Woman arrested after texting Drug Task agent

Altus Times

March 16, 2010

Mindy Lynn Neugebauer, 26, of Mangum, was been arrested after a Drug Task agent received a text from her about drugs.

According to reports, agent Chris Counts of the Distirct III Drug Task Force received a text message that said, “if you want a hit of this stuff (reference to illegal narcotics) before it is all gone, you better get over here.” He texted back asking the address and got an answer. Counts checked the utility registration and found it to belong to Neugebauer.

Officers went to the address and told Neugebauer about the text message, and she said she thought she had sent the message to a friend. She said the hits she was talking about were from a blunt marijuana rolled inside a cigar, and that was all she had in the residence.

She allowed officers to search the house where they found a loaded .22 caliber pistol in the bathroom closet, and a small plastic sack containing suspected cocaine uner her mattress. A field test determinied the presence of cocaine from the powder.

The evidence was submitted to the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation laboratory for further testing.

A felony warrant was issued for Neugebauer on charges of possession of a controlled substance and unlawful possession of a controlled drug with the intent to distribute. Bond was set at $25,000.

Last Edited: March 17, 2010, 11:48 pm

Dallas police mistakenly send 123 bags of illegal drugs to store

7:33 AM CDT on Wednesday, March 17, 2010

SCOTT GOLDSTEIN

The Dallas Morning News 

At the Dallas CityStore, customers can find affordable furniture, bikes, electronics and other merchandise from the police property room and other city departments.

But a city employee was recently surprised to stumble upon a different product: 123 bags of illegal drugs mistakenly shipped over in a file cabinet by the Dallas Police Department Property Unit.

"It was a terrible oversight," said Sgt. Warren Mitchell, a department spokesman. "We're going to see where we went wrong and try to fix that problem."

The discovery last week came before the cabinet was moved from a back storage room of the store at 3131 Irving Blvd. Police say the public never came in contact with the heroin, cocaine, marijuana and methamphetamine.

"The property room immediately went over there and retrieved a file cabinet of the drugs, and they weighed each bag and each bag weighed the same that was listed on there," Mitchell said.

"Every seal was still sealed. They did not appear to be tampered with and they put them back in the vault" in the property room.

The case was referred to the Police Department's internal affairs division, and the people responsible could face discipline.

The mistake apparently happened in January as employees in the police property room were cleaning out file cabinets used to store drugs from criminal cases.

Officials were making room to build shelves, and the empty cabinets were sent to the CityStore.

The bags were connected to cases dating between 1994 and 2005, and police say it's unlikely any of those cases are still pending.

This is not the first sign of trouble for the Dallas police property room.

A 2008 city audit found that it was disorganized and lacked proper climate control and security.

Department officials largely agreed with those findings.

They said at the time that the division was understaffed, overworked and struggling in an aging facility with flooding and electrical problems.

Last Edited: March 17, 2010, 10:44 pm

Florescu for NewsJennifer Mercado of the Bronx hides her face. She used the credit cards of fellow juror John Postrk (inset) for a $500 shopping spree.

Chu for News

Jennifer Mercado is accused of swiping a fellow juror's American Express card and using it at to buy four pairs of shoes, including Nike Air Jordans.

There was more than one criminal in this courtroom.

The Bronx trial of an accused credit card thief was thrown into turmoil when a juror's plastic was stolen and used for a shopping spree - allegedly by another juror!

Jennifer Mercado, 20, went from sitting in judgment to sitting in a cell after she brazenly waltzed in from lunch breaks loaded down with bags.

The prosecutor of the trial - which also involved a stolen credit card - helped nail her by reviewing the store's security video.

Mercado doesn't deny she used fellow juror John Postrk's American Express card to buy more than $500 worth of loot, but she apparently didn't learn much about reasonable doubt while doing her civic duty.

"The guy did give me permission to use his credit card," she told the Daily News.

Asked why Postrk would do that, Mercado came up with an alibi worthy of "Law & Order."

"He came on to me," she said. "It's a he-said, she-said situation. In court, they will find out he's lying."

Postrk, 49, who works for the Children's Aid Society, said prosecutors asked him not to talk about the case.

