LAKE CITY REPORTER WEATHER SUNDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2009 THE WEATHER I I' SUNNY SUNNY H156L030 HI58 L28 , PARTLY CHANCE CLOUDY 1 OF RAIN H168 L043 HIT70 441 ,:I' ..'. .S ,MA. P............... I M*dosta Taahassee * 57/29 ,... P ensa la * -Cty 55/35 -PaL 57/36 55/29 Jacksonville Lake City- 56/32 56/30 Gainesvile * Daytona Beach \K57/31,: . 59,40 S Ocala 8 - 3 Ta6 62, TEMPERATURES High Saturday :" 7 Low Saturday Normal high Normal low Record high Record low PRECIPITATION Saturday . Month total Year total SNormal month-to-date Normal year-to-date 59 44 67 44 85 in 1967 26 inr 1963 0.00"� 2.46" 46.64" 1.46" 47.26" City Cape Canaveral Daytona Beach Ft. Lauderdale Fort Myers Galnesville Jacksonville Monday 63/ 44/ pc 61/39/s 69/51/pc 68/43/s 59/29/pc 58/32/s 69/59/s 58/28/pc 69/52/pc '66/46/pc 60/31/pc 61/35/s. 60/41/s 61/41/s 60/28/s 64/42/s 59/29/s 68/46/pc Tuesday 66, 48, 62/43/s 71/60/pc 70/52/s 65/37/s 62/40/s 67/59/s 65/35/s 73/59/pc 68/54/pc 66/39/s 65/45/s 62/48/s 62/48/pc 64/37/s 66/49/s 64/35/s 71/56/pc An exclusive service brought to MOIIRMI our readers 45 nuts to bu Today's nby ultra-violet The Weather radiation risk channel for the area on - n . a scale from 0 to 10+. weather.com S Forecasts, data and graph- SIcs 0 2009 Weather Central S - LLC, Madison, WIs. . W = :^~ www.weatherpubllsher.com i I : SUN Sunrise today 7:22 a.m. Sunset today 5:34 p.m. Sunrise tom. - 7:23 a.mr. Sunset tom. 5:35 p.m. MOON Moonrise today 10:12 a.m. Moonsettoday 9:26 p.m. Moonrise tom.- 10:42 a.m. Moonset tom. 10:19 p.m. C00i Dec. Dec. Jan. Jan. 24 31 7 15 First Full Last New .1B - J. 7a .un dlp Sunday. S 7p On this dale in S 1836. a famous cola wave occurred in cenorai Irlnnois. A cold front with 70 mpr winds swept mnrough at Noon dropping the . temperature from 40 degrees to near zero in a matter of minutes. Michigan county for prison contract Editor's Note: This story "Anytime you have 90 appeared in the Nov. 25 people attending two days edition of the Ludington before Thanksgiving ... that Daily News, a Michigan says a lot," Gaston said newspaper near Baldwin. about the hearing. Reprinted with permission. By KEVIN BRACISZESKI Daily News Staff Writer WEBBER TOWNSHIP MICH. -Area residents took turns Tuesday night to tell Federal Bureau of Prisons officials how important it would be for the community if the BOP starts housing prisoners at a now-vacant and recently expanded prison facility near Baldwin. No one attending Tuesday's public hearing on the issue spoke against reus- ing the facility in Webber Township. All the speakers said how much they want the BOP to bring the prison- ers - and 327 jobs paying about $20 an hour each - to Lake County. 'This is a perfect fit for our community," said Bob Myers, acting chairman for the Lake County Board of Commissioners. "It is very much needed for this county." People speaking Tuesday want the BOP to choose Lake County over Lake City, Fla., the other community being considered as the site of a privately run prison to house up to 2,500 male, low- security prisoners who are not American citizens. The choice is currently between a prison that was built in 1998 and expand- ed in 2008 in Webber Township and a non-devel- oped parcel of land near Lake City, Fla. The BOP officials will accept comments on the issue uAtil Dec. 21 and will then prepare a decision that is expected in early 2010. "All the comments tonight were very favor- able." Isaac Gaston, chief of the BOP's site selec- tion and environmental review branch, said about 'Tuesday's public hearing. Prison's past The Geo Group owns the currently empty Webber Township prison and spent about $60 million to expand the facility by 1,225 beds to potentially attract con- tracts to house prisoners from different states or the federal government. It now has 1,725 beds. Construction of the facil- ity - which was formerly known as the Michigan Youth Correctional Facility and originally operated by Wackenhut Corrections of Florida - began in 1998 and it opened as a "punk prison" for up to 480 13- to 19-year- old boys and young men. It closed in 2005 and about 220 people had to find new jobs. The facility is now owned by the GEO Group and is being called the North Lake Correctional Facility. Among the comments Sandy Crandall, presi- dent of the Lake County. Chamber of Commerce, said she believes reopening the prison would be good for Lake County because it Would bring jobs to the area, and would be good for the BOP because the county has a wealth of* natural resources. "We want the prison," said Rich Rybka, adding that it would bring jobs to the area and helpthe Baldwin Community School District. Mark Warba, mayor of Big Rapids, traveled to attend Tuesday's public hearing and urge the BOP to bring the prisoners to Lake County. ".. Say yes to Michigan," Warba said, adding that he failed to see a comparison hopeful ;t U RS DAI iNo Pyments for OR '%* S* SPA Retreat OR i ' (3^-^^M^ Cbitb ^p-~-~gh^^/ ^JO^eCai^ 0^wlwt! w iApdca>Wo du-�f& Wa-C9, Rates as low as APR4 For fast 'approval, apply online at campuscu.com or call 754-9088 and press 4 today! CAMPUS Count on CAMPUS. Membership is open to everyone in Alachua, Clay, Columbia. Lake. Marion and Sumter counties! 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Palm Beach 71/62 I -I I� SSEE TUESDAY^^^ 6|WDg;fl| Page Editor: Troy Roberts, 754-0427 between the existing Lake County prison and the undevel- oped Florida site. He said the Big Rapids City Commission has adopted a resolution to support Lake County's bid for a prison contract Connie Theunick-Perley said Lake County has much to offer and said local offi- cials worked well with GEO Group officials in the past. She also said local agen- cies can help people learn Spanish if a large amount of Hispanic people move to: the area. "... There is much need here," Paul Griffith, execu- tive director of Michigan Works! West Central, said about high unemployment levels in Lake County and surrounding areas. Griffith said thousands of people have called him or stopped by his office to ask when GEO will begin hiring to staff the Webber Township prison again, and said "an overwhelming majority" of people speak- ing during a Lake City, Fla., public hearing about the prison location issue spoke against building one there. Deborah Smith-Olson read a letter from Baldwin Community School District Superintendent Randy Howes into the record Tuesday and also provided comments of her own. Howes' letter mentioned the Baldwin Promise Scholarship, which pro- vides up to $5,000 a year for four years for Baldwin' High School graduates - beginning with the class' Sof 2010 - to attend college. He said that would be good for the families of people who move to Lake County to work at the prison. Angela Serna of Ludington said she is a former employ- ee of the prison and would like for it to reopen. "We're ready for you to come folks ... lets get going, that's all we're asking for," Lake County Undersheriff Mike Dermyer told the BOP officials. [IAKE CITY ALMANAC * r ^J