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thursday, May 4, 1989 / University Daily Kansan
1.
--property value of the 500 acres her husband and brother-in-law farmed would rise if a prison went in.
Town wants moneymaking prison
- Continued from p. 17
Plus, the corrections industry is relatively stable.
"Once you build a prison and get it operational, it will be there," Teter said.
Teter admitted that the idea of actively pursuing a prison was unusual.
Neighbors and inmates
Horton Kansas Inc. plans to build a $55 million 1000-cell prison and lease cells to states, counties and cities with overcrowding. Current plans for the prison are modeled after a recently completed facility in Cameroon, Mo. Groundbreaking is scheduled for the summer.
Proposed prison
Dennis Rissus, a Horton barber and treasurer of Horton Kansas Inc. said, "People were pretty skeptical. A police officer wants a prison in their back yard."
Alma Knudson, whose farmhouse would be adjacent to the site, said a prison next door wouldn't bother her.
"This is such a depressed afen,
she said "Something has to be done
then why? Actually, it is an ideal place,
an ideal distance from town.
Horton is actually one of two Kansas communities that has proposed building a prison and leasing the space to the state. Officials in Washington, Kan., a town of 1,500 near Marmesville, unveiled in March their plan to build a 750-cell, $45 million prison. They subsequently had to confront angry townpeople opposed to prisoners as neighbor*
Even those with back yards adjacent to the prison site are not opposed to the plan.
Unlike the community uprear over a proposed prison in Washington, Kan. Horton's plan has been met with criticism because and more than a little enthusiasm.
"Anything that comes up in Horton, people are willing to express their opinion on it," said Connie Pizzuit, a Horton resident for seven years. "Most people are behind it, all for helping Horton progress."
The group conducted a community fund drive and in eight days had $226,500 in pledges. That's enough to purchase the 334-acre site a few miles west of town on Highway 20, if bonds for construction are approved.
He said the town's biggest fear — escapes — was conquered by in-depth explanations of the proposed plans during five public meetings.
"We were very up front," Teter said.
Source: Horton Kansas Inc.
Fear of the unknown
"I would hope it would make the town financially stable, be kind of a boom for the town," she said. "I feel pretty strongly about that."
Maxine Rice, who lives across the road from Kudson in a white, frame farmhouse with a front yard littered with old firearms, said one of the prison, but not the prison site.
But she said that if a prison was built across the road, she would fear for her children — a college freshgrader, a 3-year-old and a 1-year-old.
Oice said she feared the unknowns, such as whether prisoners would escape and whether her family would be moved to a farmhouse if they decided to move.
"My biggest fear is for the little ones," she said. "It's taking away from the freedom I feel now. I think it will change our lives to some extent because of who's across the road, even if they're locked up."
She said she didn't doubt that the
Dave Eames/KANSAN
"but would somebody want to live across the road from a prison?" she asked.
Still, she said she could live with the fear if she had to.
"In one way it's kind of exciting," she said. "I'm a person who likes a challenge."
Satisfying investors
Although Teter estimates there's a 95 percent probability that Horton will go through with plans to build the prison.
"We're still not afraid to pull the plug." he said.
Teter said the study may conclude that Horton should cut its original plan in half, to 500 cells. Or it may recommend switching to mostly maximum security space. It all depends on the outcome of state
Horton Kansas Inc. has commissioned another study to prove financial viability of the plan to potential viability of the study will be completed June 1.
legislative debate over its proposal to build a new $38.7 million, 788-cell maximum security prison and a $14.5 million hospital for mentally ill inmates.
Teter said the cells could be upgraded to maximum security with little difficulty.
Miskell, with the Kansas Department of Corrections, said the state anticipated getting caught up in the demand for medium-security beds with the scheduled full completion of the prisons in Elsaworth and Norton.
He said the state would consider renting cell space from Horton if it needed space and if Horton's space was appropriate to its needs.
But Jim Enyart, Horton murpacist and director of Horton Kornza Inc., said the group was tired of being for the state to decide what to do.
- Small towns are fighting for their lives, literally.* Enwart said. "If you're a small town dying, you're going to have problems. If you're a small town growing, you're going to problems. We protest to be the latter."
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