CEMETERY-L Archives

Archiver > CEMETERY > 2000-09 > 0968948960


From: "Bill Spurlock" <>
Subject: RE: [Old Bones CEMETERY-L] Cemetery Law Enforcement
Date: Thu, 14 Sep 2000 12:29:20 -0400
In-Reply-To: <032101c01e60$38710ac0$4e7055d1@wingate>


Hi Phil,

I'd like to expand a little bit on your first point if I may.

While I fully agree with you, I think that in many of the cases that I have
seen, you could factor in a "good old boy" attitude on the part of the law
enforcement involved where that the land owner may be an older and well
known member of the community and be able to pull some strings as a result
of that. Heck, in one case I've had reported to me a old cemetery was
bulldozed by the property owner to make room for new development. A common
story yes, but in this case the twist was that the property owner was the
County Sheriff's office who wanted the land to expand their offices. Want to
guess how that one turned out? That cemetery is destroyed because it was in
the best interests of the county law enforcement agency to ignore that laws
that they had a sworn duty to uphold.



William Spurlock
Saving Graves: http://www.savinggraves.com

Sign the National Cemetery Protection Act Petition at
http://www.petitiononline.com/sg0001/petition.html

-----Original Message-----
From: Phil Van Camp [mailto:]
Sent: Thursday, September 14, 2000 11:12 AM
To:
Subject: Re: [Old Bones CEMETERY-L] Cemetery Law Enforcement


Point#1 Far to often in land matters, the person with the money & lawyers
prevails.
Point #2 As a cop for 28 years, I can testify that we receive --0--
training in land / real estate law. There's rarely a "victim" in the
classic sense. Nobody is bleeding, no one has a gun in their face. So law
enforcement generally will respond, "It's a civil matter, take them to
court." Also, sadly, a lot of cops are intimidated by the internal affairs
process, & the very real risk of being sued themselves. The public is very
quick to complain & criticize. But it is very rare that anyone takes a
moment & $0.35 to write a thank you. Thus they are reluctant to act except
in the clearcut cases.

Phil
----- Original Message -----
From: Bill Spurlock <>
To: <>
Sent: Thursday, September 14, 2000 6:26 AM
Subject: [Old Bones CEMETERY-L] Cemetery Law Enforcement


> I am convinced that the lack of cemetery law enforcement around the
country
> ( and trust me, this problem is not specific to any one state) is perhaps
> one of the largest threats to our old historic cemeteries that they face
> today. I get reports of this taking place every day. Just as an example, I
> received this email yesterday morning:
>
> "I have recently bought an old home in Boyle County. The house was built
in
> the late 1700's by William Henry Gaines. He and several of his family are
> buried in a small cemetery behind my property on the property of John
> Edelin. Earlier this summer my husband an I asked Mr. Edelin if he would
> mind if we set the tombstones back up and kept the cemetery cleaned up and
> mowed. The markers have been pushed over into a pile. Mr. Edelin
> said he owned the cemetery and that he didn't want anyone on his
> property. He said he could bulldoze it down if he wanted to. A few weeks
> ago I was researching the deeds. The cemetery has been reserved from the
> deeds since the 1800's. Our property and Mr. Edelin's property are
supposed
> to give access to the cemetery. A descendent of William Gaines who lives
in
> Texas has asked me to help him get the cemetery restored. I have called
> numorous Government Agencies in Kentucky and Boyle County and all have
told
> me there is nothing I can do. Also, not one person I have contacted can
> tell me what the laws are against destroying cemeteries and not allowing
> access. Please help.
>
> I would really appreciate any help or information you can give me. I hate
> to think that people can destroy a grave. William Henry Gaines was a
> Revolutionary War soldier under George Rogers Clark."
>
> William Spurlock
> Saving Graves: http://www.savinggraves.com
>
> Sign the National Cemetery Protection Act Petition at
> http://www.petitiononline.com/sg0001/petition.html
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Yvonne Self [mailto:]
> Sent: Thursday, September 14, 2000 8:26 AM
> To:
> Subject: [Old Bones CEMETERY-L] GA Cemetery laws
>
>
> Go here for GA laws on cemeteries:
> http://www.ganet.org/cgi-bin/pub/ocode/ocgsearch?docname=OCode/G/36/72/2
>
> It's my understand that you have to swear out a
> warrant and hire a lawyer to get these laws enforced.
> I don't understand why the sheriff's department cannot
> act when they see laws broken--cows defecating on
> tombstones, etc. They wouldn't hesitate to pull you
> over if you were speeding on an Interstate. What's the
> difference?
>
> Yvonne
>
>
>
> __________________________________________________
> Do You Yahoo!?
> Yahoo! Mail - Free email you can access from anywhere!
> http://mail.yahoo.com/
>
>
> ==== CEMETERY Mailing List ====
> If you are on REGULAR mail mode and wish to unsubscribe from the list,
> send a message to
> In the body of the message type: UNSUBSCRIBE
> Roots Web's computer will send you a message stating YOU ARE NOT ON
> THE LIST if you try unsubbing yourself from the REGULAR mode mail when
> you are actually on digest. THIS IS A COMPUTER GENERATED MESSAGE.
> These directions are for REGULAR MODE mail ONLY
> NOT DIGEST MODE
>
>
> ==============================
> Join the RootsWeb WorldConnect Project:
> Linking the world, one GEDCOM at a time.
> http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/
>
>
> ==== CEMETERY Mailing List ====
> This list is for Cemetery RESTORATION and PRESERVATION
> NOT a surname search list
> Our website is at:
> http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Falls/7965/cemlistp.htm
>
>
> ==============================
> Genealogy calendars, guestbooks and more:
> Visit RootsWeb's Resource Center at
> http://resources.rootsweb.com/
>
>


==== CEMETERY Mailing List ====
If you are on REGULAR mail mode and wish to unsubscribe from the list,
send a message to
In the body of the message type: UNSUBSCRIBE
Roots Web's computer will send you a message stating YOU ARE NOT ON
THE LIST if you try unsubbing yourself from the REGULAR mode mail when
you are actually on digest. THIS IS A COMPUTER GENERATED MESSAGE.


==============================
Genealogy calendars, guestbooks and more:
Visit RootsWeb's Resource Center at
http://resources.rootsweb.com/

This thread: