UPDATE 6/20/8 - NPS Scandal now involves 19 states. The following article from the Kansas City Star's Rick Alm is the best roundup of the NPS meltdown and what it means for consumers. Special thanks to the KC Star for permission to reprint the article.

Georgia's first green cemetery has opened in Conyers, according to a feature article in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Honey Creek Woodlands is run by the Monastery of the Holy Spirit, and the cemetery is open to all.

We're back from our biggest national conference yet, and the attendees are calling the event "inspiring," "packed full of information," and "hosted by the nicest, most helpful volunteers" (hats off and thanks to Peoples Memorial Association!).

Here are some highlights of the three-day event:

• FCA presented Elvira Hoffman of the FCA of Long Island and New York City with the Award for Oustanding Consumer Advocacy for her tireless work lobbying for funeral consumer rights.
• FCA gave Valerie Bayham (at left, addressing the membership at the Saturday banquet) of the Institute for Justice our first award to an outside organization for funeral consumer advocacy. IJ's work protecting funeral consumers and small business owners - like casket retailers - from anticompetitive regulations is unparalled.

(right-click any of these to download the files. They're in Adobe PDF format)

In more than half the states, there is a statutory obligation for survivors to honor the written wishes of the deceased, to follow your personal preference. In a few states, your wishes may be over-turned in the case of cremation, however. Even if there is no personal preference law in your state (blank entry below), it is better to have your wishes in writing than not at all. Courts routinely support all but the most outrageous wishes.