Fairfax County General :
Fairfax Underground
Welcome to Fairfax Underground, a project site designed to improve communication among residents of Fairfax County, VA. Feel free to post anything Northern Virginia residents would find interesting.
Welcome to Fairfax Underground, a project site designed to improve communication among residents of Fairfax County, VA. Feel free to post anything Northern Virginia residents would find interesting.
Re: Graves found in area where School is being built
Posted by:
GHarris
()
Date: December 28, 2013 01:58AM
Reinterring the remains of the Lynn ancestors on the school property is a great idea. Hopefully this new site will help to remind those attending the school that time does march on and that we all literally stand on the shoulders of those who came before us.
Re: Graves found in area where School is being built
Posted by:
Uncle Paulie
()
Date: January 02, 2014 11:14AM
About as good a recovery as the school district could make with this situation. It wasn't their fault they found graves during site prep. Their next moves arguably included mistakes - the whole rushing forward anyway aspect, while arguably giving the community and family insufficient time to respond. But this was a nice recovery.
I'm still bothered that the schools were making an argument about their inflexibility of design even prior to the approving vote (which in a perfect world could have considered a non-pool solution, but apparently not in a PWC world).
I'm still bothered that the schools were making an argument about their inflexibility of design even prior to the approving vote (which in a perfect world could have considered a non-pool solution, but apparently not in a PWC world).
Re: Graves found in area where School is being built
Posted by:
George S Harris
()
Date: January 23, 2014 08:07AM
Reinterring the remains of the Lynn ancestors on the school property is a great idea. Hopefully this new site will help to remind those attending the school that time does march on and that we all literally stand on the shoulders of those who came before us.
Editorial: ‘Graves’ bill is the right way to go
Posted by:
The Latest
()
Date: February 21, 2014 07:30AM
Editorial: ‘Graves’ bill is the right way to go
http://www.insidenova.com/news/prince_william/editorial-graves-bill-is-the-right-way-to-go/article_042656e0-965f-11e3-a85a-001a4bcf887a.html
The Prince William County school division’s debacle over digging up an old graveyard at the site the county’s newest high school (Their defense: We didn’t technically do anything wrong) has raised the ire of a local lawmaker.
Del. Rich Anderson, R-51st, wants state law changed to make it more difficult for public agencies to uproot our dead ancestors without public notice.
Anderson’s “interment” bill, a direct result of the public outcry over county school officials’ quiet decision to move century-old family graves near Va. 234 and Hoadly Road – would require public input and higher accountability. And that’s a good thing.
School officials say they did follow the rules upon discovery of the old graves.
As noted in previous news stories and editorials here, they advertised in the legal section of the Washington Post and hired an archeological team to survey the 1800s cemetery, now believed to belong to the Lynn family.
But they didn’t tell the Prince William Historical Commission that they planned to excavate the graves before members had a chance to do any research. And they didn’t put out any press release, or make any moves to make public the discovery of the graves.
The first residents heard about the graves was in August, after we received a tip at Prince William Today and asked school officials about it.
“The resulting community consternation caused me to further look at statutory guidance provided to jurisdictions, which I learned was vague,” Anderson said this week. “After conferring with members of the Prince William County Historical Commission and the Virginia Department of Historic Resources (DHR), we crafted a bill that has made it through the House committee structure unanimously.”
If the bill becomes a law, it will require jurisdictions to follow a set of rules before converting cemeteries to non-cemetery use, including:
•Notifying the public via local newspaper notice, a notice posted at the cemetery and consultation with any local historic preservation commission
•Holding at least one public hearing
•Making a good-faith effort to contact living descendants
•Considering adjustment of construction plans to integrate the cemetery
•If integrating the cemetery isn’t feasible, requesting permission from the courts or Department of Historical Resources before removing and relocating human remains
Anderson’s bill sailed through subcommittee and was passed by the House of Delegates earlier this month. It next heads for the Senate.
We urge legislators to vote in favor of Anderson’s interment bill – not only to prevent future confusion, but to send a message to the county school board that they are accountable to the public they serve.
Archeologists hired by Prince William County Schools work to exhume 11 to 13 grave sites, believed to belong to the Lynn family, from a cemetery discovered on land slated for the county's newest high school, located near the intersection of Va. 234 and Hoadly Road.
Attachments:
http://www.insidenova.com/news/prince_william/editorial-graves-bill-is-the-right-way-to-go/article_042656e0-965f-11e3-a85a-001a4bcf887a.html
The Prince William County school division’s debacle over digging up an old graveyard at the site the county’s newest high school (Their defense: We didn’t technically do anything wrong) has raised the ire of a local lawmaker.
Del. Rich Anderson, R-51st, wants state law changed to make it more difficult for public agencies to uproot our dead ancestors without public notice.
Anderson’s “interment” bill, a direct result of the public outcry over county school officials’ quiet decision to move century-old family graves near Va. 234 and Hoadly Road – would require public input and higher accountability. And that’s a good thing.
School officials say they did follow the rules upon discovery of the old graves.
As noted in previous news stories and editorials here, they advertised in the legal section of the Washington Post and hired an archeological team to survey the 1800s cemetery, now believed to belong to the Lynn family.
But they didn’t tell the Prince William Historical Commission that they planned to excavate the graves before members had a chance to do any research. And they didn’t put out any press release, or make any moves to make public the discovery of the graves.
The first residents heard about the graves was in August, after we received a tip at Prince William Today and asked school officials about it.
“The resulting community consternation caused me to further look at statutory guidance provided to jurisdictions, which I learned was vague,” Anderson said this week. “After conferring with members of the Prince William County Historical Commission and the Virginia Department of Historic Resources (DHR), we crafted a bill that has made it through the House committee structure unanimously.”
If the bill becomes a law, it will require jurisdictions to follow a set of rules before converting cemeteries to non-cemetery use, including:
•Notifying the public via local newspaper notice, a notice posted at the cemetery and consultation with any local historic preservation commission
•Holding at least one public hearing
•Making a good-faith effort to contact living descendants
•Considering adjustment of construction plans to integrate the cemetery
•If integrating the cemetery isn’t feasible, requesting permission from the courts or Department of Historical Resources before removing and relocating human remains
Anderson’s bill sailed through subcommittee and was passed by the House of Delegates earlier this month. It next heads for the Senate.
We urge legislators to vote in favor of Anderson’s interment bill – not only to prevent future confusion, but to send a message to the county school board that they are accountable to the public they serve.
Archeologists hired by Prince William County Schools work to exhume 11 to 13 grave sites, believed to belong to the Lynn family, from a cemetery discovered on land slated for the county's newest high school, located near the intersection of Va. 234 and Hoadly Road.
Attachments: