Please feel free to copy and use if you so desire: March 13, 2002 Via Facsimile: 201-928-0406 Assemblywoman Loretta Weinberg Chairwoman of the Assembly Health and Human Services Committee RE: Difficulty of Genealogists in Obtaining Vital Records Dear Assemblywomen Weinberg: I wish to bring to your attention a problem that family historians/genealogists are having recently with obtaining death, birth and marriage certificates of our ancestors from Trenton. Our requests are being returned to us with demands for the names of the subjects' parents, even their mothers' maiden names. These are long-dead ancestors we're talking about here, not the people next door. Frankly, if we knew that information, we would not need those documents. Trenton appears to be waging a campaign designed to make it more difficult for family historians/genealogists seeking their roots. Privacy is not a valid excuse. The subjects of these documents are long-deceased and since they are the ancestors of the document-seekers, I think the privacy issue is rendered moot. (And we are all weary of September 11 being used as a excuse by people who don't seem to want to do their jobs.) I think these rules and practices are patently unfair to family historians/genealogists and I think they need to be changed. Thank you for your attention to this matter.