Search Salon

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Recently in Salon News

The funeral scandal time line
A chronology of the battle between the Texas Funeral Service Commission and Service Corporation International.
Compiled by Robert Bryce
[08/20/99]

Feingold's new gimmick
In his never-ending quest for campaign finance reform, Russ Feingold has been calling out monied special interests before important Senate votes.
By Jake Tapper
[08/19/99]

There's no place like home
Three Albanian-Americans who fought for the KLA struggle to find their place after the war.
By Elsa Davidson
[08/19/99]

Contempt charges sought against Bush
Did the Republican front-runner lie in his sworn affidavit? It all depends on what the meaning of a conversation is.
By Robert Bryce
[08/18/99]

The great Arkansas railway mystery
Twelve years ago, two teenagers were murdered on a rural railroad track. Right-wing conspiracy theorists who blamed then-Gov. Bill Clinton for the killings have now lost a $600,000 libel suit in the case.
By Suzi Parker
[08/18/99]

Complete archives for News

- - - - - - - - - - - -

- - - - - - - - - - - -

But Waltrip's power play was just beginning. Within days, half a dozen legislators had written the agency complaining about the Good Friday raid. Waltrip told McNeil and others that he was going to take the matter to the governor's office. On April 15, 1998, Waltrip and Rogers did just that.

They went to the Texas Capitol, where they met with Joe Allbaugh, Bush's chief of staff. During that meeting, according to a quote Rogers gave to Newsweek, Bush stuck his head into Allbaugh's office and asked Waltrip, "Hey Bobby, are those people still messing with you?" When Waltrip indicated that they were, Bush asked Rogers, "Hey, Johnnie B. Are you taking care of him?" Rogers replied, "I'm doing my best, Governor."

Rogers' version of events appears to contradict Bush's sworn affidavit in which he said he has "had no conversations with SCI officials, agents or representatives" about the state's investigation.

A month later, on May 18, May was called into a meeting in Allbaugh's office, where State Sen. John Whitmire, a Houston Democrat, demanded that she tell everyone in the room about her agency's investigation into SCI even though Waltrip and Rogers were sitting in the same room. May said the meeting "was clearly designed to intimidate me and to obtain information about what we were doing. They were unhappy with the fact that I was doing this investigation."

Despite SCI's political pressure, May continued examining SCI. On Aug. 3, the commission's complaint review committee voted to levy a fine of $445,000 against the company for violating state embalming laws, refusing to comply with subpoenas and not informing consumers that third-party embalmers were involved in the transaction. (SCI is contesting the fine and has not yet been required to pay a dime.)

The same day the agency voted on the fines, a private investigator working for SCI called three of May's friends: Dennis Garza, Jeff Heckler and Pat Crow. "He wanted to meet with me," said Crow, an Austin political consultant. "He wanted some dirt on Eliza May. And I didn't have any. He called me three times. He said some negative things about her. I didn't respond and didn't comment."

Bill Miller, the Austin public relations consultant and political operative who represents SCI, says the investigation of May was dropped right after the company hired him a year ago. Was the company trying to intimidate May? "Not since I got hired," replied Miller.

Shortly before Christmas, the agency and SCI began mediation to resolve their dispute. Despite two days of talks, no agreement was reached. Meanwhile, the pressure on May was building. On Jan. 25, May was put on administrative leave and on Feb. 8, in a unanimous vote, the nine members of the commission voted to get rid of her.

Proof that May's investigation into SCI's embalming practices was justified didn't take long to emerge. And the proof came in the form of embalming fluid that began leaking out of Tres Hood's crypt shortly after he was entombed in July 1998. Hood, a popular 31-year-old television news anchor in Wichita Falls, died of colon cancer. His parents signed a contract with a Wichita Falls funeral home owned by SCI to embalm their son's body. But Hood's parents didn't know that his body was going to be embalmed in Dallas. In fact, his body was embalmed at one of the two SCI funeral homes that had originally been targeted for investigation by the TFSC for illegal embalming practices.

The problems with the embalming were apparent almost immediately. When Hood's family members came to see his body, they were horrified. "I could see fluid coming out of his eyes and mouth. I guess it was embalming fluid. It looked terrible. I made them close the casket because he looked so bad," says Jeremy Johnson, Hood's younger brother. According to a lawsuit filed in June by Hood's parents against SCI, after Hood's casket was put into a mausoleum, "problems with odors, gnats and fluid seepage began to occur."

The ghastly details of Hood's embalming are just one part of the SCI-Eliza May story that are going to come out in the next few months. Discovery in the Hood lawsuit will begin soon and many of the same people that will testify in May's whistle-blower lawsuit will also be testifying in the Hood case.

While the political aspects of May's lawsuit cannot be ignored, even her detractors are expressing amazement at SCI's power play. Not only did the company stop the investigation and avoid paying any fines, it hired a lobbyist to write a bill and then convinced the Texas Legislature to pass a measure that overhauls the TFSC and strips it of some of its powers.

An early fan of May, TFSC Commissioner Hughes, a Bush appointee, says he lost confidence in her earlier this year and voted to dismiss her. But now that he's leaving the agency, Hughes admits being impressed with SCI's power. "SCI poured the money in the right places and kicked our butts out," he said. "They told us, 'We'll go to the governor and get this thing thrown out.' I didn't think they were that strong. I didn't think they could buy that many people."
salon.com | Aug. 20, 1999

- - - - - - - - - - - -

- - - - - - - - - - - -

  Get a printer-friendly version

  E-mail a friend about this article

  Backflip this article to find it again

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Search Salon