GLENWOOD SPRINGS, Colo.—Despite an economic crisis that has organizations from small-town mom-and-pop shops to local and national governments tightening their belts, the Department of the Army still refuses to accept a donation from a Glenwood Springs man that could save it millions of dollars.
The donation in question is a 118,000-pound slab of marble—valued at just over $31,000 from the Yule Quarry in Marble, Colo., a short drive from Carbondale—that retired Glenwood car dealer John Haines has been trying to donate since 2003.
The marble would replace the cracked Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery. It was decided 18 years ago that the marble, which initially developed two cracks in the 1930s—each more than 48 feet long—needed replacement. The tomb has since developed a third crack at the base of the monument.
Red tape within the federal government is responsible for the stall in Haines’ donation. Procedure dictates that all government jobs must go through a pricey bidding process, thereby disqualifying Haines’ donation.
“It’s not doable,” deputy superintendent of Arlington, Thurman Higginbotham, recently told The Denver Post. “A citizen can’t just give us any piece of marble and say, ‘This is what we’ll use to replace the tomb.'”
Haines made the final payment on the marble last month, and has even arranged donated transportation from its perch outside the Yule Quarry to Arlington National Cemetery.
“This really shouldn’t be that difficult,” Haines says. “The original marble for the Tomb of the Unknowns came from the same quarry almost 80 years ago, and we spent almost five years searching for this piece that is such a great match for the slabs that are broken.”
Last month the Army issued a 34-page report to Congress outlining replacement and repair options for the tomb. Haines’ donation was not mentioned anywhere in the report. But the cost for replacement—estimated at $2.2 million—was included. The bidding process alone is estimated to cost $80,000, $90,000 is slated to be spent on the marble and transportation, with the rest set aside for sculpting.
Haines has worked with U.S. Rep. John Salazar, D-Colo., over the years to help move the donation process along, with the Democrat pledging to take a close look at the Army’s report.
“We would think the government should seriously consider any donations,” Salazar’s spokesman Eric Wortman said in a statement.
The original tomb was made from seven pieces of marble, all quarried in Colorado and weighing a combined 79 tons. Haines says he would like the replacement piece to be a gift from the people of Colorado to honor the troops from America’s wars that have never been identified.
“I really do get that the federal government has a certain way it does things,” Haines says. “But there has to be some way around all the red tape in a unique circumstance like this. I guess I could charge them a dollar in the bidding process, but that still doesn’t get around the tens of thousands of dollars they’ll spend to collect all the bids.”
———
On the Net:
Arlington National Cemetery:
