This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/kYB.2ACE/1740.1.1 Message Board Post: I have read the story in the Tuttle Times and have contacted the city manager, Joe Daugherty. Even though the city portrays the article as as rumor, I stand by what I stated. The photo in the story is not of the Tuttle Cemetery but of the small cemetery at Silver City. Mr. Daugherty has agreed to meet with me to amicably come up with a set of protocols for the historical plots. I have over 100 messages from people all around the USA & Other Countries that have family buried in that section. In UNMARKED graves. Daugherty admits that there are many unmarked graves in there and they based their opinion solely on records only dating back to only the 1950's. They have never done any type of geological survey to determine if/where graves actually exist. He and I will meet and come up with a plan of action to make a public notice regarding people coming in to the city to determine (by memory) where any grave may have been. I propose that anyone coming into the City Hall and making a claim on any of the older 4 sections (A, B, C & D) be granted a historical deed and the city shall allow a marker to be placed there. FREE of any charges, except for their chosen memorial, to themselves. No one should have to pay for a historical deed, or the right to display a remembrance on the grave. The cemetery was a free cemetery when their loved ones were entombed there. Even knowing that Section B was utilized as a 'potter's field' then it is my belief that they deserve recognization and honor. A memorial needs to be erected in that section and no graves allowed to be dug there, unless the family has a secured place there, already. The 4 new plots were sold as "NEW". I have received several messages of babies being buried in that section without markers. By people who actually remember that era, and those whose father's built coffins and dug the graves. It is only my wish to protect this cemetery. My grandparents and great-grandparents are buried there, as well as a newborn baby my grandmother buried in the old Section B. A cousin that died in the 70's is buried there, and the city did not have hers on the map, she was a newborn. I stand in honor of what I stated, and would never misrepresent myself or anyone else. I asked City Hall for an explanation and ran into a defensive attitude, the story came out as a 'rumor', which I emphatically stated to the newspaper and the writer, was indeed purported by myself, however not a rumor, my actions were honorable and true, even granting permission to utilize my name. I will not attempt to challenge anything via the newspaper. The City may declare whatever they wish to purport to the people, via the news or through any other manner. Anyone that views the cemetery will be able to make their own judgements. I spoke one-on-one with the City, and I further asked that the City deal with this matter in an appropriate and beneficial manner, for everyone. The City has agreed on this point. I would much rather spend my time, money and efforts on the beneficial preservation on this historical cemetery than to allot any of it to any defensive position of a cause that is not only mine, but of many's. I have volunteered my time for the effort of mapping this cemetery, securing any records that may exist, assisting the County/City/State on recording the findings, tracking down relations or deaths through obituaries and death certificates, and notifying them of the policy. Also, viewing old Grady County newspapers regarding burials in this cemetery. As far back as 1905, from the OK Historical Soc. Newspaper Collection Database. If anyone has family buried in those sections in an unmarked grave, then please notify the City of Tuttle so that action can be taken to provide protection of the historical sites. Kathy Spivey Chickasha, Oklahoma 405.222.1309