Cemetery on forest lands to become private property

Wednesday, Sept. 22, 1999 | 9:16 a.m.

"Today, we can declare victory in the House to give the residents of Jarbidge their permanent and private cemetery," Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., the bill's sponsor, said in a statement from Washington.

The proposal now moves to the Senate, where Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., has introduced companion legislation.ing the fair market price for the property.

But Gloria Flora, supervisor of the Humboldt-Tomyabe National Forest, said earlier this month the agency would not stand in the way of the proposal.

"If that's what the citizens of Jarbidge want, we're anxious to give it to them," she said.

Gibbons said many of those buried there are miners and their families, "the very founders of the small Elko County community."

"We could not support a fair market value scheme requiring the families to pay for the graves of their parents and grandparents," he said Tuesday.

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