-----Original Message-----
From: Lois Mauk <lawofficeinformationsystem(a)WORLDNET.ATT.NET>
To: INROOTS-L(a)LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU <INROOTS-L(a)LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU>
Date: Wednesday, February 17, 1999 10:30 PM
Subject: [INROOTS] 2/17/99 Status of Indiana Legislation to Protect Pioneer
Cemeteries
I haven't done a very good job of keeping those of you on this
list up to
date on the latest legislative developments concerning protecting and
preserving our endangered pioneer cemeteries. The following is my 2/17/99
report.
Though things are certainly looking up for those of us concerned about this
subject, our job is NOT done. If you have not already done so, I urge you
to call, write, telephone or e-mail your Indiana State Representatives and
State Senators to express your opinion on the subject of protecting our
endangered pioneer cemeteries.
If you haven't visited the INPCRP website lately, PLEASE do so soon. It's
at
http://www.rootsweb.com/~inpcrp. There is some excellent material there
that you'll find interesting.
Several members of the Indiana Pioneer Cemeteries Restoration Project (the
"INPCRP") and I have attended and testified at three different General
Assembly hearings in the past three weeks -- one in the Senate and two in
the House.
Between Christmas 1998 and early February, we collected 860 petition
signatures, the originals of which were delivered last week to Rep. Markt
Lytle, Chairman of the House Committee on Agriculture, Natural Resources
and
Rural Development. My sincere thanks to every single one of you who
helped
in that effort. It was quite a stack!
There were a total of 8 bills tendered earlier in this session of the
General Assembly -- two in the Senate and 6 in the House. A detailed
explaination of all these bills is available on the INPCRP website.
The House Bills were all referred to Rep. Lytle's Committee. One of the
Senate Bills (SB 178) seems to have "died in Committee" and the second (SB
280) was passed out of the Senate and referred to the House.
The five of the six House Bills have been "rolled into" Rep. Lytle's HB
1522. The sixth, HB 1226, which would create a cemetery preservation
license plate, the sale of which will benefit a cemetery preservation fund,
has been passed by the House Committee. These House Bills will soon be
heard by the full House for vote. They will then be referred to the
Senate.
The existing language we have been so concerned and worried about that made
it LEGAL for anyone involved in ANY form of agriculture or surface coal
mining to bulldoze, plow, graze or even blacktop all visible signs of a
cemetery will be STRICKEN by House Bill 1522 (Rep. Lytle's bill). This is
a
critically important piece of this legislation. It appears that the
agribusiness lobby has expressed no objection to this landmark change in
the
status of the law. If fact, Indiana Farm Bureau has recently adopted
a
policy that pioneer cemeteries on private property should NOT be destroyed!
A spokesman for the Township Trustees spoke in objection to Rep. Cleo
Duncan's bill to take the care of cemeteries out of the hands of the
Township Trustees and put it into the hands of the County Cemetery
Commissions. I'm sure there's more to it than meets the eye, but it looked
to me as if that particular bill "died in Committee". I think the bottom
line was that Rep. Duncan primary concern was that -- regardless of who
does
it -- the cemeteries must be properly cared for. Personally, I
don't care
WHO does it, as long as it gets DONE! I hope the Trustees now realize how
deeply the public cares about this subject and, if we can continue to work
WITH the Trustees on cemetery restoration projects, then more power to
them.
The Committee adopted our suggestion that the party moving a grave or
cemetery be required to tender photographs of the grave markers AND the
site
along with their detailed report to be filed with the County Recorder.
Our
concern was two-fold: (1) a lot of the markers (especially the sandstone
ones) aren't likely to survive a move and (2) we worry about the accuracy
of
the notetaker in interpreting stone markings. (How many of you have
abstracted a stone and, when you went back a second time, couldn't believe
how far off you were? Especially with those pesky 1s and 4s!)
The day will come in the not too distant future when many, many more of
these cemeteries will be in the way of "progress". If the only options are
to destroy a cemetery OR to move it, I'd have to opt for moving it as the
lesser of two evils.
The House Committee is going to establish a Summer Study Program on the
issue of cemetery protection and preservation and, as I understand it,
members of the Committee will travel around the state, soliciting comments
and ideas from the public on the subject of cemetery preservation. I'll
keep you posted on that as the plans materialize.
The battle is not won yet. The consolidated, amended bill adopted by the
Committee must now get past the vote of the House of Representatives and
then be referred to the Senate. There's a lot more to be done in this
session and in the future, but I feel VERY optimistic about the process.
Rep. Lytle's HB 1522 includes pioneering legislation making it illegal to
steal or traffic in stolen cemetery art, statutary, headstones, monuments,
etc. Though this has not been a big problem in
Indiana, it has been a increasing problem in other states. If the bill
passes and becomes law, the courts will have some meaningful legislation
with which to prosecute the thiefs and the sellers.
One exciting (and surprising) development was Rep. Lytle's idea to mandate
that all cemetery monuments created after 1-1-2000 must have engravings
indicating the name of the cemetery in which they are to be placed. His
thinking (which I commend as innovative) is that, in the future, if those
stones are stolen, they will have permanent markings indicating from which
cemetery they were taken. This would alleviate the future problem of
trying
to determine where a stolen stone was taken from.
As modern stones become more ornate and more desirable by cemetery thiefs,
this could be a big help in finding the "home" for these stones when they
are recovered. This is not a solution to the current problem of cemetery
art theft, but will certainly be an aid in combating the future problem.
Another innovation in HB 1522 is the provision that if a person is
convicted
of cemetery vandalism involving graffiti, that person can lose his or
her
driver's license for up to one year.
No small measure of the credit for the success of our efforts goes to Bill
Shaw, the Indianapolis Star-News writer who has done so much for spreading
the word among the Legislature, the government and the public. Several of
Bill's recent articles are on-line and are highlighted on the INPCRP
website. (Be sure to check out the "In the News" section.)
I got the impression at the latest hearing that the Committee did not
realize how easy it was for those folks in Dubois County to get a permit
from the Health Department to perform a do-it-yourself-with-a-backhoe
exhumation so they could build their house on that little hill. The name
of
Federal Judge Hugh Dillin (a descendant of the people buried in that
cemetery) was mentioned SEVERAL times during last night's hearing. A
friend
of the Judge who happens to be a former State Representative spoke
quite
eloquently about the level of outrage among the descendants that this ever
happened. I hope the Committee got the full impact of former Rep. Dennis
Heeke's statement that the property owners got a permit to move THREE
graves
when, in fact, there were more than 60 graves there, mostly unmarked,
and
that, until the Trustee law was changed a year or so ago, the Township
Trustee was tending to that cemetery despite the fact that it was on
private
property. Of course, after that change went into effect, the Trustee
could
no longer care for the site and it was shortly thereafter "moved".
I think everyone came away from the latest hearing with renewed faith and
trust in the "system" and with renewed expectations for what we CAN
accomplish. It ain't over, but the possibilities are certainly exciting
for
all of us.
If you are so inclined, I hope you will contact at least one State Senator
and one State Representative to express your opinion on these bills.
Tollfree numbers for the General Assembly members are on the "Pending
Legislation" page of the INPCRP website mentioned above. Their mailing
addresses are also listed. Links to General Assembly webpages are there,
which will lead you to district maps if you don't the name of your
Legislators as well as e-mail addresses.
Thank you for your time and thank you for your support of our efforts. If
you would like to participate in what we are trying to accomplish, I invite
you to join the INPCRP e-mail discussion group on Rootsweb.
Lois
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