MFDEA members like one past president have written to the Governor to commend the Division acting director for having put an end to the State Board’s “photographic surveillance” of funeral homes.  This past president of MFDEA stated that instead of actually inspecting the funeral home, the Board inspectors were taking pictures which were then reviewed in Jefferson City for alleged violations.  The past president longed for the days when he served on the State Board when real inspectors were sent to funeral homes.  This past president of the MFDEA did not obviously read our blog post Missouri’s Gottcha Board: Digging Deeper.

If he had read the blog instead of relying solely upon the MFDEA for his information he would understand that the Division was blocking the State Board from hiring real inspectors.  He would know that the Division’s CIU inspectors did not know difference between a hole in the bottom of crematory retort and the thermostat on the nearby wall.  He would know that this funeral home had performed hundreds of funerals without a licensed funeral director.  He would know that the funeral home had sold hundreds of thousands of dollars of preneed without a license and without reporting them to the State Board.  But then he didn’t know these things because the MFDEA did not report these problems to their members.  Nor did the MFDEA want to explain why the Division dismissed the lawsuit against the funeral home before it had corrected its violations.  That would conflict with the endorsement already given to the Division’s acting director.  Had that endorsement been sealed with a promise from the Division?