Monks revive casket business

Who would have thought a few Benedictine monks who build and sell simple wooden caskets in south Louisiana could prompt a federal court case and front page coverage in the Wall Street Journal?

It  happened in tiny Saint Benedict, La., when Saint Joseph Abbey challenged a state law that prohibited their woodworking enterprise, thus pitting the religious order against the state’s powerful funeral home industry. The unique story has been likened to the Biblical David and Goliath narrative, and while the monastery won its first court battle this past summer, the war is not over yet. Some say the legal case could eventually wind its way up to the U.S. Supreme Court.

This compelling tale  combines wood product manufacturing and sales with constitutional issues about restraint of trade. The story of the casket-building monks of Saint Joseph Woodworks gained national exposure in 2010 with captivating headlines like “Coffins Made With Brotherly Love Have Undertakers Digging In,” and “Bayou Monks, Praying for Revenue, Battle ‘Casket Cartel’ to Sell Wares.” 
  
For more than a century, the monks of Saint Joseph Abbey have hand-crafted caskets to bury their dead in a private cemetery on their 1,200 acre campus just north of Covington in St. Tammany Parish.

“It started as simple pine boards nailed together,” with the deceased tucked in with the pillow and sheet from his bed, explained Deacon Mark Coudrain, who runs the Abbey’s woodworking shop. As the years went by, people outside the order began noticing the caskets and asked about buying them. When a couple of prominent Roman Catholic clergymen were laid to rest in the caskets, public demand increased, said Deacon Mark, who once was a Saint Joseph student, then had a career as a cabinet maker and television station manager.  The deacon — who says he felt this new venture was “something God was calling me to do”  —  was able to cajole the monastery’s leader, Abbot Justin Brown, into further development of the woodworking shop. In November 2007, the enterprise was launched.

“We began to think the small industry could help bring in needed income,” said Abbot Brown, who oversees the group of 38 monks and 81 seminarians who call Saint Joseph home. “Monasteries are supposed to be self-supporting. We thought this could be an important way to sustain ourselves.

But the monks soon ran afoul of a Louisiana law that — until it was ruled unconstitutional in July — made it a crime for anyone but a government-licensed funeral director to sell “funeral merchandise,” which includes caskets, to Louisiana residents.  To operate legally, the monks would have had to train as funeral directors, convert their monastery into a “funeral establishment” and install embalming equipment. The law, however, did not prohibit Louisiana residents from purchasing caskets from out-of-state retailers, nor did it prohibit the monks from selling their wares outside the state.

With legal help from the Institute for Justice, a public interest law firm based in Arlington, Va., the Abbey filed suit in the summer of 2010 in U.S. District Court in New Orleans to try to overturn the state’s edict. Judge Stanwood Duval ruled this past July that the state law is unconstitutional, clearing the way for the monks of Saint Joseph to legally make and sell their caskets to state residents. In his ruling, the judge noted, “No evidence was presented to demonstrate that requiring the purchase of caskets from licensed funeral directors aids the public welfare.” However, Louisiana is appealing that decision to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal, so the case is not over.

“We see this as a very important, precedent-setting issue,” said Jeff Rowes, one of the two lead attorneys representing the monks. “The monks stand in the shoes of entrepreneurs all over the country.” He explained that the basic issues are about economic protectionism, unnecessary trade regulation and the right of people to make a living. “There is a huge amount of occupational licensing across the country, and it constitutes a barrier to competition in many states.” Rowes added that he expects his client’s case “will prevail in the Court of Appeal.

That will likely be many months from now, and in the meantime, Saint Joseph Woodworks continues to legally operate in their spacious new shop on the monastery grounds. On a tour of the shop this fall, Deacon Mark explained how his small crew of woodworkers craft their products, which now include  cypress caskets, urns and rosary boxes.

“We use four or five different vendors for our cypress, and try to stick with domestic wood,” he said. A small showroom off the main shop floor displays the two casket models — the “monastic” style, which costs $1,500 and the “traditional” version that sells for $2,000. (The prices include free delivery within 50 miles of the monastery.)  Different handles and edge finishes are the two most noticeable differences between the two styles.

