Shouldn't the state have as much control over cemeteries as they do over barbers?

The one thing we found out almost from the beginning is if you get your hair cut, a barber is more highly regulated than the people who operate cemeteries. There is virtually no regulation whatsoever.

-- Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart

Families with loved ones buried at Mount Hope Cemetery in Belleville and Valley View Cemetery in Edwardsville have many questions now that the cemeteries -- already missing $300,000 from prepaid burial accounts and struggling to keep the grass cut -- apparently have closed.
The situation isn't as bad as Burr Oak Cemetery in Cook County, where employees allegedly dug up hundreds of bodies so they could resell burial sites. But it's bad enough.

Imagine finding out that slip of paper that promised perpetual care is meaningless. And what should Belleville and Edwardsville leaders do? Take on the expense of maintaining a cemetery? Or let the weeds grow and put up with complaints about an eyesore?

Comptroller Dan Hynes just notified the owners that they can't just quit. But how can the state force a business to keep going?

Along with these new questions, we're still waiting for an answer to an old one. Hynes discovered that money was missing in October, yet eight months later no criminal charges have been filed. What's the holdup?

Gov. Pat Quinn has appointed a commission to look at regulating cemeteries. Hynes and some lawmakers tried to get regulations enacted this week, without success.

It seems reasonable that the state should have at least as much control over cemetery owners as they do over barbers