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February 25, 2005 Advertise - Contact Info - Email Headlines - Home Delivery Specials - Place a Classified Ad - Submit Announcements - Site Map Herald Today's News Back Issues Herald Records Birth Notices Editorials Honor Rolls Obituaries Milestones Police Logs Quick Clicks Churches Club Listings Concerts Crossword Event Calendar Exhibits Legals Lottery Mortgage Rates Movie Times Site Search Theatre TV Times Weather Marketplaces Cars Classifieds Dating Dining Golf Jobs Lodging Real Estate Skiing Yellow Pages Sections Business Entertainment Health Living Maine News Online Only Public Records Sports Tourism Travel Print this Story Email this Article Bayview’s ex-owner cited for violations of funeral home regulations in Mass. By Beth LaMontagne blamontagne@seacoastonline.com SEABROOK - Bayview Crematory, where the decomposing body of an as-yet-unidentified woman in her fifties was found Wednesday, has a dark history with Massachusetts authorities. The crematorium’s former owner, Derek A. Wallace, has been under scrutiny in Massachusetts since 2001 for allegedly violating state regulations as a funeral home director. Wallace, the owner of Hart-Wallace Funeral Home in Lawrence, Mass., had his funeral home director license suspended for five years in August 2004 for refusing funeral services to customers who had already paid. The Board of Registration for Embalming and Funeral Homes, part of the Massachusetts Division of Professional Licensure, also found Wallace in violation of a state regulation that prohibits a person from owning two different businesses in the funeral industry, such as a crematorium and a funeral home. Wallace is appealing his case and has regained his license under a law that requires the suspension of punishments given out by professional boards if an appeal is filed, according to Amy Collins of the Massachusetts Division of Licensure. The man who filed the complaint against Wallace, Raymond Blanchard, treasurer of the Funeral Consumers Alliance of Eastern Massachusetts, said he has been following the case against Wallace for a number of years. "He has a proven history of taking shortcuts and thumbing his nose at regulation," said Blanchard. Wallace, at a hearing before the Massachusetts Division of Licensure in late 2002, claimed he was not in violation of the regulation because he had sold Bayview to his mother, Linda Stokes, earlier that year for $1. Stokes testified that her husband, Lawrence, was the contractor who built the structure in which the crematorium operated, and that he was running the day-to-day operations. When the body was discovered Wednesday, however, Rockingham County Attorney Jim Reams said Lawrence Stokes was living in Florida. Under Massachusetts law, a crematorium must be located at a cemetery and operated by the cemetery owners. Because funeral homes are responsible for dropping off bodies and later picking up the ashes, crematoriums in that state are visited regularly. Blanchard cited the 2002 case of a crematorium in Noble, Ga., where 334 corpses were found on the property, as an example of problems that could occur if that law was not in place. In addition to being unlicensed, Bayview had not been inspected by the state of New Hampshire, Reams said. "I find it baffling that this crematorium was open from 1999 till today and unlicensed, and nobody was aware of it or paying attention to it," he said. "It’s inexplicable to me, and a little shocking, particularly in light of what we found there. "I think the cavalier manner in which the remains of people and the medical waste were treated is absolutely appalling," said Reams. "It’s clearly an area that needs serious review and reform." State Police Detective Jill Rockey said more than 1,000 bodies had been cremated at the facility. According to a 2003 newspaper article in The Boston Globe, Bayview had become "a controversial powerhouse in the Bay State cremation business" by handling bodies for $190, considered a low price. The transportation of bodies and ashes is a major expense for funeral homes, the article said. Funeral director John Anderson, of Anderson-Bryant Funeral Home in Stoneham, Mass., also expressed concern in 2003 about Bayview’s pickup and delivery service. His funeral home prefers to monitor cremations, he said. "That eliminates the problem they had in Georgia," he said. Wednesday’s search stemmed from a state police investigation into Gene Nigro, a suspended county medical examiner who was indicted last year on charges that he kept prescription drugs from dead people and performed his job after being suspended. Nigro’s trial is scheduled to start this summer, said Reams. Material from The Associated Press is included in this report. 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