Good point Walt.
Better to not do it than have it done wrong and be worse.
Mark Davis
----- Original Message -----
From: "John Walters" <graveyardgroomer(a)skyenet.net>
To: <INPCRP-L(a)rootsweb.com>
Sent: Thursday, August 01, 2002 5:46 AM
Subject: Re: [INPCRP] Getting permission from a Township Trustee to restore
cemetery
Some Trustee's understand that someone with little or no
experience in
this
field of work can do more harm than good.Even a well funded project
without
the proper planning can do irreversible damage to the historical
integrity
of the burial ground.
Good intentions is not always good .
Training workshops for volunteers can help keep costs down and as much
work
in-house as possible.Workshops ( or one extended workshop) can train
volunteers in skills necessary for such tasks as
mapping,documentation,surveying,photographing markers,site
maintenance,stone
resetting,and stone cleaning.A training workshop gives individuals
the
opportunity to gain experience in identifying problems they may encounter
and hands on experience in arriving at correct solutions.Sometimes the
most
valuable lesson is a clear understanding of what is best left to
experienced
professionals.
I think Trustees should be cautious about who wants to work on restoring
the
cemeteries in his or her control.I know of one Trustee that was
pushed
into
doing something with one of his cemeteries
and spent $10,000. He ask me to look at it and I was shocked, tombstones
were moved about ,stuck in tight rows of their own fashion and yes sunk
down
in concrete .The worse case I have seen.They did more damage than
vandals
could do .
Let us give the Trustee a break here,some may just want to see things done
right.
Walt
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"Show me your cemeteries, and I will tell you what kind of people you
have."
Benjamin Franklin (1706 - 1790)