Charles:
I summarized the three letters to the editor that appeared in last week's
Sunday Star in an e-mail posted to the group last week. Today (9/6/98),
there is in the Indianapolis Star a long response from Thomas L. Hefner, CEO
of Duke Realty Investments and one small letter to the editor from Deborah
S. Avelis of Galveston saying that Indiana's legislation is "backward" and
decrying the fact that anything in Indiana is for sale, "even our ancestors'
resting places". Amen, Sister.
Mr. Hefner's article is not available on the Internet on the Star's website;
however, his full-column response alleges that Duke Realty has been
"unfairly maligned . . . by innuendo and incomplete information". Needless
to say, he offered a lengthy account of his company's compliance with the
pertinent regulations. I have probably included more direct quotes than I
ought, but I don't want to be accused of misconstruing Mr. Hefner's comments.
First, he states that the cemetery was discovered three years ago and that
it was "totally abandoned and overgrown. It had not been maintained in many
decades. There were no headstones visible."
He goes on to say that the bodies of the 35 children and 8 adults were
disinterred NEARLY TWO YEARS AGO [my emphasis added] and the remains were
"turned over to the University of Indianapolis for historical study as
required by the statute." Mr. Hefner advises that six headstones were
found, catalogued and turned over to the university.
Mr. Hefner believes that the ball is now in DNR's court:
"We have asked that they [meaning the bodies] be returned
to us for reinterment in a public cemetery where their
graves will be appropriately maintained in perpetuity.
As a result of the research conducted by the experts,
gravestones and proper memorialization will be erected
for all."
Mr. Hefner's final comment was, "We have learned the hard way the awesome
power of the press, particularly when it is abused."
In my opinion, Mr. Hefner misses the real point here. In my opinion, the
idea of honorably and respectfully relocating a cemetery is FAR less
objectionable than stashing the bodily remains of 35 children and 8 adults
in a laboratory for two years, "studying" those remains for nearly two years
and bulldozing the gravesite and pitching headstones into a garbage pile.
My biggest bone of contention is NOT the relocation of the graves, but
rather the fact that this is apparently the way our Legislators have decided
such procedures should be carried out. How cold and heartless does one have
to be to believe that this is the right way to handle these situations?
Personally I am not nearly as outraged by Duke Realty's actions as I am by
the actions of our Legislators.
Ladies and gentlemen, we simply MUST communicate with our representatives in
the State House and Senate that this sort of thing must STOP. Keep writing
letters to the Star Editor. Venting our spleens in this forum is "preaching
to the choir". I believe most of us here on the INPCRP group are in
agreement here. We've got to get the word out to the Legislators before
their next session in January and we've got to box-car them with letters and
petitions bearing the signatures of potential voters. Otherwise we'll never
be heard.
Lois
At 01:30 AM 9/6/1998 -0500, you wrote:
Bob Hill and I just got through talking to DAN WHITE, he is the one
that
helped write the article for the Indianapolis Star. We will probably be
hearing fron him. I like what he in doing. He said that there was 3
letters to the editor this past Sunday, 2 giving DUKE hell and the other
from one of Duke's people. We need to help him as much as we can.
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