The Macoupin County Genealogical Society quarterly meeting will be held on Tuesday, January 19, 2010 at Toni's Restaurant on Route 4 in Benld. This meeting will begin at 6:00 p.m. and end no later than 8:00 p.m.. This is also a weather-permitting situation. For information regarding meeting cancellation please listen to WSMI-FM 106.1 or go to www.wsmiradio.com After receiving an e-mail from our Corresponding Secretary Jarid Ott regarding the Illinois Cemetery Law, our topic will be the efforts of members of Kane County Genealogical Society members and Elgin Genealogical Society members and how to become involved in changing the law. Below is an excerpt from Jarid's correspondence with Linda Farroh Eder of the Kane County Genealogical Society: From: Linda Eder Date: 1/5/2010 4:41:13 PM To: Linda Eder Subject: Cemetery Legislation During the summer of 2009 the citizens of the Chicago area were shocked by the disinterment and destruction of gravesites in the Burr Oak Cemetery. In August 2009, in response to these events, I contacted my state senator, Chris Lauzen, concerning the legalized removal of small cemeteries/burial sites within the state of Illinois under the Human Skeletal Remains Protection Act (20 ILCS 3440/). Presently, there are approximately 14,700 cemetery/burial sites in our state and the majority of these sites fall under the jurisdiction of the Human Skeletal Remains Protection Act and can be destroyed legally under that state statute. Mr. Lauzen responded with the request that I gather a group of concerned citizens to suggest changes in the law to protect these small cemeteries/burial sites. Early in the fall of 2009 a group met to study current statues and made concrete proposals, which were sent to Senator Lauzen November 16, 2009. He forwarded the material to the committee which will propose legislation on cemeteries as a result of Gov. Quinn's Task Force which convened in the fall of 2009. *In an effort to continue to bring this important issue to the attention of the Illinois State Legislature, I am providing you with the following pdf files: a.. The original letter I sent to Senator Lauzen b.. The cover letter and suggestions sent to Senator Lauzen November 16 c.. The proposals with rationales and implementation suggestions sent to Senator Lauzen November 16 The committee who worked on these proposals and I hope that you read, support and forward these documents to your society members. Please urge them to contact their legislators immediately to support these suggestions in the session which will convene on January 12, 2010. Please forward these documents to any group you think might help in this effort. Linda Farroh Eder Member Kane County Genealogical Society *You can request copies of these documents via e-mail attachment from Jarid Ott jott@madisontelco.com or Cindy Leonard cindyldq@yahoo.com please put the following in the subject line: Request for Cemetery Legislation documents or go to the following links for the pdf files: http://www.macoupinctygenealogy.org/mcgs/lauzen-letter-08-28-09.pdf http://www.macoupinctygenealogy.org/mcgs/proposalletter-11-16-09.pdf