Preneed funds are invested

6/13/2009

Your coverage of the situation involving preneed funeral funds at a local funeral home was informative. I feel for those folks who thought they had a funded plan and actually do not.

It is important to assure the rest of the community that preplanning and prepaying for funeral services continue to make tremendous sense. Such a purchase should be made with care, as one would make any other large purchase. Choosing a long-standing, reputable funeral home is critical.

The Ohio Funeral Directors Association recently lobbied successfully for the passage of Senate Bill 196, which made changes to the law that increased protections for consumers.

The most significant protection is that consumers now receive notification from the specified trust or insurance company that funds have been received within 60 days from the day the consumer paid the funeral home. There is language on the preneed contracts that notifies consumers to watch for that notification, and to contact the specified institution if they do not receive it. This change alone should go a long way to prevent a situation like this in the future.

Regardless, consumers need to know that in Ohio there have been only a few similar situations out of 1,100 funeral homes. The vast majority of funeral professionals promptly invest preneed funds in accordance with the law and good business practices. More than 40 percent of the services at our funeral homes have been prepaid and we have never had a single family member express regret that things were taken care of in advance.

Keith Walker

Walker Funeral Homes

Editor's note: The writer is a past president of the Ohio Funeral Directors Association.

I find it amusing that right-wingers are so eager to attack President Obama on the economy. Where have they been for the past eight years? Mr. Obama inherited from George W. Bush the worst economic mess since the Great Depression. Bank failures, record home foreclosures, high unemployment, two of the big three American automakers on the verge of liquidation, AIG, and much more.

It took the patron saint of the right, Ronald Reagan, three years after he was elected to produce any signs of economic growth. Unemployment rose sharply in the first three years of the Reagan "revolution." In spite of this, those on the right are all over Mr. Obama for notturning things around in just four months.

If the economy shows no signs of improvement by 2012, the right may have a point. Until then, they should not sit back hoping thatMr. Obama fails.

Daniel T. Michael

Adrian, Mich.

In response to the June 1 letter about why banks get treated differently from the auto companies and auto workers, it's plain and simple: union busting.

They keep their high pay and bonuses and the auto workers lose theirs.

James L. Fry

Strathmoor Avenue