Very interesting article... ----- Original Message ----- From: <taz1andtaz2@aol.com> To: <KYDAVIES-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Tuesday, June 12, 2001 6:35 PM Subject: [KYDAVIES-L] AG's office wants to register state's cemeteries > This an article from today's Messenger-Inquirer newspaper. Nadine > > AG's office wants to register state's cemeteries > > 12 June 2001 > > > By Joy Campbell > Messenger-Inquirer > > > > Kentucky has 917 identified cemeteries. A state task force is setting out to > find more, and its members are calling on the public to help. > > > > Glenn Taylor of Glenn Funeral Home is serving on the Attorney General's Task > Force on the Preservation of Kentucky's Cemeteries. He is representing the > Funeral Directors Association of Kentucky. > > > > "The thrust of the task force's charge is to identify cemeteries in Kentucky > -- those small, rural cemeteries that no one accepts responsibility for or > have been forgotten or abandoned," Taylor said. "The first step is to find > them. Where are they?" > > > > Taylor is urging anyone who knows where a cemetery is located to fill out a > survey the AG's office has created. The survey is available from Taylor or > from the AG's web site at http://www.kyattorneygeneral.com/cemetery. > > > > "If people will get the survey to me, I'll see that it gets to the attorney > general's office," Taylor said. They also may be mailed to the address on the > form. > > > > The plan is for surveys to be returned by Aug. 15. > > > > Then the task force will send a report to Attorney General Ben Chandler by > Sept. 30. Chandler will share the findings with the 2002 Kentucky General > Assembly in the fall. > > > > The new data base is just one part of a larger issue the task force has been > asked to study. > > > > The group also will study cemeteries' financial and physical condition and > recommend long-term solutions for maintaining them, according to Corey > Bellamy, a spokesman in the AG's office. > > > > "The group also has been asked to recommend immediate action which may be > implemented to address public safety and maintenance issues," Bellamy said. > "We want to identify the cemeteries across the state and determine what > needs, if any, they have." > > > > Situations in Louisville and Lexington have focused recent attention on > maintenance of cemeteries. > > > > The Louisville community has struggled to keep up three large and > historically significant cemeteries. The company which operated those sites > is bankrupt and did not have an adequate perpetual care trust fund, according > to information on the AG's Web site. > > > > At Cove Haven in Lexington, staff from the AG's office and an archeologist > found casket fragments and skeletal remains at a site where a new grave was > dug, Bellamy said. > > > > Issues the task force may address after gathering the data could include > physical conditions and solvency of cemeteries, the role of state and local > government in overseeing cemeteries, and identification of federal or private > funding sources for cemeteries. > > > > Taylor said there are diverse interests on the 24-member task force, > including genealogists as well as people whose families owned a cemetery, but > the land is now owned by someone else, and people whose families were buried > in places where over-burial has occurred. > > > > Rep. Reginald Meeks, a Democrat from Louisville, chairs the task force. > > > > "There is general concern that part of history may be lost and that people > need assurance that their families' resting places are preserved," Taylor > said. > > > > Funeral directors have an interest in the project because they often are > called upon to serve families who will be buried in these historic sites, > Taylor said. "It takes us considerable time to find who is responsible for > these cemeteries." > > > > Of the 917 known cemeteries, the AG's office regulates only 30 percent of > them, Bellamy said. "The attorney general's office regulates cemeteries that > are in the business of making a profit," Bellamy said. > > > > Family cemeteries are not regulated unless someone is profiting from > operating them. > > > > The data base the task force is putting together covers all cemeteries, even > those not regulated, Bellamy said. > > > ==== KYDAVIES Mailing List ==== > To Subscribe to this list in mail mode, send a message to > KYDAVIES-L-request@rootsweb.com with the word > SUBSCRIBE > in the body of the message. > Turn off signature file for all commands. > > ============================== > Join the RootsWeb WorldConnect Project: > Linking the world, one GEDCOM at a time. > http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com ==== KYGEN Mailing List ==== GenConnect Query System http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/index.html ============================== Join the RootsWeb WorldConnect Project: Linking the world, one GEDCOM at a time. http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com