, too.
Typically, just 1 in 16 deaths in Oakland County are handled by the medical examiner’s office, which investigates unnatural or questionable deaths. Out of 43 funeral homes in Oakland County, this is the first funeral home foreclosure Gerds has experienced.
http://www.freep.com/article/20081024/NEWS03/81024015/1005/news03
