THIS IS WHAT BOTHERS ME. IT MATTERS NOT IF YOUR BLACK OR WHITE IN THE GRAVE WE ARE ALL ALIKE.WHAT MATTERS IS THESE ARE HUMAN BEINGS. AND NO ONE SHOULD BE SO MONEY HUNGER OR POWERFUL THAT THEY WILL OVER RIDE THE LAW AND RESPECT TO GET WHAT THEY WANT.THEY ARE GRAVES PERIOD. DON'T BUILD ON GRAVES. WE DON'T RESPECT THE LIVING AND WE DON'T EVEN RESPECT THE DEAD ANYMORE. SHAME ON THE CITY OF WACO FOR BEING SO COLD.IT IS THE SIGN OF OUR TIMES.MAYBE KIDS ARE TAKING MORE HEAT THAN THEY SHOULD ABOUT BEING DISREPECTFUL. PERHAPS ADULTS SHOULD SET BETTER EXAMPLES STARTING WITH RESPECTING THE FINAL RESTING PLACES OF OUR DEARLY DEPARTED, BLACK OR WHITE.

Entire museum needs to be relocated -- doesn't anybody get the irony of Texas Rangers being commemorated atop the remains of the very social classes Rangers brutally "policed"?

They are unknown, unmarked, remains. They have remained un-noticed for a century. No one cares about their eternal resting place. And the Negro / Slave burial comments are just headline grabbing. No one pitched a fit when Woody Butler Homes Built an entire subdivision on a know "slave negro" cemetery. As long as the right pockets are lined $$$ no one cares. They should just build the dang thing and be done.

I see dead people: This story gets funnier and funnier. Really.. 2 years behind schedule? Who is paying for the delays? At least it is not like the $50 million California highschool that was halted at build-up due to ONE rare fly making habitat at the build site! Come on.. smh.

How can the " city bosses " expect for its citizens to be honest and law-abiding , when its " bosses " aren't OBEYING THE LAWS?Isn't that what we call a double standard ? It's really a shame ,how they pitt and play us AGAINST each other !As God is my witness, we ALL really need to pull...TOGEHER.... for the good of Waco !DePuy,Bush,and even Rev Sin No Moore (Austin) are NOT the people to get the job done ! I'm relocating BACK to Waco in a few short months, and I plan (as a citizen) to do MY part ! How about YOU ALL ? Let's get rid of the "old money" and the out-dated thinking ! Let the one that is "QUALIFIED" for the job ~GET THE JOB~ !It's not about your families businesses ANYMORE !!!!! We may have to kick some a**es to get them to retire but I'm up for it !!!

Please, save money? Waco?! I wonder how much Waco spent to send the Mayor to Saudi along with her entrouge! The people over the Ranger Museum are suits, nothing more. In their little minds they are legends themselves and above the law. They dont care about whats there. The want to slap it up, stand around a pat each other on the back on what a swell job they did....

"Personally, I'd prefer that the City spend its money on sidewalks or potholes in the land of the living." No kidding? Would you feel the same way if it were your child or your "pet" that was unearthed?

I know what you mean BIG RON. I've been here for a couple of years and still haven't changed my driver's license to a Waco address. Still haven't changed my cell phone to a 254 area code either. I bet if a business opened up in Waco selling common sense it would not generate any business and have to close up shop in about 6 months. Maybe Greg Abbott should step in and investigate this matter with this museum.

I know what you mean BIG RON. I've been here for a couple of years and still haven't changed my driver's license to a Waco address. Still haven't changed my cell phone to a 254 area code either. I bet if a business opened up in Waco selling common sense it would not generate any business and have to close up shop in about 6 months. Maybe Greg Abbott should step in and investigate this matter with this museum.

The Fort Fisher Museum is on top of an African American Cemetery. The laws at the time only required 1 cubic foot of material to be moved and that constituted a removal and reburial. What you will find is the few grave markers that were there were moved but little else. It disturbs me that if this were not the old "Slave or Negro" cemetery there would be people up in arms over this latest "DISCOVERY". There is technology available today that can locate obeject or remains underground.

Hank, Ancient history as you call it is alive and doing very well in Waco Texas. Example: the western side of Waco west of the Brazos is growing, rebuilding, refurbishing. The east side may as well be on the moon. Look at the Waco Chamber of Commerce, you might as well be at a KKK meeting. South Waco and North Waco pretty much the same. Waco ISD # 60 in a field of 66 school districts. We didnt do that bad in the 19th or 20th century.

Where's Bryon Johnson when we need him the most???? Better yet Anti-Groth? Ha-Ha, "WACKO WE DO"

Am I missing something? Are they still trying to expand the museum or relocate it? It shouldn't be hard to determine a human body from an animal. I think the expansion should be stopped altogether. The museum should be demolished and relocated to a different area. I'm sure they'll find bodies under the existing museum. I see no need to further desecrate the graves whether they're human, irregardless of race, or animals. Someone will probably state the graves are animals in order to continue the expansion. It's a shame if they really are human remains reduced to animals. I say scrap the expansion, demolish the current building and build another museum elsewhere regardless of past mistakes & wrong decisions.

I say we find out which of our city fathers made the decision to desecrate these graves, then dig him up and put his bones on trial.

"That Guy" - I bet I'm not the only one who is puzzled by your criticism of those who use pseudonyms when posting comments...

With things like this continuing on, when I travel and anyone asks me where I'm from, I really hate and are ashamed to admit to anyone that I'm from Waco!!

If the utility line will connect with the Knox Banquet Hall as indicated in the article, prepare for the possibility that more burials will be discovered as the city continues trenching because Knox lies inside First Street Cemetery. The article also mentions that city officials don't expect to dig up any more graves for the new Ranger buildings. What about the planned parking lots and sidewalks associated with the new buildings? These would also fall within the cemetery. Unless the city has scrapped plans to build them, I don't see how city officials can say they expect to find no more burials.

So That Guy, the excuse is that it was a different time? By that, I assume you are suggesting that in the past, in this so-called different time, such lapses in judgment and ethics were not a problem as opposed to the present when things would have been done differently. Under that scenario it would be expected that the City would have done the stand up thing a couple of years ago when it became apparent that the mistake had occurred and backed off from building on top of a cemetery. Instead, however, what we see is that the City has tried to compound the historical error by falsely claiming that (1) it’s a park, not a cemetery (2 )it's a cemetery, but it’s just a pauper cemetery when, at the same time, it's a cemetery that has been recognized as a National Register Historical Property because of the prominence of many of the Afro Americans who are/were? buried there (3) it’s definitely a cemetery and therefore of no monetary value when the City had to replace the land that was originally supposed to be reserved for park use (4) it’s a landfill when the City wanted to circumvent restrictions on building on top of a historical landmark cemetery (5) it’s a landfill and the site of an incinerator when Annette Jones met with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality last month and she, thinking they were there investigating because the property was a cemetery, claimed it was a landfill/incinerator and finally,(5) the burials/remains may not be human per Jones’ quoted in today’s article. Okay, That Guy, now that I think about it, you are right. Back then, it was a different time, however, contrary to what you imply, things seem only to have gotten worse.

The proposal to give taxpayer money to a troubled private company that just happens to be a tenant in Bush's building reeks of self dealing and conflict of interest. Sure he abstained from voting but you have to wonder who pulled strings so that such an outrageous proposal even made it to the City Council's agenda. In any other community, Bush likely would have been tarred and feathered and run of town on a rail. Instead, in Waco, it qualifies him to be mayor! Even if he has no shame, at least the voters can shame him on election day.

Ms. Smith -- you are partially correct in noting that there were fewew laws regarding this sort of thing in the 1960s. Those who delight in howling at the city for anything and everything seem to have little perspective and seem to forget it was a different time. Consider The Facts -- will you unmask yourself? You are all over these articles every time (pseudonymously, of course) and always smell of being personally involved (say, a lawsuit with the city relating to this matter? Hmm...) Regardless, please do not vaguely refer to what "records show" -- proof is not in an online comment. Evidence can be evaluated. Your interpretation of the evidence is just that -- one man's opinion.

Ms. Smith--let's consider who had the superior understanding of the law--Conger or the judge who signed the order with respect to moving the bodies at the time. The judge's order required that ALL bodies AND headstones be moved together under the supervision of a licensed funeral director. The City never did so because it wanted to cut corners, and the City still hasn't complied with the judge's order. Those associated with the City then and now feel that they are above the law. By the way, records show that Jones was notified early on in the current construction, when piers for the new buildings were being dug, that human remains were being found in the dirt from drilling those piers. Instead of shutting it down to reconsider the wisdom of building on top of a still exisiting cemetery, she and everyone else with the City ignored the problem hoping it wouldn't be discovered by the authorites. She and other City employees and representatives who have tried to force this ill-fated and expensive project when they knew better should be held accountable for this mess. Voters need to elect a mayor and council memebers who pledge to clean house at City Hall.

At some point it seems like ethics and reason should come up. There are many major hiway expansions that have been re-routed because graves were in the originally planned route. No telling what "the people" aren't being told about all the chaos going on around this Ranger project. But this is Waco. Common sense, rationality, and ethics don't seem to exist in this town. The city of Waco should put an ad in the paper or on monster to try to attract a good, solid, open minded, sharp individual for mayor. This is one case where promoting from within will be detrimental to many folks.

Here, it's just business as usual for our City planners. Ineptitude on a scale of almost unimaginable proportions. And, it's been like this in downtown for 50 years, since a prior group of incompetents said they moved the graves and didn't. Isn't it on record that there are something like 7000 paupers buried there? 200 down, 6800 left to desicrate.

Didn't the City thoroughly research First Street Cemetery and discover where all the bodies were buried during the 1960s--never mind any references to slavery and the American Civil War era? I am asking this question because I wrote a story on the Texas Ranger Museum and Fort Fisher before it actually opened for the Richfield High newspaper, "The Richfield Flyer", when I was a junior in high school. Mayor Roger Conger gave me a tour of the museum at that time. I also remember his mentioning that a grave could legally be moved by transferring just the headstone and a shovel full of dirt. At any rate, the city council members who made the decision to build the Texas Ranger Museum and Fort Fisher are for the most part safely six-feet under. Of course, we need to respect the dead long buried there, but it doesn't do to to disparage long-gone city council members' decisions. Whatever is the easiest and cheapest solution to this problem needs to be adopted--a solution that all our very practical ancestors would most likely applaud. I'm only glad I don't live in Europe (where if online reports are to be trusted) the remains of the long-departed constantly stall building projects. Personally, I'd prefer that the City spend its money on sidewalks or potholes in the land of the living.

This has all the makings of a 1980's horror movie. Call me naive or simple minded but you simply cannot move so many graves without some serious paranormal repercussions. I can definitely understand if some people refuse to visit the building once they learn that it was built on a graveyard. Very creepy (and maybe just a little rude)to move caskets in the name or progress.

What else do you expect from POLITICIANS? You people are living in lala land that do not believe politicians are only there to line their pockets and they do not give a darn about people. As for the black issue raised in this issue, all I can say is that it sounds like someone that is hung up on ancient history. Yes slavery did happen, but I need someone to tell me what I did and how many slaves I owned and profited from. IT IS ANCIENT HISTORY AND I AM SICK OF HEARING ABOUT SOMETHING THAT IS JUST THAT, "ANCIENT HISTORY". PUT IT AWAY NOW, we live in the greatest country in the world. Move into the 21st century and get on with life.

Will this ever stop? We have spent way to much of our tax dollars for this project and now city council member Jim Bush wants to become Mayor of Waco. Bush voted and supported this project from the beginning along with current Mayor DePuy. We need a Mayor that will look out for us the tax payer. We need a candidate with new and fresh idea's. No more back room deals as what has happening with Bush's building housing Free Flight. Time to more on to new leadership.