“It takes us roughly a day to make a casket,” the deacon said, and the current goal is to produce about 10 caskets a month. The craftsmen, who include monks as well as local laypeople, have highly -specialized tasks — one cuts and sands the casket tops, while another makes and attaches handles and  others sew the pillows and interior upholstery. A natural lacquer finish typically completes the process, though an occasional custom order may call for stain or paint. A small Benedictine medallion placed in each casket, urn or rosary chest is a distinctive final touch.

“I enjoy working with my hands and seeing what becomes of it in the end,” explained Brother Elias Eichorn, a 25-year-old Houma native who recently made his monastic vows. His specialty is crafting the wood tops for the caskets, a skill he learned from Joe Jarrel, a lay volunteer at the shop. Besides working Monday through Friday in the wood shop, Brother Elias is pursuing a master’s degree in theology.

Deacon Mark explained that the shop is open to custom orders from individuals and families who want caskets personalized. He remembers one individual who wanted a simple pine casket without knots; another wanted a similar box with ample knots.  In another instance, a child who was dying of cancer requested a yellow painted casket that her family decorated with art and personal messages.  The act of ordering a custom casket prior to death, he said, can help a family approach the difficult subject of death. “Sometimes it helps get the conversation going about death. It can be such a teaching moment.”

“Casket-making fits in with our lives here,” said Abbot Brown. “It’s a reminder of our mortality, reminding us of another life to come. It’s not a sad thing.”  In addition, he said, buying a casket hand-made by local Benedictine monks is a way of personally connecting with the monastery — “an opportunity to be involved with us.” 

Though the state funeral board has fought the Abbey’s entry into the casket market, an FTC rule requires funeral homes to accept caskets supplied by clients.  Deacon Mark pointed out that “most funeral directors are very, very kind and great to work with.“

Besides the woodworking shop, Saint Joseph Abbey is home to two other cottage industries — a bakery that delivers bread to New Orleans homeless and a new soap-making enterprise; the campus also includes a busy retreat center, seminary college, an art-filled, Romanesque abbey church and monk’s refectory (both listed on the National Register of Historic Places), a gift shop and some surrounding forestland.

Both Abbot Brown and Deacon Mark shared their hope that as the profits from Saint Joseph Woodworks grow, the funds will help supplement the budget for healthcare and educational services for the monks. That hope also includes their prayer that the woodshop continues to remain a legal business in the state.
“I feel confident that we will win the case,” said Abbot Brown.

(For more information visit  saintjosephabbey.com.)

                           

   

       

   

When arson hits home

By Janet Tompkins
Tropical Storm Lee was in the news on Sept. 2 and most of the state was awaiting the first rain they ‘d had in a while during the long hot summer. But when the winds began whipping up in north Louisiana, ahead of the rain, a dangerous situation arose in the community of Ashland in Natchitoches Parish.

Twelve-year-old Bayli Quick was home alone when she saw the first signs of fire. “I saw the smoke across the road and all over the sky,” she remembers. Her father, Ronnie Quick, a Natchitoches Parish sheriff’s deputy, also saw the smoke and was busy helping to place a tanker near a neighbor’s home as volunteer firefighters arrived.

Three state fire crews  (two from Natchitoches and one from Coushatta) were on the fire within 20 minutes and when they saw the severity of it called in 10 more crews from around the state. The U.S. Forest Service also dispatched three crews. At one point there were three planes from the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry (LDAF) helping the crews.

“I saw a deer and a doe running without slacking off,” said Ronnie Quick. “There was a ball of fire and I couldn’t even see the fire truck ahead of us. Somebody said the house on the corner is on fire. My house is the only one on the corner.”

The Quick’s friend and neighbor Travis Guin had already picked up Bayli and taken her from the house. When Ronnie got to his place he was able to get his wife’s dog out of the house. That’s all that they were able to salvage from the home that was totally consumed by fire.

His wife, Angel, was rushing from work to the fire after someone called to tell her that her house was on fire. “It looked like the whole world was on fire,” she said. The fire took their house and all their possessions, her late father-in-law’s house next door, the ‘66  Ford Mustang her husband was going to redo, his four wheelers and tractor, sheds and the woods where Bayli liked to hunt. Their four horses survived only to have one of them electrocuted the next day from a fallen wire.

