Dear Margie, I wish we could get every county as interested in cemetery preservation as they seem to be in Barbour County then we would have some influence in getting things done. The following is information for those who may be interested. I have set up a perpetual fund for the historical Abner McGehee Cemetery located in Montgomery County under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Publication 557, Tax-Exempt Status for your Organization, may be downloaded from the internet as well as Section 501. My problem is getting enough descendants and other people interested in donating to the fund. I developed a nice brochure which I sent out at my own expense but those who are so proud of the "McGehee" name did not give enough money to have the grass cut. I wanted to see how well I could do this cemetery before tackling another. I will have the McGehee and several other abandoned cemeteries up on a web site soon. I have sent it and the abandoned Carter-Stokes cemetery on the Newell Construction Company land to "Saving Our Graves at: http://www.savinggraves.com/ You will find thefollowing at: http://www.legislature.state.al.us/ Section 18-3-20 "Where a cemetery or graveyard has been used by the public as a place for burying the dead for 20 years or more and no part of said cemetery or graveyard is adjacent or contiguous to any public road or highway, any person who has, or any persons who have, relatives or relations buried in said cemetery or graveyard shall have the right to acquire and may acquire a convenient right-of-way, not exceeding in width 15 feet over lands intervening and lying between such cemetery or graveyard or body of land on which the same is situated and the public road or highway nearest or most convenient thereto." (Acts 1927, No.475, P520; Code 1940, T.10, 59) Section 13A-7-23.1 Desecration, defacement, etc., of memorial of dead; invasion or mutilation of corpse. (a) Any person who willfully or maliciously injures, defaces, removes or destroys any tomb, monument, gravestone or memorial, or willfully and wrongfully destroys, removes, cuts, breaks or injures any tree, shrub, plant, flower, decoration, or other real or personal property within any cemetery or graveyard shall be guilty of a Class A misdemeanor. (b) Any person who willfully or maliciously descrates, injures, defaces, removes, or destroys any tomb, monument, structure, or container of human remains, and invades or mutilates the human corpse or remains shall be guilty of a Class C felony and upon conviction the person shall be punished as provided by law. Any person who maliciously descrates an American Indian place of burial or funerary on property not owned by the person shall be quilty of a Class C felony and upon conviction the person shall be punished as provided by law. (Does this mean that if you own the property you can do anything you want to????) (c) The provisions of subsections (a) and (b) of this seciton shall not apply to any person holding a permit isued by the Alabama Historical Commission pursuant to subsection (d) of this section. (d) The Alabama Historical Commission, to provide for the lawful preservation investigation, restoration or relocation of human burial remains, human skeletal remains, or funerary objects, shall promulgate rules and regulations for the issuance of a permit and my issue a permit to persons or companies who seek to restore, preserve or relocate human burial remains, human skeletal remains, funerary objects, or othewise disturb, a place of burial. Please send you suggestions and any way we can get more people interested . Thanks L.J. Nicoll Secretary/Treasurer Abner McGehee Cemetery Memorial Fund Montgomery Genealogical Society http://www.rootsweb.com/~almgs/ http://www.montgomery.about.com/ ----- Original Message ----- From: "M. Daniels" <margie@majorinternet.com> To: <ALBARBOU-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Tuesday, July 25, 2000 8:18 AM Subject: [ALBARBOU] Cemetery law > Does anyone know if there is a law that mandates access to old cemeteries > that are now on private property? > > Where would we find out? > > > Margie > > > ==== ALBARBOU Mailing List ==== > The Barbour County mail list a place where Barbour researchers have become friends in research across the miles. >