Pebble Creek Cemeteries Discussion Fourm: My Post from 2/27/02 11:59pm

Here is a copy of the Letter to the Editor I have sent to both the Mechanicsville Local and the Herald Progress newspapers of Hanover County. Please help stop the County officials from continuing to do this!

Dear Editor,

I hope the Hanover County official are proud of themselves for the
utterly disgusting manner in which they are leading this County and
presenting it to the general public with specific regard to the allowing of
graves to be desecrated.
With the recent and fast-paced operations at PebbleCreek, the County
officials have shown complete disregard for law, value, truth, and those
things which are sacred such as residents' health and final resting places.
The two gravesites (yes, two) were clearly noted on the original plats
of land held by the original developer, Mr. Riley Lowe. (Yes, the same
original developer involved in the Wal-Mart fiasco explained by Ms. Linda
Heath in the Letters to the Editor on Feb. 27th) The property was later
transferred to PMG-One.
At some point in time, the services of a mortician were hired to
determine if any graves actually existed. This clearly should have brought
concern to any & all of the County officials involved. Would you ask the
teen-ager who works at the local fast food restaurant to go with you to pick
out a new car just because he sees cars on a daily basis, but has no actual
automobile experience? Of course not. So why would you hire someone who sees
bodies of the deceased on a daily basis, but has no experience or training
in locating burial sites, graveyards, or archaeological experience in
general? Well, after stepping over headstones, the mortician declared he
saw nothing visible that proved to him any graveyards existed.
It was at this time the actual plat of land was altered and the cemetery
grounds were removed. Removed!!! That is altering a legal document by the
information received from an untrained & inexperienced person. Does this
mean that any one of us could possibly alter our own legal documents? I
mean, if the County officials do it at will and its ok, can't we as
residents? On our tax assessments? On anything?
Of course not and neither should they!
Now, over two years ago, a representative from PebbleCreek contacted my
home looking for information on who to contact to identify a graveyard. I
was told they were not looking to damage or remove the cemetery, but rather
to find out just how large of an area this was so nothing would be
disturbed. I gave them the contact information for a company that does
thermal imaging photography. Why was this never used? Why was this gentleman
never contacted? Could it be because this would have ruined the plans for
PebbleCreek & the developer(s) involved? For ANYONE to say they had no proof
that a cemetery existed is a complete lie! These phone calls proves
otherwise. Part of these graves are already under several homes in
PebbleCreek without some owners' knowledge. Why?
Next, in what method did any of those involved make an attempt to notify
next of kin? In less than 24 hrs I was able to determine from merely being
involved in a genealogy email/internet forum who used to live at, own, and
died at the property. Much, if not most, of this has been documented and is
at the Hanover Courthouse and in the archives of the Herald Progress
newspaper. Why wasn't this done?
Did anyone directly involved in this consider the health hazards they've
now exposed everyone residing in PebbleCreek to? Do they not know that there
are certain causes of deaths for which a body is not allowed to be exhumed?
Film footage on one local Richmond television station showed glass with
human remains. This proves glass-topped caskets were used and were highly
common in the
mid-late 1700's to early 1800's. What this also proves is the method of
which these bodies were preserved....by the use of arsenic. So now, the
residents of PebbleCreek are exposed to any/all living organisms from
any/all causes of deaths to over 150 people and the exposure of arsenic in
the soil in the area. Did the County officials do their homework here? No,
this was reported on local television as well.
Could this have been a mistake? That is highly doubtful. This is
obviously not the first family cemetery that has been desecrated/dug up by
use of whatever means County officials could find. Examples: Wal-mart,
Wastewater/Sewage Treatment Plant, PebbleCreek, current progress involving
stripmall/subdivision project off Pole Green Road and Studley Road, and
there are many, many others.
So, it is time for ALL Hanover citizens to step up to the plate & say
enough is enough. When is a final resting place just that....a place where
your loved ones finally rest? If it wasn't "convenient" for these graves to
be located where they were now, who is to say they will be convenient in the
next 10 or 20 years where they have been moved to? What will happen to our
well known & documented graveyards such as Signal Hill Memorial Park in
another 100 years? Will it become a parking lot, a sewage treatment facility
or someone's basement? If we all don't step forward now and protect what we
all know is sacred and show respect to the dead, how on earth can we ever
explain to our children to do this for us when we pass on.
These Hanover County officials and developers will be held accountable
for their actions. If not here on earth, then by a greater judge in a
greater court one day. In the meantime, we must make wisdom, courage,
honesty, morals and values forced requirements of our officials. They are
surely lacking these traits now. It is time to "come clean" to the public
gentlemen. We are waiting.
Since you refuse to let the dead "rest in peace", WE, the living, shall
refuse to let you "rest in peace" until you do.

Sheri Millikin
Hanover, VA

My Post from 2/27/02 11:59pm

Repost of response from Jo Yates