Survivors must dig graves for their dead

[maxrandb]

Source: Columbus Dispatch

HOCKINGPORT, Ohio -- Jesse Hayes' family, already overcome by grief after he died in a house fire last month, quickly had to come to grips with another unthinkable reality.

With no money for a funeral, they would have to bury him themselves.

And so the day before Hayes' graveside service Oct. 15, his cousin and a handful of volunteers gathered with their shovels at Stewart Cemetery, a quiet spot in the woods not far from the Ohio River in southern Ohio.

They spent four hours digging with the shovels before finally being forced to bring in a backhoe when they hit rock about 3 feet down.



Read more: http://www.dispatchpolitics.com/live/content/insight/stories/2009/11/22/copy/indigent_funerals.ART_ART_11-22-09_G1_36FOACC.html?adsec=politics&sid=101

---

Looking at the headline, you would think this was a story from Afghanistan or Iraq, or maybe even sub-Saharan Africa...but NO...this is right in the homeland of America.

The Ohio Republican have so "effed" up this state.

This is an example of what happens when you "cut taxes" and don't pay for them, but instead just cut the budget and services to those who need them the most.

Was in town for the OSU-UM Football game. The Saturday and Sunday Dispatch was full of stories like this. If I didn't know the date, I would have sworn that it was 1930 during the heart of the Depression.

BTW - The governor and Democratic House have a proposal to restore many of these services, but it would require a 4.2% raise in the 21% tax cut that was passed under the past Republican controlled statehouse. This would raise taxes by an average of $78 a YEAR on a family of 4.

That proposal is being blocked by the Senate Republican Majority, who are petrified that they would get stomped by their "drown the government in the bath-tub" Palinite Fringe.

[Captain Hilts]

1. It cost $2700 to have my mother cremated. nt

[onehandle]

14. Same here for my wife's mom.

They have a local 'cremation society' that will do it for $600, but we couldn't bring ourselves to go that route.

[stray cat]

2. We didn't use to pay others to take care of our dead

[MUAD_DIB]

4. What century are you referring to?

[Lasher]

9. I have a friend who buried his wife a month ago.

He and some friends/relatives dug the grave by hand. These days most people hire this done with a backhoe but it is still not unusual for friends and family to dig a grave.

[MUAD_DIB]

17. Interesting. I thought that there were state laws on the administering

of grave sites.

[maxrandb]

18. There are

But these are people that can't afford to have funeral homes or cemeteries "open" the gravesite.

There used to be a program that provided funding for indigent burials, but that fund was cut, along with dozens of other programs to assist those in need, to make room for the last Repuke controlled state government's 21% tax-cut.

These people may have a gravesite (in this case, the guy was being buried next to his mom in their dad's spot), but the family had to acutally dig the grave. They didn't have the money to pay the cemetery to do it.

Dems in Ohio have submitted a budget to restore some of these funds to these programs for the poor, homeless, battered women, mentally ill, etc., that would require changes the 21% tax cut to 16.9%, but 20 Repukes in the Repuke controlled Senate are blocking it. They fear the wrath of the Palinites, and are concerned that any vote to increase state revenue, even the small reversal of the 21% tax-cut that would only cost, on average, $78 a year for a family of 4, will result in them being primaried, or defeated at the next election.

They are more concerned with their jobs than with doing what's right for the state.

[marshall]

26. Two years ago we dug the grave and buried my aunt

And she was loaded, thanks to wise investments, years of working and saving, and time served as a nurse in World War II. But the family thought it would be a fitting tribute to her memory to dig the grave with our own hands, so we did it.

We hadn't done that before and not since, and it has caused that very private and self conducted service to stand out in my memory.

[maxrandb]

6. Poor people forced to dig their own graves

This is Repuke 'Murika!

There was another story in the Dispatch about a woman who left an abusive relationship. The budget for "battered woman's half-way houses" was cut, and most closed. She was working, but her car broke down. Used to be emergency funds available for auto repairs for the poor who needed their cars
for employment, but that too was cut.

