Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, January 17, 1995 TAG: 9501170126
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WYTHEVILLE LENGTH: Medium
Jackson said the county's wishes could be expressed either by the Board of Supervisors' passing a resolution for or against the prison, or by having the board ask him to arrange for the nonbinding referendum. He said it probably could be scheduled during the last two weeks in March.
The board had considered the referendum idea informally before Jackson outlined it last weekend but could not reach a consensus. The matter may be discussed tonight when the board convenes for a discussion on emergency communication in the county.
Jackson and state Sen. Jack Reasor, D-Bluefield, held constituent meetings in Wythe and Bland counties Friday evening. The Wythe meeting drew many opponents of the proposed 1,500-bed private prison to be built two miles east of Wytheville by Corrections Corporation of America.
Reasor advised those concerned about the prison to let their supervisors know whether they opposed or favored it. He said Gov. George Allen's administration would take its cue from local governing bodies as to whether or not a locality wanted a prison.
If the Wythe County Board of Supervisors takes no action on the advisory referendum, Jackson said, he is willing to introduce the referendum legislation on the basis of residents' wanting it.
Farron Smith, a county resident actively opposing the prison project, said Monday that the opponents would do what is necessary to have the referendum.
The opponents' organization, Citizens Against the Prison, has rented an office at 134 W. Main St. in Wytheville. Its telephone number is (703)228-7066.
Some prison opponents had expressed concern about high incidences of HIV infections and AIDS among Virginia prison populations, but those claims are exaggerated, said the warden at Bland Correctional Center in neighboring Bland County.
``About one-half of 1 percent of our inmates are HIV positive,'' Patti Huffman said at one of a series of informational sessions held on the prison issue throughout the county last week. County Administrator Billy Branson said state authorities have told him that the average is less than 2 percent statewide.
When inmates need medical treatment that the Bland prison cannot handle on site, she said, Bland and the Unit 1 correctional facility near Dublin in Pulaski County share a secure room for that purpose at Radford Community Hospital.
by CNB