SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart is calling "unconscionable" an effort by a Chicago Democrat to roll back reforms instituted in reaction to the digging up of bodies by cemetery workers and reselling burial plots.
A measure sponsored by Sen. Emil Jones III would have the state license only privately held cemeteries while exempting religious, municipal, fraternal, national and family cemeteries from stricter regulations. It passed the Senate and is pending in the House.
Jones says the 2009 reforms are "overbearing" for smaller cemeteries, adding Burr Oak was an "isolated situation."
Four former workers at Burr Oak in Alsip face a variety of charges, including dismemberment of bodies and desecration of graves.
Dart and Chicago Rep. Monique Davis say the reforms are aimed at holding all cemeteries to a higher standard.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.
(AP Photo/Paul Beaty, File)
A measure sponsored by Sen. Emil Jones III would have the state license only privately held cemeteries while exempting religious, municipal, fraternal, national and family cemeteries from stricter regulations. It passed the Senate and is pending in the House.
Jones says the 2009 reforms are "overbearing" for smaller cemeteries, adding Burr Oak was an "isolated situation."
Four former workers at Burr Oak in Alsip face a variety of charges, including dismemberment of bodies and desecration of graves.
Dart and Chicago Rep. Monique Davis say the reforms are aimed at holding all cemeteries to a higher standard.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.
(AP Photo/Paul Beaty, File)
