Hello All, Fred Dittmer asked for any ideas for a topic on cemetery needs and I gave him one. He asked me to share my passion with other list to get the problem corrected. In Oklahoma, there are NO LAWS to protect Pioneer, Abandoned and Historical Cemeteries from destruction by the owner of private lands. In other words, if a farmer or rancher wants to destroy an ancient cemetery on his property, there are NO laws to prevent or punish the destruction of the graves. The laws on the books only apply to city, county or state graveyards. I went to the District Attorney in Murray County to see if he would prosecute and he said yes he would because he is a genealogist but that most DA's would not because the current state laws are so ambiguous. I have heard of farmers who pushed grave stones into a ditch to plant wheat, pushed grave stones over to build a barn, removed grave stones and put them into a boggy creek bottom to make it easier to cross a creek in wet weather. Go to this link to see my proposed laws I have sent to my state representative. http://www.rootsweb.com/~okmurray/pioneer_cemeteries.htm You my email my state representative to see if he can get anything done about this alarming trend. Rep. Danny Hilliard State Capitol Bldg., Room 442 2300 N. Lincoln Bvld. OKC, OK 73105-4885 E-MAIL: [email protected] We are not asking the landowners to do anything, just stop what they are doing. Thanks, Dennis Muncrief Host - Murray County, OK

Dennis, I agree completely! We need to get all our volunteers involved in pushing this project before we loose any more of our precious cemeteries. Let's all read this information and write to our state representatives. Brenda Choate --- Dennis Muncrief <[email protected]> wrote: > Hello All, > Fred Dittmer asked for any ideas for a topic on > cemetery needs and I gave > him one. He asked me to share my passion with other > list to get the problem > corrected. > > In Oklahoma, there are NO LAWS to protect Pioneer, > Abandoned and Historical > Cemeteries from destruction by the owner of private > lands. In other words, > if a farmer or rancher wants to destroy an ancient > cemetery on his property, > there are NO laws to prevent or punish the > destruction of the graves. > > The laws on the books only apply to city, county or > state graveyards. I > went to the District Attorney in Murray County to > see if he would prosecute > and he said yes he would because he is a genealogist > but that most DA's > would not because the current state laws are so > ambiguous. > > I have heard of farmers who pushed grave stones into > a ditch to plant wheat, > pushed grave stones over to build a barn, removed > grave stones and put them > into a boggy creek bottom to make it easier to cross > a creek in wet weather. > Go to this link to see my proposed laws I have sent > to my state > representative. > > http://www.rootsweb.com/~okmurray/pioneer_cemeteries.htm > > You my email my state representative to see if he > can get anything done > about this alarming trend. > > Rep. Danny Hilliard > State Capitol Bldg., Room 442 > 2300 N. Lincoln Bvld. > OKC, OK 73105-4885 > > E-MAIL: [email protected] > > We are not asking the landowners to do anything, > just stop what they are > doing. > > Thanks, > Dennis Muncrief > Host - Murray County, OK > > > > > > > ===== Brenda Choate Garvin County Coordinator,OKGenWeb/USGenWeb Project http://www.rootsweb.com/~okgarvin/garvin.htm http://www.rootsweb.com/~okgarvin/kinard/kinard.htm Be aware, read, get involved, vote! Goto http://www.worldnetdaily.com __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Health - your guide to health and wellness http://health.yahoo.com