43°F
weather icon Cloudy

Veterans cemetery breaks ground on expansion

Officials held a groundbreaking ceremony Jan. 25 for an expansion at the Southern Nevada Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Boulder City.

The project will add more than 5,400 new in-ground burial plots, as well as more than 5,700 above-ground niches. Mayor Joe Hardy, who gave remarks at the event, was among the dignitaries in attendance.

Chris Naylor, superintendent for the cemetery, estimates the expansion will add seven to 10 more years of burial availability.

“We already own the land,” Naylor said. “We’re just developing the land to add more burial spots.”

New roads, roundabouts, sidewalks and landscaping will be added to the cemetery.

Work on the expansion is expected to begin Feb. 6 and conclude around Aug. 8. It’s being funded through a Department of Veterans Affairs grant of more than $5 million, with some additional funding coming from the state government.

The veterans’ cemetery is the second “busiest” state-level cemetery in the country — with more than 50,000 interments of eligible veterans — because of Southern Nevada’s large number of military veterans.

Naylor noted that a veteran does not need to have been a Southern Nevada resident to be buried there.

“We get people from all over the country that are buried here,” Naylor said. “If they received an honorable discharge, and they met the requirements for burial benefits, then they can be buried here.”

Contact Justin Razavi at jrazavi@reviewjournal.com. Follow @justin_razavi on Twitter.

Don't miss the big stories. Like us on Facebook.
THE LATEST
Senators call for disaster funding to help Lake Mead

“Disastrous conditions have reshaped Lake Mead National Recreation Area’s one and a half million acres of incredible landscapes and slowly depleted the largest reservoir in the United States,” the senators wrote in a letter to the National Park Service.

Boulder City Council reviews city officials’ performance

Boulder City Council met in a special session Tuesday to hear presentations from the city manager, city attorney and city clerk and then to issue official performance reviews.

 
Lake Mead may face deeper pumping to protect water quality

The Southern Nevada Water Authority is evaluating whether changes need to be made to its lowest intake straw in order to protect water quality as Lake Mead continues to shrink.

Avi Kwa Ame named Nevada’s 4th national monument

President Joe Biden designated Avi Kwa Ame as Nevada’s fourth national monument Tuesday during the White House Conservation in Action Summit.

Biden set to visit Vegas to talk drug prices

President Biden will not be designating Avi Kwa Ame as a national monument next week, although he will still be in town to talk about prescription drug prices.

As Lake Mead declines, so do its visitation numbers

A National Park Service spokesman says it is not possible to say why visitors to Lake Mead National Recreation Area dropped off without further research.