MEMORIALS Ideas face a long journey

To get a commemorative work to reality, 24 steps are needed, an official said.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Two Washington-area memorials that started as ideas from Ohioans were dedicated recently, one a $175 million monument with a prominent location on the National Mall, and the other, a $3,500 red granite block under a magnolia tree at Arlington National Cemetery.
The former is new World War II memorial, which was dedicated last weekend. It was proposed by Roger Durbin, a veteran from Berkey near Toledo.
The second memorial -- The Pyramid of Remembrance -- isn't as well known. It honors U.S. soldiers killed in noncombat situations, such as humanitarian efforts and peacekeeping missions. The northeast Ohio high school students behind the project envisioned a 40-foot, red granite pyramid with sheets of water cascading down its sides that also would be built on the Mall, the grassy area between the Capitol and the Lincoln Memorial.
Why some make it
Although both ideas took more than a decade to become reality, several key differences -- high-profile support, money raised and whom the memorial would commemorate -- illustrate the reasons why some proposed memorials succeed and others don't.
Ideas for memorials on federal land can come from anyone, but Congress must first pass legislation authorizing the memorial. Currently, there are more than two dozen memorial-related bills pending in Congress.
Proposed monuments include memorials to slavery; Martin Luther King Jr.; veterans who are disabled; the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks; noncitizens killed in the line of duty while serving in the U.S. Armed Forces; sailors and civilians lost aboard the U.S.S. Thresher; and victims of the Ukrainian famine-genocide of 1932-33.
"The legislative process is the main roadblock. A lot of things start and don't make it through," said Wayne Costa, a government relations official for the National Capital Planning Commission, which must approve the location of a memorial and its design.
The NCPC estimates that on average, one new memorial is built a year in the Washington area. There are more than 155 memorials and 74 museums on federal land.
After legislative approval, a commemorative work still needs to raise funds, choose a location, get its design approved by several agencies and complete construction. In all, there are 24 steps involved in getting a commemorative work from an idea to reality, NCPC spokeswoman Lisa MacSpadden said.
Legislation takes time
A bill to establish the WWII memorial was first introduced in Congress in 1987, but it took until 1993 to get the legislation through Congress and into the money-raising phase. Still, it wasn't until Steven Spielberg, who directed "Saving Private Ryan," and the movie's star Tom Hanks, got involved in 1998 that money started rolling in.
The Pyramid of Remembrance, by comparison, collected just $12,000 in 10 years, and although it had drawn support from key military leaders, it remained relatively obscure. Even so, this idea by students at Lake County's Riverside High School had an even bigger challenge: It didn't meet the guidelines established by the 1986 Commemorative Works Act for it to be placed on the Mall or most other federal lands.
Under this law, all memorials placed on most federal land in and around Washington must commemorate a war or major military conflict or a branch of the Armed Forces. Memorials to lesser conflicts are prohibited.
Because of this act, the pyramid memorial, which would honor all soldiers killed in noncombat missions such as training accidents and terrorist attacks, had to be build on Defense Department land.
"Everyone wants their memorial in the same place. This law was set up so Congress will avoid whenever possible the temptation to select a site," Costa said.
LaTourette's comments
Rep. Steve LaTourette, a Republican from Madison in northeast Ohio who spearheaded the pyramid memorial bill, said the Commemorative Works Act doesn't take into account the fact that many of the nation's current and future military battles may not necessarily involve declared wars on the scale of World War II.
"Our military incursions and excursions are going to be like Iraq and Iran and Somalia and Kosovo," LaTourette said. "I hope that Congress eventually catches up and realizes that ... perhaps we're going to have to do something different in the future."
Judy S. Feldman, president of the National Coalition to Save our Mall, said Congress should start with determining what events or people should be memorialized.
"There is no decision-making process for that," Feldman said. "Essentially, anyone who can convince Congress that their issue deserves memorialization can get a memorial."