Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, April 23, 1995 TAG: 9504240064
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WYTHEVILLE LENGTH: Medium
They said so out loud, with hundreds of handmade placards, on dozens of bright red balloons and even in a song:
If they put a prison
Right here in my back yard,
I guess I'll trade my swing set
For a fence and a security guard ...
So went the chorus of local songwriter Joel Newton's reaction to Corrections Corporation of America's plan to build a medium-security prison east of Wytheville.
"No Prison in Wythe Co." was the message on the balloons given out by Citizens Against the Prison, the group formed after CCA's plans were made public in December. "Go Away CCA" was among various messages on signs.
Laurie Grubb even baked cookies for the rally with the "no prison" symbol on them.
"Some of these cookies we are going to save, because we think that Governor [George] Allen and [Secretary of Public Safety Jerry] Kilgore and the Corrections Corporation of America would like to have some," Farron Smith said.
"Does Wythe County need a prison?'' asked Wytheville's former mayor, Carl Stark. After the crowd shouted the anticipated answer, he said, "You're durn right we don't. ... The interstates, the blessings that we have in Wythe County and Wytheville, we don't need just to grab any industry that comes along."
Stark, who served as Wytheville's mayor for more than two decades before being defeated about six years ago, said citizens deserve to know Wytheville Town Council's position on the prison.
"They can certainly vote and make recommendations to the Board of Supervisors as to the feelings of the town," he said. "And I personally call upon them to vote one way or the other."
On Feb. 1, the county supervisors voted, 4-3, to welcome the CCA prison. Prison opponents circulated petitions and went to court in an unsuccessful attempt to unseat one of the supervisors who voted yes. Now the supervisors are suing those who petitioned, to recoup the county's legal costs.
William Gilmer Sr., a retiree who recently moved to Wythe County, compared the protesters to Revolutionary War patriots. "For them, it was the Spirit of '76. For us, it is Alive in '95,'' he said.
As for the four supervisors who voted to welcome the prison, he said, "probably the most charitable thing we can say is that they are men of no vision." He said they are hurting the future of the county for the immediate prospect of more jobs.
Gilmer said a CCA prison in Wayne County, Tenn., had such a high turnover among its guards that it had to recruit elsewhere. He talked about guards facing the prospect of riots, having to do strip searches of prisoners and explore body cavities for drugs or other contraband, and being offered bribes to look the other way when drugs are passed around.
"The plain truth is, the work of a prison guard is not very pleasant or rewarding, and it can exert a corrupting influence on their morals," Gilmer said. It is not the kind of job that people in Wythe County want for their children, he said.
Gilmer also expressed concern about 1,500 criminals being brought into the county. "Escapes do happen, and they happen all too frequently." He said other industries might not locate here or expand because of the prison, and that property values would drop. One bank already has reduced the value of property near the proposed prison site by 15 percent, he said.
"The only conclusion to Wythe County is, frankly, the jobs are not worth the cost," he said.
Linda Butt, one of the organizers of the rally, said she got tears in her eyes when she saw the caravan of more than 100 vehicles coming through town to the rally site.
"I haven't cruised Main [Street] with a greater group of people in my life," she said.
Butt said the anti-prison citizens have stated their case in newspapers, on television, before politicians and in many other forums. "Aside from streaking the Capitol building in Richmond, I don't think we can get any more attention," she said.
She said outsiders can see that county residents are bitterly divided over the prison.
"I'm sorry about that. But we all know that the people in Wythe County are wonderful people," she said. "When our rights our challenged, we're not going to sit down and take it."
by CNB