I am opening up this blog to voice my concern over the recent knowledge that the Morton Chamber of Commerce has decided that the answer to Morton's economic challenges is to have the state build a correctional facility on property very close to the town of Morton. I have always thought that the town of Morton had some great qualities and that someday this town would turn around and show amazing resiliency and progress. After hearing about the prospect of a prison in our community, my hopes and dreams for this community are being clouded with doubt. I cannot imagine that someday our community could be described as " Where's Morton? Oh yea
that's where the prison is." Instead of, "Morton that great little town at the gateway to Mt Rainier!"
If you also have concerns, please check this site often. I hope we can get a great discussion going. I will also post relevant information about how the prison system has affected other rural communities.
Click
here for a very informative article on the prison is rural California and how it made its impact.
Great Job Shanna! This is a real wake-up call. Morton at some point will reach a tipping point, and if families like ours want to stay here we must make sure that it tips the right way.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you are creating a public forum to talk about this. One of my (many) concerns about the chamber's interest in bringing a prison here is that nobody seems to know about it. I really appreciate the people in our chamber and their intent to bring more jobs to the community, but this is the wrong way to do it. The article by Joelle Fraser looks good - thanks for posting the link.
ReplyDeleteThank you Shanna for letting me know about the Chamber wanting to bring a prison to Morton. I hope everyone reads the article (above)on how prison life has changed the town of Susanville, Ca. It used to be a quaint rural town in a beautiful setting, very similar to Morton. There must be a better way of bringing commerce to Morton than a prison. What other companies would want to move their families to a "prison town". I have some big concerns of who in the Chamber supports this, and how come nobody seems to know about it?
ReplyDeleteJoAnne Johnson
Thank you Shanna for starting this site. It is news to me that there is even an interest in bringing a prison to Morton. I am very interested in learning the facts of this issue.
ReplyDelete