Human Remains Could Go To Catholic Cemetery

Human remains discovered on Mackinac Island last month are still awaiting reburial. But progress was made this week deciding where to bury them. At a meeting of the Mackinac Island State Park Commission there was agreement that the remains should be buried near St. Anne’s Cemetery. They were dug up at a construction site near the previous location of the 19th century Catholic church. Evidence suggests the people were of American Indian descent. Cecil Pavlat – with the Sault Tribe of Chippewa Indians – agrees with the location proposed for reburial. He suggests burying the remains along with the large amount of soil they were dug up with. “We felt that the best case scenario would be to keep all of the soil intact and to shape it in the form of a turtle and create a mound.” The state commission suggested the developer who dug up the site to build a new hotel, should pay for the relocation of the remains to their final resting place. The developer – Ira Green – could not be reached for comment.