Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 31, 1994 TAG: 9403310020
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ADRIENNE PETTY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"Word travels fast," said Mark Droughman of Waynesboro, a cemetery owner and member of the Virginia Cemetery Association.
As head of the cemetery association's consumer protection committee, Droughman understands the frustration of Franklin Memorial Park creditors.
"Anytime you mess with a person's pocketbook, you scare them," he said.
In a police report, David Furrow, a Rocky Mount lawyer, said that Ben Pinckard hit him "for no reason" while they were discussing Pinckard's qualifications for helping to run the cemetery, which he does without compensation. Pinckard was charged with assault and battery.
But the scuffle overshadowed the progress made at the meeting, run by a representative of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court at Franklin County High School.
Under oath, Eric Ferguson, court-appointed special receiver for the cemetery, vowed to issue deeds designating grave spaces to creditors as soon as a survey of the cemetery is complete. The cemetery is on U.S. 220 between Boones Mill and Rocky Mount.
Ferguson filed for reorganization under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code in January. Under Chapter 11, businesses can continue operations while they sort out their assets and liabilities.
Ferguson expects the survey, being conducted in exchange for grave spaces, to be finished by late April, and the distribution of deeds to be done by late May.
After the survey, he handed out deeds for about 650 spaces for creditors who have contracts.
Then he will issue contracts and deeds for about 350 spaces for creditors who have not received either document.
Of all his attempts to regain the confidence of creditors, these promises may have relieved them the most.
"So far so good," said James Meaney, who purchased grave spaces in 1991. "If they follow through with the deeding of the gravesites, then I think it will go a long way toward reassuring everybody."
In May 1991, Pinckard, then the commissioner of revenue, turned up a $700,000 shortfall in trust accounts while reviewing sales contracts for more than 9,000 cemetery plots.
Under state law, Patrick Rooney III and other previous owners of the cemetery should have set aside 10 percent of all revenue from plot sales to provide for maintenance, and 40 percent of other sales revenue to ensure that the cemetery had enough money for vaults and grave markers bought in advance.
Compounding the creditors' sense of having been duped is that Rooney has not been apprehended.
Ferguson explained at Tuesday's meeting that although Rooney has been indicted by a grand jury on one felony and one misdemeanor charge, the Circuit Court can't proceed because Rooney is outside their jurisdiction. He is believed to be in Florida.
However, Ferguson expects that the FBI or the U.S. attorney's office will become involved in apprehending Rooney.
Meanwhile, Ferguson will continue to work with lawyers on his plan of reorganization, which he was scheduled to submit to the bankruptcy court May 6.
Ferguson said he will file for a 90-day extension.
At the last hearing, Ferguson said he would propose to file suits to recover money from the financial institutions that accepted discounted notes from the cemetery's past owners. The money would cut down the cemeteries' liabilities.
Droughman, who's run a cemetery for 35 years, commended Ferguson.
"I jokingly told Eric he'd have a future in the cemetery business once he gets this done."
by CNB