James Brown died a month ago, but his body still hasn’t been buried:
AUGUSTA, Ga., Jan. 24 ? More than a month after the death of the legendary soul singer James Brown, his body still has not been laid to rest, a circumstance that has dismayed his friends and bewildered residents here in the town that has honored him as a native son.
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The six children Mr. Brown acknowledged in his will want his body placed in a mausoleum on his 60-acre property just across the South Carolina state line near the Savannah River, an estate they hope will become a museum and memorial park akin to Graceland, the home of Elvis Presley in Memphis, which has long been a lucrative tourist attraction. But the children are in a financial dispute with the trustees of the Brown estate, and it is possible Mr. Brown will not be laid to rest until it is settled.
In recent weeks, Mr. Brown?s body, sealed in a gleaming golden coffin, has been kept in a temperature-controlled room at his Beech Island, S.C., home. Since late December, when Mr. Brown was given a star-studded send-off complete with costume changes between memorial services in three cities, his final wishes have been the subject of at least two lawsuits. Still, a spokeswoman for the six children insisted that logistics were causing the wait.
?It?s only been a month since he died,? said the spokeswoman, Debra Opri, a Beverly Hills lawyer. ?They?re trying to get engineers out to the site, they?re getting a mausoleum done. The property may have to be rezoned. That kind of thing.?
It is not clear, however, that Mr. Brown?s children will control what happens to the 60-acre property, where they have said they would like his tomb to be placed.
Like I said. Weird.
