I received this on the Dalton list and thought it would be of sorrowful interest to others. Be vigilant! Philip Sheppard Beaufort, South Carolina Listowner: NCMACON-L, NCTRANSY-L >If you are interested in the outrageous (and legal) removal and >destruction of old cemeteries, please read the newspaper article from >Indiana (shown below the addresses). If you are compelled, as I was, to >write I have provided the addresses. I spent quite a bit of time >looking up all the folks mentioned in the news article. I will be >writing and sending cc:'s to all the addresses below. Maybe letters to >the editor of the Star & News would also help. >Cindy Palmer ><palmerv@earthlink.net> > >ADDRESSES for People involved with the cemetery removal story: > >Bill Shaw, Writer >Indianapolis Star & News >307 N Pennsylvania St, >Indianapolis, IN 46204-1811 >(765) 457-6712 > >Department of Natural Resources (3 individuals were mentioned in news) >Jon C. Smith, Director of Division of Historic Preservation and >Archaeology >Rick Jones, Chief Archaeologist >Amy L. Johnson, Research Archaeologist >Indiana Department of Natural Resources >402 W Washington St # W256, >Indianapolis, IN 46204-2739 >(317) 232-4020 > >Duke Realty Investments Inc. (2 individuals were mentioned in news) >Blair D. Carmosino, Development Services Director >Donna Coppinger, Vice President of Marketing >Duke Realty Investments Inc. >8888 Keystone Xing #1200 >Indianapolis, IN 46240-4621 >(317) 846-4700 > >NES Inc. >11400 Grooms Road >Cincinnati, OH 45242-1417 >(513) 247-800 > >Stephen Nawrocki, Anthropologist >University of Indianapolis >1400 E Hanna Ave, >Indianapolis, IN 46227-3697 >(317) 788-3368 > >Central Indiana Farm Bureau >1530 W Epler Ave, >Indianapolis, IN 46217-9681 >(317) 783-2311 > >Central Indiana Farm Bureau >229 Muessing Rd, >Indianapolis, IN 46229-2807 >(317) 894-3311 > >Indiana Farm Bureau Incorporated >225 S East St, >Indianapolis, IN 46202-4058 > (317) 692-7851 > >Indiana Farm Bureau Svc >225 S East St, >Indianapolis, IN 46202-4058 >(317) 692-7838 > >I could not find addresses for the following: >1) Jeannine Kreinbrink, archaeologist now works for Natural and Ethical >Environmental Solutions Inc., Liberty Township, Ohio. >2) Indiana General Assembly >3) Danny J. White > >NEWSPAPER ARTICLE Margy Miles wrote: > >> The Death of a Cemetery >> Wayne Township graveyard destroyed for warehouse shows final resting >> places aren't so final under state law. >> >> By Bill Shaw >> Indianapolis Star/News >> INDIANAPOLIS (Aug. 22, 1998) -- Sometime in 1844, James Rhoads, a >> prominent Wayne Township farmer, died. He was 70. His family members >> and friends buried him in a grove of walnut trees on a hill >> overlooking a little creek. >> >> It was the first burial in what would become Rhoads Cemetery. During >> the next half-century, 43 members of the Rhoads, Foltz, Shute and Rude >> families would be sent to eternity in the walnut grove. >> >> The tiny cemetery was the scene of extraordinary grief over the years >> as members of the four families repeatedly journeyed in horse-drawn >> wagons across the sweeping fields and up the lonesome hill to bury >> their children. >> >> Thomas B. Rhoads was 7 months old in August 1849 when he died of an >> inflamed brain. Elmer Shute was 2 when he died of a bowel infection in >> August 1859. Hiram Foltz was an infant. George Foltz was 1. Lillian >> Rhoads was 2 and died of whooping cough on Aug. 13, 1878. Casey Rhoads >> died of an inflamed brain when he was 2. Emma Rude died at 18 months. >> >> On and on they died until there were 35 children buried in the >> peaceful cemetery on the hill. >> >> By the dawn of the 20th century, the burying ceased as the four >> families either died out or drifted away from southern Wayne Township. >> Nobody paid much attention to the old cemetery anymore. >> >> The cemetery and surrounding farmland changed owners several times. >> Each new owner farmed the fields and tended the old cemetery out of >> respect for earlier generations of Hoosier families. The farmers could >> have knocked down the trees, plowed under the tombstones, planted corn >> on the graves and made a few more dollars at harvest. >> >> But they didn't. >> >> The pace of change in Wayne Township picked up dramatically in 1931 >> when the Indianapolis airport opened on 900 acres, gobbling up >> farmland and triggering a development explosion in western Marion >> County. >> >> Still, the land around the old cemetery remained untouched, save for >> the annual spring plowing. The burying ground remained unmolested, >> decade after decade, hidden on the hill in a 60-foot-wide opening in >> the walnut grove >> >> Danny J. White grew up in the Lafayette Heights neighborhood, just >> south of the cemetery. In the 1970s, the field around the cemetery >> served as a dirt bike track for White and his teen-age buddies. He >> crossed it many times walking to Ben Davis High School. The old >> dead-end dirt road served as a teen-age lovers' lane. Neighborhood >> families held picnics beneath a massive, gnarled oak tree just east of >> the cemetery. >> >> White, 41, is a tool and die maker and an Indy Racing League mechanic. >> He helped fabricate the car Eddie Cheever drove to victory in the 1998 >> Indianapolis 500. >> >> Every day driving to work along I-465 near the airport, he'd glance to >> the east through the sprawl of hotels, office buildings, warehouses, >> parking lots, gas stations and fast food joints, and take comfort that >> the solitary hill and the dark grove of trees remained in this mass of >> concrete and asphalt. >> >> "Even when I was a kid the cemetery and the area surrounding it was >> breathtaking," he recalled. >> >> In the name of development >> >> By 1995, the fields that stretched to the horizon when James Rhoads >> was buried so long ago had shrunk to 21.2 acres. >> >> Now jet planes scream overhead, and the rumble of nearby I-70 and >> I-465 is constant. Cement trucks and construction equipment line the >> old lovers' lane, and new buildings seem to appear daily, landscaped >> with skinny stick trees, surrounded by acres of asphalt. >> >> One day about 18 months ago, Danny J. White was driving to work and >> glanced toward the familiar hill and the concealed cemetery. He was >> startled to see it surrounded by yellow trucks, graders, backhoes and >> dirt scrapers. >> >> He raced immediately to the cemetery and felt his stomach heave. The >> tombstones were gone. There were ugly gashes in the earth. The big >> yellow machines had pulled the graves from the earth. >> >> "It was sickening," he recalled. He was furious. He made dozens of >> phone calls and fired off angry letters to an assortment of government >> officials seeking an explanation. >> >> He got one. >> >> It was all quite legal, according to state officials. Now go away and >> quit bothering us, Danny J. White. >> >> He wondered how such an abomination could occur in conservative, >> family-values Indiana where, he, like most Hoosiers, was raised to >> respect the dead and revere their hallowed, final resting place. >> >> "How did this happen?" he asked. "You don't mess with graves." >> >> Well, here's what happened, Danny. They do mess with graves. >> >> James Rhoads, Thomas, Henry, Casey, Elmer and the other children and >> eight adults who rested more than 150 years in the safety of the >> walnut grove became the property of Duke Realty Investments Inc. >> >> Duke, which owns or manages 60 million square feet of real estate in >> eight states, bought the 21.2 acres and the 360-square-foot cemetery >> in 1995. >> >> "We purchased the land for development purposes," explained Donna >> Coppinger, the helpful vice president of marketing for Duke. "We >> couldn't develop a site with a cemetery on it." >> >> Why? >> >> "It wasn't what we wanted to do," she said. >> >> Duke will soon level the hill and build a 458,000-square-foot bulk >> distribution warehouse on the 21.2 acres, obliterating the >> one-tenth-acre Rhoads Cemetery. >> >> It's legal >> >> Nearly two years ago, after they bought the land Duke hired an >> archaeology