News flash, in most cemetaries crosses (along with all sorts of other things) have not been allowed for some time now, never mind banned in the future!!

It was the not some whacked-out Liberal Judge that banned them either, it was a far more insiudious threat ... greed.

Most cemetaries are "for profit" ventures, and believe me when I tell you, VERY profitable they are indeed!!!

So much so that I have been hired twice now to convert golf courses into cemetaries, and I couldn't tell you the number of parcels of vacant land, owned by the owners of golf courses and others, bought as an investment, I have turned into cemetaries because there was more money to be made that way than by any other (legal) use of that land.

So, why ban crosses? Simple, if there are no readily distinguishable signs of anything, then nobody will see anything they don't like.

If you don't belive me, just call around to some of the cemetetaries in your area, most now have a "flat marker only" policy in effect, in other words the grave marker must be flush with the ground, not rising above it at all. This also means they save money in maintenance costs since it's easier to cut the grass, and they don't have to worry about resetting stones that are leaning or toppled over, after all, you can't charge dead people anything can you?

Just to give you an idea of just how much $$$ is involved here, an average cemetary has about 1,000 graves per acre, and prices today range from about $1,000 (good luck finding one) to as much as $5,000+++ (for premium places in big cities) and seem to average about $2,500 in most places.

So, 1,000 sites x $2,500 / site = $2,500,000 per acre, fully developed and sold, a 100 acre cemetary could generate (from sales of plots alone) $2.5 BILLION.

That BTW, does not include income from the sales of markers, hosting funerals, or performing cremations, whcih could in theory triple that income.....

Sad but true folks.

Best of luck.

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