Fort Ord Cemetery
Posted by Warren Enos on 14 May 2006 | Tagged as: California Legislative Matters
MONTEREY COUNTY CHAPTER ASKS SUPPORT
Following is a summary of the current efforts to create a Central Coast Veterans Cemetery (CCVC) on land set aside for this purpose at former Fort Ord. It is requested that CAL-MOAA support this effort by helping convince California legislators that this is a needed and worthwhile goal. Since the Federal VA will pay for the planning and construction of the CCVC if the State will provide for operation and maintenance, it seems like the proper thing to do for the veterans of the Central Coast, many of whom were career soldiers who devoted their lives to the nation.
Several veterans organizations in Monterey County have worked diligently over the past several years, attempting to create a Central Coast Veterans Cemetery on land dedicated for this purpose at the former Fort Ord. Monterey County is in the process of creating a new Standing Committee for the purpose of taking action to achieve the construction, operation, and maintenance of the CCVC. This effort will mainly involve obtaining funds to accomplish this primary purpose, and will depend heavily on volunteer effort. The Committee will report to the County Board of Supervisors. Part of the veteran effort in Monterey County was the establishment of the Central Coast Cemetery Foundation that has raised around $50,000 thus far.
Congressional and California State elected officials have attempted to bring a Veterans Cemetery to the Central Coast. The Federal VA has stated that it cannot operate a Veterans Cemetery at former Fort Ord, because the location is within the inclusive area of the National Cemetery at Santa Nella, and that there are not sufficient veterans living in the tri-county area to be served by the Cemetery. The VA has recommended that application be made for a Federal grant under the State Veteran Cemetery Grant Program, to construct a State Cemetery. Under this program, the State must commit to funding for operations and maintenance for the Cemetery in perpetuity. Thus far, the State has not committed to fund this effort.
The Federal VA has estimated that planning and construction of the CCVC will cost around $9 million, and the operations and maintenance about $200,000 each year, minus about $45,000 burial plot allowance. Other estimates run higher at between $300,000 and $500,000 per year for operations and maintenance.
Central Coast veterans need an aggressive campaign with our State representatives to convince them that the CCVC needs to be a State cemetery. The Federal VA is willing to commit about $9 million to construct the cemetery. If we assume that the Federal VA is correct in its estimates, the State needs to commit only $155K each year, even less if we can obtain contributuons from the adjoining counties/cities.
The veterans of the Central Coast area are urging our State asssemblymen and senators to submit legislation to establish and maintain a State cemetery at former Fort Ord. In addition, we are obtaining support for the CCVC from veterans organizations in the nearby counties/cities, seeking support from the county supervisor boards and city councils, and canvasing local non-profits for support to the CCVC Foundation.
The Monterey County Chapter of MOAA strongly supports this effort. Support is requested from CAL-MOAA at the California State level.
RALPH NORM CHANNELL, CAPT, USN, (RET)
President, MOAA Monterey County Chapter
6 Responses to “Fort Ord Cemetery”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
I am forwarding this at the request of the Monterey Chapter for your action. If you are interested in helping out contact Norm Channell. FYI the website www.statelocalgov.net is a terrific site for information on the Assembly and Senate as well as other government issues. As we move into a more politically active organization familiarity with this site will help all of us.
John Sammons
John,
I know of the desire for the cemetry and I personally support it. I was privy to CA Vet Sec Tom Johnson who addressed this subject at our Califonia State Commanders Veterans Council meeting on Sat ,13 May 06 in Tulare CA that I attended. Since I am leaving the area for 10 days, I will address his comments and suggestions when I get back so all can determine the course of action.
Larry Stumpf
CAL-MOAA Pres
Hello, Larry!
There has been a new development which gives a boost to the Fort Ord cemetery effort. I just put the full story on the weblog here: http://www.cal-moaa.org/blog/.
Warren
—–Original Message—–
From: LS10336325@aol.com [mailto:LS10336325@aol.com]
Sent: Monday, May 29, 2006 9:56 PM
To: torosur@earthlink.net
Cc: efgustafson@charter.net; eenos@comcast.net; Moaaman@aol.com
Subject: Re: MOAA Monterey County Request for Support - Vet Cemetery
Just got back from a trip and trying to catch up on the important things.
I also feel strong about your Cemetary efforts. However, let me share my perception about State support.
On Sat, 13 May 06, before I left on my travel, I attended the California State Commanders Veterans Council meeting where Sec Tom Johnson addressed us. One of the subjects was the subject cemetary. He said he had conversation a few days prior with your legislature and advised him and others (?) at that meeting that although he understood the desire of the cemetary, that the State was not in a position to support the effort (cost?). It appeared that it was .’sort of final’ and that efforts should continue with federal request to see if their rules ( 75 miles etc.) could be changed for your request.
