CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARBULLETIN.COM A crack in the niche wall of the Hawaii State Veterans Cemetery columbarium is visible from its back side.

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$750,000 would fix
veterans cemetery

The director says the state
must not ignore repairs
during a war

Office of Veterans Services Director Edward Cruickshank says the state can no longer take a Band-Aid approach to fixing deteriorating conditions at the Hawaii State Veterans Cemetery in Kaneohe.

He will be asking the Legislature next month to add more than $750,000 to his budget over the next two years to prevent grave sites from sinking, fix cracking structures and repair the sprinkler system.

"This is the first time that we've come in and said this is what we need to fix it once and for all," Cruickshank said.

He said his office needs the extra money to make sure that if former and current service members die, the state has a place for them.

And with Hawaii National Guard and Reserve soldiers activated for duty in Afghanistan and Iraq, "the harsh reality is that some will not be coming home alive. We owe it to them and their loved ones to provide a resting place that honors those who gave their lives protecting us," he said.

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CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARBULLETIN.COM The front view of the wall, under pressure from the surrounding hill.

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Most of the requested money, $564,000, is in capital improvement funds to redesign and repair the columbarium. The wall of the columbarium is cracking because the hill it was cut into is putting pressure on the structure. Cruickshank attributes that to poor design. Also, the hill above the wall is eroding, exposing sprinkler lines and uprooting trees.

Part of the CIP money will be used to drill more exploratory holes in the ground to see if inadequate drainage is causing graves to sink. The cemetery was built where Kawa Stream began.

In addition, Cruickshank is asking the Legislature to increase his office's operating budget by $187,450 in the next two years to purchase new dirt and casket liners and to fix the leaky sprinkler system.

The dirt will replace fill material that was used during construction of the cemetery. He said the clay-like fill does not hold together when compacted, so it washes away during heavy rains, causing the ground to sink.

Casket liners prevent the ground from sinking when caskets deteriorate and collapse. Cemetery staff are already asking veterans and their families whether they would like to purchase casket liners and telling them liners prevent sinking. Fiberglass liners cost about $200.

Cruickshank wants to change state administrative rules to allow the state to pick up at least part of the cost of casket liners for veterans.

Weeds, overgrowth and unauthorized planting of different varieties of grasses in the cemetery by families of people buried there are among the other challenges. When Cruickshank took the job in May, there were only four groundskeepers on staff to maintain the cemetery's 123 acres.

No new groundskeepers have been hired, and Cruickshank is not asking for more positions. He said with the closing of armories of National Guard units placed on active duty, state Department of Defense crews have been redeployed to the cemetery. And state prison inmate work details now make regular, weekly visits.

The federal government paid for the construction of the Kaneohe cemetery, which opened in 1991, but the state pays for maintenance and repairs. There are 5,600 buried in the cemetery.