company called NES Inc. in Blue Ash, Ohio, and together >> they filed the necessary forms with the Indiana Department of Natural >> Resources Division of Historic Preservation and Archaeology to dig up >> the Rhoads, Foltz, Shute and Rude families. >> >> State laws, which are made by the 150 members of the Indiana General >> Assembly with extensive guidance from corporate lobbyists, allow >> property owners to demolish old cemeteries they find on their land. >> Throw away the tombstones, plant corn or build a warehouse on the >> graves. It's legal. >> >> DNR's chief archaeologist Rick Jones is monitoring the Duke >> demolition. He said his agency issues about 10 cemetery relocation >> permits a year. How many cemeteries simply are destroyed, he doesn't >> know. "We have no way of knowing," he said. >> >> But throwing away tombstones and paving over graves doesn't require a >> permit. Just do it. It's legal. In fact, old tombstones often end up >> in flea markets. >> >> "Most people think cemeteries are forever," Jones explained slowly and >> uncomfortably. This is not a topic most state officials enjoy >> discussing. "In Indiana, cemeteries are not forever. If you own the >> property, you can bulldoze them down. Basically, in Indiana, nothing >> is sacred." >> >> Digging into graves and moving them does require some paperwork, >> except for farmers who are exempt from even that minor inconvenience. >> >> "Farmers can just throw away the tombstones and plow up the graves," >> said Jones. "And they do. The Indiana Farm Bureau got the legislature >> to exempt farmers." >> >> A couple years ago, DNR proposed a bill to offer some mild protection >> for old pioneer cemeteries. Corporate lobbyists smothered the bill in >> committee, and it never received even token consideration. >> >> The end of Rhoads >> >> Anyway, Duke's cemetery demolition project proceeded under DNR Digging >> Permit 960062. >> >> NES Inc. archaeologist Jeannine Kreinbrink directed the removal of >> "remains," once known in another life as James Rhoads, Elmer, Thomas, >> Casey and others. >> >> Kreinbrink, who now works for Natural and Ethical Environmental >> Solutions Inc. of Liberty Township, Ohio, did not return phone calls. >> >> She did submit a preliminary report, as required, to the DNR's Rick >> Jones. >> >> It's a haunting document, complete with photographs of the "remains." >> In many cases, much remains of the remains, like the perfectly >> preserved bones of little children, their arms crossed, lying in tiny >> hexagonal coffins. Pieces of shoes and clothing remain. >> >> The report also contains a diagram of each grave's location, the shape >> of the coffin and what was in it. Each former person is identified by >> a letter and a number. >> >> For example, C-2 was the "well-preserved remains of an adult. Sex >> unknown. Head to west. Arms at side." >> >> B-10 contained the "well-preserved remains of an adult. Arms folded >> with hands over waist." >> >> Mr. D-1 was obviously a wheat farmer because he was buried with a >> wheat scythe and a small plate. >> >> Infant D-6 was buried beneath 2.8 feet of dirt in a decorative metal >> coffin called a sarcophagus with a glass viewing window. >> >> E-7 was an older adult male with an engraved tulip on his coffin and >> the words "Rest In Peace." >> >> A-1 was the "poorly preserved remains of an infant, sex unknown. Few >> scattered post cranial remains." >> >> B-1 was an "adult female 20-35 years. Well-preserved remains." >> >> And on it went in graphic detail. Most people were buried under only 2 >> feet of dirt, symbolically facing the setting sun, the western >> horizon. >> >> "I feel a connection with these people," Rick Jones said quietly, >> flipping through the depressing document. "You feel something looking >> into a child's grave after 150 years. These are people that used to >> live, walk around and breathe. We're literally looking into the past >> and I feel a profound sense of respect." >> >> He paused, blinked a couple times. >> >> "This is a serious