FEMA, La. outsource Katrina body count to firm implicated in body-dumping scandals

conjur

No Lifer
Jun 7, 2001
58,686
3
0
http://rawstory.com/news/2005/FEMA_outs...plicated_in_bodydumping_scan_0913.html
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has hired Kenyon International to set up a mobile morgue for handling bodies in Baton Rouge, Louisiana following Hurricane Katrina, RAW STORY has learned.

Kenyon is a subsidiary of Service Corporation International (SCI), a scandal-ridden Texas-based company operated by a friend of the Bush family. Recently, SCI subsidiaries have been implicated in illegally discarding and desecrating corpses.

Louisiana governor Katherine Blanco subsequently inked a contract with the firm after talks between FEMA and the firm broke down.

In other words, FEMA and then Blanco outsourced the body count from Hurricane Katrina -- which many believe the worst natural disaster in U.S. history -- to a firm whose parent company is known for its "experience" at hiding and dumping bodies.

The Menorah Gardens cemetery chain, owned by SCI, desecrated vaults, removed hundreds of bodies from two cemeteries in Florida and dumped the gruesome remains in woods frequented by wild hogs, investigators discovered in 2001. In one case, a backhoe was used to crack open a vault, remove corpses and make room for more dead bodies.

SCI paid $100 million to settle a lawsuit filed by outraged family members of the deceased.

A secretary at the lawfirm that sued SCI over the Florida cemetery scandals gasped when informed that FEMA had outsourced handling of Katrina victims' bodies to an SCI subsidiary.

"Oh, good lord!" she said.

Peter Hartmann, general manager of the Menorah Gardens Cemetery chain, was later found dead in his car from carbon monoxide poisoning outside his parents' home in an apparent suicide.

RAW STORY calls to FEMA were not returned.

Waltrip, chairman of SCI, is a longtime friend of Bush's father, former President George Herbert Walker Bush. The firm's political action committee donated $45,000 to George W. Bush's 1994 gubernatorial campaign.

The company also contributed more than $100,000 for construction of the George H.W. Bush presidential library.

"It is appalling that the Bush administration ?- which has already badly bungled its response to hurricane Katrina ?- would hire a company with a record of gross mismanagement of mortuary services," said Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics, a Washington D.C.-based watchdog group. "I can only imagine that this decision was made because of President Bush's long-time friendship with the head of SCI, Robert Waltrip."

SCI also owned fifteen funeral homes named as defendants in a lawsuit filed on behalf of family members alleging "macabre mishandling, abuse and desecration of bodies" by Tri-State Crematory in Georgia. The lawsuit accused SCI-owned funeral homes of sending bodies to the unlicensed, unregulated crematorium, where never-incinerated corpses were found piled outdoors and stuffed in sheds in 2000.

Some vaults designed to hold one body each had 67 sets of human remains stuffed inside, investigators discovered. SCI was among the companies ordered to pay settlement fees to family members, a legal source has confirmed to RAW STORY.

Kenyon bills itself as the world's leading disaster management company. It provided morgue support services following the 9/11 plane crash in Pennsylvania and the Asian tsunami.

As North America's largest funeral and cemetery company, SCI operates 1,500 mortuaries and cemeteries nationwide.

The company's website claims the firm is dedicated to "compassionately supporting families at difficult times, celebrating the significance of lives that have been lived, and preserving memories that transcend generations, with dignity and honor."

SCI was also involved in an earlier scandal in Texas. Eliza May, former Texas Funeral Service Commission Director, filed a lawsuit accusing George W. Bush, then Governor, of obstructing an investigation into SCI license violations. May was fired following a dispute with Waltrip.

Waltrip and an SCI lobbyist met with Governor Bush's chief of staff, Joe Allbaugh (Allbaugh was later appointed head of FEMA after Bush became President, but left to become a lobbyist representing Halliburton, among other corporate clients).

According to Newsweek, Bush stopped by and said to Waltrip, "Hey, Bobby, are those people still messing with you?"

