Just wanted to take a minute to thank Katherine Dill, the Indiana Historical Society, the Jefferson County Genealogy Society and EVERYONE who participated in the great Workshop in Madison on Saturday, 10/6/2001. The rain stopped about midnight on Friday night and the cemetery wasn't a bit muddy. In fact, the weather was excellent, though it was a little cool for Walt's Mastico to do its trick. Got home late Saturday night, big day at church Sunday and then spent the rest of the day glued to the TV watching the coverage of the bombing in Afghanistan. So, I'm a bit tardy posting this note of appreciation. L.A. Clugh has kindly shared with me some of the photos she took on Saturday and I hope that tonight or tomorrow I'll get them put together on a web page for you all to see. I didn't hear the final head count for attendees, but the last number I heard was about 70! Most of them stayed with us for the afternoon session in the cemetery and Walt had a large and very attentive group that stayed with him for several hours "in the yard". The first speaker Saturday morning was Rep. Markt Lytle. I was pleased to present him, on your behalf, with 2,453 signatures (the absolute "final" count). I had an opportunity to speak to Rep. Lytle before the program began and explained our concerns about the ease with which pioneer cemeteries can be dismantled and relocated in this state. The 2-1/2" thick book of signatures that I gave him included an explanation of our concerns, a breakdown of the signatures by county and by state, a copy of the 5 pages of court records that resulted in Whalen Cemetery being relocated despite the fact that it was an exception on the developer's deed, a copy of the current and previous deeds and a copy of the webpage on that cemetery. If anybody has "left-over" petitions, you can send them directly to: Rep. Markt Lytle 423 W. Main St. Madison, IN 47250 Rep. Lytle seemed genuinely surprised at what we told him was happening in the state. Jeannie Regan-Dinius was with us and a couple of times he asked her, "Is that true?" She told him it was. He had a hard time believing that the developers were circumventing the 100-foot buffer zone by just pulling the cemeteries up and moving them. Since what we are asking the Legislature to do won't cost the state a PENNY to implement, there's a fair chance that Rep. Lytle can get something passed in the upcoming short session. He promised to deliver the petitions and explain our concerns to the joint House/Senate Natural Resources Study Committee, which is meeting TOMORROW at Pokagon State Park in Angola, Indiana. (How about THAT for timing? Purely accidental, I assure you!) I also suggested to Rep. Lytle that the Study Committee might enjoy having a future meeting in Connersville so they can visit John Walters to tour his facility and see some of what Fayette County has been able to accomplish in a very short time on a limited budget. Rep. Lytle said that was a real possibility. I want to thank New Albany Township Trustee Tom Cannon for coming up to Madison to speak about the Trustees' responsibilities. I wish he could have stayed for the whole program, but he had inescapable obligations back in Floyd County. Holly Jenks came down all the way from LaPorte to speak about County Cemetery Commissions. Thank you for your remarks, Holly! I trust you had a safe trip back to the north country. Thanks to Jeannie Regan-Dinius for coming down to discuss what the DNR and the DHPA are trying to accomplish with respect to the cemetery registry started earlier this year. L.A., thanks for sharing the photos and thanks for lending a hand with the stone cleaning. Thanks too for lending your brushes. Walt and Micki were, as usual, outstanding! I heard a number of people saying how much they were able to learn just by watching Walt's demonstrations and they were really impressed with what Fayette County has been able to accomplish in such a short amount of time. We saw a lot of familiar faces and got to meet some new friends, one or two of whom have already joined the INPCRP e-mail group. I hope all of you "new-timers" will take a minute to drop a note to us at INPCRP-L@rootsweb.com to introduce yourselves. All in all, we had a great turnout and a great workshop. Thanks again to all of you who participated and a special thanks to every one of you who helped collect petition signatures. Good night. Lois