As some of you may know - many of the older Howard County Indiana Vital Records are stored in a pole barn shared with the County Highway Department. For the most part, these records are stored in cardboard boxes and are exposed to extreme heat, extreme cold, as well as insects and other pests. Many of these records are more than a century old and in danger of deteriorating completely very soon. As they are in a remote location with no inventory and few indexes available - access is limited and searches are done at the discretion of the county clerk's staff, who often do not view these activities as a priority. The Howard County Genealogical Society is sponsoring a brainstorming session Monday, June 21st at 6:30 at the Kokomo-Howard County Public Library Community Room (220 N Union St, Kokomo). Any interested parties are welcome to come and share ideas on how to publicize this problem and work towards possible solutions. Library staff, local newspaper reporters and professors from Indiana University at Kokomo have been invited. The results of this session are to be presented to the County Commissioners in a formal meeting sometime in July in hopes that official action will be taken. If you cannot attend, but have ideas you would like to share, send your comments to Howard County Genealogical Society, PO Box 2, Oakford IN 46965-0002 or to morris@netusa1.net Tracey Morris Howard Co IN Genealogical Society Secretary - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----- Tracey & Scott Morris -- Kokomo IN -- morris@netusa1.net Rootsweb Sponsor -- http://www.rootsweb.com USGenWeb Project Member -- http://www.usgenweb.org