Concerns for Abandoned, Historic and Pioneer Cemeteries.

Recommendations for changes in cemetery laws of Oklahoma.

1. "Historic" or "Pioneer" cemetery shall refer to any cemetery or burial ground, whether on public or private land, that has human remains interred before the date of November 16, 1907, the date of Statehood for Oklahoma.

2. "Abandoned" shall refer to any cemetery or burial ground in which the interment of human remains has not been made for fifty years. This shall not mean any cemetery or burial ground in which grounds maintenance has not been performed or may be overgrown.

1. The Oklahoma Historical Society shall create and maintain a register for ALL Oklahoma cemeteries or burial grounds, with exact location, in which the earliest interred human remains are dated before November 16, 1907, whether on public or private land, whether known or unknown.

2. That responsible parties such as Historical, Archeological, School or Cemetery associations shall have the right, at reasonable times and upon request, enter private or public land for the purpose of registering or mapping the graves of the interred in Pioneer, Historical or Abandoned cemeteries.

3. That owners of private lands on which a Pioneer, Historical or Abandoned cemeteries, be forbidden from removing, or causing to be removed, any fence or part of a fence from around any cemetery or grave.

4. That no building may be erected within 100 feet of a Pioneer, Historical or Abandoned cemetery or grave, whether on public or private land, other than a building erected for the maintenance of such cemetery by a responsible party such as a government entity, cemetery association or historical society.

5. That no person shall intentionally, whether on private or public land, remove, injure or otherwise cause to be damaged, or through negligence, any tombstone, grave marker, fence, or monument, or to create any situation that would cause livestock, machinery or farm implements to injure said monuments or cemetery, in a Pioneer, Historical or Abandoned cemetery.

6. That any responsible group, individual or family member shall, upon request and at reasonable times and weather conditions, enter any Pioneer, Historical or Abandoned cemetery for the purpose of performing maintenance such as placing grave markers, repairing grave markers, removing brush, mending fences, installing fences, cutting grass and weeds or other necessary maintenance, and have the right to bring such equipment and supplies as needed by motor carrier across private or public land, by the most direct route, for the purpose of performing such maintenance.

7.  That a paragraph shall be placed in the sales contract, and land abstract,  by the seller, or of any land transferred by public or private sale, notifying the buyer that there exists a Pioneer, Historical or Abandoned cemetery on said property and that the laws of this section apply to said cemetery.

8. No part of this section shall have any reference to or be binding on any city, county, state or federal cemetery that is currently maintained by said government bodies or any cemetery in which the earliest interment of the remains of human beings shall date after November 16, 1907.

9.  Violation of any part of this section shall be punishable by a fine of not less than $100 or more than $5,000, or a jail term of up to six months or both, for each offense.

10. Land owners who have an above described cemetery on their property shall have the tax burden of the state or county, for that amount of land, stricken from their property tax record.

Please  invest 39 Cents & contact by paper mail, as emails make no impression on these people now:

Representative Wes Hilliard  
Oklahoma House of Representatives  
442 State Capitol Building
2300 North Lincoln  
Oklahoma City, OK  73105  

Please ask him to push forward laws to protect our cemeteries.  

Oklahoma has already lost many to destruction by landowners.  Let's not loose any more.

Dennis Muncrief - Host, Murray County, Oklahoma - April, 2007.