Just wanted to let you all know that I (Marge Campbell) have sent notes to all those who are on the committee on Health. This is what I wrote: I just want to thank you for your YES vote on this measure (SB 1448)! Please know that your understanding of the need for those who have ancestor's or, in some cases friends & family buried at these places, deserve to have their loved ones lives documented in some way. There is not even a list of those buried in these unmarked graves. Below is a copy of a letter I sent to those who did not vote, which gives my reason for wanting this measure to succeed. Thank you again! Margie Campbell Lodi, CA margecam@attbi.com Coordinator of San Joaquin County CA chapter of Saving Graves **************************************************** Hello, My name is Margie Campbell, and I am coordinator of Saving Graves in San Joaquin county. I noticed that you voted against SB 1448. I just wanted to let you know how hard it is to get just a list of names of those buried in these old, forgotten & destroyed cemeteries. I have no known family in any of these cemeteries. I became involved in Stockton State Hospital/Asylum burial grounds because of a genealogy request I recieved about two years ago. A lady in Maryland emailed me... "I am adopted, I was with a horrid family, abuse, you name it... I recently found my birth mothers name, but she is dead & no one knows where she is buried. The person who was given as her next of kin was a brother in Stockton, CA... my only verifiable relative... this person died at the Stockton State Hospital & was buried there... can I get a photo of the grave? Where is it located? I would like to visit, as this uncle is my only link to my birthmom". Where I put "......" is where I left out name details, etc. This lady wanted just a photo of a grave & location to visit her only "blood" relative. I researched the possibilities of finding the grave. There is NO possibably of closure for this lady. The grave is in one of two places: 1. Buried at the State Hospital cemetery #2 (or is that #3?), located at 2800 N. California St., one mile north of the State Hospital grounds (Stockton, CA). This site was illegally rezoned & buildings cover all but 1.39 acres of a 15 acre site (supposedly only 5 were used as cemetery)... there are still over 3,500 buried there! No names, no dignity, nothing but a trash strewn vacant lot with transients living there, voiding on the site... it's horrid. 2. Uncle was one of the 895 bodies taken up and cremated at the Stockton State Hospital Farm (now Delta College site), and buried in common graves. I tried every channel to get this man's information for this lady. She had her doctor request the files... lost, can't be found, when the real reason is that the State Hospital kept lousy records.. deaths were in with daily supply purchases, etc. To hard to extract. I tried for an obit... State hospital inmates very rarely had obits, only if family claimed the body. Many went to medical research (visit the third link below for SJC Saving Graves). I had to inform this lady that she would never have any grave to visit. I took the best photo I could of the site & mailed that, with death certificate to her. She is heartbroken, and with good reason. Over 4,000 are missing from the WTC tragidy. At least those families were given a little item to use to have a memorial service & funeral with. Those people will have the dignity of a gravesite to visit, and probably a memorial at the WTC site also. There are almost as many people buried at this one cemetery site as missing in the WTC tragidy. These state hospital patients were never provided any dignity in life, and even less in death. They deserve to be listed somewhere so that their descendant's can find them. I hope you can reconsider when this item comes up for vote again. I walk the cemetery as often as I can, mostly standing in what is left... begging these souls to help me help them.... your yes vote would be appreciated, by me and all of those forgotton souls. Margie Buren Campbell Lodi, San Joaquin county, CA margecam@attbi.com Margie Campbell's Web Page http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~mcampbel/ Iron County Missouri Web Site http://www.rootsweb.com/~moiron2/ http://www.usgennet.org/usa/ca/county/sanjoaquin/ Saving Graves page for San Joaquin county CA