THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, December 12, 1994 TAG: 9412100012
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A12 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Short : 35 lines
``Know before saying no'' (editorial, Dec. 7) indicated that Eastern Shore residents do not understand the implications of a prison in Northampton County. Unfortunately, more and more of them do know exactly what is being planned.
A maximum-security prison with 1,267 inmates will further stress wellwater supplies, which are already taxed by local farming; and an influx of former companions of the prisoners will be using the hotels, restaurants, parks and public facilities of Northampton County.
This is not the family tourists that the Eastern Shore has been striving to attract.
Recreation and conservative utilization of the beautiful natural resources found throughout Northampton County is central to the Eastern Shore's plan for sustainable development. It is difficult to imagine how a maximum-security prison will attract tourists.
A less exorbitant toll on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel would be a far-more-potent stimulus to the economy and image of Virginia's poorest county than the bureaucratic imposition of a dangerous eyesore more appropriately built adjacent to existing incarceration facilities.
This place for society's worst will suffocate the spirit of a struggling and delicate local economy.
JOHN SHEPPARD
Cape Charles, Dec. 7, 1994 by CNB