Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, January 11, 1995 TAG: 9501110076
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WYTHEVILLE LENGTH: Medium
``Please, please investigate what these people are talking about bringing to Wythe County,'' Wytheville businessman and former Del. Chuck Lacy told the board.
Lacy said he telephoned a prison operated by Corrections Corporation of America in Clifton, Tenn., and asked about jobs. He said he was told that there might be some guard positions open and that they paid $6.56 an hour.
``We don't need more six-and-a-half dollar jobs,'' Lacy said, adding that CCA offers no retirement benefits, either.
Dick Gustafson, who moved to Wytheville after retirement, said most of the jobs CCA is advertising for its proposed 1,500-bed prison two miles east of Wytheville require a bachelor's or master's degree as well as experience. The only ones requiring only a high school education and no experience are guards, clerks and receptionists, he said, adding that they would be the lowest-paid positions among the prison jobs.
Jim Fletcher, a teacher, said he surveyed local contractors and real estate agents and learned that 25 to 30 percent of new housing in the Wytheville area is built for those who move here to retire. ``They will not continue to come here if we build this prison,'' he said, and invited the board to compare the jobs lost in the construction industry to those that the prison would add.
``I don't think we need to settle for this as the best development for Wythe County,'' replied Andy Kegley, a former supervisor. ``By letting them in here, I think we're shooting ourselves in the foot. ... I think we've got the potential for attracting some really quality growth to Wythe County, and I don't think we should accept the first one that comes down the pike.''
William Kyle, president of the Wythe chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said the prison would bring jobs that are needed by some county residents. He said state prison facilities had not hurt neighboring Smyth, Tazewell or Pulaski counties.
James ``Curley'' Amos said Smyth County has filled its industrial parks and Pulaski County's Volvo GM Heavy Truck Corp. is expanding. Smyth has a psychological-evaluation facility, and Pulaski has a prison camp.
But those facilities are small compared with the one planned for Wytheville, said Farron Smith. ``You will be responsible for bringing a major penitentiary to this community,'' she told the supervisors.
Berlene Shook said she favors the prison, even though it would be near her home. She said the county needs to think of young people who must now leave for jobs.
None of the supervisors had any comment. The public hearing had to be moved from the regular meeting room to the county's General District courtroom. Even so, the crowd was standing-room-only, as about 150 people packed the chamber and more stood in the hallways.
by CNB