Bob Riley, Jackie Peoples and Bob Love
John Graham
Well, Jackie Peoples is the Republican candidate for coroner in Colbert
County. Everybody knows who Bob Riley is, and most know who Bob Love is.
Just in case you have had the benefit of being shielded from the media love
affair with Mr. Love, he is the wealthy promoter of all things Sheffield
(even though he lives on the lake in a secure compound since he got stabbed
in his sleep by someone yelling, "This is for Tommy White!" and who grew up
in a rural part of Tuscumbia, adjacent to my grandparents). His Park Place
is lovely, and so are his boy...Wait! Now, that's another story.
Mr. Peoples, at age 29, is a former apprentice embalmer at Greenview Funeral
Home in Florence, formerly an embalmer with Joe Morrison (the current
coroner in Colbert County) and currently embalmer at Colbert Memorial
Chapel. Bob Love owns Greenview and is the senior partner at Colbert.
What does this have to do with the price of tea in China Grove?
Remember Billy Richardson? He was coroner in Lauderdale County until Myron
Crunk, my old classmate at Mars Hill, defeated him after Billy was awarded
yet another highly publicized DUI just before the election. Billy still
works at Greenview as an embalm...er, he prefers "mortician." While
coroner, he paraded more dead folks through the prep room at Greenview than
Tri-State Crematory in Georgia threw in the pond out back and gave
permanent, shallow graves. Did it help Greenview, a new funeral home at the
time, get established? Get business? You bet your burial vault it did.
The coroner gets his hands on that body before anyone else, unless it's
murder. Which is what Billy did to Elkins and Spry in Florence. Greenview
prospered during his reign.
Sooo....now we have Joe Morrison retiring after years of his funeral home
reaping the benefits of his position as coroner in Colbert County. The new
guy, Colbert Memorial, open for business just ten years ago, wants to muscle
in on the lucrative "death care" business monopolized by Morrison for so
many years. Bob saw what Billy Richardson could do. Right? Why not run
somebody against the democratic candidate, Heffen-hoofer-feffer, whatever.
The police detective in Tuscumbia. An inexperienced, immature,
hot-tempered, boy trocar-poker could beat him. Right? Who needs
experience? He's a mortuary school graduate!
There's the connection between Bob Love and Jackie Peoples. What about Bob
Riley? Bob Riley most likely has never heard of Jackie Peoples and,
probably, never will. But Bob, shrewd businessman that he is, thinks
Peoples will ride into the coroner's office on Bob Riley's coattails.
Now that the connection has been established, consider this. Who would you
rather have coming to your home on the worst day or night of your life,
picking up your dead mother, father, husband, wife or child, determining how
they died and taking them to the mortuary for "preparation" - a kid like
Jackie Peoples, bought and paid for by Bob Love, the owner of the funeral
home he works for? Or a seasoned police veteran, someone who has
investigated murders and suspicious accidents for a good part of his adult
life and has NO connection to any funeral home? I'll leave his name for you
to research since I don't want to tarnish it by associating it with the
likes of Love an Peoples.
The answer is obvious, isn't it? And, if you want another reason to elect
the police investigator over the baby-faced embalmer, the coroner is the
only official in the county who can arrest the sheriff.
Nunya
> What do those three have in common?
>
> Well, Jackie Peoples is the Republican candidate for coroner in Colbert
> County. Everybody knows who Bob Riley is, and most know who Bob Love is.
Heh. That river sure is wide, you know? I've never heard of any of these
guys.
John Graham
ticket, and he seems somewhat qualifed. Jackie Peoples is running for
coroner on the Republican ticket and is not qualified for the job. Bob
Love, a wealthy businessman in Sheffield, is financing Peoples' campaign
because he owns the funeral home where Peoples works (think a coroner might
be able to bring "business" there?). In my original post, I said Bob Riley
had probably never heard of Jackie Peoples and, probably, never will.
Peoples is a young, inexperienced, bankrupt (1997), philanderer who only
wants the job because it pays $5,000.00 a year. He needs the money.
ME
>Love, a wealthy businessman in Sheffield, is financing Peoples' campaign
>because he owns the funeral home where Peoples works (think a coroner might
>be able to bring "business" there?).
Are you blind to the fact that the long-standing coroner in Colbert has his
name on two funeral homes in the same county?
As far as qualifications: only a high school diploma is needed. Joe is not a
doctor, just a politician/mortician.
John Graham
information, Joe Morrison is not running for coroner this time. That's why
Bob Love has a candidate.
Jerrymediccs2
a BIG draw of customers to the place you work. You can take all dead to your
place and transfer to the familys choice thus charging the other funeral home
for mortuary storage.
Jerrymediccs2
Coroner. Now there is a conflict of interests!!! Do you kill or heal????
Daniel Tidwell
"Jerrymediccs2" <jerrym...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20020602233952...@mb-fe.aol.com...
> Oh yea, I forgot, here in Lawrence county the Ambulance service owner is
the
> Coroner. Now there is a conflict of interests!!! Do you kill or heal????
doens't matter.. he profits either way..so there is no conflict.
now if there were doctors that had invested in funeral homes or a memorial
garden, then i might start wondering :o)
ME
>a BIG draw of customers to the place you work. You can take all dead to your
>place and transfer to the familys choice thus charging the other funeral home
>for mortuary storage.
Doesn't work that way. If the body is not immediately claimed, it goes to the
public morge. (sp?) I believe Colbert's is at Helen Keller Hospital. About 95%
of bodies are gonna go directly to the family's choice. So the number that
could be somehow directed to the coroner's own place is so minute, it doesn't
matter. Not to mention the fact that unidentified corpses are usually buried at
cut-rate prices paid for by the county or city. So there's no money to be made
there. Several other funeral home do quite well in the shoals, despite
Morrison's long standing post as coroner.
ME
>information, Joe Morrison is not running for coroner this time. That's why
>Bob Love has a candidate.
Then why has morrison not had any gain as a result of his position? Last my
brother told me, they weren't averaging even a body per day. That was a few
years back, but he's been coroner for mucho anos. Using your reasoning, he
should have put all the other's out of business long ago.
John Graham
was bolstered by his position as coroner. He does multiples of funerals as
opposed to Spry Sheffield and Colbert Memorial Chapel (where Jackie Peoples
works). Anyone who doesn't think being coroner helps the funeral home they
own or at which they work is blind to the facts. As it stands now, dead
folks go to Morrison Funeral Home unless the family tells one of Joe's
underlings (he rarely goes on calls himself) that they want another funeral
home.
It does matter if the coroner is associated with a funeral home. At
present, Jackie Peoples, a 29-year-old funeral director at Colbert Memorial
and a republican, is running against seasoned Tuscumbia Police Detective
Heffernan. Which would you choose?
ME
>opposed to Spry Sheffield and Colbert Memorial Chapel
That's because of the length of time he's been in business. Love's cobert
chapel is still new compared to the former Morisson/Elkin's Funeral home. He is
thriving due to longevity, but he is not putting anyone out of business. By the
way, the coroner (or underlings) does not even have a part in most deaths. Most
occur at hospitals where a report is simply filed to the coroner by a doctor.
The family calls whatever home they want to caome pick up the body. Body's with
no preference are usually the ones that end up being free, cause the family
cannot afford a service. That's the reason they wouldn't specify a funeral
home. Who wants to direct those to his own business?
>As it stands now, dead
>folks go to Morrison Funeral Home unless the family tells one of Joe's
>underlings
You are confusing coroner visits to crime scenes, and home deaths, with normal
body pick-ups. His "underlings" as you call them, include my brother, and they
do not work for the coroner, they work for the funeral home business. The
coroner does not have a staff. You've watched too much Quincy and CSI.
>It does matter if the coroner is associated with a funeral home.
It might to you, but if you look at what his duties are, it shouldn't. Nothing
that a funeral director or mortician does makes him more qualified to be a
coroner. It's purely a political post in these parts. It's neither medical, nor
investigative. They do not do autopsies, those are sent to tuscaloosa, or
B'ham. The cop is just as qualified as Mr. Peoples.
Joseph Underwood
own a funeral business and be coroner due to conflict of interests if
it's that big a deal. Seems this would make the arguement a mute
point.
Joe