Hello All; Hope you are having a safe and happy summer. I have been in contact with my representative in the Oklahoma Legislature again about the bill I sent to him last year about protecting the pioneer cemeteries on private land. There are currently NO laws protecting them from destruction. That's right, any landowner can bulldoze the grave stones into a ditch and plant wheat or build a barn on top of a cemetery if he so chooses. I have spent many hours researching the laws of Oklahoma on this subject. The only law currently on the books states that a descendent of a person buried on private land has the right to visit the grave. (assuming the grave is still there) I am afraid that this session of the legislature will adjourn before any action will take place. You can rest assured that the big ranchers and farmers will oppose this bill tooth-and-nail. You are going to have to write these legislators and spur them on. Oklahoma was a unique state in that it was totally Indian Nations and reservations before statehood where the tribes owned the land in common. When statehood occurred, the allotments to the Indians gave each of them 160 acres. The excess was sold off to settlers who would often get land that had a cemetery on it and the cemetery had no connection to the new owner. Emails are fine but they do not have the impact on the legislators that the paper letter does. Here is the address: Representative Danny Hilliard Oklahoma House of Representatives 442 State Capitol Building 2300 North Lincoln Oklahoma City, OK 73105 Phone: 405-557-7412 or 580-622-2124 hilliardda@lsb.state.ok.us I ask you to invest 37 cents and write a paper letter to Danny Hilliard at the state capitol asking him to push this legislation. The letter can be one paragraph urging him to press for action on this bill. I have already lost two cemeteries with relatives. Yours may be next. Thanks for your time, Dennis Muncrief Host - Murray County, OK OKGenWeb / USGenWeb Project