He and Mercado were sitting on the trial of Warren Stewart, arrested in 2006 for burglary, grand larceny and possessing a stolen credit card.

On March 8, Postrk's American Express cards and MetroCard were swiped from his coat, court documents charge.

That day, and the next two days, his card was used at local stores during jurors' lunch hour.

When Postrk reported the theft to the judge on March 10, he already had a suspect in mind because the charges on his American Express account came from stores where Mercado had been shopping.

"It's the person that came back with the baggage," Postrk told Judge Barbara Newman.

He noted that a court officer commented on Mercado's bags.

"As we were leaving one of the court officers mentioned, 'Oh, that's a really nice bag,' " Postrk said. "And I just happened to look. And she did a double-take back, like I scared her."

Assistant District Attorney Jacob Kaplan, who was prosecuting Stewart, investigated Postrk's claims during a recess.

With another prosecutor and investigator, he went to stores across from the Bronx Hall of Justice and viewed videos of a woman who appeared to be Mercado using Postrk's card, court transcripts say.

Twenty minutes later, Mercado came back to one of the stores and tried to make a purchase. A manager asked her for ID and she apparently got spooked.

"She pulled out what [the manager] believed to be another American Express card in what he believed was John Postrk's name," Kaplan told the judge.

"And when he turned around, she dropped the credit card and walked out of the store."

At the Jeans Plus shop, Mercado made quite an impression, buying four pairs of shoes, including a pair of Nike Air Jordans.

"She was talking nice to me, asking for a discount," manager Jason Ayoub said.

Mercado was arrested March 12 and charged with grand larceny, stolen property, identity theft and unlawful use of a credit card. She faces four years.

Her lawyer declined comment.

Mercado was removed from the Stewart case but Postrk stayed. The jury acquitted Stewart of having a stolen credit card, but convicted him of burglary.

Stewart's lawyer, Soraya Hurtado, asked for a mistrial because of the incident but was denied.

The district attorney's office declined to comment, but word of the case spread quickly.

"You've got to be really stupid to do that in front of a judge, court officers, law enforcement and all the cameras in this building," said one courthouse employee.

Hawaii considering law to ignore Obama 'birthers'

MARK NIESSE

Associated Press Writer 

Wed Mar 17, 2:48 am ET

HONOLULU – Birthers beware: Hawaii may start ignoring your repeated requests for proof that President Barack Obama was born here.

As the state continues to receive e-mails seeking Obama's birth certificate, the state House Judiciary Committee heard a bill Tuesday permitting government officials to ignore people who won't give up.

"Sometimes we may be dealing with a cohort of people who believe lack of evidence is evidence of a conspiracy," said Lorrin Kim, chief of the Hawaii Department of Health's Office of Planning, Policy and Program Development.

So-called "birthers" claim Obama is ineligible to be president because, they argue, he was actually born outside the United States, and therefore doesn't meet a constitutional requirement for being president.

Hawaii Health Director Dr. Chiyome Fukino issued statements last year and in October 2008 saying that she's seen vital records that prove Obama is a natural-born American citizen.

But the state still gets between 10 and 20 e-mails seeking verification of Obama's birth each week, most of them from outside Hawaii, Kim said Tuesday.

A few of these requesters continue to pepper the Health Department with the same letters seeking the same information, even after they're told state law bars release of a certified birth certificate to anyone who does not have a tangible interest. Responding wastes time and money, Kim said.

Both Fukino and the state registrar of vital statistics have verified that the Health Department holds Obama's original birth certificate.

The issue coincides with Sunshine Week, when news organizations promote open government and freedom of information.

"Do we really want to be known internationally as the Legislature that blocked any inquiries into where President Obama was born?" asked Rep. Cynthia Thielen, R-Kaneohe-Kailua. "When people want to get more information, the way to fuel that fire is to say, 'We're now going to draw down a veil of secrecy.'"

Nobody at the hearing questioned the fact that the president was born in Hawaii.

Attorney Peter Fritz asked why the state would pass a law punishing repetitive requests for open records. Instead, the state could simply say it would only answer each person's question once.

