Mr. Hains, I am sorry if you and your commission feel it is being attacked. As you are now aware, we are a very opinionated lot with tempers that flare easily (mine included). We are trying to reason with you, but you just are not getting it. We are very appreciative of your time, energy and dedication that you show for your county's cemeteries. But you make it sound as if you are the only ones who work sun-up to sun-down at your cemeteries. We have all been there, done that. Everyone knows how much work you have put into this cemetery. If you want to know the affects that concrete has on a cemetery please visit the Gillium Chapel Cemetery in Vernon Twp., Hancock Co. In the 1970's the fire department decided to "restore" the cemetery and laid many of the stones in concrete. You can now see stress fractures across the stones and many are illegible due to the rain wearing away at the face of the stones. It is horribly sad. From Madison Co.,take St. Rd. 67 to McCordsville. At Mt. Comfort Rd. (600W) and 67 turn right at the stoplight. As soon as you cross over the railroad tracks you will see a one-lane road. Turn left and you will see the cemetery. Since we have a small budget (Hancock Co.), we try to stretch the dollar just as you do, but we still restore our cemeteries correctly. We have volunteers that help us from time to time. We are also working with two boy scouts this year who are working to earn their eagle badges. They are raising money for their projects and are helping us to defray costs for signage, fencing etc...They are also good workers who we are sharing our knowledge of cemeteries with them. They are very interested and eager to learn. The county was going to auction some antique iron fencing because they no longer had a use for it (it used to be around the county poor farm). I happen to notice it in the paper and I said, "hey, we can use that!" and the county gave it to us. We try to be creative. We do have limited funds, but that doesn't mean we don't get anything done. We have one total restoration done. We will have another one done, after our professional cemetery restorationist completes what we cannot, and the sign (which was donated by the Junior Historical Society) is installed. We should have another one completed by the end of this year as well. We thought we would have a third done by the end of this year, but it has turned out to be a bigger project than first thought. It will probably be finished by next spring. IMI has been a huge help by donating pea gravel and sand to us too. We would love to have a $5,000 budget. Boy, what we could do!! You are very lucky. And we are lucky to have the budget that we have. The cemeteries did not get in the condition that they are in overnight so it is impossible for any of us to fix them overnight. Every cemetery is different and their level of difficulty of restoration is different. We do not rush our work. We take our time to make sure we have done the best we can do. I do apologize if you or any other Madison Co. individual took offense to any of my posts. I still hope that none of my pioneer family members are not buried there (sorry, but it is how I feel). Good luck. Respectfully, Angela Tielking -----Original Message----- From: Usa10sfgaa@aol.com [mailto:Usa10sfgaa@aol.com] Sent: Wednesday, September 07, 2005 5:55 PM To: INPCRP-L@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [INPCRP] Madison Ctny In a message dated 9/7/2005 10:38:11 A.M. US Eastern Standard Time, atielking@insightbb.com writes: Dear Mr. Hains, I am quite envious of your cemetery commission's budget. Why, in Hancock Co. we are quite lucky to receive anything and have had our highest budget ever this year of $2,300. Henry Co. receives nothing from the county and relies on donations Then most likely a cemetery like Cottrell would never have been saved in you county unless the ancestors had a lot of money to put into it. You do realize that there is more steel reinforced concrete in that retaining wall below the ground than that you see above ground? That there are over 20 tri-axle dump truck loads of fill dirt that had to be hauled over the cemetery to make the slope and another three of rip-rap stone which had to be hand placed on top of a weed barrier that first laid over the fill dirt? another load of #8 gravel. Then about 350 feet of the industrial grade chain link fence because the farm fence just would not fit well in following the contours of the cemetery. And before that there was the volunteer work to remove the scrap metal and trash and probe the cemetery and drag and dump all the junk that was on the grounds. Followed by considerable brush and tree removal. Then the Cottrell family, at considerable cost had a GPR study done that indicated nearly 90 graves in the cemetery. A cemetery we had only about 37 names for. The GPR guy marked the places where graves were most likely present with colored chalk. Then I came on short notice that evening and drove short pieced of rebar to mark the most likely location of the head stone for each grave. Later, Greg, the Twp. Trustee came by and put flags on those locations and drove the stakes into the ground, thus marking the locations for a metal detector to find for years to come. This cemetery required a lot of work and expense to save. I am sure there are others here that do a lot of work on their own time and spend some of their money getting the job done. But then again, it gets my dander up when folks question our commitment and that is exactly what was done in the forum by more than one poster and thus I felt it necessary the challenge those statements. Even today I see a message saying they hope none of their ancestors are buried in Madison county. A statement that indicates that person would rather have had us leave that junk yard alone and let it erode away slide down the hill with her ancestors bones and all. Quite a statement. You have your opinion about concrete and we have ours. I will say I will not be so judgmental about your methods. I figure reasonable folks look at the cemeteries around them, determine what the problems are and what the primary mechanisms of damage to grave markers are given the local situation and conditions, and then make decisions as to what is the best method to preserve the markers given what they have seen and learned. Learned not just from seminars and books but from what they actually see in their cemeteries. Rob Hains. ==== INPCRP Mailing List ==== THIS IS A CEMETERY ----- "Lives are commemorated - deaths are recorded - families are reunited - memories are made tangible - and love is undisguised. This is a cemetery. "Communities accord respect, families bestow reverence, historians seek information and our heritage is thereby enriched. "Testimonies of devotion, pride and remembrance are carved in stone to pay warm tribute to accomplishments and to the life - not the death - of a loved one. The cemetery is homeland for family memorials that are a sustaining source of comfort to the living. "A cemetery is a history of people - a perpetual record of yesterday and sanctuary of peace and quiet today. A cemetery exists because every life is worth loving and remembering - always." --Author unknown -- Seen at a monument dealer in West Union, IA