Susan, Regarding the White Family Cemetary, I would like a copy of the statue for allowing us on the property. I live in Wichita Co., TX so my husband and I do intend on doing some work out there. He kindly agreed to help me. It will have to be done a little at a time. Any Byrd Allen White and Eunice Mahalia Daugherty family decendants, feel free to join in. Please contact me at my email address PHa2221@aol.com. We won't start the work until it gets alot cooler. We are having 100 plus degrees right now. We want to avoid snakes and give this time to get organized. Judy Turpin is going to try and locate the owner tomorrow. If she can't get the information that way, I'll try the fire dept if I have to. I would like premission but I also want the proof that I have a right to be there as well. Just something my "Daddy" taught me to do. Jan Good we may need your help on getting this organized because alot of the decendants are strung across this Great Nation of ours. Thanks everyone. Pat PHa2221@aol.com

health and Safety Code SUBTITLE C. CEMETERIES CHAPTER 711. GENERAL PROVISIONS RELATING TO CEMETERIES Subchapter A. § 711.041. Access to Cemetery (a) Any person who wishes to visit a cemetery or private burial grounds for which no public ingress or egress is available shall have the right to reasonable ingress and egress for the purpose of visiting the cemetery or private burial grounds. This right of access extends only to visitation during reasonable hours and only for purposes usually associated with cemetery visits. (b) The owner or owners of the lands surrounding the cemetery or private burial grounds may designate the routes of reasonable ingress and egress. Added by Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 634, § 22, eff. Sept. 1, 1993. -------------------------my notes The key to this law is reasonable . If you determine the shortest least bothersome route that is reasonable. They cannot make you go great distances if a car can make it . Also the Handicapped have the right of access that is provident to give such as being able to take a gator to drive one in or drive through a pasture-so long as you are careful and do not damage anything. Also the owner of the property cannot block you from coming in, they must provide a number or way to get permission if they want you to be able to ask. If no owner is evident ( you can't find one , or their number or a house that seems to be an owner) then they have not provided the normal means to make it easy to get their opinion on which route to go in by. They 'may designate' the route, this is best by posting signs on the easiest route. You may go in to a cemetery at any time but chances are a Judge will side with a property owner that midnight is not reasonable. Nor is everyday visiting perhaps if it is bothersome. However if it is a Mexican decendant visiting a grave it is 'reasonable ' to eat and place food on the grave once a year, or for a group of family reunion visitors to all go to the cemetery for prayer and visit, or for items to be placed on the grave without removing. The land owner NEVER has the right to alter the graves or cemetery land unles it is to do so in a reasonable manner, which means to clean and repair it. The property owner ( and by that I mean surrounding , no one can OWN a cemetery it is covered under landmark useage and not able to be owned, though the upkeep can be owned such as in a commercial cemetery) is not responsible to build or keep a fence though at the same time he can be sued for allowing his cattle to destroy a tombstone. You would have to prove damage by THEIR cattle and not time and other cattle before theirs. A fence may be erected by anyone wanting to fence the cemetery , however they NEVER have the right to fence it so no one may visit the cemetery in a reasonalbe manner. The people in Bonham have broken this by their fencing of the Russell cemetery . They did not include a gate. So the fence is such you cannot visit it without climbing a fence. I cannot do that and need someone to climb it. The Russell decendants ought to have them either remove the fence or cut a gate. The owners of that property either need to post hours of visitation on their main gate or else leave the gate to the property open at all times. But there is no excuse for the gateless cemetery. The laws are based on what is resonable usage. For instense this past month I dealt with an irate land owner in south texas. she insisted she owned the property and after proving she cannot own a cemetery but lost control of it when a burial first took place she was angry someone stood on her land to take a picture of the cemetery in its little fence. The person going in to photograph it took a picture of the cemetery on the way in . That is reasonable use of a cemetery visit. So it is covered under the law. You can show a judge thousands of such pictures, it is a common practice. It is common to place flowers on the grave and not expect them to be removed (UNless you contract for that by burial in a cemetery with a law in its charter already). You also have the right to ornament a cemetery and place a bench there, that is reasonable use and common. You would not have the right to construct a pyramid for instance in this country and therefor not average resonable usesage . You have the right to bury a spouse by their spouse, even if 70 yrs between their passing. No matter what the surrounding land owner wants. It would however be unreasonable to open a new section and take on a few acres for new family graves.However if the cemetery is spread out, you can bury within the current boundaries, that includes the right to bring in digging equipment and a funeral procession. You can only do what is considered reasonable. Have your plan in mind , laws in hand and you can protect yourself from silly law men. I am amazed at how stupid they can be. Don't hesitate to contact a county judge if you are having trouble with a surrounding land owner or a sheriff. They do not have the right to stop you , but you have to know right where you stand in the law. Susan in Texas

I got this on another list and thought it was interesting and may be helpful to some. Linda 36-72-1: The care accorded the remains of deceased persons reflects respect and regard for human dignity as well as cultural, spiritual, and religious values. The General Assembly declares that human remains and burial objects are not property to be owned by the person or entity which owns the land or water where the human remains and burial objects are interred or discovered, but human remains and burial objects are a part of the finite, irreplaceable, and nonrenewable cultural heritage of the people of Georgia which should be protected. 36-72-3: Counties, anywhere within the county boundaries, and municipalities, anywhere within the municipal boundaries, are authorized, jointly and severally, to preserve and protect any abandoned cemetery or any burial ground which the county or municipality determines has been abandoned or is not being maintained by the person who is legally responsible for its upkeep, whether or not that person is financially capable of doing so, to expend public money in connection therewith, to provide for reimbursement of such funds by billing any legally responsible person or levying upon any of his property as authorized by local ordinance, and to exercise the power of eminent domain to acquire any interest in land necessary for that purpose. I found this through SavingGraves.com Stephanie