May, a Democrat, sought to force Bush to testify in the case, but in August 1999, a Texas judge tossed out a subpoena issued by May's lawyers for Bush to give a deposition. Bush, who was not a defendant, called May's claims "frivolous" and denied knowing the circumstances of her ouster.

In 1999, when Bush was gearing up to run for the presidency, Texas Governor Rick Perry approved a settlement for May. SCI paid $55,000; the state of Texas shelled out the balance without admitting wrongdoing in May's termination.

Jennifer Crider, spokeswoman for House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), expressed concern over FEMA's choice of an SCI subsidiary and questioned whether the selection was made through a no-bid process.

"The tragedy in the Gulf States must not be compounded by disrespecting those who have died," Crider told RAW STORY. "It's critical that government contracts be subjected to scrutiny to ensure that there has been no fraud or abuse of taxpayer money or interest."

Democrats have called for formation of an anti-fraud commission to investigate no-bid contracts awarded in relation to Hurricane Katrina, she added.

Why FEMA chose to outsource mortuary services to a paid contractor is also mystery to Dan Buckner, co-owner of the Gowen-Smith Chapel in the Gulf area. Buckner had planned to serve with the Disaster Mortuary Operational Responses Team, which reportedly told Buckner's partner, Gary Hicks of Paducah, KY, to expect up to 40,000 deaths from Katrina in Louisiana and Mississippi.

Upon learning of Kenyon?s contract, Buckner expressed puzzlement. He told the Shelbyville Times-Gazette, "Volunteers would have gone at no charge."

Clarification: After FEMA began working with Kenyon, they were subsequently contracted by Louisiana Governor Blanco. It was Louisiana that signed a formal contract.
Do these people have NO shame? And I wonder what assurances Blanco is getting to whore herself out to a Bush family business buddy?

Just more privatization of what should be governmental services in this situation. And we end up paying more as these private companies jack up the prices to make some green and then half-assed do things. "illegally discarding and desecrating corpses"???


WTF?
 

mikeford

Diamond Member
Jan 27, 2001
5,671
160
106
You guys amaze me, Blanco signs a deal, and you blame FEMA and Bush.

Clean up and recovery are going to be the pork program of the century, and every elected official has staked out a section of the trough. The ONLY way any of it will be reduced is if what goes on is accurately reported.
 

Future Shock

Senior member
Aug 28, 2005
968
0
0
And you amaze me - you obviously have so little business experience that you don't realize that "White House aides" almsot certainly told Blanco to sign them? Or do you think that for all that campaign money SCI wasn't going to expect a little something from their good pal W?

So, all it takes is a single layer of indirection to fool most of the people most of the time...

FS
 

Jadow

Diamond Member
Feb 12, 2003
5,962
2
0
I have had extensive dealings with SCI and they have always been respectful and professional. Don't let a couple isolated incidents shape your opinion of this company. I'm sure every corporation with thousands of employees has a few bad ones who do bad things.
 

imported_Condor

Diamond Member
Sep 22, 2004
5,425
0
0
Originally posted by: conjur
http://rawstory.com/news/2005/FEMA_outs...plicated_in_bodydumping_scan_0913.html
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has hired Kenyon International to set up a mobile morgue for handling bodies in Baton Rouge, Louisiana following Hurricane Katrina, RAW STORY has learned.

Kenyon is a subsidiary of Service Corporation International (SCI), a scandal-ridden Texas-based company operated by a friend of the Bush family. Recently, SCI subsidiaries have been implicated in illegally discarding and desecrating corpses.

Louisiana governor Katherine Blanco subsequently inked a contract with the firm after talks between FEMA and the firm broke down.

In other words, FEMA and then Blanco outsourced the body count from Hurricane Katrina -- which many believe the worst natural disaster in U.S. history -- to a firm whose parent company is known for its "experience" at hiding and dumping bodies.

The Menorah Gardens cemetery chain, owned by SCI, desecrated vaults, removed hundreds of bodies from two cemeteries in Florida and dumped the gruesome remains in woods frequented by wild hogs, investigators discovered in 2001. In one case, a backhoe was used to crack open a vault, remove corpses and make room for more dead bodies.

