Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, April 20, 1995 TAG: 9504200075
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WYTHEVILLE LENGTH: Medium
The county Board of Supervisors has filed a motion for sanctions against about 140 registered voters in the Black Lick District who petitioned unsuccessfully for the removal of a pro-prison supervisor.
The board seeks attorneys' fees amounting to $3,200 from the petitioners. The case is scheduled to be heard May10.
Citizens Against the Prison, organized in response to plans by Corrections Corporation of America to build the facility, has hired a Richmond law firm and threatened legal action if CCA pursues its plan.
The anti-prison group has not stated the basis for any potential suit. But Wytheville lawyer and prison opponent Chuck Lacy said there may be issues relating not only to the prison site but to the concept of private prisons in Virginia. He said every legitimate challenge possible will be used "the very day CCA takes any more steps to develop the prison."
Dana Moore, CCA business development director in Nashville, Tenn., said CCA is concentrating on other projects while waiting for the state to send out its request for proposals from private prison firms.
The attempt to remove Supervisor Charles Dix was not organized by the anti-prison group, although some of the petitioners are members.
The anti-prison rally will be held near the proposed prison site east of Wytheville off Interstate 81-77.
Part-time County Attorney Frank Slavin said the lawsuit seeks to recoup the $2,500 deductible on the insurance policy, plus his own fee.They charged that Dix and Supervisor Olin Armentrout exceeded their authority during a late-January fact-finding visit to CCA headquarters in Nashville, Tenn.
At CCA's expense, they flew to Cleveland, Texas, where they talked with residents about the effects on the community of a CCA minimum-security pre-release institution. At the next supervisors' meeting, Feb.1, they reported no negative comments.
Supervisor Jack Crosswell, an early supporter of the prison, moved that the board welcome the prison to the county. The motion passed, 4-3, upsetting nearly 900 prison opponents attending the meeting who were not allowed to speak until after the vote was taken.
At a March24 hearing, a judge found no evidence that Dix misused his office by accepting the air transportation.
A majority of the supervisors then voted to seek court sanctions against those who had petitioned for Dix's removal. The supervisors' suit says the removal petition was not grounded in fact or warranted by law, but filed "solely for the improper purpose of harassment" because Dix had voted in favor of the prison.
The suit also says the removal petition stated incorrectly that the two supervisors had ignored Chairman Mark Munsey's directions to visit a CCA prison in Clifton, Tenn., where there had been some problems. However, Munsey had not told them what particular CCA prison community to visit.
Dix's legal fees were paid by a county insurance policy. Part-time County Attorney Frank Slavin said the lawsuit seeks to recoup the $2,500 deductible on the insurance policy, plus his own fee.
The rally will be held near the proposed prison site east of Wytheville off Interstate 81-77.
It will begin with a caravan of vehicles leaving from the George Wythe High School parking lot at 4 p.m. and moving to the rally site on the Bill Bowen property across from the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
Speakers will give their reasons for not wanting the prison located in Wythe County.
Although the organizers of the rally consider their purpose serious, they intend to have a good time and enjoy both food and entertainment, said Linda Butt, a member of the anti-prison group.
Activities will conclude with a patriotic sing-along and a candle-lighting ceremony at dusk. In case of rain, the rally will be postponed to April29.
Citizens Against the Prison has distributed a 12-page tabloid this week throughout the county giving its position on the prison through letters, cartoons, photographs, newspaper headlines citing prison problems in other states where CCA has prisons, and extensive editorial comment.
by CNB