I, too appreciate Ernie's series on cemetery restoration. However, I hate
to be the killjoy, but some of the activities he lists in Part 3 are
probably illegal without formal permission from the DNR.
As I've been told by Amy Johnson of the DNR, you can only clear and reset a
headstone that has a portion of it showing - if it is entirely buried it is
illegal to retrieve it without DNR approval. Probing for cemetery
stones/graves/artifacts is also illegal, under the same law (IC-14-21-1).
Now, in looking at the law it only refers to human remains buried on or
before Dec 31, 1839 (this revision was added in 1995). But how would you
know until you found it when the burial date was?
We (Morgan County) wanted to do some probing in a small cemetery and tried
to get permission from the DNR. We didn't follow the proper procedure
(which wasn't communicated to us until it was too late to continue with the
project) and our request was not approved. Now, we should have started
earlier in the process (give it a couple of months), made sure we had every
supporting document we needed, etc., but we were initially told a simple
letter outlining our plan would suffice, and it didn't.
I'm of two minds about all this. I'm frustrated that the DNR wasn't more
supportive of our efforts to restore the cemetery, since I feel we're all
working on the same side. However, DNR roadblocks are very handy things to
slow down artifact hunters, contractors, etc.
IC 14-21-1-27 covers the disturbing of burial sites. "Class D felony"
doesn't sound like something I want to learn more about.
Dale Drake
Morgan County History & Genealogy Assn.
Cemetery Committee