SCI paid $100 million to settle a lawsuit filed by outraged family members of the deceased.

A secretary at the lawfirm that sued SCI over the Florida cemetery scandals gasped when informed that FEMA had outsourced handling of Katrina victims' bodies to an SCI subsidiary.

"Oh, good lord!" she said.

Peter Hartmann, general manager of the Menorah Gardens Cemetery chain, was later found dead in his car from carbon monoxide poisoning outside his parents' home in an apparent suicide.

RAW STORY calls to FEMA were not returned.

Waltrip, chairman of SCI, is a longtime friend of Bush's father, former President George Herbert Walker Bush. The firm's political action committee donated $45,000 to George W. Bush's 1994 gubernatorial campaign.

The company also contributed more than $100,000 for construction of the George H.W. Bush presidential library.

"It is appalling that the Bush administration ?- which has already badly bungled its response to hurricane Katrina ?- would hire a company with a record of gross mismanagement of mortuary services," said Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics, a Washington D.C.-based watchdog group. "I can only imagine that this decision was made because of President Bush's long-time friendship with the head of SCI, Robert Waltrip."

SCI also owned fifteen funeral homes named as defendants in a lawsuit filed on behalf of family members alleging "macabre mishandling, abuse and desecration of bodies" by Tri-State Crematory in Georgia. The lawsuit accused SCI-owned funeral homes of sending bodies to the unlicensed, unregulated crematorium, where never-incinerated corpses were found piled outdoors and stuffed in sheds in 2000.

Some vaults designed to hold one body each had 67 sets of human remains stuffed inside, investigators discovered. SCI was among the companies ordered to pay settlement fees to family members, a legal source has confirmed to RAW STORY.

Kenyon bills itself as the world's leading disaster management company. It provided morgue support services following the 9/11 plane crash in Pennsylvania and the Asian tsunami.

As North America's largest funeral and cemetery company, SCI operates 1,500 mortuaries and cemeteries nationwide.

The company's website claims the firm is dedicated to "compassionately supporting families at difficult times, celebrating the significance of lives that have been lived, and preserving memories that transcend generations, with dignity and honor."

SCI was also involved in an earlier scandal in Texas. Eliza May, former Texas Funeral Service Commission Director, filed a lawsuit accusing George W. Bush, then Governor, of obstructing an investigation into SCI license violations. May was fired following a dispute with Waltrip.

Waltrip and an SCI lobbyist met with Governor Bush's chief of staff, Joe Allbaugh (Allbaugh was later appointed head of FEMA after Bush became President, but left to become a lobbyist representing Halliburton, among other corporate clients).

According to Newsweek, Bush stopped by and said to Waltrip, "Hey, Bobby, are those people still messing with you?"

May, a Democrat, sought to force Bush to testify in the case, but in August 1999, a Texas judge tossed out a subpoena issued by May's lawyers for Bush to give a deposition. Bush, who was not a defendant, called May's claims "frivolous" and denied knowing the circumstances of her ouster.

In 1999, when Bush was gearing up to run for the presidency, Texas Governor Rick Perry approved a settlement for May. SCI paid $55,000; the state of Texas shelled out the balance without admitting wrongdoing in May's termination.

Jennifer Crider, spokeswoman for House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), expressed concern over FEMA's choice of an SCI subsidiary and questioned whether the selection was made through a no-bid process.

"The tragedy in the Gulf States must not be compounded by disrespecting those who have died," Crider told RAW STORY. "It's critical that government contracts be subjected to scrutiny to ensure that there has been no fraud or abuse of taxpayer money or interest."

Democrats have called for formation of an anti-fraud commission to investigate no-bid contracts awarded in relation to Hurricane Katrina, she added.

Why FEMA chose to outsource mortuary services to a paid contractor is also mystery to Dan Buckner, co-owner of the Gowen-Smith Chapel in the Gulf area. Buckner had planned to serve with the Disaster Mortuary Operational Responses Team, which reportedly told Buckner's partner, Gary Hicks of Paducah, KY, to expect up to 40,000 deaths from Katrina in Louisiana and Mississippi.

