Prison sale may do good for Thomson
Getting use from cells will create jobs
At what price ... jobs?
Not that Illinois needs them.
Especially the northwestern part of the state ... an area that many Chicago politicians probably don’t know exist.
Especially those who work in Springfield ... who probably think that the State of Illinois consists of Chicago, the ‘burbs ... and the land adjacent to Interstate 55 between where they get paid a lot of money to govern the 102 counties that comprise LincolnLand.
Notice I said 102 counties ... not just Cook County.
Counties that some politicians have probably never heard of ... like Jo Daviess, Carroll and Whiteside.
The three counties that comprise the land area furthest northwest in our state. Land that if you would throw a stone west across the Mississippi River, you could land it in Iowa. Or in the case of Joe Daviess, if you would also throw a stone north across the state line, it would come to earth in Wisconsin.
Territory that encompass not very many huge cities. The county seat of Jo Daviess County is Galena, with a population of 3,396. The county seat of Carroll County is Mt. Carroll, population of 1,832 while the county seat of Whiteside County is Morrison, population of 4,345.
Many of the Chicago politicians have fundraisers with more people in attendance than that.
But a lot of Illinois residents have found out a forgotten community in our state in the last month. The village of Thomson, in Carroll County, has been suggested as a place for moving detainees incarcerated in the Guantanamo Prison.
Thomson, population of 559, has plenty of room.
After the State of Illinois constructed a prison that could house 1,600 prisoners. Except that when completed back in 2001, the state had no money to put the facility on line. It currently houses approximately 200 minimum-security prisoners today with a staff of 82 employees.
Of course, the residents of Thomson and the nearby surrounding sandburian territory, have welcomed the thought of housing the terrorists with open arms.
Because it will create jobs. That pay money. Good money. For an area that has over 10 percent unemployment at last report.
And if the state of Illinois is not going to fully operate the prison, why not sell it to the U.S. Government? Why not put a white elephant to use?
Of course, since it has been a Democratic governor and a Democratic U.S. President involved in the preliminary discussions, a lot of Republicans have become naysayers.
Hopefully, once the discussions turn serious, it will not be politics as usual. I hope that a lot of politicians in the state will take a long look at the current unemployment factor and more than routinely consider the offer to sell the prison.
Of course, there are many different figures being bandied about considering the number of jobs created if Thomson is sold and becomes fully operational. One person says that 800 to 900 persons will be hired to staff the prison. Another source says that prison expansion would actually create up to 3,000 jobs.
Hey ... 800 to 900 ... or up to 3,000.
The way our state is going, even hiring 20 or 30 people would benefit the state.
The threat of terrorism?
Possibly.
But how many terrorist attacks have there been on the Guantanamo Prison?
Not too many, that I recall.
Mike Cunniff is a sports writer for the Morris Daily Herald. He can be reached at (815) 942-3221 x 2028 or by e-mail at mcunniff@morrisdailyherald.com