If the measure passed, the state Office of Information Practices could declare an individual a "vexatious requester" and restrict rights to government records for two years.

The committee will schedule a vote on the measure, said Chairman Jon Riki Karamatsu, D-Waipahu-Waikele.

___

The measure is SB2937.

____

On the Net:

Hawaii Legislature, http://capitol.hawaii.gov/

Last Edited: March 17, 2010, 4:44 pm

Toyota Doubts Runaway Prius Driver's Story

9:35am UK

Tuesday March 16, 2010

Alison Chung

Sky News Online

Toyota says it has found no evidence to support a driver's claim that the accelerator pedal on his Prius jammed at 94mph, sparking a dramatic police chase.

The carmaker said its technicians found the car's accelerator pedal and back-up safety system were working correctly on the 2009 gas-electric hybrid vehicle.

A Toyota spokesman said 61-year-old James Sikes' account of racing out of control on a motorway in San Diego, California, did not correspond with a series of tests.

"We have no opinion on his account, what he's been saying, other than that the scenario is not consistent with the technical findings," Mike Michels said.

US safety investigators have also carried out separate tests but have failed to recreate the sudden, unintended acceleration that Mr Sikes said he encountered.

"We would caution people that our work continues and that we may never know exactly what happened with this car," said the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

The highway patrol said the initial findings of Toyota and NHTSA did not constitute sufficient grounds to re-open an inquiry into the incident.

We're not saying Mr Sikes is wrong or that he lied, we're saying that questions have arisen in the investigation.

Kurt Bardella, speaking about the US government's report into the incident

"Up until now, they've presented no physical evidence that's like a smoking gun to disprove Mr Sikes' statement," said spokesman Brian Pennings.

"We have to take Mr Sikes at his word until there's evidence to discount his statement."

Mr Pennings said that observations of the highway patrol officer who came to Mr Sikes' aid supported his claim.

When the state trooper caught up with Mr Sikes' Prius on the motorway, the car was travelling at break-neck speed with the smell of burning brakes in the air.

Mr Pennings added that even when Mr Sikes managed to slow the car by following the officer's instructions to apply the footbrakes and emergency brake, the driver appeared to be "literally standing on the brakes".

But Toyota said it had found no evidence that Mr Sikes had been applying the brake forcefully and said he should have been able to stop the Prius by doing so, or by shifting into neutral or turning off the electronic power switch.

The drama on March 8 added to the headaches for Toyota which has been struggling to reassure the public that it is dealing with safety issues that sparked a recall of 8.5 million vehicles.

Last Edited: March 17, 2010, 11:59 pm

Grill ripped from man's teeth at Tenn. jail

Lawyers reach $95,000 settlement deal; sheriff's lieutenant suspended

In an undated handout photo provided by attorney David Raybin, Anthony McCoy shows the damage done to his teeth after a sheriff's lieutenant at the Davidson County, Tenn. Jail allegedly ripped the gold grill off his teeth. (AP Photo/ via David Raybin)
4:55 p.m. ET, 3/16/10

  NASHVILLE, Tenn. - When a Tennessee jailer ripped the gold grill from a new inmate's teeth two days before Thanksgiving last year, it left the 31-year-old man in excruciating pain and left taxpayers on the hook for nearly $100,000 in damages.

Anthony McCoy spat out blood and teeth in a trash can and was in agony for more than a week after Davidson County Sheriff's Lt. Tanya Mayhew reached into his mouth and yanked out the grill, along with the cement attached to his teeth, said his lawyer, David Raybin.

The forced extraction pulled the enamel off McCoy's front teeth and left him with a damaged mouth that still isn't fixed, Raybin said.

City lawyers were planning Tuesday night to ask the Nashville Metro Council to approve a $95,000 settlement to avoid a lawsuit over the incident.

It happened Nov. 24, a day after McCoy was admitted to the Metro Jail on charges of contempt of court for failure to pay child support, two counts of violation of an order of protection and harassment.

When a guard asked McCoy to remove his grill while he was being processed in the jail, he said it was permanently cemented to his teeth years earlier.

