Chicago Tribune IFDA articles Fail to mention Burris-Your Funeral Guy.

The Chicago Tribune Did Significant Illinois Funeral Directors Association Scandal Stories March 1st 2009

Breaking News Feb 28th 2009-The Chicago Tribune has done several articles on the Illinois Funeral Directors Association Funeral Trust Scandal dated March 1st.

The Chicago Tribune failed to mention the big name in the situation, Senator-IL-Roland Burris. Burris was Comptroller in 1980 gave the IFDA their license for the fund. In 2007 he was a lobbyist for the IFDA involved with significant negotiations with the State of Illinois Comptroller’s Office. (Dan Hynes) This was over the IFDA Preneed Trust.

Here are the names of the two March 1st  articles with links from the Chicago Tribune:

1.Illinois Funeral Directors Association faces questions over trust’s shortfall, management

State comptroller’s office continues 3-year investigation Link HERE

2.Funeral directors, Illinois comptroller’s office at odds over trust regulation Link HERE

Article one mentions that funeral directors assets are in jeopardy.The Tribune fails to mention that future funeral costs are likely to be past on to consumers due to IFDA shortfalls.

A snippet from the first article:

“Now, the funeral directors themselves face financial hardship. For guaranteed contracts, they have to absorb inflationary increases in the cost of funeral services they contracted to provide, in some cases years ago.“

A Snippet from the second article states that  folks are outraged at the Comptroller Dan Hynes:

” The comptroller’s office discovered a $39 million deficit in the trust in 2005 that grew to more than $50 million last year.

Consumers and funeral directors are outraged at the lack of oversight“

Although the Chicago Tribune and the State Journal Register have done significant stories the story was first carried by World Net Daily on January 16th 2009.

Funeral Cost/Funeral Industry Blog by Your Funeral Guy.

(pic from istock photo)

preneed

illinois funeral directors association

IFDA Diverted Hundreds of Thousands To Funeral Museum-Your Funeral Guy

Breaking News-February 28th 2009, It appears that hundreds of thousands were diverted from the Illinois Funeral Directors Association Trust fund to the History of Funeral Customs Museum.

Late yesterday the State-Journal Register newspaper in Springfield IL posted an article about the diversion of ifda preneed trust funds to the IFDA museum.

The amount of money diverted was up to 250,000 USD dollars in 2006 and 2007. According to the Springfield Journal Register Article and Illinois Historian Schwartz.

“However, Schwartz said he assumes that the collapse of a pre-need funeral trust fund that once generated millions of dollars in management fees for the association led to the museum’s demise.

According to an IFDA-commissioned audit, the foundation that ran the museum received at least $250,000 annually in 2006 and 2007 from the association, which got more than $2 million each of those years from management fees generated by the trust fund.”

FD  Charles Childs (IFDA President 2006-2007) and Geoffrey Hurd IFDA President (2007-2008)  were active at the time the funds were transfered.

Both men have been mentioned in the Press. Childs and the press is mentioned at a February 12th post at this blog. Hurd is mentioned in the press here.

Sadly folks funeral cost is raised when funeral trust funds are misappplied.

The IFDA museum the History of Funeral Customs Museum has an excellent replica of Lincoln’s Casket Display. Thanks to the misappropriation of funds it appears that the museum may be closing. You can view a Lincoln Replica Casket like the one at the museum here.

Currently Randall L  Earl is Secretary of the NFDA and The Director of the IFDA Museum of Funeral Customs. This according to the NFDA Website.

Funeral Industry/Funeral Cost Blog

Post updated March 22, 2009 at 5:41pm.

Charles Childs and Geoffrey Hurd are public figures because they are IFDA Presidents. Speaking to the press thrust them into the public spotlight. The same with Randall L Earl who is a public figure as Secretary of the NFDA.
illinois funeral directors association