Jarbidge cemetery bill passes hurdle

Benjamin Grove

Thursday, Feb. 17, 2000 | 10:47 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- A bill that would transfer the Jarbidge town cemetery from federal to local control has cleared a key hurdle in Congress.

Generations of residents in the far northeastern Nevada town have been buried in the cemetery that dates to the early 1900s. Locals have said they want to control the 2-acre plot now owned by the U.S. Forest Service, which by law can sell the land but not give it away.

The land stimulated an old-fashioned Nevada battle between the federal government and locals.

The full House in September passed a bill that would transfer the cemetery to Elko County control. A Senate committee passed a similar bill last week. Now the full Senate must pass the bill. The two houses would have to work out any differences between the two bills before President Clinton could sign it into law. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., hopes that will happen by years' end.

"We are now very close to giving the residents of Jarbidge and the people of Elko County title to this important piece of their heritage," Reid said in a statement Wednesday.

"The members of the committee clearly understood that this issue was about preserving Nevada's history for future generations and they did not oppose this transfer."