Current Events Watch

Resting in peace certainly hasn’t been an option for Brady Conger! Lots of above-ground activity going on lately. The 17-year old was killed when he and some friends slammed into an SUV last year. Then his cemetery headstone was repossessed because a $750 bill went unpaid.

“That’s just business,” said Linda Anderson of Memorial Art Monument. “If we give every stone to everybody, we’d be out of business. They’d repossess your car if you didn’t make payments.”

Well, true. There is a difference, though, and a big one. If I miss a car payment and the repo man cometh, someone else will certainly buy the car. Everyone is happy. Well, except for me, of course, since I’ll have to get around on foot. But what are they going to do with a slab of granite engraved with Brady Conger’s name, birth date, death date, final epitaphs? Could there possibly be another 17-year old Brady Conger family out there who has been waiting patiently for the last year for just such an opportunity to buy a previously-owned headstone at auction for a discounted price?

I’m not necessarily letting his mother, who had promised to pay, off of the hook. Maybe she ran into hard times and couldn’t afford it, or perhaps she did simply skip out on the payments. I don’t know her story.

The point is, every business takes losses. It’s a tax write-off, if nothing else. Repossessing a tombstone, though, particularly from a kid’s grave, just seems wrong to me. Let the kid rest in peace, and if you can’t get in touch with the mother, you’ll just have to accept that loss. Business is risky. Or turn it over to a collection agency, they have ways of tracking people down. I know, I used to work for one. There are certainly other options.

I’m sure the repo guys didn’t haul it off for no fee. The company will no doubt write off those expenses come tax time.

On a positive note, Brady’s classmates have raised the $750 to pay the bill, and the headstone will be reinstalled this week. More expense write-offs, I guess, but at least maybe then Brady can finally, truly, rest in peace.

repossessed headstone, teenager’s headstone