The Georgia General Assembly has provided $1 million in seed money for a veteran’s cemetery in Augusta, members of the local legislative delegation announced on Monday.
District 2 Commissioner Dennis Williams joined Senator Max Burns, Senator Gloria Frazier and Senator Harold Jones made the announcement while flanked by American flags and members of the Patriot Riders.
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Congressman Rick Allen was on hand to congratulate the local delegation on getting the needed funding to start the project.
According to the project’s co-chair, Don Clark, former Augusta Mayor Bob Young began lobbying for the cemetery almost two decades ago and was able to build support gradually over time.
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Clark said the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 slowed the project down, but the former Augusta commissioner and veteran Bill Fennoy helped get the project back on track.
Currently, more than 48,000 veterans reside in southeastern Georgia. The cemetery would serve those veterans from Richmond and Columbia counties all the way to Taliaferro and Washington counties.
“Right now, families have to travel to Milledgeville or Columbia to visit their loved one’s grave,” Sen. Gloria Frazier, a military spouse, said. “We want to bring them back home.”
The site chosen for the cemetery is on 275 acres of state-owned land where the V.A. Gracewood hospital facility is located. It will likely take about five years for the project to be totally completed. The plan is to start with ten acres for burial space and gradually use more parcels as space is needed in the future according to Commissioner Mike Roby of the Georgia Department of Veterans Services.
Clark said that the land chosen is perfect because the property is already state-owned. The cemetery will not encroach on the hospital property and will not affect ongoing operations at the Gracewood facility.
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The total cost of the cemetery is expected to be around $10 million. Commissioner Mike Roby of the Georgia Department of Veteran Services said federal guidelines dictate that 10% of the cost of such a project must be raised at the state level. Roby said the $1 million of state money is a giant first step in seeing the project coming to fruition.
“The resolution that passed in the General Assembly means we now have the seed money to begin the design and planning,” Roby said. “The next step is applying for the federal money to complete the project.”
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Bob Mauldin of 2KM Architects has been tapped to design the cemetery. He said he plans to model the Augusta cemetery on the one at Milledgeville, which he also designed.
Veterans as well as their spouses and dependents all qualify for burial at veterans’ memorial cemeteries throughout the estate.
Scott Hudson is the Editorial Page Editor of The Augusta Press. Reach him at scott@theaugustapress.com.
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