At 08:27 AM 6/16/2002 -0400, William Spurlock wrote:
Hi Jack,
I think that they are headed in the right direction with that law, without
question it's better than some that I've seen. However I see one serious
flaw with it, and it's quite possible that it may have been drafted this way
specifically to provide a legal loophole. In section 2 they clearly
establish who is responsible for enforcing the law, however they fail to
establish who defines what a reasonable time is. It could be inferred that
the parties charged with the enforcement might also have this responsibility
however it is not clear and this will result in problems down the road. The
fact that this is not defined leaves open the strong possibility that a land
owner could in fact use any definition of what is and is not a reasonable
time to their advantage to keep people out of the cemetery
Also not defined is the
penalty for refusing access, unless it is specified
under a separate penal code or is noted somewhere else that was not quoted
here. We have an almost identical law in Texas, only there is no mention
of who enforces it, and there is no penalty specified for someone who
refuses to allow access.
Ned Coleman
Austin, Texas