NIMBY Update
May 29th, 2009. Filed under: Finance & Fitness Fridays.It seems that some people do want Gitmo detainees in their back yard. Hardin, Montana has a state of the art prison sitting empty since it’s completion two years ago. The city borrowed $27 million in bonds to build the 464-bed Two Rivers Regional Correction Center, but it has yet to house a single prisoner.
The City Council unanimously supports moving the prisoners to this facility located in a town of 3,400. Hardin’s economic development director, Greg Smith, is looking at this being a way to boost employment here. “Believe it or not, it would even bring hope and opportunity.” Hardin is located in Montana’s poorest county.
Not everyone in Hardin feels that way. “Bottom line. I really don’t want Gitmo in my backyard,” said Rae Perkins, an unemployed mother of three who moved to Hardin to work at the prison.
ArcaMax carried this story on 5/26/2009.