[lbo-talk] NYT: Residents cry "Save Our Prison!" AFSCME joins fight to keep prison open

[B.]

[Check out the AFCSME logo on the "Save Our Prison"
shirts at URL.  -B.]

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/24/us/24prison.html?ref=us

August 24, 2008

Proposed Prison Closing Hits at the Heart of a Town
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

PONTIAC, Ill. (AP) — When residents here heard that
the governor wanted to close the 137-year-old Pontiac
Correctional Center, taking hundreds of jobs from the
area, they mobilized.

They held rallies and a parade. Streets were lined
with blue and white “Save Our Prison” signs, and
people were outfitted in T-shirts to match.

The 12,000 or so residents now find themselves trying
to talk Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich, a Democrat, out of
closing the town’s second-largest employer to help
fill a $700 million hole in the state budget. 

[...]