Reid joins Gibbons in Jarbidge cemetery dispute

Sandra Chereb

Friday, July 2, 1999 | 11:30 a.m.

RENO, Nev. - Nevada Sen. Harry Reid has joined Republican Rep. Jim Gibbons in a fight to transfer ownership of a 2-acre cemetery in tiny Jarbidge from the Forest Service to Elko County.

The cemetery is surrounded by the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest along the Idaho border. It operates under a special use permit which can be renewed every 10 to 20 years, depending on the circumstances.

Residents, whose numbers double in summertime to about 60, have been working to establish a permanent trust fund to maintain the historic cemetery. But the trust is dependent on county ownership.

Forest Service officials in Washington, D.C., have said the agency would consider selling the land to the county or perhaps trading the 2-acre parcel for similar land, but would not relinquish ownership without something in return.

"While I agree that in the vast majority of instances this is the correct stance, in this case the Forest Service is just plain wrong," said Reid, who on Thursday introduced a bill in the Senate to convey ownership of the cemetery to Elko County.

Reid's measure is a companion bill to legislation introduced in the House by Gibbons. That bill was passed unanimously by the House Resources subcommittee on forests and is awaiting full committee action.

"The federal government already controls nearly nine-tenths of Nevada's lands," Gibbons said. "Nevadans aren't asking for much - a mere two acres to be exact."

In his earlier testimony before the House subcommittee, Gibbons said agency officials should be ashamed of themselves for demanding the county pay for the cemetery "where generations of residents of this historic community have been laid to rest."

"The Forest Service should hang their heads," Gibbons said. "These people are asking for a cemetery, not for land to build commercial or residential enterprises. It is ludicrous to pay for the graves of Nevada's parents and grandparents."

The earliest tombstones date to the early 1900s.

Forest Service officials in Elko said they would favor selling the land to the town, but law requires an act of Congress to give the land to anybody and, in some cases, to sell it.

"From our end we can't say just go ahead and give it to them because we have no legal basis for that," said Cheri Howell of the Elko office.