Vet cemetery OK’d
OLYMPIA – With a unanimous vote from both houses of the Legislature, a long-sought Eastern Washington state veterans cemetery is now just a signature away from becoming reality.
And it shouldn’t be a hard signature to get. Bills don’t become law until signed by Gov. Chris Gregoire. But Gregoire proposed funding such a project in December and has repeatedly said she backs the project.
“The governor’s a longtime supporter of this,” said Kristin Jacobsen, a Gregoire spokeswoman.
On Tuesday, the Senate voted 45-0 to approve the cemetery, which the House of Representatives unanimously approved in mid-February.
Eastern Washington veterans have been calling for a veterans cemetery for more than a decade.
“It’s been a long time coming,” said state Rep. Don Barlow, D-Spokane, the prime sponsor of the bill.
The state Department of Veterans Affairs is considering two sites, both west of Spokane:
“Salnave Road, off Interstate 90 near Medical Lake
“North of West Medical Lake, off West Espanola Road.
Most of the cemetery’s $7.8 million cost would be paid for by the federal government. Washington would pay $450,000 for the land. The state also agrees to pay for operation and maintenance of the cemetery.
State Sen. Chris Marr, D-Spokane, said the region is in a bind when it comes to a resting place for veterans. Eastern Washington has a large population of veterans – 140,000, about 53,000 of whom live in Spokane County – but it’s not large enough under federal rules to merit another national cemetery.
The state’s sole national cemetery is 158-acre Tahoma National Cemetery in Kent, where about 16,000 veterans and spouses are buried.
“The veterans and their families on the East Side deserve to have a resting place of their own,” said Barlow, a former Idaho National Guardsman. “We really do need two in the state of Washington because of the natural divide with the mountains.”
Marr said the money for the cemetery’s ongoing maintenance will come from sales of license plates that feature each branch of the armed services.