This is a rough draft of what I plan to send to every member of the State Senate/House. I will also send a personal message to each member representing the counties where I research/plan to research. (Of course, I don't have my personal contact information on this draft!) I'm posting this to give you ideas---or you are welcome to cut/paste/forward! We need to contact these lawmakers to let them know just how many people they are affecting. At the same time, we need to let them know that we want to be fair to both property owners and researchers/historians while assuring these old cemeteries will be preserved after the family dies out! Sandy Re: *HB1354/*SB1804* Dear Sir or Madam: I respectfully ask that you vote against this pending legislation as it is written. It would make visiting a family cemetery difficult for researchers from out of state and would make it near impossible for historians to visit cemeteries without first having to research and locate the descendants of people reported to have been buried there. I do offer what I consider to be a fair and reasonable solution to any problems brought about by older family cemeteries located on private property. Require property owners to “register” these cemeteries with the local county archives or research library along with contact information. A simple note is all that should be required to “register” the cemetery. (“There's a cemetery on my property at 555 Dogwood Lane. My phone number is 555-5555 but it isn't necessary for anyone to contact me to visit the cemetery.”) That is all that should be required of the property owner other than providing some sort of “path” giving preferred directions to the cemetery. (Each county would probably find enough local interest in cemetery preservation that they could send people out to meet with the property owner to help designate/clear/mark the “path”.) By registering a cemetery, the property owner is automatically removed of any liability should an accident happen to a visitor while on his/her property. Researchers and historians are going to visit archives and research libraries—and they are going to register. At that time, they can also purchase a “permit” to visit local cemeteries. Permits could be daily/weekly/monthly/annually. (Annual permits would be reserved for those people who are well-known as local researchers.) Permit prices could be set at $1/5/15/30. The permit would be placed on the dash of the parked vehicle so anyone could see there was a registered visitor at the cemetery. In this way, the family cemeteries are preserved for all future generations. When the family dies out, there's less danger that the old cemetery will have a house built on it without the graves being moved at property owner expense. Most property owners are glad to allow visitors to the old cemeteries and could become very annoyed by phone calls from people wanting to make appointments. (They could opt out by specifying “appointments not necessary” when they register the cemetery.) County tax offices won't be bothered by having people requesting information about cemeteries and property owners—for which they generally know little about. (The local archivist usually knows where these cemeteries are before anyone asks!) The local archives or historical society can take the information and produce a county cemetery map. Most researchers would gladly pay $5 for a map showing where these cemeteries are located! The money collected from such sells could help pay for items necessary to make a more permanent path to the cemetery, for signs to mark the cemetery, etc. The sale of permits to visit the cemeteries would pay for the cost of a simple computer generated permit and additional research materials/supplies. Thank you for your consideration of this matter but, above all, please help protect and preserve these old cemeteries for future generations to enjoy!

Sandra I would add one more thing to the comments below: and that is requiring the property owners to place a minimum of a 2 foot by 2 foot sign with legible information on where to contact the owner to get the permission. These signs to be in order at all times and updated when the property is sold to another. Now Having been involved in City and County Government out here in Oregon for over 33 years: if the State Bodies of Tennessee do not want to amend the original Bill, It is time to get the Local Historical Society's the Local County Historian, DAR, SAR, Sons of the South, Colonial Dames, your local Church's (as many OLD Church's and Cemeteries are now on Private property in Tennessee and Virginia) and the Veterans Groups etc to sponsor in the County. A County Ordinance in their Counties requiring all Cemeteries to be registered in that County and said Cemeteries to be marked with a minimum of a 2 foot by two foot Legible sign with owner's contact information. This signs to be in order at all times and updated when the property is sold to another. Also make it a Criminal Violation of the County Ordinance of a $1,000 fine an up to 6 months in the County Jail for violating the County Ordinance. I know several Church's in Humphrey's County have been hard at work trying to document all these old Family Cemeteries. AS they make small books of the Cemetery's and sell it to us that are researching our past. They use the funds for their youth groups. Some where around here I have a few of those pamphlets on Graves in Humphreys County and was searching for information on the Johnson Cemetery on the Humphreys and Dickson Co. Lines. Mr. John Whitfield late (the VA Officer) of Dickson County knew where that one was. ----- Original Message ----- From: Sandra Ellis<mailto:sjellis@charter.net> To: tndickso@rootsweb.com<mailto:tndickso@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sunday, May 06, 2007 6:29 AM Subject: [TNDICKSO] [Fwd: more cemetery legislation] This is a rough draft of what I plan to send to every member of the State Senate/House. I will also send a personal message to each member representing the counties where I research/plan to research. (Of course, I don't have my personal contact information on this draft!) I'm posting this to give you ideas---or you are welcome to cut/paste/forward! We need to contact these lawmakers to let them know just how many people they are affecting. At the same time, we need to let them know that we want to be fair to both property owners and researchers/historians while assuring these old cemeteries will be preserved after the family dies out! Sandy Re: *HB1354/*SB1804* Dear Sir or Madam: I respectfully ask that you vote against this pending legislation as it is written. It would make visiting a family cemetery difficult for researchers from out of state and would make it near impossible for historians to visit cemeteries without first having to research and locate the descendants of people reported to have been buried there. I do offer what I consider to be a fair and reasonable solution to any problems brought about by older family cemeteries located on private property. Require property owners to “register” these cemeteries with the local county archives or research library along with contact information. A simple note is all that should be required to “register” the cemetery. (“There's a cemetery on my property at 555 Dogwood Lane. My phone number is 555-5555 but it isn't necessary for anyone to contact me to visit the cemetery.”) That is all that should be required of the property owner other than providing some sort of “path” giving preferred directions to the cemetery. (Each county would probably find enough local interest in cemetery preservation that they could send people out to meet with the property owner to help designate/clear/mark the “path”.) By registering a cemetery, the property owner is automatically removed of any liability should an accident happen to a visitor while on his/her property. Researchers and historians are going to visit archives and research libraries—and they are going to register. At that time, they can also purchase a “permit” to visit local cemeteries. Permits could be daily/weekly/monthly/annually. (Annual permits would be reserved for those people who are well-known as local researchers.) Permit prices could be set at $1/5/15/30. The permit would be placed on the dash of the parked vehicle so anyone could see there was a registered visitor at the cemetery. In this way, the family cemeteries are preserved for all future generations. When the family dies out, there's less danger that the old cemetery will have a house built on it without the graves being moved at property owner expense. Most property owners are glad to allow visitors to the old cemeteries and could become very annoyed by phone calls from people wanting to make appointments. (They could opt out by specifying “appointments not necessary” when they register the cemetery.) County tax offices won't be bothered by having people requesting information about cemeteries and property owners—for which they generally know little about. (The local archivist usually knows where these cemeteries are before anyone asks!) The local archives or historical society can take the information and produce a county cemetery map. Most researchers would gladly pay $5 for a map showing where these cemeteries are located! The money collected from such sells could help pay for items necessary to make a more permanent path to the cemetery, for signs to mark the cemetery, etc. The sale of permits to visit the cemeteries would pay for the cost of a simple computer generated permit and additional research materials/supplies. Thank you for your consideration of this matter but, above all, please help protect and preserve these old cemeteries for future generations to enjoy! ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to TNDICKSO-request@rootsweb.com<mailto:TNDICKSO-request@rootsweb.com> with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message