Private cemeteries are required to have a "perpetual care trust fund" into which a portion of money must go when plots are sold. this fund is then used to maintain the cemetery, allegedly, "in perpetuity." Perhaps a "Rutherford County Family Cemetery Perpetual Care Trust" could be set up to receive monetary contributions for investment with the income going to supply equipment and heavy or skilled labor needed to maintain. The trustees could keep a list of covered family cemeteries. They could coordinate care, whether the labor comes by volunteers or by hiring. THe trustees could have annual Clean-up Days two or three times a year, have fund raisers, and involve not only the descendants, but also the Scouts, the local historians and genealogists, etc. Get some media when you do it to bring out the volunteers and the contributions. file public annual reports and audits so that everyone knows where the money went to promote public confidence. Tennessee law requires that landowners not destroy these cemeteries and that they allow family to enter. Perhaps it would also include clean-up, especially if a family member went along. Albert Lytle Partee >From: Sjkiser@aol.com >Reply-To: TNRUTHER-L@rootsweb.com >To: TNRUTHER-L@rootsweb.com >Subject: [TNRUTHER] Cemetaries >Date: Tue, 5 Jun 2001 21:21:06 EDT > >The best ending to this situation boils down to the fact that it is going >to >take a concerned group of citizens to make a commitment to cleaning up this >cemetary. If I lived in the area, I would volunteer. My husband and I are >boy scout leaders and for an Eagle Project we have taken on the task of >cleaning up an old country cemetary where we live. It's not going to be a >pretty task because the grass is grown up 2-3 feet high around the graves. >But I think we, as activists for preserving history, all agree that this is >important in doing just that. > >Taxing for this should not be an option. In my opinion, if people are >concerned enough to bring this situation into light, then they need to put >together a group to take care of it. > > >Sherry > >Searching in Rutherford County for: Miller, Spain, Poff > > >==== TNRUTHER Mailing List ==== >Welcome to TNRUTHER-L: This is the official Rootsweb mailing list for >Rutherford County, TN. Anyone is welcome to post queries, and questions >about Rutherford County, TN Genealogy. > _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com