Upon learning of Kenyon?s contract, Buckner expressed puzzlement. He told the Shelbyville Times-Gazette, "Volunteers would have gone at no charge."

Clarification: After FEMA began working with Kenyon, they were subsequently contracted by Louisiana Governor Blanco. It was Louisiana that signed a formal contract.
Do these people have NO shame? And I wonder what assurances Blanco is getting to whore herself out to a Bush family business buddy?

Just more privatization of what should be governmental services in this situation. And we end up paying more as these private companies jack up the prices to make some green and then half-assed do things. "illegally discarding and desecrating corpses"???


WTF?

She is a Democrat! They always whore themselves out because they can't do anything on thier own.

 

imported_Condor

Diamond Member
Sep 22, 2004
5,425
0
0
Originally posted by: bamacre
Originally posted by: Condor
She is a Politician! They always whore themselves out because they can't do anything on thier own.


Fixed.

No, having been a Democrat until something like 2001, I see a distinct difference between the two classes of politicians. Republicans may have issues, but stupidity isn't one of them.

 

Hayabusa Rider

Admin Emeritus & Elite Member
Jan 26, 2000
50,879
4,266
126
Originally posted by: Condor
Originally posted by: bamacre
Originally posted by: Condor
She is a Politician! They always whore themselves out because they can't do anything on thier own.


Fixed.

No, having been a Democrat until something like 2001, I see a distinct difference between the two classes of politicians. Republicans may have issues, but stupidity isn't one of them.

Seen them both, and that's why I will never, ever choose one of these losers.

Sorry, but smart whores, and stupid whores are both whores.

I have no use for either party. They are both more interested in themselves than us or the US for all they say.
 

bamacre

Lifer
Jul 1, 2004
21,029
2
61
Originally posted by: Condor
Originally posted by: bamacre
Originally posted by: Condor
She is a Politician! They always whore themselves out because they can't do anything on thier own.


Fixed.

No, having been a Democrat until something like 2001, I see a distinct difference between the two classes of politicians. Republicans may have issues, but stupidity isn't one of them.

I think the chimp proves that statement is utter BS.
 

imported_Condor

Diamond Member
Sep 22, 2004
5,425
0
0
Originally posted by: Hayabusa Rider
Originally posted by: Condor
Originally posted by: bamacre
Originally posted by: Condor
She is a Politician! They always whore themselves out because they can't do anything on thier own.


Fixed.

No, having been a Democrat until something like 2001, I see a distinct difference between the two classes of politicians. Republicans may have issues, but stupidity isn't one of them.

Seen them both, and that's why I will never, ever choose one of these losers.

Sorry, but smart whores, and stupid whores are both whores.

I have no use for either party. They are both more interested in themselves than us or the US for all they say.

You weren't around to read my post about politicans some months back. Decent people won't do what it takes to run a nation or even a large city. Decent people seldom have the lust for power that makes a politican pay the price he/she has to for office. Decent people also need rouges that lust for power to run the governments that we still require to keep us from ripping out each others throats. Carter was a pretty decent person and that very characteristic was his failing. The very characteristics that politicans have that we despise make them valuable to us.
 

Hayabusa Rider

Admin Emeritus & Elite Member
Jan 26, 2000
50,879
4,266
126
Originally posted by: Condor
Originally posted by: Hayabusa Rider
Originally posted by: Condor
Originally posted by: bamacre
Originally posted by: Condor
She is a Politician! They always whore themselves out because they can't do anything on thier own.


Fixed.

No, having been a Democrat until something like 2001, I see a distinct difference between the two classes of politicians. Republicans may have issues, but stupidity isn't one of them.

Seen them both, and that's why I will never, ever choose one of these losers.

Sorry, but smart whores, and stupid whores are both whores.

I have no use for either party. They are both more interested in themselves than us or the US for all they say.

