Mary, thanks for the heads up about this issue. I'm an Ann Arbor resident, just getting started in geneological research. I'll spread the word about the potential to vote in a change. Barb ----- Original Message ----- From: "mlh" <mhendersona2@yahoo.com> To: <MIWASHTE-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Thursday, October 21, 2004 2:01 PM Subject: [MIWASHTE] County lookups in Washtenaw > Hi, all! > > If you do any research in Washtenaw Co. you probably > know that it's not an easy county to do genealogy in, > due to the County Clerk's refusal to let people look > at the "public" records. You have to pay for a > certified copy - you can't just look at, say, a death > certificate and write down the information. > > There was a long thread on this topic on this list in > March and April 2002. I had volunteered to help > someone on this list by looking up a death record, and > was met with all sorts of resistance, to put it > mildly, by the County. > > Anyhow, if there are any Washtenaw County voters on > this list, you might be interested to know that the > long reigning County Clerk, Peggy Haines, is finally > being challenged for this elected position by Lawrence > Kestenbaum. Mr. Kestenbaum seemed to take an > interest in the genealogy issue back in 2002, and I > would have to believe he would make more of an effort > to assist genealogical researchers. You might want to > keep this issue in mind when you vote for the County > Clerk if you are a registered Washtenaw Co. voter. > > To reinforce my point, I find it of note that the > Randon Acts of Genealogical Kindness site (raogk.com) > lists only one lookup volunteer for Washtenaw Co., and > that volunteer specifically states "I will not do > look-ups at the Clerk's office as they will not let me > make copies for folks." It's a pretty sorry state of > affairs when a county like Washtenaw, home of the > University of Michigan, can boast only one lookup > volunteer, and one that has to plainly state that they > can't do any courthouse lookups. > > Mary > > __________________________________________________ > Do You Yahoo!? > Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around > http://mail.yahoo.com > >