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Atlanta
Journal-Constitution, The (GA)
May 21, 2004
Section: Gwinnett
Edition: Home;
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Page: JJ1
MARTA baby to be buried by Safe Haven
MARK DAVIS
Staff
The corpse of
an infant found beside MARTA rail tracks last week will
be buried Saturday in a Gwinnett cemetery, two plots away
from the grave of another baby whose origins, like those
of the child about to be buried, are a mystery.
The latest child to be buried at Gwinnett Memorial Park in
Lawrenceville was an African-American boy, possibly born full-term,
according to MARTA police. They found the tiny body on the
train line's westbound tracks near Chappell and Bernard roads
last week.
Police said they still are searching for information about
the child, whose remains have been handed over to New Hope
Safe Haven, a Gwinnett nonprofit organization that will bury
the baby.
Hoschton resident Brittany Mc- Clintock created the organization
last year to promote Georgia's Safe Haven law, which allows
parents to give up their newborns at a hospital or other safe
place. The group also buries deceased infants who are unidentified
or abandoned. This funeral will be the third that New Hope
Safe Haven has helped arrange.
In March, McClintock's organization helped coordinate the
burial of a Douglas County newborn found in a garbage can.
The baby had a broken neck, and police have charged his mother
with murder.
In April, the organization put together a graveside service
for Matthew Christian, a name McClintock chose for a child
found on a Walton County roadside. It's the name on his marker.
The cause of his death, as well as the identity of his parents,
is unknown.
The child whose burial is Saturday, said McClintock, will
be named Joshua
Moses
-- Joshua
meaning "God is my salvation." Like the Moses
of biblical lore, she said, the child was a foundling, cast
out.
Unlike his namesake, she said, the child on the tracks did
not grow up to manhood.
"If his mother had taken that earlier step to save him, who
knows what he would have done?" she asked.
The funeral is scheduled for 10 a.m.
Copyright 2004
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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