No Twin for Tomb?

MARBLE, Colo. – The plan to create a replica here of Arlington National Cemetery’s Tomb of the Unknowns is running into a few snags – mainly some ill-feelings.
Stone for the replacement tomb is being sought in the Colorado Yule Quarry near this Colorado mountain hamlet. The quarry provided the original stone in the early 1930s; however, a perimeter crack is growing on the current monument at Arlington, and local efforts will provide a donated replacement 7’ X 13’ block.
Plans from Sierra Minerals Corp., operators of the quarry, call for finding two blocks. The local American Legion would coordinate a $1 million fund-raising campaign to carve the second stone as the centerpiece of a visitor center/museum in Marble.
The Associated Press reported, however, that the second-stone plan is running afoul of Charles Atherton, secretary of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts in Washington.
“That leaves a sour taste in my mouth,” said Atherton of the plan. “I’m sorry, but there is something sacred and unique about that stone. To have copies laying around in a museum somewhere doesn’t appeal to me at all.”
Atherton, whose commission oversees aesthetic matters in the nation’s capital, said that the agreement for the replacement stone should be the only one quarried and carved. Officials at Arlington National Cemetery declined comment.