  $10,000 damage to teeth

In a legal analysis, the Metro Council's office acknowledges that Mayhew then reached into McCoy's mouth and ripped off the grill, causing an estimated $10,000 worth of damage to McCoy's teeth.

McCoy made repeated but futile requests for medical treatment," Raybin said.

"There was no urgency at all," Raybin said of the Metro Jail officials and Correct Care Solutions, the company that Nashville contracts with to provide inmate medical care. "This guy was in agony for over a week and a half." The inmate's claim is based on pain and suffering, as well as the dental damage.

APThe grill ripped from inmate Anthony McCoy's mouth.

CCS has agreed to pay $20,000 because of the "unwarranted delay" in receiving treatment, the Metro Council's legal analysis says. It also says Mayhew broke sheriff's office policy by reaching into the inmate's mouth. The paperwork also acknowledges that McCoy waited 10 days before ever receiving medical treatment beyond Tylenol, in spite of repeated pleas for help.

  It's not clear why McCoy had to wait so long to get treatment or how many times he asked for help. It's also not clear whether jail officials ever requested that CCS see him sooner.

A Sheriff's Department spokeswoman said that since the incident, a new policy specifically prohibits jailers from removing inmates' grills. The Sheriff's Department referred other questions about the case to the county Health Department, which oversees the contract with CCS.

A Health Department spokesman said that federal privacy laws barred officials from saying whether McCoy sought medical treatment while in the jail.

  'Reprehensible act'

City officials have previously been happy with the quality of care CCS has provided to the inmates, but are going to closely monitor the agency, said Health Department spokesman Brian Todd. "We don't ever want to see something like this happen again."

  "This appears to be an unusual and pretty reprehensible act," Councilman Ronnie Steine, chairman of the budget and finance committee, told The Tennessean newspaper of Nashville. "My hope is that the employee has had the appropriate disciplinary action for something that seems to be an egregious act."

The lieutenant who pulled out the grill was demoted and received five days suspension.

McCoy was later convicted on the harassment charges and released from jail on Feb. 2.

AG: Dentist Used Paper Clips In Root Canals

BOSTON -- A Fall River dentist has been indicted for allegedly using paper clips in dental work and then billing Medicaid for the stainless steel posts he should have used.

Michael Clair, 51, formerly of Fall River and now of Maryland, was also indicted on a charge of submitting additional false claims to the Medicaid program using other dentists’ provider numbers and illegally prescribing prescription drugs.

Clair was indicted on two counts of assault and battery; three counts of larceny over $250; five counts of filing false Medicaid claims; two counts of illegally prescribing a Class B substance; and one count of prescribing a Class C Substance.

Clair is accused of inserting pieces of paper clips into patients’ mouths as a post in root canals instead of utilizing standard posts made of stainless steel, then billed the Medicaid program for the costs of the post using other dentists’ provider numbers, Attorney General Martha Coakley's office said.

Officials said Clair was suspended by Medicaid in 2002. He allegedly hired other dentists for his clinic and filed Medicaid claims using their numbers totaling approximately $130,000 between August 2003 and June 2005.

Clair will be arraigned on April 8

Last Edited: March 17, 2010, 6:37 am

RosettaStone gravestone enables the deceased to communicate from the grave

Caitlin O'Connell
DAILY NEWS WRITER

 

Tuesday, March 16th 2010, 4:00 AM

 

Kids are texting.  Parents are texting. Even grandparents are texting.  But we'd never heard of the deceased texting - until now.

A new high-tech device that can be implanted into a headstone will allow the deceased to speak from the grave through text messages sent to other people's cell phones.  The company claims the headstone can send messages for up to 3,200 years.

Personal RosettaStones, launched by Objects LLC last month, are small stone tablets embedded with Radio Frequency Identification tags that can store up to 1,000 words and a picture, ABCNews.com reports.

Before he/she passes away, the consumer will write a message on the Personal RosettaStone. The message then can be transmitted to anyone who has a web-enabled cell phone. The information is stored on a microchip and is beamed via text message when the tag recognizes compatible technology on a visitors phone.

