Dear Representative,
My name is Scott Satterthwaite and I am writing to you on behalf of an
organization known as the "Indiana Pioneer Cemeteries Restoration
Project" or "INPCRP". This growing, volunteer group was founded in 1997
as an effort to restore, preserve and protect Indiana's pioneer
cemeteries.
Our primary goal has been to locate, restore, and preserve Indiana's
rapidly deteriorating, often forgotten pioneer cemeteries. However,
during that past several weeks, myself and other members of our group
have become increasingly aware of several issues that may place many
more cemeteries in jeopardy. The issues as we see them are as follows:
1. During the final days of the 1997 legislative session, a bill was
passed which will have a profound negative impact on the continued
preservation of many of our cemeteries and serves to greatly hamper the
efforts of the INPCRP and other organizations interested in cemetery
preservation. This action repealed all 32 chapters of the Indiana
Cemeteries Act (IC23-14-1 through 32) and replaced them with 43 new
chapters (IC23-14-33 through 76). The most detrimental part of this
legislation is found in IC23-14-68, "Care of Cemeteries by Townships",
and IC23-14-74, "Cemetery Fences and Upkeep". The former, while similar
to its predecessor with the same title, now has a new paragraph
(23-14-68-1b) which serves to remove from the township trustees
responsibility for all cemeteries not located on township owned
property. The latter of the two chapters would proclaim to insure that
all cemeteries were properly maintained without regard to physical
location or ownership. However, the use of the phrase "public
cemeteries" has served to exclude many cemeteries. A cemetery on
private property that was once the burial grounds for a family group or
a long since disbanded church is obviously not a "public cemetery".
We respectfully request to know the names of those persons who sponsored
the action as outlined above.
2. I now call your attention to IC23-14-67, specifically section 2,
paragraph "a".
re: "The board of commissioners of a county may appoint a county
cemetery commission consisting of five (5) residents of the county."
This paragraph is plagued by unfortunate wording. The use of the word
"MAY" has left the creation of County Cemetery Commissions completely at
the discretion of the County Commissioners. THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE.
Very few of our 92 counties now have cemetery commissions in place
despite that fact that this particular chapter has been around for
several years. We submit that each and every one of our Indiana
counties MUST have a County Cemetery Commission. Per IC23-14, the only
way to ensure that all cemeteries within each county are properly
maintained and protected is through a County Cemetery Commission. We
therefore request that steps be taken to change the wording of
IC23-14-67-2a as follows:
"The board of commissioners of a county shall appoint a county cemetery
commission consisting of five (5) residents of the county."
It is important to note that the INPCRP is an Internet based
organization. Our members are in constant communication with one
another. This has enabled us to build a very efficient communications
network among the Historical, Genealogy, Preservation, and Cemetery
special interest groups. We have received praise from thousands of
individuals from within the borders of Indiana, and many more from
beyond. There are organizations being formed in other states based on
the concepts and goals of the INPCRP. We have also caught the
attention of local newspaper and television media. That is to say: We
are not an isolated, confined organization that will soon fade from
sight. We have established a presence and are going to make that
presence known.
If you have access to a Web Browser, I invite you to examine the web
page which serves to represent our organization. It can be found at:
http://www.citznet.com/~ssattert/inpcrp/
Sincerely,
Scott J. Satterthwaite
State Coordinator,
Indiana Pioneer Cemeteries Restoration Project