A new cemetery for Mississippi veterans will be in Mississippi, but won’t be in Vicksburg.

The Mississippi State Veterans Affairs Board is taking offers for about 75 acres until Dec. 15.

The location of the cemetery will be limited by a federal Department of Veterans Affairs requirement that says a new cemetery can be no closer than 75 miles to the nearest open national cemetery.

Such cemeteries are in Biloxi, Natchez, Corinth and Memphis and a 75-mile radius around the Natchez cemetery encompasses all but the northeastern edge of Warren County, meaning the proposed cemetery could not be in Vicksburg.

The Vicksburg National Military Park has a federal military cemetery with veterans from the Civil War and all wars until Vietnam. Only a few grave spaces remain – and they are reserved.

The 75-mile rule leaves available mostly the central part of the state. The western part of that area is Delta farmland, leaving the most available space between about Calhoun, Chickasaw and Monroe counties to the north and Marion, Covington, Jones and Wayne counties to the south.

&#8220The land must be suitable for cemetery purposes,” a release from the state veterans affairs board says. &#8220It must have good highway access, be within 75 miles of large concentrations of Mississippi veterans and meet VA requirements.”

The VA has funds for the project.

&#8220The VA can award state veterans cemetery grants, which pay 100 percent of the cost of constructing and equipping a cemetery if the state provides land which meets VA requirements,” the release says. &#8220VA indicates they would set aside an estimated $7 million in federal grant funds for a Mississippi cemetery.”

The cemetery must be large enough to provide sufficient gravesites for at least 20 years, a site-selection standard of the National Cemetery Administration says. Other standards: