Dear Editor,

My brother, Charles Jayne, passed away in Kosciusko Community Hospital on May 31. He was a Vietnam Era veteran, and unfortunately, due to having MS and injuries from the service, he spent the last 15 years in nursing homes, the last 7 being here in Warsaw.

Due to this fact, he was absolutely destitute when he passed. He passed away on a Thursday and his son traveled here from Virginia, arriving the following morning, to make final arrangements. His son called the Wayne Township Trustee that morning because he had been told they had a program that could assist in the burial costs. He got an answering machine and left a message. At that time, he and I proceeded to make final arrangements, which consisted of cremation, which was the least expensive option for us. My husband and I put down an initial payment so that the cremation could be performed.

On the following Tuesday, (June 5), his son was informed that our request for help was being denied because “he didn’t follow correct procedures.” The correct procedure was to call first, before making any final arrangements.

He did call, and left a message

The message was not answered until Tuesday, a full 5 days after his call.

The Trustee said she had been out for a golf outing for the weekend, and did not bother to return her calls until Tuesday.

She told the funeral director that HE should have called her, but his son had already placed the call.

Today she reiterated that “Yes,” she did get the call, “Yes,” she did not return the call, and we were being denied because we did NOT FOLLOW PROCEDURE? She stated that we somehow should have gotten hold of her. Are you kidding me?

Am I the only one who thinks this is moronic logic?

After he contacted her again this morning and said we were going to file an appeal, she was offended that we even knew there was an appeal process. She even asked HOW we found out about an appeal process!

I wanted to let everyone know that his is the kind of employees we have in our township governments. This is offensive behavior at any level of government.

It’s also offensive for a veteran to be treated this way.

Laurie R Voss
Columbia City, Ind.