When government bureaucracy stalls, not even a 60-ton block of rock can move it.
A marble slab sitting in a quarry parking lot near Marble – envisioned as the replacement for the cracking Tomb of the Unknowns memorial in Washington – proves the point.
Instead of heading to Arlington National Cemetery, the marble has had its future placed in doubt by a tangle of Beltway wrangling.
Several federal agencies and historical societies are involved in a complicated fix-it process that is stalled over the 11th-hour question of whether to replace or repair the cracked tomb.
This comes 16 years after cracks first raised concerns and a decade after a former Colorado quarry owner approached federal officials about finding a new hunk of marble from the same Yule Marble formation that yielded the original.
A planned marble donation also has been derailed by government regulations that now require that bids be solicited.
The tomb trouble has caused angst from Washington to the tiny town of Marble, 20 miles southwest of Aspen.
“We would love to take care of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier (as it was formerly known) – once we get the word,” said Tim Boulay of the National Cemetery Division of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
Boulay’s department can’t do anything until the Virginia Historical Society and national historic preservation societies determine that replacing the tomb’s nearly 73-year-old monument will not violate historical compliance regulations.
A historical study began after Arlington National Cemetery already had decided to treat the tomb like it would any other cracked or broken headstone.
“If a headstone cracks, we replace it,” said Lori Calvillo, public-affairs officer for Arlington National Cemetery. “But it’s no longer that easy.”
At the quarry where the original marble for the tomb was carved out of a rock face in 1931, workers have spent the last few years in what amounted to a labor of love and patriotism, seeking a replacement piece of marble to honor soldiers killed in combat whose remains are unidentified.
Two behemoth blocks that were cut in recent years turned out to have splotchy gray flaws. But the latest 698-cubic-foot block, with its creamy color marked by soft gold veins, appears to be the right one, said Kimberly Perrin, a spokeswoman for Colorado Yule Marble quarry.
“For us in the quarry, this is pretty special,” said Perrin, who noted that the quarry superintendent is a former Marine.
The holdup also has been upsetting for retired Glenwood Springs car dealer John Haines. Haines has been trying to pay for and donate the new marble slab for the tomb since 2002, but the Army has decided it must be put out to bid.
The donated chunk of marble for which Haines was willing to pay up to $70,000 doesn’t fit with government regulations.
“It’s very frustrating. The whole idea was, ‘Let’s give the government this stone,”‘ Haines said.
Arlington National Cemetery’s Calvillo and the National Cemetery Division’s Boulay said the government could face liability if a donated stone had hidden flaws.
The stone from Marble is now competing with a block from a Vermont quarry that also submitted a bid to the Department of the Army before bid solicitation was stopped when the historical study began.
Colorado Yule Marble quarry’s Perrin said she fears the tomb snafu may not be sorted out before Polycor Inc., the Quebec-based company that acquired the quarry last year, may decide to carve up the block to sell for smaller projects.
The block already had to be moved out of the quarry because it was impeding work. Now it is strapped on a flatbed trailer with no place to go until the federal government decides whether it wants it.
Staff writer Nancy Lofholm can be reached at 970-256-1957 or nlofholm@denverpost.com.
Tomb timeline
1919 – Monument to unknown dead U.S. soldiers is proposed.
1921 – Remains of four U.S. soldiers unearthed in France and another set of remains are chosen to be buried in the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on the third anniversary of Armistice Day.
1925 – Honor guard is permanently posted at the tomb.
1926 – Congress appropriates $48,000 to build a marble monument over the tomb.
1931 – Block of marble is cut from Colorado Yule Marble quarry for the monument.
1932 – The monument, referred to as the tomb, is put in place.
1940 – Cracks appear in the monument.
1990 – Government study determines the monument should be replaced due to expanding cracks.
2001 – Search for a new stone begins at Colorado Yule quarry.
2005 – Suitable 60-ton block of marble is found after two other blocks were found to be flawed.
2005 – The Department of Veterans Affairs, under pressure from historical societies, decides further study must be done to determine if the monument can be repaired rather than replaced.
Sources: Department of Veterans Affairs and Arlington National Cemetery.
