This repost is of the original message posted by Anne Meadows dated March 3, 2002 3:18pm

I am outraged at this situation. Who gave permission to desecrate the site? Were there any plans for the respectful removal of remains? Why wasn't anyone there to oversee the exhumations? It appears to me to be just regular workers on a construction job. Has anyone tried to get a historical group or genealogists involved? Perhaps someone should alert 60 minutes or one of the news programs to this travesty. Did anyone graph out the location? I am so angry I'm having trouble typing my response. Too bad I don't live in the area; you would have my voice and actions. I truly hope someone can get this situation into the proper perspective. Thank you and good luck.

Original post of March 3, 2002 5:38pm
reposted by Sheri Millikin

I spoke to Ethel Eaton with the VA State Archeologists Office and she said she could not understand how this court order was made for the removal of the remains without allowing her department to be included. Normally, her dept. would issue the permits for the archeologists to exhume the graves, allowing for EACH body to be removed individually, with care and respect. Then a State Anthropologist would examine the body to determine sex, race, cause of death/diseases and hopefully identity. From there, the body would be given a proper burial, complete with a headstone bearing their identity. It's all about RESPECT and DIGNITY.

But...what we have here is the State Archeologists shut out from this exhumation (wrongfully, as they handle ALL exhumations on graves 150 years old or more) by way of falsified documents. The court order shuts them out, and they are pretty upset about it.

We have 3 men (sometimes more) who work for Joseph L. Burruss Burial Vaults, Inc. here in Mechanicsville, VA, digging with a backhoe, tearing through the graves and the remains. (They are assigned this task by the developer.) This is why the bodies are coming up in pieces. It's so upsetting. It didn't bother me at first, as I was pretty much stunned when I took the photos. But...that night, it hit me, and I have not rested easy since. If simply BEING there and taking the photos disturbs ME, HOW in the world can the persons responsible for all this LIVE with themselves?? They must not have a heart (or a soul).
~Sandy

Originally posted by Lyn on March 3, 2002 11:11pm
reposted by Sheri Millikin

I read a news article several years ago concerning a family in the area in the process of building a house or doing some work on their property. They inadvertently disturbed the grave of a Civil War soldier.

If memory serves, they re-interred the soldier in another location, thinking they were doing the right thing. I am not sure of the outcome, but they were surprised to learn they had broken a law by re-interring the deceased.

The point being, I guess laws are for the convenience of the Hanover County Supervisors and not for the citizens of the county. They have circumvented laws & procedures whenever they get in the way. (The Waste Treatment Plant being a prime example.)

A previous poster is right. Concentrating on local officials is a waste of time. They will react to a potential loss of votes and/or adverse publicity. I know that Eastern Henrico and Hanover have traditionally been thought of as the "poor side of town." You have to figure out a way to make the rest of the county care enough to threaten the current supervisors at the polls in November.