Thought you might be interested in an update on the blacktopped Hale-McBride Cemetery here in Clark Co., IN. For more details about this particular cemetery, see: http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Plains/5881/halemcbridecem.html The survey commissioned by the Township Trustee was completed on Friday, August 14. The survey team ran into a whole bunch of problems in conducting the survey, including finding three prior surveys, on each of which the cemetery got smaller. It has now been confirmed that at least TWO-THIRDS of the cemetery is under the blacktopped parking lot of the strip shopping center. This reinforces the two first-hand accounts we obtained that the cemetery was a lot bigger about 30 years ago, with up to 80-100 graves several decades ago. Only 9 stones (mostly broken) remain today. One of the corners of the cemetery (according to the most recent survey) is in the middle of the adjacent drainage ditch and another corner is about 15 feet from the front door of a local pizzeria, inches from a line of parking spaces. Many other parking spaces are located directly on cemetery property. We have learned that the EPA has sunk a "soil monitoring device" through the blacktop in the middle of the cemetery, presumably to monitor leakage from the nearby gasoline tanks. Several descendants of Isaac Hale, Sr. have banded together and will be meeting with a local attorney this week to determine what their rights are in this matter and what legal recourse is available to them. One of these descendants, Donnie Loweth of Jeffersonville (so, no e-mail yet), will be talking tomorrow with the Township Trustee, the Township Attorney and the surveyor to determine what the Township's position is on this situation. Because the current and former property owner have allegedly been paying property taxes on this tract of land for many years and because it was only "reserved" in an 1882 Partition Order and never "deeded out", it is possible that the descendants will have NO recourse in this situation and that the heinous actions of the former property owner in blacktopping this cemetery will be found to be "legal" under Indiana law. Further, the Township Trustee apparently has no authority or responsibility with regard to this cemetery inasmuch as taxes are being paid on the property. Pursuant to Indiana Code IC 23-14-68-1, Township Trustees have no statutory responsibility for maintaining cemeteries "located on land on which property taxes are assessed and paid under IC 6-1.1-4." For the full text of the new statute requiring Trustees to care for cemeteries in their Townships, see: http://www.ai.org/legislative/ic/code/title23/ar14/ch68.html We don't yet have a copy of the survey report or drawing, but Donnie Loweth's rendering of the present cemetery, the boundaries of the actual cemetery, the location of the utility pole, lines and the two telephone booths located in the middle of the cemetery is available for viewing at: http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Plains/5881/halemcbride-map.html Thanks to all of you who have previously written notes of encouragement as we wade full force into this confrontation with the "powers that be". Lois Mauk Jeffersonville, Indiana Can a Indiana property owner get away with PAVING over a cemetery and turning it into a parking lot? See: http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Plains/5881/halemcbridecem.html - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Clark County, Indiana Cemeteries Page: http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Plains/5881 Next CCCPC Meeting: Saturday, 9-5-98, Charlestown Library, 2 PM -----------------------------------------------------------------------