Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, December 31, 1994 TAG: 9501040042
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WYTHEVILLE LENGTH: Medium
``Let them hear the facts on both sides. Let them make the decision,'' said James ``Curley'' Amos, who conducted a session Thursday night at the Wythe County Public Library to plan the public meetings.
Most of the 20-some people attending were in favor of Corrections Corporation of America building the 1,500-bed prison in the county, but at least one man had some misgivings.
Tom Bralley, a bank executive who served on Wytheville Town Council for 14 years before moving outside the town limits, said he had misgivings about the secrecy in which local officials negotiated with CCA.
Officials in Wytheville, Wythe County, Rural Retreat, the Chamber of Commerce and the Industrial Development Authority knew of the proposal up to two months before it was announced Dec.5, he charged. "There's been closed-door meetings, there's been key players, and now we have the prison, and I think it's a done deal,'' Bralley told a reporter before the Thursday night gathering.
Bralley said he thought the officials acted in good faith and were trying to bring jobs to the county. ``But my problem is, this was a controversial situation and, being controversial, it should have been brought to the public much earlier than it was. It wasn't made public soon enough... ''
Supervisor Jack Crosswell, who represents the district where CCA has an option on a 533-acre site, did not argue the point when Bralley raised it at the meeting.
``I take full responsibility for that ... I admit I didn't tell anybody'' while negotiations were going on, he said. ``I thought it was a good, clean industry.''
A group called Citizens Against the Prison has been circulating petitions and has sent more than 1,100 signatures to Gov. George Allen.
One of their concerns is whether Wythe County Community Hospital could handle the medical problems of a prison population. Amos said he understood the prison itself would have some medical facilities, but the group will contact representatives of hospitals in areas where CCA has prisons to see how things have worked in those places.
County Administrator Billy Branson and Social Services Director Mike Hall have contacted their counterparts in some other CCA localities and brought back positive reports. Sheriff Wayne Pike and Benny Burkett, executive director of the Joint Wythe County Industrial Development Authority, will be making similar contacts, and Crosswell is planning a trip to one of CCA's prisons.
Amos said the public meetings will be held at schools in each of the county's magisterial districts. A meeting schedule will be announced as soon as times are coordinated with the schools.
by CNB