The fire crews worked through the night to establish fire lines but when it was over 4,180 acres of timber were destroyed, 10 homes (two of them occupied) and 35 outbuildings. Timber losses were estimated at $5 million and about $3 million in homes and other valuables.

When investigators began the work to discover how the fire started, it was another blow to the victims. Arson is the cause of the blaze.

A $10,000 reward is being offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of individuals responsible for the wildfire. The Louisiana Forestry Association, Hancock Forestry, Roy O. Martin Lumber Company, Weyerhaeuser and the Natch-itoches Parish Chamber of Commerce put up the reward.
“Too often people don’t think of woods arson as a crime,” said C.A. “Buck” Vandersteen, “but this case illustrates the danger and the damage inflicted on our state and our people by arson. When people are responsible for wildfire, they are committing a crime and are subject to criminal penalties.”
Charlie Greer, head of enforcement for the Louisiana Dept. of Agriculture and Forestry, said those responsible for the Ashland fire will be charged with a Class 1 felony and would face 2-10 years in prison plus restitution for the damages.

For the Quick family it was the last straw in a long hard year. Ronnie’s father was under their care till his death last year and then Ronnie was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease at age 54. Losing their home and everything in it was yet another hard blow.

When Commissioner Mike Strain announced the reward in their front yard, the Quicks had a new double-wide in place after 5 weeks without a home. But every day they think of something else they’ve lost that was consumed by the fire. When asked for a photo of their old home for this story, they shook their head. Their photos are gone except for those on Angel’s phone. Bayli’s gun that she used for her 4-H competition had to be replaced. Their freezer full of food is gone. Bayli’s camera, Ronnie’s tools…the list goes on and on.

Dorothy Guin said it’s a miracle the fire went around her house. She didn’t have any trees near the house and not much grass as the fire swooped around the house and took the woods. “I just prayed–‘Lord let this wind cease,’” she said. Her house still stands with everything around it burned.

Volunteer fire chief John Wooley said the fire burned fast but it also burned hot. “It sounded like a train coming out of the woods,” he said. The fire was blazing out of the tops of the 30-foot tall trees as it quickly burned.  

Buddy Graham, LDAF firefighter with over 32 years experience, worked the radio dispatch the day of the Ashland fire. “It was a very dangerous situation,” he explained. Typically forest fires are extinguished by plowing fire lines and then back firing to eliminate the fuel and stop the fire.  “They had to stop the back firing,” Graham said. The high winds were blowing up the backfires. Instead they put two dozers as close to the fire as possible and then bladed a line around it. “You have to get right up to the fire to make it work,” Graham said.  “It makes it a whole lot more dangerous especially for the guy behind you.”

Those in the dozers have a special cab which has bulletproof glass and air conditioning to keep the driver cool. “You can’t feel the fire,” Graham explained. “Sometimes you get too close.” In the Ashland fire  the blaze was jumping over the dozer. “That’s where the planes are invaluable.”  The pilot can warn the dozer driver when the fire jumps behind it or else he can get caught with fire all around him.

Firefighters worked from 1:45 p.m. through the night with only a little rest either at the office or at the site. “One guy came in the office for a couple of hours rest but a lot of them never left.”

For weeks after the fire, they experienced “reburn” from the smoldering stumps. Needles will fall from the burned trees, land in the stumps and reignite the fire.
“I’ve been doing this for 32 1/2 years,” said Buddy Graham. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen it as dry as it is now.”

One Ashland resident has her house intact but lost her timber in the fire. That was one family’s “money on the stump” taken by an  arsonist.

Maybe the arson reward program can play a part in making sure some form of pay-back comes to fire victims of the Ashland community.

(Janet Tompkins is editor of Forests & People.)
 




    
 

Delaneys of Woodworth: Louisiana Forest Seed

 By Jim Barnett and Anna Burns

In 1913, the Delaney family purchased about 200 acres of land from the Ashton Plantation near Woodworth. Thus began nearly a century of leadership in developing and applying innovative forestry technologies.

T.R. Delaney and sons Charles and Luther grew alfalfa hay and shipped it by rail, via a railroad spur that extended from the property to Woodworth to sell it to logging camps. Hay was in demand to feed horses, mules and oxen used in logging operations. It was during this time that the Delaneys observed the need for reforestation of large areas of cutover forests.

