Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, January 8, 1995                   TAG: 9501090014
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-14   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

AROUND TOWN

WYTHEVILLE - Another Wythe County recreation director has resigned.

Steven Bobbitt, a Galax native who came to Wythe County from Roanoke last year where he worked in outdoor recreation, announced last week that he was leaving for a position with East Carolina University.

Bobbitt replaced Greg Morrall, who left near the end of 1993 for a similar post in North Carolina. Morrall had been hired as the county's first recreation director when two other applicants for the position decided they did not want it, after all.

It was not immediately known when a new recreation director would be hired.

Prison foes, backers

WYTHEVILLE - Groups are being organized in Wythe County both for and against a proposed private prison to be built two miles east of Wytheville by Corrections Corporation of America.

Citizens for the CCA, whose members say the venture will bring jobs and an economic boost to Wythe County, are scheduling a series of public meetings where citizens will be able to ask questions about the prison.

Another group, Citizens Against the Prison, held its own public meeting last week to raise money for ads opposing the prison. CAP has also been circulating petitions against building a prison in Wythe County.

The proposed site under option to CCA lies in the Fort Chiswell District, represented on the county Board of Supervisors by Olin Armentrout.

``I wanted it for Speedwell,'' said Speedwell District Supervisor Jack Crosswell, who took part in the earliest negotiations with CCA Nov. 2. ``I tried to get it in Speedwell.''