But that's not all the Personal RosettaStone can do.  The front face of the RosettaStone is engraved with hieroglyphic-style symbols known as Life Symbols that are selected during the ordering process. Life Symbols are chosen from a list of options, and are intended to convey the purchasers "key life associations" or "milestones."

According to the RosettaStone Web site, the tablets are intended for mature adults who have reached a stage in life with identifiable milestones and associations so that they can adequately identify the Life Symbols that will best represent their earthly experience.

So how can the Personal RosettaStone send messages for a whopping 3,200 years? Rather than use a battery, which might die, the devices uses internal microchips that utilize the magnetic fields of a passerby's phone to power up just long enough to communicate the preprogrammed message before returning to a sleep state.

Although some may shudder at the thought of a texting gravestone, since the RosettaStone concept went public, Objects tells ABCNews.com, the company has been flooded with inquires. As technology continues to play a more integral role in the funeral industry with such advances as funeral webcasts and memorial Web sites, the RosettaStone could appeal to families looking for a novel way to remember their dearly departed.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/money/2010/03/16/2010-03-16_hightech_gravestone_enables_dead_people_to_communicate_with_living.html#ixzz0iOpVdbC1

Nude NYC Art Exhibit Aims For Uncomfortable

  NEW YORK --

Laurence Lallier slipped carefully between two naked women facing each other in a narrow doorway at the Museum of Modern Art.

"I didn't want to step on their feet," said Lallier, a student from Montreal. "We feel shy and they don't, and they're the ones that are naked."

When the artist Marina Abramovic and her then-companion Ulay first performed the piece, called "Imponderabilia," in Bologna, Italy in 1977, the police showed up. New York's finest are unlikely to interfere with the version that opened at MoMA on Sunday, though some museum-goers may choose not to do the sideways limbo between bare bodies.

Elsewhere in the exhibit two clothed people touch fingertips, two others sit back to back with their hair entwined and a naked woman reclines with a skeleton (not a real one) lying on top of her. The performers, re-enacting pieces originated by Abramovic alone or with Ulay, are statue-still.

"It's neat seeing someone naked but not in a sexual way," said Steven Crossot of Philadelphia, watching the skeleton rise and fall with the woman's breathing. "It doesn't even feel voyeuristic. It feels like you're looking at a Renaissance piece, but live."

The Yugoslavian-born Abramovic, 63, is a performance art grande dame who has pushed the limits of physical endurance since the late 1960s.

In front of audiences, she has taken medication that made her lose consciousness, and stabbed herself repeatedly in the left hand.

Videos screens at MoMA show other pieces that could not be re-enacted, such as 1988's "The Great Wall," in which Abramovic and Ulay started at opposite ends of the Great Wall of China and walked for three months until they met each other. The couple then ended their artistic and personal collaboration.

New York Times critic Holland Carter called the exhibit uneven but rarely uninteresting; he was skeptical about re-creating ephemeral performance art.

The show is called "Marina Abramovic: The Artist is Present," and she is. Abramovic sits on silent display while the museum is open. Members of the public are invited to join her, silently, across a small table.

"It's an act of extreme generosity," said curator Klaus Biesenbach. "You are completing the piece together with the artist on an equal basis."

On Monday, Abramovic wore a long blue dress as she sat opposite a young man. Both were motionless; Abramovic's face was expressionless.

"It's a great opportunity to contemplate two people just looking at each other," said spectator Vanessa Lodigiani.

Lodigiani, herself an artist, had attended a preview for MoMA members. She was amused that even some museum members wouldn't pass between the naked people of "Imponderabilia."

"It's quite shocking to me that people are shocked by nudity," she said.

The exhibit continues through May 31.

LINK TO SLIDE SHOW:

http://www.wbaltv.com/slideshow/entertainment/22850882/detail.html

Syringe used in Michael Jackson’s death may be auctioned for $5M

March 16, 2010 • 9:00 am

The syringe that allegedly administered the fatal dose of drugs to Michael Jackson is set to be auctioned for as much as $5 million. 

The syringe that was obtained secretly is being touted around Las Vegas auction houses to go under the hammer on the first anniversary of Jackson’s death June 25, the Mirror reports. 

