Vallejo, CA fights Russian Consulate over headstones

[Kadie]

Vallejo fights Russian Consulate over headstones
Carolyn Jones, Chronicle Staff Writer
Wednesday, April 20, 2011

All the Russian government wanted was to honor six sailors who died in San Francisco in 1863 - apparently while heroically helping douse an enormous fire near the waterfront.

Spending almost $20,000, the Russian Consulate bought the sailors new granite headstones to replace the weathered, toppled slabs that had marked the graves at Mare Island in Vallejo for more than a century.

But the old Navy cemetery where the sailors are buried is a national landmark - and historic preservationists are infuriated because the new markers apparently don't comply with historic guidelines.

snip...
"They put in the stones without the authority to do so, and they didn't follow the rules. End of story," said Vallejo's planner, Bill Tuikka. "We're trying to work with them, but the proper process was not followed."


Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/04/19/MN7V1J3RMO.DTL#ixzz1KGKcNfme

[Blue_Tires]

1. I can't see much of a problem with this...

That's how they want to honor their countrymen, and that's fine...

Yeah, for the sake of consistency I can understand the historians preferring a older, 'retro' style of marker, but this is nothing to get in an outrage over...

[DainBramaged]

2. They are probably DU members......

:shrug: