SITE PROPOSALS FOR VETERANS CEMETERIES TO BE SUBMITTED SOON

Legislation signed into law by the governor last week will allow the Missouri Veterans' Commission to create a system of state veterans cemeteries.

However, specific locations of those cemeteries and the exact number to be built -- details included in the original version of the bill -- were removed before the final draft. Such decisions will be left to the discretion of the Veteran's Commission.

Rep. Jim Montgomery, D-Cabool, who sponsored the bill, believes it would have been best to have the number of cemeteries and their locations written into law.

"I still feel like the locations we originally had in the bill created a fair plan and I certainly worked very hard to pass that legislation," Montgomery said. "It isn't exactly like I hoped to have it, but we do now have the enabling legislation to build veterans' cemeteries."

Montgomery's plan called for eight cemeteries geographically spread around the state to serve all of Missouri's estimated 586,000 veterans. Those sites were Bloomfield in Southeast Missouri, Cabool in the Ozarks, Gallatin in Northwest Missouri, Higginsville near Kansas City, Jefferson City in Central Missouri, Macon in Northeast Missouri, St. Louis County and Springfield in Southwest Missouri.

Currently there is only one federal cemetery in the state that has not already reached capacity -- Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery in St. Louis. National cemeteries in Springfield and Jefferson City are already filled.

Ron Taylor, director of services and planning for the Veterans' Commission, said current plans call for two to five cemeteries to be built in a four- to 10-year period. No state, he said, has more than five state cemeteries.

"We are looking at a multi-site system," Taylor said. "We would prefer to have three or four medium-sized cemeteries. They would be easier to manage and dispersed to serve different regions rather than having one or two big ones."

The legislation signed by Gov. Mel Carnahan allows the commission to use riverboat gambling proceeds to fund the cemeteries project. Gambling revenue has been used in recent years to construct a system of state veterans' homes. Such projects will continue.

"The legislature wanted to be pretty clear that this would not interfere with any planned home construction," Taylor said.

From now until the year 2000 when the funding portion of the law is set to expire, the commission's share of gambling revenue is conservatively estimated to total $60 million.

Montgomery wants the cemeteries to be "first-class operations." Taylor expects each cemetery to cost about $3 million to build and cost $400,000 annually to operate.

State funds will cover half the costs while federal matching grants will pay for the rest.

Taylor said work right now is focused on developing criteria by which to evaluate potential sites. It is hoped the commission can begin publicizing the project and accepting site proposals by Aug. 1.

"The biggest question I get is when will we open the first one?" Taylor said.

"Due to the nature of both the state budget process and the necessity of getting federal matching grants, the earliest I can imagine a cemetery being open is 1999, and that is a kind of optimistic projection."

Montgomery feels that the removal of specific sites from his bill, which created the need to solicit and consider proposals from interested communities, delayed the project by a couple of years.

The cemeteries will be placed in regions with the highest concentrations of veterans. Taylor said Southwest Missouri, the Kansas City area, Southeast Missouri and Central Missouri are the four primary target areas.

The St. Louis area, he said, is unlikely to be considered since Jefferson Barracks is expected to be open for at least 10 years and the federal Department of Veterans Affairs is looking into expansion of the site.

Depending on the number of veterans within a 75-mile radius of each cemetery and the percentage of those veterans estimated to make use of them, each will vary in size. Taylor said each cemetery will be designed to handle one to six burials a day for 30 to 40 years before reaching capacity.

Although funding has been set aside, the Veterans' Commission will have to obtain the approval of the General Assembly and the governor to begin each project.

As World War II veterans continue to age, with Korean War and Vietnam War veterans not far behind, the need for veterans' cemeteries is clear, Taylor said.

"The number of veteran deaths will increase until they reach a peak probably around the year 2010," he said.

After 2015, the number of veteran deaths is expected to decline. "That is always assuming, of course, that there is not another major war," Taylor said.

Montgomery, who served in the Army during the 1960s, said the cemeteries are a way to honor those who have served their country.

"As there are troops stationed around the world, we will continue to have more deaths," he said. "We don't like to think about burying our American boys and ladies, but that is just a given.

"We need to be prepared to give the highest dignity and most honor we can give them."