The plot disgrace thickens
By ALAN SCHER ZAGIER
Posted: July 27, 2010
COLUMBIA, Mo. -- The Missouri senator helping to investigate the shameful grave mix-up at Arlington National Cemetery said yesterday that the number of mislabeled plots there could be in the thousands.
An internal Army probe had found at least 211 discrepancies between burial maps and grave sites at Arlington, indicating people had been laid to rest in the wrong plots.
The review suggested that lax management of the cemetery and a reliance on paper records to manage the burial sites were to blame for the snafu.
At a news conference yesterday, Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill, who is on the subcommittee probing the issue, said the number of burial-site errors could be much higher because the Army report was limited to a small section of the cemetery.
McCaskill called the growing scandal a matter of "heartbreaking incompetence" and said the military has spent more than $5.5 million over seven years in its unsuccessful attempts to computerize the burial records.
"At the very essence here, you have waste," she said. "There may be fraud -- we don't know at this point."
The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs' subcommittee on contracting oversight, chaired by McCaskill, will hold a hearing in Washington on Thursday on its cemetery investigation.
The list of invited witnesses includes former cemetery Superintendent John Metzler and Deputy Superintendent Thurman Higginbotham.
Both retired earlier this month after they were forced to resign from their posts, and McCaskill said she is not certain if either will show up to the hearing. She declined to say whether the subcommittee would subpoena either man.
"We are doing everything we can to get both to the hearing," she said. "Their attendance is not a certainty."
Robert Mance, Higginbotham's Washington lawyer, did not immediately return a telephone call seeking comment. And an Arlington cemetery spokeswoman declined a request for comment, noting that Army leaders "will provide insight" Thursday.
By ALAN SCHER ZAGIER
Posted: July 27, 2010
COLUMBIA, Mo. -- The Missouri senator helping to investigate the shameful grave mix-up at Arlington National Cemetery said yesterday that the number of mislabeled plots there could be in the thousands.
An internal Army probe had found at least 211 discrepancies between burial maps and grave sites at Arlington, indicating people had been laid to rest in the wrong plots.
The review suggested that lax management of the cemetery and a reliance on paper records to manage the burial sites were to blame for the snafu.
At a news conference yesterday, Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill, who is on the subcommittee probing the issue, said the number of burial-site errors could be much higher because the Army report was limited to a small section of the cemetery.
McCaskill called the growing scandal a matter of "heartbreaking incompetence" and said the military has spent more than $5.5 million over seven years in its unsuccessful attempts to computerize the burial records.
"At the very essence here, you have waste," she said. "There may be fraud -- we don't know at this point."
The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs' subcommittee on contracting oversight, chaired by McCaskill, will hold a hearing in Washington on Thursday on its cemetery investigation.
The list of invited witnesses includes former cemetery Superintendent John Metzler and Deputy Superintendent Thurman Higginbotham.
Both retired earlier this month after they were forced to resign from their posts, and McCaskill said she is not certain if either will show up to the hearing. She declined to say whether the subcommittee would subpoena either man.
"We are doing everything we can to get both to the hearing," she said. "Their attendance is not a certainty."
Robert Mance, Higginbotham's Washington lawyer, did not immediately return a telephone call seeking comment. And an Arlington cemetery spokeswoman declined a request for comment, noting that Army leaders "will provide insight" Thursday.
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