ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, February 19, 1997 TAG: 9702190066
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG
SOURCE: LISA K. GARCI STAFF WRITER
It's the public's turn to offer input on a boot camp rehabilitation program for teen-age boys proposed for the Radford Army Ammunition Plant.
An "informational display" with handouts and maps related to a proposed boot camp will be set up Thursday in the Montgomery-Floyd Regional Library headquarters at 125 Sheltman St. in Christiansburg. The display will be up from 3 to 4 p.m. and again from 6 to 7 p.m.
Alliant Techsystems, the arsenal's contract operator, will run the camp jointly with Rebound, a Denver-based firm that runs rehabilitation programs for juvenile offenders. Rebound found out it won the state contract to run a boot camp in Virginia on Nov. 18, but a few hurdles remain before the Radford site wins final approval.
Dave Ratcliff, Alliant's business manager, said the public will be able to ask questions during the library display sessions.
"U.S. Army and Alliant personnel will attend both sessions to answer general questions about this project," he said.
Among the materials that will be available at the library are: a satellite photo of the camp site; plans for the camp; and handouts from Rebound on its program, as well copies of an environmental assessment conducted on the project.
The 30-day public comment period on the project began Friday when a legal advertisement ran announcing the informational display and other aspects of the project.
The boot camp would be the second of its kind in the state; the first opened in Isle of Wight County in January 1995. Boys - ages 12-17 - from all over Virginia would be sent to the Radford camp.
The residential program would be run out of two barracks that Rebound would renovate to create a 50-bed facility for nonviolent offenders. No one will be able to enter or exit the facility without passing through locked gates.
The project is is expected to provide about 35 new jobs, if approved. The General Assembly has already committed $1.5 million for fiscal year 1997 and more than $2.6 million for fiscal 1998, according to Cari Brunelle, Department of Juvenile Justice spokeswoman.
Brunelle said it is likely boys sent to the camp will not be first-time offenders because the the boot camp is meant to be an alternative to committing the boys to a state juvenile detention facility. That step is usually taken in cases severe enough to warrant such punishment, such as repeat offenders.
In Rebound's program, boys spend 120 days in boot camp, followed by a six-month follow up where officials help with the transition back to life at home.
Any comments about the project should be submitted in writing to: Public Affairs Officer, Radford Army Ammunition Plant, P.O. Box 2, Radford, Va. 24141, by March 16.
The boot camp, if approved, will be the fourth commercial tenant to locate at the arsenal in the last 2 1/2 years.
LENGTH: Medium: 62 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: GENE DALTON STAFF The program would be run out of twoby CNBbarracks at the Radford Army Ammunition Plant. color. Graphic: Map
by staff.