Dear Commissioners, March 12, 2013 | Eastern North Carolina Now

    On March 12, 2013, the Washington Daily News reported on a presentation Comm. Al Klemm made to the Workforce Partnership for the stated purpose of "diffusing misinformation" surrounding the proposal to move the jail to the industrial park.

    The commissioner has, in fact, diffused quite a bit of misinformation.

    Why does the aesthetic appeal of the jail's appearance matter? Are there any beautiful jails? Do we care if it looks like a dungeon? When all is said and done it will be surrounded by barbed wire. Won't it?

    The story attributes an apocalyptic horror story concerning emergencies that might arise at the jail. Were these purely flights of fancy or is there some basis for these concerns? In particular, the newspaper has published the following hypothetical scenario as attributable to Mr. Klemm: "The threat of a fire would produce its own form of chaos. Klemm said the only thing they could do if a fire erupted was open the doors and free the criminals, which include a couple of alleged murderers."

    Have evacuation procedures been changed or is this the same situation that has existed over the lifetime of the facility? If fire and flood evacuation plans have been changed what were they in the past? Was fire not a concern in the past? Has the building been judged unsafe by the fire department? Will a new downtown jail help with this concern as well as a new industrial park jail? How will the location of the jail change the fire evacuation plan?

    The idea that the jail will be isolated from the rest of the industrial park is simply wrong. The park was initially 125 acres. In spring of 2012, commissioners estimated the available space at 60 acres. If a jail using somewhere between 20 and 25 of the remaining acres is located at the industrial park, it will not be in any normal understanding of the word "isolated from the rest of the industrial park."

    If we had not been stuck with the industrial park by following ill-conceived plans, would we ever have imagined buying land on Cherry Run Road for the purpose of building a jail?

    Finally, Mr. Klemm has estimated that locating the jail at the industrial park will save $15 million. Recent discussions have mentioned the current proposal as costing nearly $30 million. Is there a reliable cost estimate for a downtown location that predicts $45 million? Where is it?

    Poor planning, amateur flights of fancy and imaginary research have given Beaufort County enough to deal with; although, I applaud Mr. Klemm's effort to bring some light to the topic, he needs to actually bring facts as well.

    Regards,

    Warren Smith
     Beaufort County, NC