DoD treated crematory unfairly, owner says

[unhappycamper]

DoD treated crematory unfairly, owner says
By Erik Holmes - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Jun 3, 2008 18:49:22 EDT

The owner of the funeral parlor and cremation service at the center of a controversy over service members’ remains says his business was treated unfairly and its reputation damaged by a too-hasty Pentagon decision.

Torbert Funeral Chapel in Dover, Del., lost a contract in May with the port mortuary at Dover Air Force Base to cremate the remains of service members who died in Iraq and Afghanistan after it came to light that the company’s facility also cremates pets, albeit in separate crematories.

Bill Torbert, the company’s owner and president, said the Pentagon made its decision to suspend the contract without investigating the business or giving Torbert a chance to defend himself.

“We just feel that ... someone jumped the gun on making some judgments about the way that we do business and that we were treated a little bit unfairly,” Torbert said. “Not that it affected our business a lot ... but it has certainly tarnished our reputation, which is something that’s very hard to recover from.”

Torbert Funeral Chapel and the Torbert family have had a close relationship with the military for many years, Torbert said. The company began embalming the bodies of service members who died overseas in 1958, and the Air Force has used the company for cremations since 1989.


Rest of article at: http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2008/06/airforce_mortuary_060208/