She is currently living in a 10X18 trailor with her THREE CHILDREN

I guess now I know how Colonel Kurtz felt. Reading these stories, I just want to rip my teeth out!

[madokie]

8. Not your teeth

thats your last defenses

[RedCloud]

25. Dig deeper poor folks. There are plenty more coming.

Burying dead people. You think that could help the economy with jobs burying people and eliminate the dead from jobs and provide those jobs to even more living people. It's genius I tells ya.

[sinkingfeeling]

3. If you were in Columbus for the OSU-UM football game, you were in the wrong city. They played in Ann

Arbor.

[maxrandb]

10. Went to Ohio

to watch the game on TV with my family and friends.

I live in VA, and wanted to enjoy the Big Game with family.

I guess my first clue that it was "in Ann Arbor" was the MICHIGAN written in the end zones.

:eyes:

[Haole Girl]

5. I'm glad they had some volunteers to help them dig the grave.

I hope it wasn't traumatic for the family.

[madokie]

7. Out here where I was raised

thats the way it was done back when I was a kid. The men friends would gather and dig the grave, if'n it was one of their old drinking buddies they were digging for then they'd be inbibing as they dug, being shitfaced when finished in some cases. All being done with love and respect

[maxrandb]

12. If you read the story

There were funds that were available to help pay for the burial of the indigent poor, who could not afford it.

Those funds were cut as a result of a budget hole, in part caused by the 21% across the board tax-cut that was passed when the Repukes controlled the state government.

Heaven forbid they restore some of that funding by reducing the tax-cut from 21% to 16.9%.

[Lasher]

13. Here too

The immediate family of the deceased usually supplied the whiskey.

[jeepnstein]

15. That's when you find out who your real friends are.

At least they had a grave plot.

[Craftsman]

11. And it will only get worse as this economic depression continues

[Frosty cupcake]

16. Yup, Americans hate taxes

They've been convinced that taxes are not only bad, but one day when they're billionaires, too, those nasty Progressives will take their money and give it away to those terrible brown people.

How do we know taxes are still too high?

There are still some paved roads.

There are still some public parks.

There are still some free lunch programs in some public schools.

We still have some public schools.

Just as soon as we do away with those things I'll know taxes are just right.

[Quantess]

19. It's either that, or let the local University Hospital use the corpse for research.

I'm pretty sure that wouldn't cost anything.

[Barack_America]

21. I've dissected a donated cadaver.

She was a woman who had suffered much from cancer and gained much from medical science. She wanted to give back to those who gave to her. I was very honored to be a part of her wish. The university also held a very lovely memorial service after the fact for medical students and families so that we could each appreciate the donor's sacrifice.

[superconnected]

20. However we can afford the Iraq war and to keep troops in Afghanistan.

Obama has a whole lot of cleaning up to do of the Bush damage, I still have hope that he'll do more.

[maxrandb]

22. A little off topic but

I recall Obama saying "Yes we Can!"...not "Yes I Can".

Why there are not half a million people marching on Washington to dwarf the Teabaggers is completely beyond me.

President Obama has a lot of smart people advising him, and has a lot of good ideas to move this country forward.

All those smart people and good ideas don't mean shit, unless WE THE PEOPLE put the pressure on local, state and national politicians.

IMHO

[cowcommander]

23. That sucks

Is it free to bury the dead in graveyards though? Or is there a fee?

[maxrandb]

24. Cost $1372 just to have them excavate the grave

for my recently deceased Father-in-Law. Thankfully, we could afford it.

Throw in Calling Hours, Casket, Embalming, Funeral Services, Headstone and it can easily add up to high 4 or even low 5 figures.

That's why, as a Navy guy, I want to be buried at sea while The Who's "Love Reign O're Me" is cranked over the 1MC!