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Subject: [CA-ROSEVILLEGENSOC] Re: DISCUSSION TONIGHT- More Proposed Restriction of Public Access to Record...
Date: Wed, 5 Feb 2003 13:53:46 EST

Thought this also might interest you all,
Joyce Cooper


In a message dated 2/4/2003 6:07:50 PM Pacific Standard Time,
writes:

> Subj: DISCUSSION TONIGHT- More Proposed Restriction of Public Access to
> Records-
> Date: 2/4/2003 6:07:50 PM Pacific Standard Time
> From: <A HREF="mailto:"></A>
> To: <A HREF="mailto:"></A>
> Sent from the Internet
>
>
>
> Please forgive me if you receive more than one of this message as a
> result of being subscribed to more than one mailing list. It's an
> important enough issue to both genealogists and the public in general
> that we should get the word out quickly.
>
> If the increasing trend towards closure of public records throughout the
> country is of concern to you, be sure to tune in to the DearMYRTLE
> internet radio show discussing the topic TONIGHT by visiting
> www.DearMYRTLE.com and call the show 1-877-638-7234 between 9-10
> p.m.Eastern Standard Time in US.
>
> Below is the post relating details of the show and a post Myrtle
> received regarding proposed legislation now in Indiana, following on the
> heals of the one that came up and passed in the VA House the other day.
> There's another one proposed in Missouri:
> http://www.house.state.mo.us/bills03/member/mem115.htm
>
> It's not too late to stop either of these bills if everyone takes
> action. While protecting ourselves against identity theft is
> essential, both the VA bill
> (http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/VAALBEMA/) (text of VA bill
> attached at end of this post) and the IN bill
> (http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/INHENRY/2003-02)
>
> http://www.in.gov/legislative/bills/2003/IN/IN1540.1.html
>
> are very poorly written and ambiguous, giving up much more than is
> necessary for reasonable and adequate protection of privacy against
> identity theft.
>
> The genealogy community must NOT be naive and think that we can simply
> sit back and blindly trust the "good intentions" of the people
> sponsoring such bills. Sometimes good intentions are enough; but when
> it comes to law, good intentions carried out with incompetence can be
> devastating. Regardless of the writer's intent, laws are carried out
> exactly according to what they actually say, only to the limits or with
> the intentions that are clearly and unmistakenly written therein. If
> the wording of the law is broad and vague enough to allow very strict
> limitations to access, you can bet that such strict limitations will
> ultimately occur.
>
> Likewise as genealogists, sitting by and saying "that's not my state,
> it's not my concern" is extremely foolish, because (1) we know our
> ancestors may leave us searching for their records anywhere; (2) every
> such law that is passed anywhere sets precedent for more to be
> passed;and (3) genealogy or not, these laws seriously restrict the
> freedoms on which our country was founded and for which our mothers have
> sent their sons (and now daughters) to die in defense thereof for over
> 200 years.
>
> I don't want to give the impression that I'm a fanatic, but the basic
> scenario of naive people blindly trusting the "intent" of their leaders
> and allowing certain restrictive laws to be passed while everyone stood
> by and did nothing, eventually resulted in the European holocaust of the
> Jews, not to mention the countless other human tragedies in history!
> The time to stop such serious restrictions is BEFORE the laws are
> enacted, not later.
>
> Please help spread the word about this critical matter; tune into
> www.DearMYRTLE.com tonight from 9-10 p.m.EST US; and contact the
> legislators of any state considering such legislation to make it clear
> that you are against it for very good reasons.
>
> Diane
>

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