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Title: One-inch error costs cemetery $20,000

March 25, 2000

Stillwater -- Saratoga National Veterans Cemetery's headstones don't conform to 3-inch standard

The initial 200 or so granite headstones at Saratoga National Veterans Cemetery will have to be replaced because the wrong-size stones were ordered by mistake.

The National Cemetery Administration authorized that upright gravestones for all new national cemeteries after 1997 be 3 inches thick, not 4, which is what was ordered by Saratoga National Cemetery officials.

Cemetery officials blame a computer glitch for ordering the 200 wrong stones, which are about 50 pounds heavier than the thinner ones.

They say replacing the larger markers, which constitute about 40 percent of the tombstones now in place, is worth the extra $20,000 in purchase and labor costs because it will maintain the uniformity that marks national cemeteries and save money in health costs to workers installing them.

"Basically, we're biting the bullet on this one, but we're lucky we caught it when we did,'' said Steve Westerfeld, spokesman for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

The size switch was adopted to conform with U.S. Department of Labor Occupational Safety and Health Administration standards, Westerfeld said.

MaryAnn Fisher, director of Saratoga National Cemetery, said the wrong-size grave markers were purchased due to an incorrectly programmed automated application system that allowed directors to order monuments electronically.

When the cemetery opened in July, the system was set at 4-inch models. National Cemetery officials spotted the error when employees of the Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery, opened in October in Joliet, Ill., had difficulties ordering 3-inch stones.

"Once we heard about Abe Lincoln, we caught on to what was happening in Saratoga,'' Westerfeld said.

Both stone sizes are 2 feet tall and 13 inches wide, but the 4-inch marker can weigh 40 to 60 pounds more, according to Jim Lohaus, 53, a cemetery caretaker here.

"It doesn't sound like it, but an inch makes a lot of difference,'' said another caretaker, 28-year-old John Hall.

The National Cemetery Administration set the 3-inch thick policy in 1997 while completing a national cemetery in Tahoma, Wash. The Lincoln cemetery remains the only national cemetery opened since Saratoga, so Saratoga, the 116th national cemetery, is the only one stuck with noncomplying standards.

"Grave markers have to be constantly realigned and replaced,'' said Westerfeld. "And the lighter headstones are just as durable as the other ones, and they lessen the risks federal workers experience on the job.''

None of the 4-inch stones have been lifted, but when they are they will be destroyed on premises. The goal for full replacement of the stones is Memorial Day, Fisher said.

"We don't want people reusing the stones for a sidewalk or a patio because that would not be giving our veterans the dignity they deserve,'' said Fisher.

At a national cemetery, officials say, uniformity counts.

"What's very important about a national cemetery is it's a national shrine,'' said Fisher.

"Headstones are aligned the same -- they're all the same height, same color, with the same inscriptions. Everything has to have uniformity. This cemetery will be burying veterans for the next 100 years, so now is the time to change things so everything is the same.''

The eight caretakers stuck with the job of replacing the stones over the next month are all veterans themselves. None dread the duty.

"It's a job that has to be done to keep uniformity and meet national cemetery standards,'' said Joseph Cassella, maintenance and operations supervisor. "The costs in replacing the stones will be made up in lower injury-compensation payments.''

http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyKey=30430&category=F ================================

-- (Dee360Degree@aol.com), March 25, 2000