Deadly Deal on New Year's from a Georgia Funeral Home

For 10 years, McGuire, Jennings and Miller, a funeral home in Rome, Georgia, has offered New Year's revelers a strange bargain. Anyone planning to drive while under the influence of alcohol or drugs on New Year's eve can come into the company's office in advance and sign a contract announcing their intentions. If they die in a drunk-driving accident on New Year's, the funeral home will cover the costs of their burial: limousine, grave, casket, and embalming all included.

According to director Barry Miller, the company decided to start the program after a drunk driver killed a family member: "We saw it as a way to get people's attention, and to keep another family from having what our family went through." In addition to the many national news outlets that have covered the contract, Miller notes that Mothers Against Drunk Driving has also contacted the funeral home to express its appreciation of the program.

Even with so much publicity, the contract remains unsigned. "Nobody's taken us up on it," Miller says, "and I don't anticipate that anyone ever will." Part of this may be due to the program's requirements: to take advantage of the offer, drinkers have to show up at the funeral home with their next of kin and a copy of their driver's license. They then have to fill out a funeral plan and write letters to their loved ones, explaining why they plan to gamble their lives on New Year's Eve.

Asked if he was interested in working with other funeral homes to spread the program, Miller noted that that might be a good idea. In the meantime, however, he plans to make the same offer every year, hoping that his customers will continue to turn him down.