Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, April 1, 1995 TAG: 9504030056
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: TODD JACKSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ROCKY MOUNT LENGTH: Medium
The members of the board, appointed by Circuit Judge B.A. Davis III, consist mainly of people who have worked to make Franklin Memorial Park solvent since problems with it surfaced four years ago: Rocky Mount Town Councilman Ben Pinckard; Sheriff W.Q. "Quint" Overton; lawyers Eric Ferguson, Tim Allen and Colby Brown; retired schoolteachers Rexford Hopkins and Shirley Vaughan; the Rev. Van T. Renick; and county maintenance manager Michael Thurman.
The board on Thursday took over the job of running the cemetery from Ferguson, who was appointed special receiver of Franklin Memorial Park by court action in May 1991. Ferguson was paid $1,500 a month as receiver. The board of trustees will receive no compensation.
The cemetery's financial mess was discovered by Pinckard, who, as the county's commissioner of revenue in 1991, turned up a $700,000 shortfall in vaults, markers and opening and closings while reviewing sales contracts for more than 9,000 plots at the cemetery, located between Boones Mill and Rocky Mount on U.S. 220.
Under state law, owners of the cemetery should have set aside a percentage of revenue for maintenance and perpetual care.
Pinckard's discovery set off a chain reaction of events, including criminal charges brought against one of Franklin Memorial Park's former owners, Patrick Rooney III. Rooney has been indicted by a grand jury on fraud charges but has never been apprehended. He is believed to be in Florida.
Since 1991, Ferguson has held several meetings with creditors, including people who have bought plots at the cemetery that have never been assigned. One of those is Overton, who still hasn't received deeds for two plots he purchased.
The sheriff is overseeing the use of inmates to do maintenance work at the cemetery.
The board of trustees will continue to look for prospective buyers, Overton said. At the same time, the board is also looking at options to purchase more land adjacent to Franklin Memorial Park for an expansion.
However, the possible expansion might be overshadowed by the appearance of a new cemetery, whose owner said he made several fair offers to buy Franklin Memorial Park, none of which was accepted.
Clark Jamison, a Boones Mill real estate appraiser who owns about 18 acres north of Franklin Memorial Park, said Friday that he will open the cemetery - Grandview Memorial Park - as early as August.
"We think we will have the nicest cemetery land in the state - and the soundest one financially," he said.
Jamison said that when he purchased the land, his plan was to add it to Franklin Memorial Park, which he wanted to buy.
He said he made a verbal offer to take ownership of the cemetery and run it for 20 percent of the revenue he took in.
"They told me the best offer they had at the time was 45 percent," he said. "But they weren't interested. They wanted us to jump through all these hoops. Well, we don't jump through hoops."
Jamison said one of the stipulations was that he would have to assume the responsibility of the $700,000 shortfall if he purchased the cemetery.
"To me, it made absolutely no sense to buy it," he said.
But Pinckard, who was appointed chairman of the trustees, said Jamison would give no guarantees that he would honor merchandise already purchased by creditors.
Jamison later offered to sell his acreage to Franklin Memorial Park for $4.5 million - an offer at least one member of the board of trustees believes was excessive.
Through the use of a state law sponsored by Sen. Virgil Goode, D-Rocky Mount, Franklin County can condemn up to five acres of any land surrounding Franklin Memorial Park.
But Jamison said it shouldn't be his land.
"Does it make any sense to buy land for the same price you're going to sell it for?'' he asked.
by CNB