This is Al Metts. Today, I will mail this letter to the Attorney General of South Carolina. Again, I ask that you look at the URL Http://www.savinggraves.com It grows every day! Great! Al June 25, 2001 Honorable Charles M. Condon Office of the Attorney General P.O. Box 11549 Columbia, SC 29211 Dear Sir: Near the small town of Hodges, South Carolina, there is a family cemetery where Revolutionary soldier, John Hodges, is buried.. I am asking for your help because his grave has been desecrated. His tombstone has been broken into pieces. Sixteen of the twenty-seven stones have been shattered and the pieces scattered among liter and broken bottles. The tombstone of Frances Anderson Hodges, the wife of John Hodges, and that of his son, General George Washington Hodges, have been desecrated as well. The destruction was caused because a man named Buzhardt who operates a go-kart track and he allows his customers to ride through the cemetery. Requests to stop the vandalism by descendants of the Hodges family have been ignored. Enclosed is my article published recently in the magazine of the Old Ninety Six Chapter of the South Carolina Genealogical Society. Please read the details of this disgraceful situation. John Hodges was the father of twenty children in Abbeville, SC. All lived to maturity and you must realize that there are many descendants in South Carolina and across the nation (quite a few in Texas!). Efforts by descendants to protect the Hodges graves have not achieved justice. My article, above, was read by Mr. Bruce W. Cobb, attorney at law, of Houston, TX. He joined our crusade and turned to Mr. William Spurlock, of Atlanta, GA. Both are very unhappy about conditions at the cemetery. Please go to the Internet to URL http://www.savinggraves.com and read the story about the Hodges Cemetery. The page grows daily. I enclose a copy of the text and pictures on the page today. Messages are coming in from readers of the Hodges List on the Internet as they join our crusade. They are not able to believe that such injustice can exist in South Carolina. Mr. Spurlock plans to go to the cemetery in a few days. I am told that the South Carolina law is clear. This is in direct violation of Tittle 6, Section 6-1-35 - "Preservation and protection of cemeteries". This section reads as follows: (A) Counties and municipalities are authorized to preserve and protect any cemetery located within its jurisdiction which the county or municipality determines has been abandoned or is not being maintained and are further authorized to expend public funds and use county or municipal inmate labor, in the manner authorized by law, in connection with the cemetery. (B) As used in this section, the term "preserve and protect" means to keep safe from destruction, peril, or other adversity and may include the placement of signs, markers, fencing, or other appropriate features so as to identify the site as a cemetery and so as to aid in the preservation and protection of the abandoned cemetery. With due respect, sir, what we Hodges descendants request is for the South Carolina Attorney Generals office to see that this law is enforced by ensuring that the county of Greenwood and the town of Hodges take whatever steps that are necessary to act within accordance of the above law at once. I hope that I am right in being encouraged that you will help us. I love the state of South Carolina. If I had not selected San Antonio for retirement, I would be living on James Island near Charleston. I spent three happy years teaching at The Citadel after returning from World War Two. The first Metts (Metz) came into Charleston in 1740, a Lutheran Palatine, forced to flee from the Rhineland in Germany. My South Carolina ancestors before the Revolution had names: Metz, Taylor, Mueller, Kaigler, Nash and Suber. Your consideration will be appreciated. Respectfully, ALBERT C. METTS, JR. Colonel, Infantry, Retired United States Army