55D - RESO - SUPPORT AB 1453 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Veterans cheer Irvine's cemetery support, but there's no guarantee Orange County Register BY KIMBERLY PIERCEALL / STAFF WRITER Published: March 12, 2014 Updated: 4:54 p.m. Irvine doesn't have a single cemetery. Orange County doesn't have a single cemetery specifically for veterans. Tuesday night, after a sometimes emotional debate, four out of five Irvine leaders voted to support an Assembly bill that calls for a state veteran cemetery in Orange County and to consider offering up 100 acres at the Great Park for a site. Consider is the key word, though. While supporters of the efforts - among them, those wearing medals on their blazers, patches on vets and cross - section of military uniforms - cheered inside City Hall late Tuesday as if they had won a deed to the land, what was approved was just an expression of "strong interest" in offering up 100 acres. Council members who supported the resolution noted that it doesn't legally obligate the city to do anything beyond consider it. Councilman Jeff Lalloway noted that there would still be many factors to study including how the land, wherever it is, would be transferred (Sale? Lease? Gift ?). Land for state cemeteries would need to be transferred to the state. Assembly Bill 1453 introduced by Sharon Quirk -Silva in January doesn't name the Great Park specifically, but a group of veterans has eyed wide -open acreage at the former El Toro Marine Base for some time. Wayne Greenleaf was among 30 people who spoke in support of the cemetery during public comments, telling the council that it wasn't necessary, nor required, for local leaders to give veterans like himself a final resting place closer to home, "but maybe it is fair, fitting and the right thing to do," he said. "Maybe, just maybe, we owe them that much." The nearest national cemeteries open for burials are in Riverside and San Diego a distance criticized by veterans and members of the public at the meeting who said it's too far a drive for families to visit loved ones. But Riverside and San Diego cemeteries are still within 75 miles of Orange County, the distance taken into account before the federal government considers opening a new national cemetery. 55D -13