As bodies continue to be recovered at a Georgia crematorium, a local crematorium owner wants people to know what should happen at a reputable operation.

"It's so unbelievable that it's hard to put into words," said John Flynn, supervisor and funeral director of the John Flynn Funeral Home and Crematory, Inc. on East State Street in Hermitage. Flynn's crematorium is the only one in Mercer County.

"Obviously those people had to have some kind of psychological problems," said the 33-year-old funeral director. "I will bet that it will come out that the funeral homes were part of it, because I cannot imagine that they didn't know that."

Flynn's almost $80,000 crematorium arrived last June and he began cremation services last July. Previously, the nearest crematoriums were in Brookfield, New Castle and Youngstown, Flynn said.

"We could feel a little bit of uneasiness from families we dealt with, when we were taking a body to be cremated in Youngstown," Flynn said. "We decided to put in a crematorium -- that way when they come to me, their loved one will never leave my care. There's no third party involved."

According to the Cremation Association of North America, 40 percent of all burials in Pennsylvania will involve cremation by 2010. Cremations make up about 25 percent --about two a month -- of Flynn's business now, but many of those pre-arranging funerals at his funeral home are opting for cremation, he said.

Flynn said he doesn't understand how the Georgia funeral directors did not know bodies were not being cremated for more than 15 years. .

"Even when I delivered bodies to the Youngstown crematorium, I was ultimately responsible for them," Flynn said. "If a funeral director had visited the crematorium, wouldn't they have noticed the lack of heat in the building? I also don't know how that family masked the smell.

"A funeral director should go periodically and make inspections. I think there should be some type of regulation in that state. It would be a very simple thing," Flynn said.

Though there is no law requiring crematories to cremate bodies delivered to them in Pennsylvania, the law does state that funeral directors are responsible for the transport of the bodies to crematoriums.

A typical cremation takes about four hours, and the heat in the crematory must reach 1800 degrees Fahrenheit.

Safeguards at Flynn's include making sure a family member identifies the body before the cremation. Anyone with concerns is allowed to view the cremation, he said.

Also, a metal disc with an identifying number is placed inside the crematory during the burning process and is stored with the cremains, he said.

Flynn also keeps a log book with detailed information about the deceased and the date and time of cremation, along with a temperature log which is stored at the crematory.

"The log is for the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection which comes out annually to inspect us while we're burning a body," he said.

Flynn said he also has a maintenance agreement for his crematory to get repairs within 24 hours of a breakdown, which he has not had, and replacement parts on the premises.

"It doesn't make sense that the family didn't have the (Georgia) crematory fixed or replaced," he said. "If it was a busy crematory, especially over a stretch of 15 years, it would pay for itself pretty soon. It was a lot more work, what they were doing -- burying and dumping the bodies -- besides being unethical."

Flynn also thinks people need to feel free to ask questions, and that funeral directors need to educate the public about cremation and funerals.

"This industry can be so secretive," he said. "No one wants to talk about it, but death is a fact of life."

"Unfortunately, this situation will probably hurt our industry, because it makes people feel unsettled," Flynn said. "That's why we need to answer questions. Recently someone stopped by just to know who they were dealing with and what we do.

"As a licensed funeral director, I will do whatever I can to help them with their peace of mind to get through their grief," Flynn said. "When I go back to that site in Georgia, I don't know how they sleep at night."