Where To Complain, Where To Get Help

-- Where to complain

-- Funeral and Cemetery Unit State Department of Licensing P.O. Box 9012 Olympia 98507-9012 Phone 206-586-4905

Licenses all 193 funeral homes and 141 of the cemeteries in the state. (The state does not license government or religious cemeteries.) Investigates consumers' complaints. Inspects funeral homes annually; examines funeral trust funds on a three-year cycle.

Provides a summary of various public agencies' policies on scattering of cremated remains on public properties.

-- Attorney General's Office 900 Fourth Ave., Suite 2000 Seattle 98164 Phone 206-464-7744, 1-800-551-INFO

Accepts complaints; offers a free brochure, "What to do When a Death Occurs."

-- Federal Trade Commission 915 Second Ave., Room 2806 Seattle 98174 Phone 206-553-4656

Accepts complaints; offers a free copies of "Funerals: A Consumer Guide," the agency's rules for the funeral industry, and "Caskets and Burial Vaults: Fast Facts."

-- Washington State Funeral Directors Association 4455 Aurora Ave. N. Seattle 98103 Phone 206-633-3509.

Accepts consumers' complaints.

-- Times Troubleshooter The Seattle Times P.O. Box 70 Seattle, WA 98111 Phone 206-464-2262

Accepts consumers' complaints. Send a copy of the funeral and/or cemetery contract and proof of payment to document your complaint.

-- General information -- Cemetery Association 5201 Leesburg Pike, Suite 1111 Falls Church, VA 22041

Will exchange cemetery properties for consumers at no fee, providing the cemeteries involved are members of the association's credit-exchange plan.

-- American Association of Retired Persons Fulfillment Dept. 601 E St. N.W. Washington, DC 20049

Provides free information on funerals and pre-paid funeral plans.

-- Cremation Association of North America Dept. ST, 401 N. Michigan Ave. Chicago, IL 60611 Phone 312-321-6806

Offers free literature on cremation and memorial services, and states' laws. Send a self-addressed No. 10 envelope with two 29-cent stamps.

-- Continental Association of Funeral and Memorial Societies 6900 Lost Lake Road Egg Harbor, WI 54209 Phone 1-800-458-5563

Maintains list of 147 memorial societies in the United States. For $2, offers a price list showing wholesale costs of caskets. Send a self-addressed, stamped No. 10 envelope.

-- Memorial associations

-- People's Memorial Association 2366 Eastlake Ave. E., No. 409 Seattle 98102 Phone 206-325-0489.

One-time $10 fee per person entitles members to discounted rates at Bleitz Funeral Home, with which PMA has a contract. (Children under 18 years are included in parents' membership.)

PMA, the oldest and largest memorial association in the U.S., was founded here in 1939.

-- Spokane Memorial Association P.O. Box 13613 Spokane 99213 Phone 509-924-8400

Membership $20. Contracts with Hazen and Jaeger and Thornhill Valley funeral homes.

-- Memorial Society of Central Washington P.O. Box 379 Yakima 98907 Phone 509-452-1712

Membership $10. Contracts with Valley Hills Funeral Home in Zillah and Colonial De Witt in Walla Walla.

-- Scattering ashes

Scattering cremated remains or ashes is legal if the sandlike particles are not recognizable as human remains, and you have permission from the property owner. Check with the state funeral and cemetery unit in the Department of Licensing for detailed information on where it is legal to scatter ashes.

If you want to scatter ashes in Mount Rainier National Park, call 206-569-2211, Ext. 2303, to apply for a free permit.

Only ashes can be left in the park; no memorial plaques, plantings or flowers are permitted.

-- Private companies that scatter remains

-- Adler Enterprises J. Bud Gadwa 21203 S.E. 292nd Place Kent, WA 98042 Phone 206-886-2273

Scatters ashes by air. Three passengers may accompany Bud Gadwa in a Cessna Sky Lane 182. Service costs from $95, depending on location.

-- Blue Dolphin Society Carole Boges 180 Hardie Ave. S.W. Renton, WA 98055 Phone 206-271-7555

Advance membership is $50 for those 61 and under; $35 for those 62 and over. Scatters ashes by air and by boat.

If family members wish to go along on the vessel or in the plane, special arrangements must be made.