THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, March 15, 1995 TAG: 9503150429
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KAREN JOLLY DAVIS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: EASTVILLE LENGTH: Medium: 69 lines
Reject the prison, residents of three African-American neighborhoods near the site of a proposed home for 1,267 maximum-security prisoners have told the county supervisors.
If not, the residents warned Monday night, they will take the board to task for violating civil rights.
``You, as a board, can no longer claim that you are just voting for a prison `somewhere' in Northampton County,'' Joyce Lockwood of Bayview told the board.
``If you vote yes, you will be the ones making the site selection. You will be the ones who have sealed our fate, and we will hold you, the Northampton Board of Supervisors, responsible and accountable for your actions.''
Lockwood said the families of residents in Bayview, Fairview and Culls have lived there since Emancipation. Now, she said, other locations in the county have been rejected as prison sites. She called it ``a done deal.''
State officials have said they will not build a prison west of Cape Charles if the board votes against it. But the board is collecting information about a prison's impact, and has not yet taken a vote.
In an interview after the meeting, Alice Coles, who also lives in Bayview, said residents of that neighborhood had contacted civil rights lawyers and were preparing to take the board to court if necessary.
The monthly meeting started on a note of conflict, when Chairman Charles Bell told the crowded courtroom that the board would not permit discussion of the prison because it was not on the agenda. But a report by the county-appointed Prison Action Committee was, opening the way for discussion.
Coles reminded Bell that at a recent meeting, he said he was ``appalled'' that the prison would be built near three black neighborhoods, and was ``doing something about it.''
``Mr. Bell, could you please share with us just what you have been doing about the proposed site. . . ?'' said Coles. She asked for documentation - letters, names, anything - that would prove that he had opposed the prison site.
``Mr. Bell,'' Coles continued, ``could you please state for the record: Are you prepared to stand with us as fellow African Americans in our struggle to achieve and maintain social justice? Or should we look elsewhere?''
Bell refused to answer.
Not everyone in Northampton's large African-American community objects to the prison. Many, in fact, look to it as a source of good jobs.
These advocates of the prison have accused opponents of allowing themselves to be used as pawns by rich whites, who do not need the jobs. Black prison opponents have accused their critics of anti-white bigotry.
African Americans weren't the only people upset at Monday's meeting. Ted Reynolds, chairman of the board-appointed Prison Action Committee, questioned the board's use of closed meetings to discuss the committee's members.
Reynolds said that Tom Harris, the county administrator, had told him the PAC was discussed as a personnel matter during a March 6 an executive session. The law allows personnel to be discussed in closed-door meetings.
``Please tell me what aspect of a PAC assignment makes it appropriate to discuss behind closed doors,'' said Reynolds.
``PAC was not discussed in executive session,'' said Bell.
``Mr. Harris told me otherwise,'' responded Reynolds.
Bell refused to answer Reynolds' questions, and the room rumbled with disapproval. Harris asked Reynolds to meet with him and County Attorney Bruce Jones to discuss the matter.
KEYWORDS: PRISON NORTHAMPTON COUNTRY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS by CNB