THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, January 16, 1995 TAG: 9501130010
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A8 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Short : 38 lines
In response to Governor Allen's comments on the Pat Murphy call-in radio show of Jan. 2: I must dispute the governor's obvious misinformation.
An Eastern Shore resident brought up the all-too-real concern over building a maximum-security prison in a coastal area, because of the impossibility of formulating a foolproof evacuation plan for 1,267 inmates. In the event of high winds, the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel would be shut down leaving only one route off our narrow peninsula.
The governor replied that the prison site is not on the coast.
The governor should review his state geography or, better yet, come see for himself. The slim area of land where the prison is proposed is just a mere 4 miles wide, and the Eastern Shore is surrounded on three sides by water. Does a prison have to be built directly on a sand dune to be considered in a coastal area?
Other coastal states have the wisdom to prohibit the building of prisons near their coastlines. For example, Florida builds its maximum-security prisons in the center of the state and the minimum facilities no closer than 10 miles from the shoreline. South Carolina will not allow a prison within 40 miles of its coasts.
These states recognized the higher costs involved in building near the shoreline and the negative effects on tourism. Eco-tourism is the top-dollar industry. The Eastern Shore is only beginning to successfully recruit it.
It defies logic that Virginia would place any prison in such a high-risk hurricane area.
DONNA RICH
Machipongo, Jan. 3, 1995 by CNB