An uncle of Charles and Luther, J.M. Delaney, was superintendent of the high school at Lamourie in the late 1910s and traveled to school using a hand-powered rail cart from his home near Woodworth. The students frequently hid the cart and his trip home was delayed until he could find and retrieve it.

With the establishment of the Alexander State Forest in 1923, both Charles and Luther, who had served in WWI, accepted positions with the Forestry Division, Department of Conservation, to begin developing the state forest.

The initial 2,200 acres of land for the state forest was acquired from H.S. Burrowes. Somewhat later, additional acreage was purchased from the Ashton Plantation. This latter portion, adjacent to the Delaney property, became the headquarters for the forest.

Much of the state forest land had been in agriculture and needed reforestation. A nursery was established in the late-1920s to provide tree seedlings for planting.

 Luther Delaney became the first manager of a state tree-seedling nursery in the South. He had little formal education, but had a farm background and understood growing of plants. Philip Wakeley and other Forest Service, Southern Forest Experiment Station specialists provided technical information for seedling production and nursery management as it was developed. Soon Luther led the nursery to become a pioneer in producing tree seedlings in the South.

Since there was no public housing on or nearby the state forest, visitors who needed overnight housing stayed in the home of either Charles or Luther. This provided for some interesting and productive interactions with visiting professionals.

One of Derwood’s favorite recollections as a young boy was when during a severe thunderstorm, the big family dog became so frightened of the thunder that he burst through a window and into the bed of the visiting state forester and his wife.

Charles was hired as forest superintendent and served in that position until 1933 when a Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camp was established on the state forest. Camp S-63, comprised of nearly 200 World War I veterans, was organized and supervised by U.S. Army personnel.

Although Army officers were in charge of administering the camp, their responsibility did not extend to the work projects. These were managed by a project superintendent and foremen, who were assigned by the sponsoring agency, in this casethe Division of Forestry, Depart-ment of Conservation. Charles Delaney was chosen as the CCC Project Superintendent.

Charles was an effective and highly respected CCC Project Superintendent. Under his leadership the enrollees constructed two nurseries, 33 bridges, 100 miles of fencing with crosstie posts, 12 fish and bird ponds, 50 miles of gravel roads, five miles of telephone lines, 28 miles of firebreaks, and the world’s tallest lookout tower.

These things were done while planting six million tree seedlings and building Leche Lodge (named after Governor Richard W. Leche), the log building used as the headquarters for the Army and Project Superintendent during the CCC era and later for the state forest.

Charles held Project Superintendent position until the camp closed about six years later. He then returned to the position of superintendent of the Alexander State Forest.

Both Charles and Luther had sons that followed their fathers’ forestry interests. Charles’ son, Charles F. Delaney, Jr., obtained a forestry degree from LSU after serving in WWII and joined the Louisiana Forestry Commission in the late-1940s. After other positions, he was assigned to the state forest at Woodworth where he followed in his father’s footsteps and became superintendent of the forestry program.
He did well and State Forester Jim Mixon was grooming him for the position of state forester when Charlie developed multiple sclerosis and died at an early age.

Luther’s son, Derwood, was determined neither to enter forestry nor to become a state employee. The experience of his parents in the era of Huey Long’s governorship when payroll checks were delayed for months and when Gov. Long withheld a “deduct” from the checks to cover his election campaign expenses made him want to avoid such distressing situations. So, Derwood attended LSU and graduated with a degree in animal husbandry.

However, after graduating and serving a stint in the Army, Derwood accepted a position in 1958 with Howell Cobb in his newly established American Forest Seed Company. Cobb promoted the company and developed customers, while Derwood worked to develop seed collecting, processing, and storing technology on an operational scale.

Direct seeding of southern pines became a widely accepted method of regenerating large acreages of cutover land, but required huge quantities of pine seeds. The seed company quickly expanded its production to meet this need.

Shortly before his untimely death, Howell Cobb sold his seed company to International Forest Seed Company and Derwood remained as their manager for several years. In 1983, Derwood established the Louisiana Forest Seed Company on family land near Woodworth. He is fortunate to have two sons who were interested in the business. John Delaney, the older of the two, is mechanically inclined and has developed seed cleaning technology that has revolutionized forest seed processing.  

