Op-ed piece

I finally submitted an op-ed piece to the Rochester Post Bulletin last week regarding Indian Heights.  I used a local analogy:  The State Hospital Cemetery was overrun with plants and other vegetation and it too was lost.  A few compassionate local people restored the cemetery to its proper dignity without having to uproot the graves to prove that it was a cemetery used by early settlers descendants of the Rochester area.  The same is with Indian Heights Park.  It too was used as a burial site and its purpose is apparent to the Dakota people and their descendants, but we have to prove it. We have to dig through and actually find remains for it to be declared as an official burial site.  How sad.  How sad that the Dakota people were not even consulted by the park board.  Indian Heights can have its dignity restored IF the park board is willing to be courageous and designate it as such and in this way the State Archeologist, the Minnesota Historic Preservation Office and the National Park Service can aide in this effort.