State cemetery panel recommends more oversight

A task force is recommending tougher regulation and oversight of Illinois cemeteries in the wake of alleged desecration at a historic graveyard in suburban Chicago.

The main recommendation made by the Cemetery Oversight Task Force in its final report calls for all existing regulation of cemeteries to be the responsibility of one department.

At a news conference Tuesday, Gov. Pat Quinn called the existing regulatory setup a "crazy quilt" of rules and offices that doesn't work. The panel calls on state lawmakers to pass a new Cemetery Oversight Act that would also establish tougher license requirements.

The panel was formed in July after four former workers at Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip were accused of digging up hundreds of bodies and reselling plots in a money making scheme.

All four workers have pleaded not guilty.