Repairs will go forward but are not considered a long-term fix for cracks in the monument.

NOTE from Larry Scott, VA Watchdog dot Org ... Use our search engine for more about the "repair it" or "replace it" arguments surrounding the Tomb of the Unknowns ... here ...
http://www.yourvabenefits.org/sessearch.php?q=unknowns&op=and

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Repairs Planned for Cracks in Tomb of the Unknowns

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/01/us/01arlington.html?_r=1

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (AP) — Preservation experts armed with high-tech grout will start repairing the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia next spring, ending a long debate and a quandary over what to do about cracks in one of the country’s most famous monuments.

The Army Corps of Engineers has issued a $70,000 contract for grouting of cracks that have spread around all four sides and through the middle of the 77-year-old monument, which is dedicated to unknown soldiers who gave their lives in service of the country.

At the same time, Arlington officials have decided to accept the donation of a large chunk of snow-white marble from Colorado that has been sitting outside the Yule Quarry since 2004. The cemetery will keep the block in case the tomb’s carved monument eventually needs replacing.

“If it can no longer be repaired, wonderful; we’ll be ready for whatever,” said Robert Nieweg, director of the southern field office for the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

John Haines, a Glenwood Springs businessman, donated the $31,000 block to the cemetery. The block is from the same quarry near the western Colorado town of Marble where the tomb’s original marble was cut, but the trust objected to an earlier plan to replace the marble on the tomb.

He had the block quarried after cracks on the tomb began spreading, leading some cemetery officials to fear the monument could break apart.

Emotionally charged public outrage over the replacement plan led to Senators Jim Webb, Democrat of Virginia, and Daniel K. Akaka, Democrat of Hawaii, sponsoring a bill last year to block any replacement until more study was done.

That study — the third on the monument’s crack problems — determined repair would be an option, but not likely a long-term fix. The study also found that repair would be much less costly than replacement, which, even with the donated marble, was estimated to cost $2.2 million.

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TOPICS: veterans, veterans' benefits, VA, Department of Veterans' Affairs, Tomb of Unknowns, repair