You weren't around to read my post about politicans some months back. Decent people won't do what it takes to run a nation or even a large city. Decent people seldom have the lust for power that makes a politican pay the price he/she has to for office. Decent people also need rouges that lust for power to run the governments that we still require to keep us from ripping out each others throats. Carter was a pretty decent person and that very characteristic was his failing. The very characteristics that politicans have that we despise make them valuable to us.

I'll grant that, however I have noticed some changes. When I was young, my father got a parking ticket fixed. Nothing unusual in that. Ignoring for the moment whether he should have gotten it fixed, the politician then helped my father gratis.

A few years later the same thing happened. This time the new politician said that my father couldnt afford his price. That was literally true. The next generation of politicians did favors for those who would pay, not for those in the community.

Now, one could make a legitimate argument that both politicians and those asking for favors were wrong. Whore and John.

What has happened is that the hookers have become high priced, selling themselves to the affluent. The "common man" may get screwed, but never laid. Colorful metaphor eh? :p

I agree that the unsavory nature of politicians are often a plus in a bizarre way, however there needs to be a limit on what they get away with.

What political parties seem to have become is a strong union of thugs, entirely self absorbed and loyal to nothing but that union.



 

sygyzy

Lifer
Oct 21, 2000
14,001
4
76
"A few bad things"?

You make it sound like someone stole the stapler or something. This was a huge scandal when it happened.
 

bob4432

Lifer
Sep 6, 2003
11,699
29
91
d@mn, that is all it takes in contribution $$$ to get some stuff taken care of for you....sh!t i need a couple of local governmental (nothing illegal) issues taken care of. maybe a $5000 donation to my local congressman is easier than actually dealing with the problem....or call in some of my rich friends and make a nice $20,000 donation and get quite a few things taken care of. pretty sad how little $$$ it takes.
 

arsbanned

Banned
Dec 12, 2003
4,853
0
0
Originally posted by: Condor
Originally posted by: bamacre
Originally posted by: Condor
She is a Politician! They always whore themselves out because they can't do anything on thier own.


Fixed.

No, having been a Democrat until something like 2001, I see a distinct difference between the two classes of politicians. Republicans may have issues, but stupidity isn't one of them.

Heh. Your own post belies that concept.... Thanks for the good laugh. :laugh:
 

CaptnKirk

Lifer
Jul 25, 2002
10,053
0
71
And FEMA botches that . . again

<In the article>

Blanco lashed out at FEMA Tuesday for what she said was a "lack of urgency and lack of respect" involving the recovery of bodies of Hurricane Katrina victims.

Blanco said she ordered the state to sign a contract with Kenyon International Monday after Chertoff failed to live up to renew the private disaster recovery firm's contract. The company has been recovering bodies in New Orleans.

Kenyon worked for the Australian government to identify the remains of tourists killed during the December tsunami, and the company handled the remains of plane passengers who crashed into a Pennsylvania field during the September 11 attacks.

Kenyon told the state that if they didn't get a contract soon, they would be forced to leave as soon as they professionally could.

"In death, as in life, our people deserve more respect than they have received," Blanco said.


FEMA brings them in . . and then decides not to pay for it.

Who's in charge here - Where's Waldo ?
 

conjur

No Lifer
Jun 7, 2001
58,686
3
0
Well, they're getting $119,000/day now


And, btw, CNN was reporting 4 miles of barbed wire going up around Long Beach, MS. At least 100 bodies in the rubble there.
 

Genx87

Lifer
Apr 8, 2002
41,091
513
126
Originally posted by: CaptnKirk
And FEMA botches that . . again

<In the article>

Blanco lashed out at FEMA Tuesday for what she said was a "lack of urgency and lack of respect" involving the recovery of bodies of Hurricane Katrina victims.

Blanco said she ordered the state to sign a contract with Kenyon International Monday after Chertoff failed to live up to renew the private disaster recovery firm's contract. The company has been recovering bodies in New Orleans.

Kenyon worked for the Australian government to identify the remains of tourists killed during the December tsunami, and the company handled the remains of plane passengers who crashed into a Pennsylvania field during the September 11 attacks.

