Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 8, 1995 TAG: 9502080087
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WYTHEVILLE LENGTH: Medium
More than 200 people attended a planning session Tuesday for the trip, organized by the recently formed Citizens Against the Prison. They also were urged to sign petitions to recall two county supervisors who have supported the prison.
The Wythe Countians hope to meet with Attorney General Jim Gilmore and Secretary of Public Safety Jerry Kilgore, as well as with legislators representing Southwest Virginia.
``They aren't getting the picture,'' Linda Butt told the crowd at the Wytheville Community Center.
She said the group will leave the Kmart parking lot at 7 a.m. next Wednesday. A donation of $20 is being asked for a bus seat. Reservations can be made by calling 228-7066.
Bill Gilmer Sr. said signatures of registered voters still are being gathered on petitions asking for an advisory referendum on the prison issue. He conceded that legislation setting the referendum is unlikely to pass, now that the county Board of Supervisors has voted 4-3 against holding one. But, he said, the numbers will make it clear in Richmond that signers do not feel that their governing body is representing them.
Gilmer said more than 3,500 signatures have been obtained, nearly a third of the county's registered voters. He said the names and telephone numbers will be used in a drive to unseat those supervisors who voted to support the prison.
C.N. Otey, CAP chairman, recalled how favorably supervisors Olin Armentrout and Charles Dix were impressed last month by a visit to a facility in Cleveland, Texas, operated by Corrections Corp. of America, the Nashville, Tenn., company planning to build in Wythe County. He said Cleveland is a rural area with low population, little industry and high unemployment.
Jim Litton said petitions to seek the removal of the supervisors should be ready for distribution by the end of the week.
``This community does not resemble Wythe County,'' Otey said. ``The prison, furthermore, does not resemble the one proposed to be built here in Wytheville. Theirs is a pre-release center.''
Bill Smith, who visited another CCA prison in Clifton, Tenn., said that community has been plagued by multiple escapes, drugs being brought into the town, prison jobs at wages lower than promised, a need to increase the local police force from two to seven, and an overburdened social services system. ``No one disputed those facts,'' he said.
Smith said Clifton had a population of about 600 and had 19 percent unemployment, another situation that does not resemble Wytheville or Wythe County.
Andy Kegley, a former supervisor, suggested pushing to have the board reconsider a zoning ordinance for the county. Zoning was proposed several years ago but was shouted down at public hearing in much the same way that people are shouting about the prison now.
by CNB