Virginia jail actions shed light on Shenandoah County’s decision on 09-22-09
Part 4 in a series –
Shedding some light
Regarding the Regional Jail decision that each Shenandoah County Supervisor is scheduled to vote on this Tuesday, Sept. 22:
Refer to this web site.
As a bit of background, here is what one Fairfax Times article had to say about the soon-to-be-voted-on Regional Jail for Warren, Rappahannock and Shenandoah counties. This article was written in Aug. 2007, two years ago when the impetus for a Regional Jail here in the Shenandoah Valley began in earnest.
They report that Rappahannock County didn’t really have a choice but to approve the new Regional Jail, and that Shenandoah County is in the smaller group of 20 counties in Virginia that have not yet elected to take the State’s money for a Regional Jail. 75 counties in Virginia – as of Aug. 2007 – have moved toward regional jails, according to this article.
(Note: It is unclear how many Virginia counties have become part of the Regional Jail system since 2007. I’m sure if someone knows…they will add a comment on the bottom of this news brief.)
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Refer to this web site.
A recent article on the web site of CBS Affiliate Channel 6 in Richmond on 09/09/09 reports what has happened to Brunswick County – a county in Southeast Virginia – that signed an agreement to have the Commonwealth pick up part of their Regional Jail tab. State funding did not come through in the way they expected.
The article says that the people and economy of Brunswick County have been hit with a double whammy because a nearby closed state prison will now be turned into the regional jail there. Brunswick loses all of those local jobs and doesn’t get the regional jail money after many years of planning.
The news of the Brunswick County situation was shared at a recent Virginia Sheriffs Association meeting that Shenandoah County Tim Carter and Shenandoah County Board of Supervisors member Dennis Morris attended on Sunday, September 13. Carter told me that the two of them rode to Norfolk together.
Just four days later, on Thursday, Sept. 17, 2009, The Free Press – of Edinburg, VA - reports at the top of Page 1: “Morris says he will oppose regional jail.” If this is so, what brought about his change of heart?
(Morris is the Chair of the Public Safety and Code Enforcement Committee – for the Shenandoah County Board of Supervisors. The regional jail issue falls under Morris’ leadership.)
The vote is scheduled to take place Tuesday, 09/22/09, at 7 p.m. at the Government Center in Woodstock, VA.
Any people for or against the Regional Jail: place comments at the end of this article, or send press releases, or pro/con statements, to: info@7Bends.com.
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This is a vote that David Ferguson, Chairman of the Shenandoah County Board of Supervisors says is “one of - if not the most - important decision” so far that he will make in his tenure on the Board.
Here is the web site that lists the phone numbers and email addresses of all of the seven Shenandoah County Board of Supervisors.
I am VERY PISSED OFF at all of the seven supervisors… If it weren’t for us no of you would be in office period!!! Having a meeting this Tuesday @ 7pm seems like it was planned to have no one show up. As we all know Shenandoah County kids have some type of practice on that night at or around that time. How dare these 7 men think they can vote on something so important and not include the County in on this!!! I will be there even if I have to cut my son’s practice short, they will know I am there and they will hear my voice on this matter. I will not pay higher taxes so we can build a jail in warren county.that will not only take our police officer’s away from the county but it will cost more in the long end for the up keep of the vehicles that must transport these people to warren county. I hope that everyone will find out about this meeting and come have a voice for Shenandoah County, I don’t want us to end up like Brunswick County. I will be sending a letter to all 7 Supervisors and letting them know how I feel on this matter.
Thank You,
A VERY PISSED OFF SHENANDOAH COUNTY RESIDENT
I agree with “Pissed off” (except there are six supervisors). I don’t think our supervisors have enough information to make an intelligent decision. One of them recently said “…we’ve heard enough…” At least two of them (Baroncelli and Helsley) made up their minds long ago in favor of the regional jail without any information. Morris was for the regional jail before he was against it, so I have to conclude that his switch is for political gain. (He faces a tough challenge for reelection.) Ferguson is making statements that sound pro-regional. The other two, Neese and Baker, are keeping quiet. (That doesn’t speak well for their leadership.) Our County Administrator clearly favors the regional jail. Why? Isn’t he supposed to gather information for the supervisors to use in making decisions? Maybe we do have seven supervisors. And then we have Moseley Architects providing the supervisors with (biased?) information pushing the regional jail. Moseley, which has had its hands in the pocket of Shenandoah County taxpayers for a long time, stands to make a lot of money if the regional jail is built.
I didn’t have a position on this issue until recently because I didn’t think I had enough information to make a reasoned decision between local or regional. I still don’t, but neither do the supervisors. They are ignoring the advice of the Sheriff, many other law enforcement officers, and the experiences of other communities who have gone through this process. They seem to be blinded by the 50% funding promised by the state, even though the state recently reneged on a similar promise to another community.
I do have a position now. When I leaned back and looked at the whole picture, I realized WE DON’T NEED A NEW JAIL. The one we have is old, but serviceable. Sheriff Carter put another option on the table a long time ago that would make improvements to the jail and cost a fraction of the cost of a new jail. Down the road 6-10 years, we might have to look at the situation again. During a recession is not the time to burden the county with more debt and the taxpayers with higher taxes. The same goes for the “Safeway” building.
“PISSED OFF” I was going to keep my name out of it but after tonight I really don’t care who knows who I am!!! When I became a Mom on December 19, 1998 I knew that everything I did from that day on will effect my son and other kids in Shenandoah County. Why is it so hard for these people to open up their eyes and take a long hard look at what could effect our kids down the road. Why do we need another jail when our schools are over filled with students?
Sheriff Carter is right we can fix the old jail, we can raise the money and help build it the right way. If we let them take our county jail away from us what will be next? I am thinking about where the money will come from for this new jail, we can’t trust that the money will come from the state can we? HELL NO! I think we all need to have a say in this matter and be able to vote on it. I also think that it’s wrong that 7 Bends was the only source we had on this information, where was NVDaily or Winchester Star, TV-3 or any other news source. That just proves that they are hiding this from all of us. Money is tight for everyone right now. How can we afford to pay for this jail?
Yes I am the one who wrote the first comment calling myself Pissed Resident. If anyone does not agree with me then that is fine. You have that right.