Here's my letter to my 2 Democratic assemblypeople. As a lifelong resident, Democrat and voter in NJ (Yes, I did vote for you!), I am concerned about the proposed Assembly bill A1390. As I understand it, it will basically make a lot of genealogy illegal. That is not good. I understand the need for homeland security. But just as President Bush may have overridden what was needed in authorizing wiretaps without judicial approval, it sound like A1390 may be going too far without taking into account all of the potential consequences. Genealogy has had a lot of positive impact on our lives. Our sense of who we are and how our freedoms came about come from our study of our history. Genealogy goes beyond the plain vanilla history and makes it personal, and more meaningful. Learning that one of my ancestors was a Revolutionary War Loyalist who left the US for Canada in 1783 helped me think more deeply about what it means to take a stand during a war. Before that, I never paid attention to the fact that not everyone in the 13 Colonies was a Revolutionary. And the fact that his sons returned to the US from Canada and became naturalized citizens in 1843 in NJ, helps underscore for me the choices that people make to come to the US. But I still want to find out whether his sons came to NJ because their loyalist father was from NJ. And if you close the records, with A1390, I may never find out. Can't the bill be amended in such a way as to make genealogical records available? Your constituent _____ From: NJ-GSNJ-D-request@rootsweb.com [mailto:NJ-GSNJ-D-request@rootsweb.com] Sent: Thursday, February 16, 2006 10:03 AM To: NJ-GSNJ-D@rootsweb.com Subject: NJ-GSNJ-D Digest V06 #20