Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 7, 1991 TAG: 9103070452
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: BEDFORD/FRANKLIN
SOURCE: By DAVID M. POOLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ROCKY MOUNT LENGTH: Short
Franklin County Commonwealth's Attorney Cliff Hapgood said the people who signed contracts before Feb. 19 could sign new agreements or back out of the deal.
Hapgood said the new owner, Patrick Rooney III of West Virginia, had agreed voluntarily to ask customers to sign new agreements.
Most of the customers have signed new agreements and only a few have changed their minds about buying pre-need services, according to Rooney's son, Patrick IV.
Pre-need contracts allow people to pay in advance for cemetery plots, headstones, vaults and other services.
The Rooneys bought Franklin Memorial Park on U.S. 220 between Rocky Mount and Boones Mill earlier this year and began selling pre-need contracts before they had been issued a license by the state Department of Consumer Affairs.
Last month, Hapgood obtained a temporary restraining order that blocked the Rooneys from selling any more plots or pre-need contracts.
The Rooneys obtained their license by Feb. 19 and agreed to give customers who had previously signed contracts the opportunity to renew the agreements.
In pre-need contracts, Franklin Memorial Park is offering to open and close gravesites for $495.
Currently, Franklin Memorial Park charges $375 to open and close graves during weekdays, $425 on Saturdays and $495 on Sundays.
If a person is buried on a day when the charge is less, the difference will be refunded to his estate, he said.
by CNB