By Kathryn Lynch-Morin
Bay City Times
STANDISH — More than 20 years ago, Standish residents rallied together to stop a maximum security prison from being built in their backyard. Today, some of those same residents are doing everything they can to keep it from closing.
Signs at McDonald’s, the Shell gas station and Resurrection of the Lord Catholic Church plea, “Save Standish Max” and “Save Standish.” Petitions, to plead the town’s case to the governor, await signatures in many area businesses.
It may be a hopeless battle, but Standish isn’t ready to concede yet.
“You can’t stop the state from doing what it wants to do, but you’ve got to make an effort,” said Dee McKnight, a waitress at Standish Bakery and Restaurant, as some of her customers signed a petition on the restaurant’s counter.
“The prison closes - everybody goes down,” she said.
Standish Maximum Correctional Facility along M-61 is one of three prisons and five camps in the state that will close by November as part of Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s budget cuts.
The prison employs more than 300 people and residents are doing what they can to voice their concerns over the loss.
A community rally is planned for 11 a.m. today at Resurrection of the Lord Catholic Church. Granholm was invited to attend to explain her actions, but declined because Vice President Joe Biden is visiting the state.
The Rev. James M. Fitzpatrick of Resurrection of the Lord Catholic Church initiated the petition drive as soon as the news broke a week ago.
“I knew we had to start acting,” he said. “The quickness of the situation was intentional to make it a closed issue.”
The prison is scheduled to close as early as August.
Fitzpatrick said at least 1,000 people from the parish signed the petition over the weekend and he estimates many more are signing it this week.
“It is going to be catastrophic for us,” he said of the Standish community.
“We need the governor, whom we elected, to come here and explain why she decided to shut down the prison.”
Standish resident Roger Hall was having coffee with friends earlier this week at Standish Bakery, where customers were signing a petition. He suggested a march to Lansing.
“We need somebody down there lobbying for us,” he said.
The politicians elected to represent the area are as disheartened by the situation as residents.
State Rep. Tim Moore, R-Farwell, said he will not give up until all options have been exhausted.
“It’s an uphill battle, but we are not giving up,” Moore said.
Moore, along with Sen. Jim Barcia, D-Bay City, say they will attend today’s rally.
Barcia said he hopes the decision to close the prison will be reversed. But he’s already thinking of possibilities for what will become of the facility, saying it could be sold to a private business or made into a federal prison.
Barcia is also working on possible legislation to cancel some debt incurred by the city as a result of the prison’s closure.
The city owes $9.4 million in bonds used to finance a wastewater treatment plant and other projects. The bonds have been paid back with the $30,000 to $35,000 a month in revenue the city receives from the prison, mostly from water and sewer use.
Michael J. Moran III, Standish city manager, said the loss of that revenue is devastating to the city.
Robert Luce sits on the Arenac County Board of Commissioners. He wonders why the governor chose to close a prison in a community with a skyrocketing unemployment rate.
“We have a statistical unemployment rate of 18 percent and a real unemployment rate of 24 percent,” he said. “Isn’t there someplace that has an unemployment rate of 8 percent that could share a little of the grief?”
In addition to high unemployment, Arenac is one of the poorest counties in the state. The per-capita income of Arenac County is $16,300, nearly $6,000 below the state average.
Tom Tylutki is president of the Michigan Corrections Organization, which represents nearly 9,000 corrections officers. He said officers are puzzled as to why the Standish prison - which houses the worst offenders in the state at a Level 5 prison - was picked to close. He worries about the safety of employees as those prisoners are transferred to other facilities.
“We’re in the middle of a budget crisis and all of a sudden we don’t need (maximum security) prisons anymore,” said Tylutki.
He said every prison in the state will be affected as prisoners are reclassified into lower security levels in order to accommodate a prison population of more than 48,000.
Ruth Caldwell, vice president of the Standish Chamber of Commerce and owner of Pleasantries gift shop, said the city is trying desperately to save the prison but she fears they will get little help from those in power.
“It’s always one step forward and two steps back,” said Caldwell, who has been making calls to state representatives and other elected officials since she heard the news last Friday. “In general, no one stands up for this town.”
Copyright 2009 Bay City Times