Baldcypress seeds, which normally have only 35 to 40 percent viability, can be improved to over 85 percent germination by use of new seed processing equipment and techniques.

Yellow-poplar seeds which usually have the dismal viability of 6 to 10 percent can also be improved to over 85 percent germination. A quantity of yellow-poplar seeds requiring an 18-wheel truck for transport when processed can be shipped back in a pick-up truck. These are examples of the innovative seed processing done by Louisiana Forest Seed Company. 
 
Gary Delaney, who is trained in business and finance, now oversees the business aspects of the company and works to expand markets. The company sells forest seeds worldwide and continues to expand the number of species processed and handled for sale.

Originally the company processed only southern pine seeds, but now has diversified to collect and process seeds of over 200 species of forest trees, shrubs, and understory plants. Sales of these more non-traditional species now account for about 75 percent of their company’s business.

The Delaneys are dedicated to providing seeds of high quality regardless of species. This has resulted in the Louisiana Forest Seed Company becoming one of the premier forest seed companies in the nation and world. There is hope that additional generations of Delaneys will continue the standards of excellence carried out by this family over the last century.

(Dr. Jim Barnett is an Emeritus Scientist with the U.S. Forest Service. Dr. Anna Burns is a respected author specializing in forest history.)
(The Delaneys can be reached at Louisiana Forest Seed at (318) 443-5026.)  





















 

Opinion: In favor of a lumber check-off funded promotion

An obvious assumption of sustainable forestry is that trees will be replanted following harvest of the previous crop.  For many years, the forest industry has relied on migrant labor to help us accomplish this critical task because U.S. citizens have not been willing to do this work.

 To ensure proper seedling survival, tree planting is done during the dormant season, typically December through March in the South.  Due to the seasonal nature of this job, efforts to recruit U.S. citizens have never been successful.  Other aspects of the job such as extensive travel and prolonged periods away from home, the extreme physical demands of the job, and working in all types of weather (cold, rain, sleet, etc.) have proven to be additional deterrents to the ability to hire U.S citizens.  For these reasons, tree planting contractors began hiring migrant seasonal workers under the Department of Labor’s H2B program.

The H2B visa program permits employers to hire foreign workers to come to the U.S and perform temporary nonagricultural jobs on a seasonal, peak load basis.  Why tree planting is considered nonagricultural is a subject for another article.  Many other industries such as seafood processors, sugar cane farmers, landscapers, and outdoor amusement (fairs and circuses) operators use H2B workers.

Over the past several months, the U.S. Department of Labor (USDOL)  has taken up an initiative to enact changes to the H2B program that will seriously threaten the sustainability of our forests and all who depend upon them for jobs and income.  Paramount among the changes is the new the prevailing wage.

This is the wage that is calculated by the USDOL to be the average wage for U.S. workers doing similar type work in a given area.  In Louisiana, the prevailing wage dictated by the Labor Department  will rise from the current $9.60 per hour to the new prevailing wage of $16.31 per hour.  This is a 70% increase in the wage that must be paid to each tree planter.
 

Other changes to regulations concerning housing, transportation and recruiting will only add to the cost of hiring guest workers.  There is no mystery as to why the USDOL is taking such action.
 

Unemployment in the United States currently exceeds 9%, even though the current administration promised it would not rise above 8% if the stimulus bill was passed.  The bill was passed and unemployment continues to rise. The Labor Department is convinced that U.S. citizens will take these jobs if paid enough.  We all know this is not true.  The jobs will still be seasonal, very physically demanding and transient.  

In the department’s zest to “create” jobs, the unintended consequences threaten entire industries.  The immediate impacts include the closure of businesses that employ guest workers.  Tree planting contractors, seafood processors, sugar cane harvesters and others will go out of business and take their jobs, migrants and U.S. citizens, down with them.

Landowners will be forced to make decisions that will have long lasting ramifications.  Some may choose alternative land uses, while others may choose to delay or forgo proper forest regeneration.  With already limited budgets due to a slumping forest products sector, landowners who decide to pay the higher replanting cost will be forced to redeploy monetary resources potentially causing layoffs or undercapitalization in other areas.

