Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, June 23, 1995 TAG: 9506230077
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: VIRGINIA EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: WYTHEVILLE LENGTH: Medium
A petition was filed Thursday seeking to remove Supervisor Olin Armentrout from office.
Armentrout and Supervisor Charles Dix recommended that the board endorse the prison, after a fact-finding trip to the Nashville, Tenn., headquarters of Corrections Corporation of America and then to Cleveland, Texas, to talk to residents there about how a CCA prison affected their community.
After their favorable report, the board voted 4-3 to welcome the proposed 1,500-bed medium-security prison.
The wording in the Fort Chiswell District petition seeking to remove Armentrout is similar to an unsuccessful one against Dix., including an allegation that he and Dix were instructed by board Chairman Mark Munsey to visit a CCA prison in Tennessee instead of Texas. Munsey told them only to visit a CCA prison community.
As with Dix, the petitioners argue that Armentrout violated state law by accepting a flight to Cleveland, Texas at CCA expense. Armentrout's term
expires this year, but the county Democratic Party did not choose him as its candidate at a mass meeting this month. He is running for re-election as an independent in a field that includes a Democrat, a Republican and another independent.
No date has been set for a hearing on the removal petition. At least 123 signatures - 10 percent of the number voting when Armentrout was elected - must be verified as registered voters in his district.
After the unsuccessful attempt to remove Dix, a majority on the Board of Supervisors voted to file suit against the petitioners to recover the costs of having to defend against what the majority called a frivolous suit.
Later, the board dropped that action, saying the decision was an attempt to start healing the divisions within the county over the prison issue.
The Joint Wythe County Industrial Development Authority received a request Thursday from Peter Shay, a Richmond financial consultant representing CCA, for $50 million in industrial revenue bonds to help fund the private prison.
The IDA took no action and instructed Benny Burkett, its executive director, to get more details on the request.
Wytheville Mayor Trent Crewe told the IDA that voting against issuing the bonds could discourage companies from locating in Wythe County.
Memo: NOTE: Shorter version ran in Metro edition.