>From: INPCRP-D-request@rootsweb.com >Date: Tue, 11 May 1999 10:22:17 -0700 (PDT) >Subject: INPCRP-D Digest V99 #125 >X-Loop: INPCRP-D@rootsweb.com >X-Mailing-List: <INPCRP-D@rootsweb.com> archive/volume99/125 >Precedence: list >To: INPCRP-D@rootsweb.com >Reply-To: INPCRP-L@rootsweb.com >X-UIDL: 8357125bd630d4c92fe56d12991cf342 > > >Content-Type: text/plain > >INPCRP-D Digest Volume 99 : Issue 125 > >Today's Topics: > #1 [INPCRP-L] Gov. O'Bannon and HB 15 ["Lois Mauk" <LawOfficeInformationS] > >Administrivia: >To unsubscribe from INPCRP-D, send a message to > > INPCRP-D-request@rootsweb.com > >that contains in the body of the message the command > > unsubscribe > >and no other text. No subject line is necessary, but if your software >requires one, just use unsubscribe in the subject, too. > >______________________________ >X-Message: #1 >Date: Tue, 11 May 1999 00:14:56 -0400 >From: "Lois Mauk" <LawOfficeInformationSystem@worldnet.att.net> >To: INPCRP-L@rootsweb.com >Message-ID: <009401be9b65$4b4b97c0$2b08fea9@lois> >Subject: [INPCRP-L] Gov. O'Bannon and HB 1522 >Content-Type: text/plain; > charset="iso-8859-1" >Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > >Just wanted to let you know that Gov. O'Bannon will be formally signing >House Bill 1522 into law tomorrow, Tuesday, May 11th, at 1:00 (Indy time). > >I have been invited to be present for this ceremony and was told I could >bring TWO guests. I worried for quite a while over who to ask. My first >instinct was to invite U.S. District Court Judge Hugh Dillin, whose >ancestors were disinterred last summer from Wilhoit Cemetery >(http://www.rootsweb.com/~inpcrp/HallofShame/wilhoitcem.html) to make way >for a subdivision and which remains are STILL in a laboratory at the >University of Indianapolis. Unfortunately, Judge Dillin has a trial >tomorrow and can't join us. > >Our dear friend and veteran cemetery restorer Ron Baldwin from Monroe County >will be attending with me, as will little Ashley Loweth, the 8-year-old who >testified with us before the Indiana House of Representatives earlier this >year. (Ashley's moving speech to the House is on the INPCRP website.) >Ashley's family cemetery was blacktopped a number of years ago to build a >strip shopping center. Her great-grandfather and other ancestors are today >buried under several inches of blacktop in the parking lot >(http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Plains/5881/halemcbridecem.html). > >Bill Shaw, the Indianapolis Star reporter who wrote so poignantly about the >obliteration of Rhoads Cemetery (see INPCRP Hall of Shame, Marion Co.) and >of Wilhoit Cemetery, will be meeting us at the Capitol tomorrow, where we >will also be joined by Ron Baldwin's wife Mary Jane, their friend Dave >Foster, Ashley's mother and her paternal grandparents. Though they won't be >able to join us in the Governor's office for the ceremony itself, they'll be >there to share our collective sense of accomplishment in getting at least >one Bill safely through the 1999 General Assembly. > >I wish I could take every one of you with us tomorrow to impress upon the >Governor and the Legislators the fact that House Bill 1522 is an important >FIRST STEP in protecting our pioneer cemeteries in this state. There is >still a LOT to be done. The sad truth is that nothing in HB 1522 would >prevent the travesties at Rhoads, Wilhoit or Hale-McBride Cemeteries from >happening today because both were "legally" destroyed. > >What WILL House Bill 1522 do? > >(1) It will REMOVE the long-standing exemption granted to those involved in >agricultural activities which permitted them to legally obliterate all >visible signs of a cemetery's existence on private property. Most of us are >familiar with one of more cemeteries that "vanished" when the stones were >destroyed or used for fill and the cemetery cultivated or turned into >pasture. (See Tucker Cemetery in Shelby Co., IN ><http://www.shelbynews.com/insideNewsstand.asp?ID=3783>.) > >(2) It will make it illegal to traffic in stolen cemetery art. This has >been a sporadic problem in Indiana to date, but as the demand for such "yard >art" continues (see Omaha World Herald article at >http://omaha.com/OWH/StoryView/1,1344,139990,00.html and the recent Internet >brouhaha over Ebay listing "used" grave markers for sale), it will doubtless >become a greater problem here. With this new statutory language, the >authorities will have a mechanism for prosecuting the possession and sale of >stolen cemetery art in Indiana. > >(3) It will make "disturbing, defacing or damaging" gravestones, markers, >etc. a prosecutable crime. If the damage exceeds $2,500, the crime will be >a Class D felony. Lesser damage will be a Class A misdemeanor. Those of us >who have been intimately involved in repairing stones know full well that it >won't take a lot of damage to exceed $2,500 if the repairs are done by a >commercial enterprise such as a monument company. (Here in Jeffersonville, >it recently cost $300 to have a monument company come in with a wench to put >a single three-piece monument back together and none of the pieces in that >instance were broken.) > >(4) It will require anyone lawfully removing (or moving) a grave memorial to >file a detailed report with the County Recorder. > >Admittedly, HB 1522 makes no strides toward solving the problem of >maintaining or restoring pioneer cemeteries that have been abandoned and >neglected. This will be the main focus of our attention for the Year 2000 >session of the General Assembly. > >If you haven't done so lately, take a look at the "Needed Legislation" page >on the INPCRP website and see if you have any additions to suggest. These >ideas will be important when we next meet with our Legislators as they begin >their 1999 Summer Study Program on the subject of protecting pioneer >cemeteries. > >I've said it before, but it can't be said often enough: "Thank you for all >your support in this effort." Your petition signatures, telephone calls, >e-mails and letters were all very important in persuading the Legislators >that this situation could not be ignored any longer. We're making progress, >though these things never happen fast enough to suit most of us. > >With thanks and best regards, > >Lois >- ------------------------------- >Indiana Pioneer Cemeteries Restoration Project: > http://www.rootsweb.com/~inpcrp >