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Black Beauty mining plans threaten Civil War cemetery
By The Associated Press
http://www.courierpress.com/cgi-bin/view.cgi?/200004/22+coal042200_news.h...
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HYMERA, Ind. Some Sullivan County residents object to a coal companys request to expand
into an abandoned cemetery that is the final resting place for about 15 Civil War
veterans.
Brainer Cemetery sits on land owned by Black Beauty Coal Co. But opponents of the
companys plan to move all of the remains interred there to another cemetery say
Evansville-based Black Beauty should put values before profits.
The company, which wants to search for new coal reserves, has filed a petition in
Sullivan Superior Court to move the remains to nearby Nyes Chapel Cemetery, said Jerry
Banks, a member of the Sullivan County Cemetery Board.
Pimento resident Jeanne Clutter said if children were to disturb the graves, they
would be in jail for vandalism. What right do coal companies have to do that?
Black Beauty was legally required to advertise its intentions to give any descendants
of those buried in the cemetery a chance to come forward. Relatives have until May 4 to
challenge the companys request.
All of the grave markers, however, have eroded to the point where the names of the
buried are no longer visible.
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