thing." >> >> Once Elmer and the others were dug up, labeled with numbers and >> letters, they were shipped to anthropologist Stephen Nawrocki at the >> University of Indianapolis on the Southside. >> >> He was hired by Duke under terms of digging permit 960062, which >> required an "osteological" investigation by an anthropologist. That is >> a study of the bones and "artifacts" for historical significance. >> >> "I haven't been cleared by Duke to discuss this with reporters. I'm >> just a sub, sub contractor," said Nawrocki. Jeannine Kreinbrink called >> and told him not to talk, he said. Her firm is paying his fees. >> >> When will your report be done, doctor? >> >> "I don't know." >> >> Once his report is complete, DNR will either order Duke to rebury the >> "remains" somewhere else or they will "be kept in a lab for future >> study," said Jones. >> >> Last December, Blair D. Carmosino, Development Services Director, Duke >> Construction Inc., fired off a stern letter to DNR officials. >> >> "Duke's schedule for construction start-up in this project area is >> rapidly approaching, so it is imperative that the (DNR) properly issue >> a clearance letter for this project area." >> >> Part of the reason for delay was DNR's displeasure with Jeannine >> Kreinbrink's preliminary report. Jon C. Smith, director of DNR's >> Division of Historic Preservation and Archaeology, found about 40 >> points in her report he wanted explained, corrected or expanded upon >> -- like what did Duke plan to do with the "unwanted" headstones they >> dug up? >> >> On July 22, DNR issued a conditional permit to begin "ground >> disturbing activities" but demanded an archaeologist be present in >> case additional "human remains" are uncovered. >> >> "We'll probably start drainage work and soil things soon," said Donna >> Coppinger, the Duke marketing person. "Site preparation before winter >> means if we can get the site ready, we construct our industrial >> warehouse product this winter. The building will be 1,032 feet long >> and 440 feet wide." >> >> This is good news? "It is good news. We're good corporate neighbors," >> she said. >> >> Property of Duke >> >> The other day Danny J. White visited the old cemetery one last time >> before the ancient walnuts and solitary oak are bulldozed, the hill >> flattened and the "final" resting place for 35 kids and eight adults >> is erased from the face of the earth. >> >> He hiked through the alfalfa field, brimming with buzzing bees, >> butterflies and summer wildflowers and up the hill. He rummaged around >> through the dense brush at the edge of the cemetery. Day lilies >> planted 150 years ago around the graves still flourish. >> >> "Look what I found," he said suddenly, emerging from the brush with >> the broken top half of a tombstone bearing the words "WIFE OF JAMES >> RHOADS. DIED." He found it in a bulldozed pile of dirt between two old >> tires, beer cans and soda pop bottles. >> >> What to do? Surely the DNR would want Mrs. Rhoads' broken tombstone. >> It couldn't be left in the pile of tires and broken glass. Somebody >> might steal it. It might be demolished in "site preparation." It could >> be lost forever, a historic treasure, the last poignant symbol of a >> person's life, sacrificed on the altar of economic development and >> corporate neighborliness. >> >> A quick phone call to DNR research archaeologist Amy L. Johnson >> provided the answer. >> >> "Put it back," she said firmly. >> >> What? >> >> "Put it back," she said again. >> >> Why? >> >> "It belongs to Duke. It is their property." >> >> James Rhoads' wife's name was believed to be Hannah, and she died on >> July 24, 1849, at age 85. Her husband, remember, was the first person >> buried in the cemetery in August 1844. >> >> Her broken tombstone, which was carefully placed in the Hoosier soil >> during solemn, no doubt tearful, ceremonies 149 long summers ago, was >> returned to the pile of bulldozed dirt, tires, broken glass, beer and >> pop bottles. >> >> It belonged to Duke. >> >> It's the law. >> >> >> *