 In the long run, manufacturers could be threatened with increased raw material costs and potentially short supplies.  Any or all of these outcomes will lead to the one thing that the Labor Department is professing to stop – loss of American jobs.

At the time of this writing, the outlook for the upcoming planting season is not good.  It is my sincere hope that by the time you read this article in December, the Labor Department will have come to its senses and we will be going about the business of planting trees.
 

Without sustainable forestry, landowners cannot look forward to future income and loggers and manufacturers cannot look forward to a dependable supply of trees to provide the steady, well paying jobs we have been able to enjoy in the past and hope to provide in the future.

 Do your part to help.  Contact your congressional representatives and tell them you support sustainable, economically viable forestry practices and not unnecessary regulation that will result in rising costs and loss, not creation, of American jobs.

(Mickey Rachal is a forester and vice president of land and timber for Roy O. Martin Lumber Co.)

Tree Farm receives PricewaterhouseCoopers approval

This year the Louisiana Tree Farm Program received a fair amount of attention from the auditing firm Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC).

It was part of an annual survey of the American Tree Farm System’s compliance with its Standards of Forest Sustainability. In addition, the Louisiana Forestry Association became the first forestry association in the nation to establish a Tree Farm Group Certification under the Standards of Forest Sustainability for those privately held landowners of 10,000 acres and more.

PwC made their Louisiana Tree Farm inspection tour in May. Twenty-seven tree farmers were surveyed and tree farm inspectors were invaluable helping with site visits and review of management plans. In the South, PwC also inspected tree farms in Mississippi and Tennessee. Tree Farms on the west coast, north central, and eastern regions completed the national survey.

The results of the audit assessment were favorable and the Tree Farm System has met its goal of meeting the Standards for Sustainability for Forest Certification. This is very significant recognition for the oldest forest certification system in the nation.

Having PwC recognize the Tree Farm System for meeting its Standards for Forest Certification aids partners in forest certification like the Sustainable Forestry Initiative and the Forest Stewardship Program meet its goals of providing certified forests products to their customers and sustainably managed forests to federal agencies providing grant money for state projects.

PwC offered several opportunities for improvement within the program, applicable to all states and tree farm leadership. Tree Farm management plans can be improved. PwC looked for more description of landowner’s objectives and documentation to reflect adaptive management activities. PwC liked to see notes in the management plan.

Documentation of contact with other resource professionals concerning endangered species and high conservation value forests can be improved. Having copies of insurance certificates in the file for those logging contractors and others working the land was also recommended.

Tree farmer’s pride in their property came forth admirably. PwC was most impressed with landowner’s excitement of caring for their land and displaying the tree farm sign.  

An entire week in May of this year was dedicated to this tree farm field assessment. No telling how much preparation time for updating management plans and sprucing up the property was devoted to preparing for the assessment. Tree farm inspectors and landowners are complimented for their dedication and attention to their land and keeping the American Tree Farm System a preeminent forest certification in the U.S. and around the world. Louisiana’s 2,000 Tree Farms and 4 million acres of certified forests are first class.
The Louisiana Forestry Association-American Tree Farm System Group Certification was also completed in May of this year. Two LFA members initiated the Group following an audit by PwC and thorough review of their management plans.

Management plans for group members are held to a higher standard because of their size and scope of operations. A Certificate of Registration was issued to LFA and the group members in June. This certificate can be presented to any customer or certification body affirming that the LFA-Tree Farm Group complies with the Standards for Forest Certification by the  Tree Farm System.

 Since the initial sign-up, two more LFA members have joined the Group. As of November, 194,000 acres of sustainably managed forests have been recognized for meeting the Standards of Sustainability for Forest Certification.

 Hunt Forest Products, Alex T. Hunt, Jr., Crowell Lumber Industries, and Crowell et al Timberlands have received Certificates of Registration for their compliance with the American Tree Farm System Standards of Sustainability.

Landowners have asked why they should certify their lands. There is not a direct monetary benefit. There is however an intrinsic benefit knowing that a landowner’s property is being managed sustainably.
This desire to leave the land and forests for family better than when they found it drives many landowners to have their efforts recognized with a Tree Farm sign of sustainable forest management.

C.A. "Buck" Vandersteen is the executive director of the Louisiana Forestry Association.