Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, July 19, 1995 TAG: 9507190039
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WYTHEVILLE LENGTH: Medium
However, no members of Citizens Against the Prison are invited to the private reception Allen is scheduled to attend during his visit.
"We applaud his 'listening' trip into Southwest Virginia but lament there are no planned events with the people here other than the scheduled industrial development stop," former county Supervisor Andy Kegley said Tuesday.
"Accordingly, we have asked some of our county supervisors if they will hand-deliver a message to the governor during the reception ... asking that the governor take five minutes out of his schedule to meet with just a handful, four or five local constituents, who wish to make a presentation to him," Kegley said.
Their organization, CAP, also will mail material about the proposed 1,500-bed Corrections Corporation of America prison to all members of the General Assembly and the Corrections Board. The material will include a copy of a letter to County Administrator Bill Branson, arguing that the county's comprehensive land-use plan must be changed to accommodate the proposed prison site north of Wytheville.
The acreage is designated for agricultural/rural residential use rather than as a growth area. Kegley said a public hearing is needed for the supervisors to change that, which could take time.
"Maybe if Richmond wants to expedite this process, they'll look elsewhere," he said.
The land-use plan does not carry the legal weight of a zoning ordinance, which Wythe County does not have. It is a guide for development, but Kegley says it has legal status and would have to be revised to accommodate the prison location.
CCA is among nine companies submitting proposals to the state to build facilities to handle some of Virginia's prisoners.
The Board of Supervisors voted 4-3 earlier this year to welcome the prison to the county, a decision which has left divisions not only on the board, but also among residents.
Some residents petitioned for the removal of Supervisors Charles Dix and Olin Armentrout after the two supervisors' fact-finding trip to CCA's home base in Nashville, Tenn., and one of its prison communities in Texas. The two recommended the CCA project in Wythe to the full board, and the controversial vote followed.
Dix already has been through a hearing, and a judge ruled that there was no evidence Dix misused his office in accepting an airline ticket to go to Cleveland, Texas, and interview civic leaders there about the CCA facility. Armentrout is awaiting a similar hearing, although his attorneys are working to have it dismissed based on the Dix decision.
The group hoping to meet with Allen plans to present him with a box, gift-wrapped with bright red paper, containing material about the prison project. They would also give him a toy horse facing a cart, rather than pulling it. Kegley said it symbolizes "the cart before the horse," which is how opponents feel about the board's prison decision.
Memo: NOTE: Shorter version ran in Metro edition.