35644 Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 108 / Monday, June 5, 2000 / Notices

1Provident is kept separate and distinct from the

operating divisions of SCI. Because there are unique

financing needs in the funeral industry, Provident

provides loan services for many transactions,

including the construction or acquisition of funeral

homes by a number of SCI’s competitors.

Consequently, Provident’s loan agreement includes

a provision guaranteeing the confidentiality of

information provided to Provident by a borrowing

funeral home operator.

Washington, DC 20580, either in person

or by calling (202) 326–3627.

Public comment is invited. Comments

should be directed to: FTC/Office of the

Secretary, Room 159, 6000 Pennsylvania

Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20580. Two

paper copies of each comment should

be filed, and should be accompanied, if

possible by a 31⁄2 inch diskette

containing an electronic copy of the

comment. Such comments or views will

be considered by the Commission and

will be available for inspection and

copying at its principal office in

accordance with Section 4.9(b)(6)(ii) of

the Commission’s Rules of Practice (16

CFR 4.9(b)(6)(ii)).

Analysis of Proposed Consent Order To

Aid Public Comment

The Federal Trade Commission has

accepted an agreement for public

comment from Service Corporation

International (‘‘SCI’’) designed to

remedy the anticompetitive effects

arising from SCI’s 1994 acquisition of

the LaGrone Funeral Home (‘‘LaGrone’’)

in Roswell, New Mexico. SCI,

headquartered in Houston, Texas, is the

nation’s largest chain of funeral homes

and cemeteries. LaGrone, at the time of

the acquisition, operated two funeral

homes in New Mexico.

At the time of the acquisition, there

were only two funeral homes operating

in Roswell, New Mexico. SCI owned the

Ballard Funeral Home. LaGrone owned

the remaining funeral home. The

acquisition gave SCI a monopoly in the

provision of funeral services in Roswell.

Funeral services include transporting

the deceased from the place of death to

the funeral home, embalming and

otherwise preparing the body for burial,

providing a casket, holding a viewing or

other ceremony, and transporting the

body to the cemetery or crematorium.

Since the acquisition, no new entry into

the provision of funeral services in

Roswell has occurred. After the

acquisition, prices for funeral services

increased in Roswell.

On September 28, 1999, prompted by

the Commission’s investigation of the

LaGrone acquisition, SCI sold the

Ballard Funeral Home to Sentry Group

Services, Inc. (‘‘Sentry’’). Sentry, a

privately-held company, owns and

operates 37 funeral homes in Oklahoma,

Texas, New Mexico, Kansas, and

Colorado. Provident Services, Inc.

(‘‘Provident’’), SCI’s financial

subsidiary, provided financing for

Sentry’s acquisition.1

To ensure that competition is fully

restored in Roswell, the Commission’s

proposed Consent Order requires that, if

SCI acquires the Ballard Funeral Home

pursuant to a default on Sentry’s loan

with Provident, SCI must divest Ballard

to a Commission-approved buyer within

90 days. In the event SCI does not

accomplish the divestiture within 90

days, the proposed Consent Order

provides that the Commission may

appoint a trustee to divest Ballard.

Moreover, the proposed Consent Order

prohibits Provident from sharing

information obtained from Sentry with

SCI.

The proposed Consent Order also

provides that, for a period of ten years,

SCI must give prior notice to the

Commission of any proposed

acquisition of a funeral home serving

Chaves County, New Mexico, where

Roswell is located.

The proposed Consent Order has been

placed on the public record for thirty

days for receipt of comments by

interested persons. Comments received

during this period will become part of

the public record. The purpose of this

analysis is to invite and facilitate public

comment concerning the proposed

Consent Order in order to aid the

Commission in its determination of

whether to make the proposed Consent

Order final. It is not intended to

constitute an official interpretation of

the proposed Consent Order, nor is it

intended to modify the terms in any

way. After thirty days, the Commission

will again review the agreement and the

comments received and will decide

whether it should withdraw from the

agreement or make the proposed

Consent Order final.

By direction of the Commission.

Donald S. Clark,

Secretary.

[FR Doc. 00–13963 Filed 6–2–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6750–01–U

GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE

Advisory Council on Government

Auditing Standards; Notice of Meeting

The Advisory Council on Government

Auditing Standards will meet Monday,

June 19, 2000, from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00

p.m., and Tuesday, June 20, 2000, from

8:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m., in room 7C13 of

the General Accounting Office building,

441 G Street, NW., Washington, DC.

The Advisory Council on Government

Auditing Standards will hold a meeting

to discuss issues that may impact

government auditing standards. Any

interested person may attend the

meeting as an observer. Council

discussions and reviews are open to the

public.

For further information contact:

Marcia Buchanan, Assistant Director,

Government Auditing Standards, AIMD,

202–512–9321.

Marcia B. Buchanan,

Assistant Director.

[FR Doc. 00–13897 Filed 6–2–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 1610–02–M

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND

HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Disease Control and

Prevention

[Program Announcement Number 00119]

Core State Injury Surveillance and

Program Development Notice of

Availability of Funds

A. Purpose

The Centers for Disease Control and

Prevention (CDC), announces the

availability of fiscal year (FY) 2000

funds for a cooperative agreement

program for Core State Injury

Surveillance Program Development and

Traumatic Brain Injury Surveillance

Program Development, focused in three

phases: Phase I-Basic Core Injury

Program Development; Phase IIEnhanced Core Injury Program

Development; and Phase III-Advanced

Core Injury Program Development:

Surveillance. This Program addresses

the health promotion and disease

prevention objectives of ‘‘Healthy

People 2010.’’ The announcement is

related to the focus area of Injury and

Violence Prevention. For the conference

copy of ‘‘Healthy People 2010,’’ visit the

Internet site: http://www.health.gov/

healthypeople.

The purposes of the cooperative

agreements are to develop, implement

and evaluate injury core and/or

surveillance programs in one of the

specified injury-related priority areas.

B. Eligible Applicants

Assistance will be provided only to

the official public health departments of

States or their bonafide agents,

including the District of Columbia, the

Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the

Virgin Islands, the Commonwealth of

the Northern Mariana Islands, American

Samoa, Guam, the Federated States of

Micronesia, the Republic of the