Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, December 28, 1994 TAG: 9412280065
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WYTHEVILLE LENGTH: Medium
Petitions signed by more than 1,100 people who oppose a private prison in Wythe County have been sent to Gov. George Allen by a group calling itself Citizens Against the Prison.
The petitions say the proposed 1,500-bed prison would ``stigmatize and tarnish'' the county's image and ``be a detriment to our future economic growth, development, health and well-being.''
Copies also were sent to legislators representing Wythe County and to officials of Wythe County and the town of Wytheville, which would supply utilities to the prison.
The 533-acre site is about two miles east of Wytheville. It is under option to the Nashville, Tenn.-based Corrections Corporation of America.
Many who have attended meetings of the anti-prison group are retirees concerned that the prison would affect the quality of life in the community.
Jim Fletcher, a teacher at George Wythe High School in Wytheville, said Wythe County is listed as a desirable place to retire in several magazines and periodicals that have older readers.
``If we get the prison, we won't be listed anymore,'' he predicted. ``I'd like to see it be put to a public referendum. ... It's the dumbest thing I've ever heard of, I believe.''
Opponents also include relative newcomers who are not retired. Lindy Tabor, who operates a business in Bluefield, and his wife, Cindy, moved here five years ago.
``We looked all over ... and we just kept being drawn back to Wytheville,'' Cindy Tabor said. ``We had selected this community as it is and we are just heartsick to think that it could possibly change.''
Lindy Tabor worries that families of prisoners serving long sentences would move to Wytheville rather than travel long distances to visit. He said convicts' families would burden local social-service agencies.
``And we're going to get this trash in motels and restaurants and it's going to be terrible,'' he said. ``I think, in the long run, it will cost us money.''
Dana E. Moore, business-development director with Corrections Corporation of America, said the company has not found that problem in other states where it has built private prisons.
``It's been our experience that, if the people incarcerated had families who cared enough about them to move around the country to be near them, they wouldn't be incarcerated in the first place,'' she said.
Dr. Paul Morin, an orthopedic surgeon who moved here three years ago, said he and his wife, Jennifer, looked all over the nation for the place they wanted to bring up their three young daughters. He interviewed in 60 localities; after a two-year search, he chose Wytheville. He said his primary reasons were that it is a safe community and that medical workers face a lower risk of encountering infectious diseases, he said.
Had they thought there would be a prison in the county, he said, ``I would never have come. ... I can promise you this - if it does go through, there will be a difficult time recruiting quality physicians into this community.''
Morin said he had worked in other prison communities where medical people had to treat inmates.
``It was very dangerous for the medical community to handle these patients,'' he said, because some were potentially violent and the prison population generally has a higher percentage of people infected with HIV.
``I think I'm like anybody else in this community. I'm all for growth,'' Morin said. But he does not believe that the 250 new jobs offered would offset the negative aspects of the prison.
Linda Hunter Butt, secretary of the anti-prison group, said the proposed prison site - with its proximity to highway and rail transportation and the ability of the town to provide utilities - would be ideal for a new industrial park to replace the one now nearly filled.
``We are anxious to have good, new, quality industry here,'' rather than a prison, she said. ``It may not be as negative as we think it is, but it does have negative connotations ... and we don't have the need to take the risk.''
``The best use for that property is not the prison,'' agreed Claude N. Otey, chairman of the group.
Otey said the private corporation probably will do what its representatives promise to help the county, such as providing space for local prisoners now held in an aging, overcrowded jail.
``But those are things they're trying to do to persuade people that they're a good company.''
``I think a lot of people feel this is a done deal and there's no use bucking it,'' Fletcher said.
When he asked people at the high school about the prison, three-fourths of them opposed it, he said.
Otey said members of the county Board of Supervisors say ``all they hear is everybody's for it,'' but the petitions show that is not correct.
by CNB