Tom Ryans, president and CEO, was up front about 2008, and optimistic about 2009.

The negative consumer sentiment which impacted preneed cemetery sales coupled with the extraordinary decline in the financial markets had a significant negative effect on our cemetery operating results. On the bright side, our funeral operations delivered solid operating results as we would have expected as they are less sensitive to economic conditions and the financial markets.

Full Release

Service Corporation International has withdrawn its rezoning application in Newport News, Virginia. The funeral service provider had sought to rezone land within its Peninsula Memorial Park to build a funeral home there.

This is the third application the company has submitted, and each time, there has been much opposition. Most citizens are fearful that SCI’s presence will take too much business away from local funeral homes. City officials say a funeral home is not in keeping with their long-range plan for that area, which calls for green space. The city is researching legislative means to prevent any entity from rezoning or building withing a cemetery.

Sabine Hirschauer of the Daily Press has more.

A Boston funeral home owned by Service Corporation International is on the hook for $325,000 after losing the remains of a still-born infant in 2003.

Therese Bellissimo and Robert Benedict had twins in 2003, but one, Lourdes, was still-born. The family retained the services of JS Waterman & Sons, but the funeral home lost the boy’s remains, and admitted he may have been cremated with an unrelated woman.

Local coverage here, here, and here.

I especially like how Joseph J. Leghorn, the attorney for the funeral home, admitted Waterman lost the boy’s remains, but contended that any emotional distress the Benedicts suffered was the result of the premature delivery, and the boy’s death, not the loss of his remains. Yes, I’m sure sifting through another person’s ashes wasn’t distressing at all.