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NMC Tinian lot eyed for vet cemetery
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Posted on Oct 05 2020
The Tinian Mayor’s Office is planning to turn its Tinian Veterans’ Cemetery lot into a new civic center and is looking at relocating the cemetery to over 5,000 square meters of the Northern Marianas College Tinian campus.
Toward this end, the Tinian leadership has asked NMC for the property where the new veterans’ cemetery will be relocated, which is near the public cemetery in San Jose.
Patricia Coleman, interim dean of the Cooperative Research, Extension, and Education Services, told the NMC Board of Regents at its meeting last Sept. 29 that the amount of land needed for the veterans’ cemetery would be approximately 5,000 square meters and covers a parcel of land that has already been designated to NMC and that is within the area that constitutes the CREES experiment station. She said the Tinian leadership is in the process of building a new civic center where the veterans’ cemetery is currently located.
Coleman added that the plans for the area that the Tinian leadership is asking for include pineapple and taro tissue culture plots and an aquaculture research and development site. She asked the board to consider alternate sites on Tinian in exchange for the property being requested. Additionally, NMC-CREES requested if the mayor’s office would consider reducing the size of the veteran’s cemetery relocation plan.
NMC interim president Frankie Eliptico pointed out that, while NMC supports the Tinian leadership’s plan, they have made investments in that property using federal funds. He added that the viability of future grants and programs may be affected if the college is asked to reduce the property it manages.
NMC-CREES and the Commonwealth Development Authority are currently working with the Tinian leadership to enhance the beef industry on the island and to obtain USDA certification for the Tinian slaughterhouse.