Larry Stumpf
CAL-MOAA Pres
Bill,
I just noticed you were not on the original mail, so I will forward it to you after sending this one.
Gents,
Warren, I read your blog on the proposed Ft Ord cemetery..
Some hope, but please be realistic. $200,000 per year will not pay for a director, staff, operations, landscaping and maintenance. The cost to the State will be much more.
Just for comparison, how many acres and how many burials are predicted?
Then we should ask Steve Jorgensen at the Shasta State Veterans Cemetery for his expert opinion on the real cost.
My opinion is to apply Congressional pressure to the VA to make an exception to the 75 mile limit.
Bill
I have spent most of the morning talking to various Assemblypersons and Senators including Joe Nation Assembly Veterans Affairs, Assemblyment Laird and Senator Denham who carried the bill. The bill has strong bipartisian support however there is no funding attached or planned. What the bill does is to provide a vehicle for private donations to be applied towards the MAINTENANCE of the Cemetery. When I brought up the cemetery in the Redding Area I was informed that the costs are already several times over budget and that the state can not run a cemeterey. I could not get any committment or indication that there would ever be state funding for the maintenance.
I was given a figure of $500,000 as an annual maintenance cost estimate but no one could/would offer the possibility that the state would ever pick up any of the costs. If this is the case then the fundraising will be formidable.
What is interesting is that the state and fed VA both point fingers at each other. VA says that it is not its POLICY to build new cemeteries when there is a federal cemetery as close as Gustine that is not full. I was informed by Sen Denham’s office that that is only a policy and not a result of any law.
My advice in how to support Monterey County Chapter is for every CAL-MOAA member to write, call, visit both Senators and their Representatives to lobby for the VA to build and maintain the cemetery.
Additionally I would recommend that the EXCOM develope a letter/resolution for email approval urging Nationall MOAA to lobby the appropriate Governmental Offices and Legislators to direct VA to build the cemetery. The land is there as well as the need.
I have a PDF Copy of the bill as ammended on May 26 if anyone is interested.
W/R
John Sammons
FYI - paragraph 4 is interesting.
4/28/2006 (print version)
Letter to the Editor: Ford Ord Cemetary
Dear Editor:
Thank you for your continued coverage of the issues impacting the construction of Fort Ord Cemetery.
I strongly believe that my job as the Senator of the 12th Senate District is to work with my colleagues on a bi-partisan basis to accomplish the numerous tasks at hand. When I was first elected to this position, I took the time to meet each and every Senator and have worked across party lines to make sure the needs of my constituents are met.
Assemblyman Simon Salinas, Senator Abel Maldonado and I decided early on that in order to make a veterans’ cemetery at Fort Ord a reality, then we would have to work together. And, we have successfully done that. Last year, both Assemblyman Salinas and I carried bills that would offer “out of the box” ways to help pay for the maintenance of Fort Ord upon construction. Unfortunately, Assemblyman Salinas’ bill was killed by his own party before we could act upon it. Fortunately, we still have one of my bills, Senate Bill 234, working its way through the process.
As a veteran, I believe that all veterans should be honored when they are buried, and the cemetery should be easily accessible to their families that are left behind.
The issue of a veterans’ cemetery at Fort Ord is not a partisan issue, but an issue of federal versus state government. Undoubtedly, the state has made its position clear. As Tom Johnson, Secretary of the Department of Veteran Affairs stated, “We are not in support of building additional state veterans cemeteries. The state should be taking a complementary role in the provision of veteran benefits, not a duplicative one.” That is also the reason I introduced Senate Joint Resolution 18 with my colleagues Senator Maldonado and Assemblyman Salinas. SJR 18 calls on President Bush, Congress and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to build a national veterans’ cemetery at Fort Ord in Monterey.
The irony of this situation is that I am taking on the bureaucrats in the Bush administration, while Congressman Sam Farr is defending them.
Obviously, there are some funding issues that need to be resolved in making this a veterans’ cemetery. I still believe that making Fort Ord a federal cemetery is the quickest route to accomplish this goal, but I am always looking at new ways to fix a current problem.
That is why I called for a meeting of state and federal representatives in May. I think we need to sit down and brainstorm what other options might exist and how we can better work together. I look forward to working with all my colleagues whether state or federal or Republican or Democrat.
Veterans deserve a veterans’ cemetery at Fort Ord and I pledge to do all I can to make it a reality.
Senator Jeff Denham
John Sammons