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

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