Kenyon told the state that if they didn't get a contract soon, they would be forced to leave as soon as they professionally could.

"In death, as in life, our people deserve more respect than they have received," Blanco said.


FEMA brings them in . . and then decides not to pay for it.

Who's in charge here - Where's Waldo ?


I dont know what is more annoying the finger pointing or the playing victim and whining that has come out of this tragedy.


 

slyedog

Senior member
Jan 12, 2001
934
0
0
fema didnot hire this company because of charges of mismanangement, overcharging,
incompetence and a buch of other charges. gov blanco stepped up and hired this company, not the federal gov. of course conjur had to throw in fema. and is he drinking tonite. he actually put down on a democrat.
 

conjur

No Lifer
Jun 7, 2001
58,686
3
0
Originally posted by: slyedog
fema didnot hire this company because of charges of mismanangement, overcharging,
incompetence and a buch of other charges. gov blanco stepped up and hired this company, not the federal gov. of course conjur had to throw in fema. and is he drinking tonite. he actually put down on a democrat.
Wrong answer, try again.

http://today.reuters.com/investing/fina..._RTRIDST_0_KATRINA-KENYON-RECOVERY.XML
Kenyon initially said last week it had been hired by the Federal Emergency Management Agency to recover bodies in New Orleans and elsewhere.

But on Tuesday Gov. Kathleen Blanco said the state had signed a contract directly with the company because the recovery work was going too slowly and Kenyon was threatening to pull out for lack of a written contract with FEMA.

FEMA said it offered a contract to Kenyon, which the company declined. It also said the state's contract with Kenyon was eligible for reimbursement under various federal relief programs.

What was that you were saying?
 

conjur

No Lifer
Jun 7, 2001
58,686
3
0

dmcowen674

No Lifer
Oct 13, 1999
54,889
47
91
www.alienbabeltech.com
Originally posted by: conjur
A few related items.

First off:

Families Lose Loved Ones Again -- in a Bureaucratic Mire
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld...02,0,5171979.story?coll=la-home-nation


And, then there's this (might explain why the estimated death toll was lowered. Kind of hard to have higher death toll when they don't look for the bodies!:
Returning Home, a Handful Find Bodies; New Orleans Mayor Presses Effort to Reopen City
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/29/natio...lspecial/29death.html?pagewanted=print

I can confirm.

My neighbor across the street Father in Law came back to town over the weekend.

This is a big deal because his neighbors thought he was dead since there was a body on his roof. It's been there since Katrina hit.

They were mighty shocked when he pulled up. He went up on the roof and confirmed it was the mother of a neighbor down the street that stayed to ride out the storm.

A pole with a birdhouse confirms that the water was 21 feet high, over the roof of the house. He will be burning the house to the ground and will re-build with a new structure on 21 foot pilings.

There are fires all over the city as residents start to burn the houses down since there is still no sign of bull dozers or dump trucks.

We have to take matters in our own hands since there is NO help from our Country.

My Parish President, Kevin Davis threatened to go to Baton Rouge Saturday with every Deputy he has to take the FEMA trailers that we saw arrived there and just sitting empty.

There is at least 45,000 residents with unlivable homes that need them in their driveway while they re-build their houses.

Well, this morning, the trailers started arriving.
 
Jun 27, 2005
19,216
1
61
Do I need to point out that this is a story from a left-wing-tin-foil-hat web site? When I see this on AP, Reuters, Knight Ridder, CNN, FOX, NBC, CBS, ABC, NPR or any other reputable news service I'll give it some credence.

Till then...
 

dmcowen674

No Lifer
Oct 13, 1999
54,889
47
91
www.alienbabeltech.com
Originally posted by: Whoozyerdaddy
Do I need to point out that this is a story from a left-wing-tin-foil-hat web site? When I see this on AP, Reuters, Knight Ridder, CNN, FOX, NBC, CBS, ABC, NPR or any other reputable news service I'll give it some credence.

Till then...

Try coming down here and see for yourself, until then.... :roll: :cookie: