Maple Valley To Get Veterans' Cemetery -- Officials Disappointed In Bremerton, Sultan

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs yesterday played taps to Bremerton's hopes of getting a new national cemetery, choosing the Maple Valley area instead. Sultan, in Snohomish County, also was bypassed. Bremerton had lobbied for the veterans' cemetery, while community leaders in Maple Valley were largely unaware their community was even being studied as a possible location. "I heard something about this a couple of years ago; nothing about it since," said Terry Seaman, secretary for the Maple Valley Area Council. Although there are nearly 500,000 veterans and their dependents in the Puget Sound region, the nearest veterans' cemetery is Willamette National Cemetery in Portland. The Department of Veterans Affairs selected as its preferred site a 160-acre parcel behind Tahoma High School, between Kent and the center of Maple Valley off Southeast 240th Street. A final decision is expected in January. The cemetery would cost about $15 million to develop and could open as soon as 1996, said William Jayne, department spokesman. "They need something, all right. There's a lot of veterans up here," said Andy Anderson, former commander of the Maple Valley/Black Diamond VFW Post 5052. As the director of the Hobart/Maple Valley Community Cemetery, which only this year exchanged hand shovels for a backhoe, Anderson gave his professional approval to the national cemeteries. "They always take care of them. They always look real nice," Anderson said. Maple Valley was chosen over Bremerton and Sultan because of its accessibility to Seattle and Tacoma, Jayne said. "It sure is a shame," said Bremerton Mayor Louis Mentor. "We thought that this was a real fitting site for the cemetery." Sultan Mayor John Walker said he regretted the economic loss to his community. "It would have been nice," he said. "We're probably not as well-situated." In unincorporated Maple Valley, people have been more concerned about rapid residential growth and a planned transfer station than the national cemetery, said resident Bobbi Karlson. "I would welcome it," she said. National cemeteries provide free plots, burials, markers and perpetual gravesite care for veterans and the families of veterans with discharges other than dishonorable. The cemetery near Covington, which the Department of Veterans Affairs refers to as its Tahoma site, is expected to accept burials until 2030. The name Tahoma was derived from the three towns of Taylor, Hobart and Maple Valley. Taylor no longer exists.