HANAPEPE — Although volunteers and caretakers have managed to keep Kaua‘i Veterans Cemetery among the best in the state, some improvement projects are overdue, Navy League Vice President Lawrence Schlang said yesterday. The Princeville resident, a retired Navy reserve commander,
HANAPEPE — Although volunteers and caretakers have managed to keep Kaua‘i Veterans Cemetery among the best in the state, some improvement projects are overdue, Navy League Vice President Lawrence Schlang said yesterday.
The Princeville resident, a retired Navy reserve commander, has pushed government officials for three years to provide funds to rebuild bathrooms, install a new entrance sign and do other significant work at the Hanapepe burial site.
The state Legislature last session appropriated $1.2 million over two years to fund capital improvement projects at veterans cemeteries statewide — but some dispute how that money is now planned to be spent.
Schlang said it should be divided equally among the state’s eight veterans cemeteries instead of being used solely for an additional 2,036 columbarium niche spaces for future interments at the Hawai‘i State Veterans Cemetery in Kane‘ohe.
An Oct. 30 letter from Gov. Linda Lingle to Schlang says the cost estimate for the Kane‘ohe project was $1.2 million and remaining funds, “if available,” would then be applied to other county veterans cemeteries.
State Sen. Gary Hooser, (D-Kaua‘i), said the intent of the bill was clear — $1 million would go to the Kaneohe cemetery and the remaining $200,000 would be spread across the Neighbor Islands.
Until designs are completed for the state cemetery, it’s impossible to estimate how much construction will cost, said Major Mark Moses, who became Office of Veterans Services director in June.
Moses added that Major Neal Mitsuyoshi, state Defense Department contracting and engineering officer, asked that the language in the appropriations bill say “statewide” so that Neighbor Islands veterans cemeteries could take advantage of any leftover funding.
Hooser said he had a face-to-face conversation with Moses’ predecessor, Col. Edward Cruickshank, to ensure the legislation’s intent was understood — the money will be spent on veterans cemeteries statewide with the bulk of funds going to the main veterans cemetery on O‘ahu.
Turnover at the Office of Veterans Affairs, the senator said, is “part of the problem.”
Securing the necessary funds to upgrade the Kaua‘i Veterans Cemetery will be a top priority for Hooser next legislative session.
“I’m confident and hopeful we’re going to get some funds to support the efforts that are ongoing there,” he said. “Unfortunately, the governor has been slow in releasing funds — not only for veterans cemeteries, but for many worthwhile projects around the state.”
Schlang and the senator credited the work done by the volunteers and caretakers at the Hanapepe veterans cemetary but noted the need for improvements to its pavilion, bathrooms, flag pole and entrance.
“Termites have had a field day for 50 years,” Schlang said, describing the pavilion. “We don’t need another inspection, we don’t need another study — we need to get the work done.”
A $97,000 job to design and manage a columbarium at the Hanapepe cemetery was completed in October, according to the Office of Veterans Affairs.
Future plans involve looking at changing the way the office seeks funding for columbariums, Moses said.
Instead of going out on a project-by-project basis, he said, it would be more efficient to secure “a pot of money” for statewide columbarium projects.
The director said he is also in the process of buying an estimated 600 burial vaults, which guard against sinking graves and reduce associated maintenance work, for veterans cemeteries statewide.
Some 120,000 veterans live in Hawai‘i, Moses said, with 72 percent on O‘ahu and 5 percent on Kaua‘i.
The state owns the veterans cemeteries and the counties manage and operate them.
“It was clearly not the intent of the Legislature to build 2,036 additional columbarium niches at Kaneohe for veterans who have not yet deceased while some of the graves of veterans who have already passed are collapsing and are in urgent need of repair,” Schlang says in a Dec. 3 letter to Lingle.
Moses estimates that 1,000 veterans die annually statewide.
Schlang said there are an average of 75 funerals a year for veterans in Hawai‘i.
To contact the Kaua‘i branch of the state Office of Veterans Affairs, call 241-3346.
