Carla Fishman, whose parents are buried at Kane'ohe, said she has seen improvements in the cemetery.

"I used to go out every week or so with the trimmers and trim around the headstone," she said. "Now I've noticed we don't have to do that so often."

The 14-year-old cemetery, which is taking the overflow from the nearly full National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at Punchbowl, has come under criticism in recent years for everything from untended grass to sinking graves to the cracking columbarium.

Gov. Linda Lingle signed off on the appropriation last week.

Part of the $187,000 appropriation will go to purchase grave liners to keep veterans' graves from collapsing, said Ed Cruickshank, director of the state Office of Veterans Services.

When grounds crews were unable to attend quickly to graves, some families decided to plant their own grass for their loved ones. Rebecca Breyer • The Honolulu Advertiser

Dirt to backfill around the graves will also be purchased. Leaks and exposed pipes in the cemetery's sprinkler system are also slated to be fixed.

The capital improvements portion of the appropriation — about $564,000 — includes money for borings to determine whether branches of Kawa stream, which runs alongside the cemetery, are snaking below the graves and adding to the sinking effect.

A hillside at the cemetery that has been collapsing onto the rear wall of the columbarium, causing large cracks to appear in the structure, will also be addressed. The hill will be engineered for better support, he said, and the cracks in the columbarium wall will be repaired.

Cruickshank said his goal has been to get the cemetery up to standards as a new generation of veterans returns from war. He said Lingle and the Legislature have been supportive.

"I told them that if they gave me the money I'd get it fixed," said Cruickshank said. "They've given me the money, and I'm getting it fixed."

Miles Okamura, cemetery operations manager, said the cemetery has been looking better the past few months because the grounds crew is bigger.

While the federally run cemetery at Punchbowl has about 15 people keeping the grounds nice, Kane'ohe was making do with four people who worked without supervision.

In early April, Herring Kalua, a big man with a grudge against hilahila grass, was hired as supervisor of the grounds crew, which is now up to five laborers.

When he needs more manpower for a major project, Kalua said, he calls on the state Department of Defense. They have agreed to send a few workers when available.

"That way we can increase our crew from five people to 10," he said.

Inmates from the women's prison also help to care for the cemetery.

Okamura said the grounds crews will always have difficulty attaining the smooth, uninterrupted lines seen at cemeteries in other states because of the attention that people in Hawai'i give to the graves of their loved ones.

"On the Mainland," he said, "people visit the graves maybe once a year. Here, people are out several times a week."

When family members of each of the 6,200 people buried in the cemetery make even minor changes to the graves, the overall appearance of the cemetery can change.

Kalua said that before crews were able to attend to new graves, family members had planted their own grass and sometimes added dirt, creating a patchwork of greens and adding to the uneven surfaces.

As the staff increased and plantings became more rapid, some of the families decided they didn't care for the type of grass the grounds crew planted and replaced it with their own.

One man's grave had been customized in a style that appeared to reflect a sporting life: Family members had covered it with sand and centered a golf ball beneath the grave marker.

"Sand trap," Kalua said.