Sorry to be late with this news- this is old stuff by now, but I will present it anyway, since I see that no one else has here. Leslie Moriarty, Herald Writer must be back as I haven't seen her lately. She wrote 2 articles on Snohomish in the Local News section - the one on the Cemetery, and then the one on the new Library FYI, which has occupied the minds of many here. The Herald, Sat Oct 10, 1998 Sec B Local News, pp 1B & 2B. By Leslie Moriarty, Herald Writer QUOTED AS FOLLOWS: Fight over cemetery head to court Trial begins on Monday to determine if land will be site of new youth center. SNOHOMISH - After more than a year of study, a Snohomish County Superior Court judge will begin hearing testimony Monday about whether land att Second Street and Pine Avenue can be used for something other than a cemetery. A trial to determine if the land dedication of the two-acre parcel asd a cemetery can be removed will begin at 9 a.m. in Department 4 before Judge Charles French. The city of Snohomish, which owns the property, wants the dedication so a youth center can be built there. But descendants of pioneers who were buried in the cemetery in the late 1800s and early 1900s want it to remain a cemetery, although it appears now to be an open blackberry field. "We are trying to achieve a public purpose for the land by allowing a youth center to be built there," said Bill McDonald, Snohomish city manager. "We also want the senior center to remain where it is on the property. We think it is a reasonable request, and we hope the court will as well." Thomas Haensly, an Edmonds attorney representing the families of some who were buried in the cemetery, said his clients want the open space on the parcel left alone and they want a senior center removed from the property. "We hope to see the city put its facilities elsewhere," he said. "Legally and in reality, it is a cemetery and the city is choosing to ignore that fact." What has made the situation harder is that precise records for the cemetery have been hard to come by. It was begun in 1875, but burials there ended in the early 1920s. In the late 1940s, a highway was placed through the property and the state moved graves to other cemeteries in the area, including GAR Cemetery in Snohomish. Records weren't clearly kept, and no one knew if all the remains were moved. During tests the city conducted before going to court, some human remains were found. They were left intact in the ground. McDonald said if the court rules in the city's favor, city officials plan to relocate any remains found during the building process to other cemeteries. "We feel it would be better to get anything we find moved to a cemetery," McDonald said, "because we are not operating a cemetery there. It's the most respectful thing we could do." Carolynn Crawford, a descendant of Snohomish pioneer John Low, who was buried in the cemetery, thinks otherwise. She wants the cemetery property to remain untouched and wants to see it become a memorial garden dedicated to the founders of the city, many of whom were buried there. And she wants the senior center there removed. The senior center opened in 1992, when a small house was moved to the property. A parking lot was added. Across the street on what was the northern part of the original cemetery, a replica of a pioneer village was built. When those were put in place, Crawford said she and other protested, but the city wen ahead with its plans. City officials said there are no records of protests then. Haensly and his clients are asking that those structures be removed from the property and the entire area that once was the cemetery be re- established as a memorial park. "While there are no visible above-groiun signs such as tombstones that a cemetery is there, there are bodies there," Haensly said. "It is not right or legal to use it as anything but a cemetery." A recent discovery of a newspaper article from March 4, 1965, may hold a key, he said. It soeaks of tombstones being removed for a cemetery cleanup, and it appears, that they were never replaced, he said. Meanwhile, seniuors who use the center plan to carpool to the trial to show support for keeping the center located where it is. It will all come donw to a decision by the judge. The trial is expected to last three to four days. Attorneys for both sides said the judge may make an immediate decision following the presentations. The judge also has the right to delay a decision for as long as it takes him to make one. We're hoping to know something pretty quick," McDonald said. Both sides have the right to appeal the decision to a state appeals court, which may mean it could be six more months to a year before anyone knows for sure what will happen. You can contact Leslie Moriarty by phone at 425-339-3436 or you can send e-mail to her at moriarty@heraldnet.com. END OF QUOTED ARTICL FROM The Herald. - - - If it requires undedication legally by the Court to get the use of Snohomish Cemetery for a youth center, how was it that a house was placed on top of that Cemetery for a senior center, and blacktop for parking placed on top of it. How was that legally accomplished? How was the replica of a pioneer village built on top of Snohomish Cemetery, with various old buildings, a house, and tombstones from other sites of the cemetery removed and place in that replica village. Also a sign listed the prices of admission to view the replica village - the prices of admission were revised recently by 50cent more than the original rates on the signboard. The signboard has disappeared after it the price change was divulged. The senior center has an apartment upstairs and is accessed by a stairway in the rear of the house. Approximately 30 feet were added to the house fairly recently for Bingo and other activities, including a weight watchers meeting place, as well as other activities. What is ironic about that new addition to the house is the picture of an Indian ( Native Amer.) wearing his colorful garb - a very respectable picture in its pictorial quality - but, the irony lies in the fact that whole building along with its blacktopped parking area covers a large section - Section B - of that cemetery - named Snohomish Cemetery 1875/76 but was well known to we who lived in Snohomish in the '20s and '30s as Indian Cemetery, or sometimes we called it Pilchuck Cemetery. There were Indians (Nat. Amers.) and Caucasians buried there and we all knew it. We remember the grave stones some of them quite tall. We recall seeing the children's stones with a lamb on them. Below that cem. on the Pilchuck River was our popular swimming hole at "2nd Street bridge" a narrow steel bridge - it was policed by O.D. Morse our chief of police and he forbid us to jump off of that steel bridge as the water there was quite shallow and there were huge boulders. More than one kid jumped off that bridge and came to the surface bloodied by the foolish dive into the shallow waters, below more than one slaughter house up the river and one just below that bridge on the east side of the river. After swimming when we were drying off, we frequently climbed up the hill where we could enter the Cemetery and look at the various grave stones, and talk about Princess Pilchuck Julia, the very last of the Pilchuck Indian tribe who was buried there in 1923 where Pilchuck Jack had been buried years earlier. Another bit of irony is that most old cemeteries have some sort of record - oftentime available via a historical society - the local one. Snohomish seems to be notorious for losing records - did they just toss them somewhere along the way? Gross neglect, and irresponsibility - but some people wrote of it and there are pieces of the puzzle out there - people interested in their villages beginnings usually do those things, and they have memories - memories of their loved ones and their ancestry. Why should such a pioneer site - the only cemetery within the city limits of Snohomish be desecrated, and left for not? & & & 30 & & & ___________________________________________________________________ You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail. Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866]