X-Message-Number: 3964 Date: Tue, 7 Mar 1995 07:58:13 -0500 (EST) From: Charles Platt <> Subject: Bauge case I am not sure why Trygve Bauge keeps posting the details of his case here; surely he doesn't expect us all to rise up in wrath against small-town bureaucrats in Colorado? I sympathize with his situation, because it is not a happy one. But it does seem to me that there is a very simple lesson here: if you start your own little cryotorium without warning the neighbors or negotiating with local officials, you're liable to run into trouble. Does anyone really think it makes good sense to keep people who are legally dead on your property, frozen in boxes, without expecting any problems from the public health department (at the very least)? There is a more serious aspect to this situation: "Do it yourself" cryonics tends to undermine the efforts of larger organizations to pursue cryonics in a more legally legitimate and social acceptable way. This ultimately reduces our chances, as cryonicists, to be taken seriously and to survive in the long term. I also think it is rather unrealistic to expect fair and decent treatment from local officials when one has flouted their authority in quite a dramatic way. I'm sure there have been procedural errors and injustices in the way that they have dealt with Trygve, but I also feel this should have been expected, under the circumstances. The State is not kind to those who defy it, and no amount of complaining by Trygve is liable to change this situation. ############################################################ Charles Platt, 1133 Broadway (room 1214), New York, NY 10010 Voice: 212 929 3983 Fax: 212 929 4467 Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=3964