One source claimed the syringe is no longer needed in the inquest or trial of Jackson’s personal doctor, Conrad Murray, who has been charged with involuntary manslaughter. Murray has pleaded not guilty. 

The Jackson family is said to be furious that someone is yet again trying to profit from the pop star’s death. 

The man in possession of the needle has been in meetings with his legal team to make sure it is legitimate and his to sell. He may have to sell it in a country that does not have reciprocal legal agreements with the U.S. such as Brazil or Libya. 

He’s bad, he’s bad

Last Edited: March 16, 2010, 10:52 pm

http://new.music.yahoo.com/michael-jackson/news/jackson-estate-in-record-deal-worth-up-to-250-mln--61990644

http://www.wbaltv.com/video/22847921/

Last Edited: March 16, 2010, 6:46 am

Tom Phillips

9th March, 2010

Man marries pillow

Metro UK

True love can take many forms. In this case, it has taken the form of a Korean man falling in love with, and eventually marrying, a large pillow with a picture of a woman on it.

Lee Jin-gyu kisses his new bride, a pillow with a picture of anime character Fate Testarossa on it

Lee Jin-gyu fell for his 'dakimakura' - a kind of large, huggable pillow from Japan, often with a picture of a popular anime character printed on the side.

In Lee's case, his beloved pillow has an image of Fate Testarossa, from the 'magical girl' anime series Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha.  

Now the 28-year-old otaku (a Japanese term that roughly translates to somewhere between 'obsessive' and 'nerd') has wed the pillow in a special ceremony, after fitting it out with a wedding dress for the service in front of a local priest. Their nuptials were eagerly chronicled by the local media.
 
'He is completely obsessed with this pillow and takes it everywhere,' said one friend.
 
'They go out to the park or the funfair where it will go on all the rides with him. Then when he goes out to eat he takes it with him and it gets its own seat and its own meal,' they added.

The pillow marriage is not the first similarly-themed unusual marriage in recent times - it comes after a Japanese otaku married his virtual girlfriend Nene Anegasaki, a character who only exists in the Nintendo DS game Love Plus, last November.

World's Shortest Man Dead: He Pingping Dies At 21

First Posted: 03-15-10 03:16 PM   |   Updated: 03-15-10 04:16 PM

He Pingping, the world's shortest man, has died at the age of 21, AFP reports. Pingping was 2 feet, 5 inches tall. His death was announced by the a spokesman for the Guinness World records.

Pingping was filming a TV program called "The Record Show" in Italy when he developed chest problems, according to reports.

Born in China with a form of primordial dwarfism, Pingping was recognized as the world's shortest man in 2008.

"For such a small man, he made a huge impact around the world," Guinness World Records editor-in-chief Craig Glenday said, according to the BBC.

LINK TO VIDEOS

http://www.bing.com/videos/?FORM=MFEVID&publ=2BE19A43-506C-4905-B386-894988BC18EB&crea=STND_MFEVID_core_HuffPo_CustomVidLink_1x1&q=World's+shortest+man+&docid=1380500177360#

At end of life, new ways to offer a personal touch

More funeral homes create custom send-offs

 

Terry Probst, funeral director at Devanny Condron funeral home in Pittsfield, stands in the sales area of the funeral home on Thursday, March 11, 2010. Probst is trying some unconventional marketing techniques to generate business for the funeral home. (Matthew Cavanaugh for The Boston Globe)

 

Brian MacQuarrie

Globe Staff

March 15, 2010

 

PITTSFIELD — Above a flower-framed urn holding the ashes of Paul Winters, a super-sized tapestry of rock legend Frank Zappa greeted mourners at the Devanny-Condron Funeral Home. A gauzy print of John Lennon also faced the gathering, as did iconic pictures of Marilyn Monroe and Jimi Hendrix.

The friends of the deceased, eyes trained on the urn, sat quietly in neat rows of folding chairs as the driving chords of “Help!’’ and other Beatles songs provided background music. A video tribute to Winters, smiling and happy in life, played on a large screen.

Welcome to a growing trend in the long-sedate world of funeral directors, where hushed tones, heavy drapes, and calculated ritual are giving way to a customized send-off that is more party than predictable.

“My rule is this: I’ll do anything as long as it’s legal,’’ said Terry Probst, who manages the Devanny-Condron home with the passion of a promoter. Since he arrived in Pittsfield in September after a stint with the Navy, Probst has sponsored a chili cook-off, delivered birthday cakes to senior centers, offered free limousine rides to couples married 50 years or more, and scheduled a funeral home appearance by the Easter Bunny for an all-comers photo op.

“I want to set us apart from everyone around us,’’ Probst said.

Probst’s approach seems to be catching. Emilee High, spokeswoman for the National Funeral Directors Association, said personalized services are becoming increasingly popular as a new generation passes on.

“Baby boomers have had an impact on every aspect of society — and funeral service is no exception,’’ High said. “Families are seeking experiences that are different from those they perceive as part of a traditional funeral or memorial service.’’

A 2007 national survey commissioned by the association found that 23 percent of respondents wanted a “very personalized funeral.’’ And that figure, High said, appears to be rising at a time when the US death rate is static and per-funeral profits have plummeted since the 1980s.

Marc Gaudreau, an owner of the Beers & Story funeral homes in central Massachusetts, said the business must evolve. His services take shape during what he calls a “life interview’’ with the family of the deceased that usually lasts at least three hours.

The result can be a video of family photographs, watched in a separate room from the remains of the deceased. Other options are graveside music, burial with biodegradable urns, and funeral home displays of the favorite furniture of the deceased.

“I like to say there’s really no tradition anymore,’’ Gaudreau said. “You’ve always got to think about how you can get better.’’

Ellen McBrayer, a third-generation funeral director at the Jones-Wynn Funeral Home outside Atlanta, has seen the trend advance and evolve. In the 1950s, she said, all funerals seemed to be the same. But since the introduction of memorial DVDs at the beginning of this decade, she said, the move toward personal remembrances has taken hold and accelerated.

Her funeral home has distributed guitar picks to friends and family of a musician and provided butterscotch ice cream at the grave of a man who craved the sweet.

For the family of Paul Winters, who died at age 58, the upbeat service in Pittsfield hit all the right notes.

“He wasn’t a cookie-cutter kind of person, and he didn’t want to have a cookie-cutter kind of funeral,’’ Carri Winters said of her father.

Probst, a former Navy mortician, had never been to Massachusetts before he noticed an ad last year to manage the corporate-owned business. Now, he lives with his wife and three children in the funeral home that he wants to make synonymous with community service.

Veterans ride in his limousines in Memorial Day and Fourth of July parades; he works with the city’s veterans agent to welcome returning troops; and senior center birthday cakes are not offered solely to attract future customers, Probst said.

“I’ve been brought up that you should be giving back to the community,’’ said Probst, a native of Oregon. “With the Easter Bunny, for example, I don’t think we’ll have many seniors sitting on his lap.’’

Probst has also redecorated the funeral home, which opened for business in 1915, to lighten the ambience. Ponderous drapes have been replaced by shear material, dated wallpaper has given way to light-tan paint, and natural light is the preference.

Probst also has ordered a 75-gallon fish tank, which he believes will help mourners relax.

Although society is constantly changing, Probst said, “what is not changing is people’s fear of funeral homes and their fear of dying. Why can’t we lower that fear and lower that anxiety?’’

To Debbie Schilling, that approach helped make the December funeral for her 98-year-old uncle memorable. Bill Mahon, a Pittsfield native and lifelong baseball fan who attended the 1918 World Series in Boston, was buried in a casket adorned with the Red Sox logo. A 2004 World Series cap was on his head, and a bottle of his favorite Samuel Adams beer lay beside him.

“You couldn’t have celebrated his life any better, because that’s who my Uncle Bill was,’’ Schilling said. “I couldn’t have asked for a service or a send-off to be as magical or wonderful as that was.’’

Probst said he is conscious of what is appropriate and what is disrespectful.

So although he is considering sponsoring a murder-mystery dinner, Probst said, he will hold the event at another location.

“You’ll never see me do a haunted house or a circus here,’’ he said.