Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, February 7, 1994 TAG: 9402070047
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: AMELIA LENGTH: Medium
Within a few weeks, lawmakers will decide whether to spend the money to transform 127 acres of rural Amelia County into 54,700 grave sites.
"If they mess up that money, it's going to be war," growled Macon Booker, a disabled World War II veteran and vice chairman of the Amelia Board of Supervisors.
Former Gov. Douglas Wilder, a Korean War veteran, persuaded last year's General Assembly to spend $130,000 to make sure the Amelia property was suitable and to buy it. Wilder put $3.1 million in next year's budget to develop the cemetery. If the legislature agrees to spend the money, the federal government will at least match the state's contribution.
Booker said all signs point to the project's getting a smooth ride through the legislature. But supporters are maintaining a vigil at the State Capitol, he said, and might organize a march to remind lawmakers what the cemetery means to them.
"It's pretty much a done deal . . . but you can't go to sleep," Booker said. If the money is withdrawn, he said, "you've got over 750,000 veterans who are going to be mad."
Sen. Charles Waddell, D-Sterling, led the fight in the General Assembly last year when some state senators wanted to eliminate the funds for the land's purchase.
"Many of my colleagues see this as a federal responsibility, but I think the state should get in this and show Virginia's appreciation for sacrifices," Waddell said.
To Booker and other veterans, the cemetery would mean recognition and free burial. It would also help relieve a shortage of burial space in federal veterans cemeteries around the state such as Arlington, Quantico and Culpeper.
In 1985, the state's Commission on Veterans' Affairs looked at several possible sites, including Dinwiddie and Buckingham counties and a tract near Richmond's McGuire Clinic. But Amelia emerged as the No. 1 choice, partly because it's near Richmond and the land, just over one mile north of U.S. 360 off Virginia 681, is mostly cleared.
"We've been pushing for it all along," said Ed Hurley, chairman of the Amelia County Board of Supervisors. "Amelia is a rather patriotic county. We think the country owes [the veterans] something for their services."
With more than 700,000 veterans, Virginia has the ninth-largest veteran population in the nation. That population is expected to grow. Meanwhile, state projections call for about 37 percent of the state's veterans to be 65 or older by the year 2000.
The cemetery in Amelia would be within 100 miles of 435,000 of the state's veterans.
Keywords:
GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1994
by CNB