To: del_Kilgore@House.state.va.us Subject: SB 818 - Destruction of Wills -- comment Date: Mon, 10 Feb 2003 20:28:13 -0500 Ladies and Gentlemen, I am writing in opposition to SB 818, Destruction of Wills, in its present version -- which is currently before your Civil Law subcommittee. While the creation of electronic records is a desirable process to improve the long-term recordkeeping of the state Archives, there is a tremendous RISK of undesired effects from this legislation. The major risks from this process are: 1) archival copies may not be complete; 2) archival copies may be improperly labelled, indexed, or categorized; 3) newer storage technologies may offer improvements in quality or detail that would be unrealizable with only an archive copy. By far, the largest risk is the poor quality of MUCH of the microfilming and digitizing that has occurred in the past. Many archival copies are of such poor quality that the basic information contained in those documents is rendered illegible in low-resolution copies. Please, if you doubt that poor-quality copies are common, please browse the Library of Virginia archives... http://image.vtls.com/ Remember, this is the work of the State Archives, and we typically see less attention to detail at the county and city level. I would like to suggest that the bill be amended, to ensure that no materials may be destroyed until acceptable quality of the archived copies is verified by an independent reviewer (or personnel with the State Archives) (or similar restriction). This would still allow for compact storage of materials, but would protect against the inadvertent loss of information content due to copying, lighting, etc errors. In an improved version, the reviewer could also confirm the adequacy of indexing, etc activities at the same time. This protection would help to mitigate the risks identified in sections 1 and 2 above. Section 3 cannot be predicted but can be minimized through appropriate archival processes as identified by the Library of Congress, State Archives, or other competent technical authority. I would also like to suggest that the documents could be offered to interested parties prior to destruction via a Web site or similar notification. There are also several nonprofit programs (such as USGenWeb, http://www.usgenweb.org/ that would work to preserve the records. Why am I concerned? My ancestors were Virginia natives, although I was born and raised in Texas, had they not come from Virginia to Texas, I would not be here today! My ancestoral families lived in Virginia for more than 250 years no doubt. Destruction of these records will create insurmountable barriers, as I weave my way through family history to be stopped by a poor quality copy. It has been suggested that HALF the people in the United States can trace their ancestry through Virginia. The potential impact is huge -- please make the right decision! Nena Ramsey Smothers jr smothersnena@hotmail.com 222 Bear Paw Road Newport, Washington 99156 USA I choose to connect our Smeathers family as is, 1- Strong family stories and beliefs 2- Strong family resemblances/social traits 3- possibility of it occurring being possible. 4- people in the right places at right times. A research librarian-"How could a family have such detailed story if there was no truth" My gggg grandfather William Smeathers http://www.tamu.edu/ccbn/dewitt/smothers.htm Brazoria Co Hist Museum-Wm Smeathers Will/Obit http://www.bchm.org/Austin/panel14.html Migrations of Wm Smeathers http://www.migrations.org/individual.php3?record=21943 "Life ain't in holding a good hand, but playing a good hand well." Fr Law of the Heart by D Gentry as told abt Wm Smeathers **I am genial genealogist, I seek to the secrets of the past whether squeaky clean or scarlet lettered, I want my Past Unmasked. A friend told me - "My Mother paid a Genealogist $500.00 to research her family tree... then pd him $1500 to 'shut mouth'...** cc: Civil Law Subcommittee Members to email (must be done ASAP] Chairman: Kilgore, Terry G. del_Ki-@House.state.va.us Members: Almand, James F. Del_A-@house.state.va.us Athey, Clifford L., Jr. Del_A-@house.state.va.us Black, Richard H. Del_B-@House.state.va.us Janis, William R. Del_J-@House.state.va.us Joannou, Johnny S. no email Johnson, Joseph P., Jr. del_Jo-@House.state.va.us Marrs, Bradley P. Del_M-@house.state.va.us McQuigg, MichÚle B. del_Mc-@House.state.va.us Reese, Gary A. Del_R-@house.state.va.us Robert F. McDonnell - (Ex-Officio) del_Mcd-@House.state.va.us For all House of Delegate email addresses to email or call, see http://dela.state.va.us/dela/MemBios.nsf/MWebsiteEL?OpenView and http://dela.state.va.us/dela/MemBios.nsf/MWebsiteTL?OpenView To call to protest this bill in the general delivery voicemail box:By Phone When the General Assembly is in session, the House of Delegates and Senate of Virginia jointly operate a toll-free, intrastate telephone message center to accept calls from citizens of the Commonwealth wishing to express an opinion on legislation. The messages are received by the center and will be relayed to the members' offices as requested. You may call the Constituent Viewpoint operators at (800) 889-0229 (outside Richmond) or (804) 698-1990 (Richmond area) to express your opinion on a legislative issue. _________________________________________________________________ STOP MORE SPAM with the new MSN 8 and get 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail