Report: Indigent cemetery being improperly used | News

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) - A Shelby County auditor's report says there is no process to stop funeral homes from using the site for cheap burials for people who weren't poor.

Since the report, county officials say procedures have been tightened and the control of the cemetery has been moved to a different department.

County spokesman Steve Shular told The Commercial Appeal some families were paying funeral homes hundreds or thousands of dollars for headstones and burial at the cemetery

Shular said Shelby County Mayor Mark Luttrell, who took office Sept. 1, had been looking into problems at the cemetery even before an April report by auditor Richard Davis.

More than 20,000 bodies have been buried at the cemetery since it began operations in 1965, and 108 were buried in January and February.

Information from: The Commercial Appeal, http://www.commercialappeal.com

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