THE FEDS ARE COMING! THE FEDS ARE COMING?

Has the decision to construct a new prison near Lompoc been made or
not?

Who's to know?

"My gut reaction is they're coming," said Dick DeWees, Lompoc's
mayor.

Even after a short-notice meeting with little advance warning for the
general public the feds seem to be sending mixed signals.

A spokesman for the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) confirmed in a
telephone call Friday that the decision to locate a new penitentiary
in Lompoc had already been made - in less than a minute his supervisor
was on the line denying that any such determination had been made.

So, what's the story?

The confirmation came from Dan Dunne, a spokesman with the prison
system in Washington, D.C.

"That's already planned at this point," he said in response to a
question by the Record on how many projects and prospective sites were
being studied in California and whether Lompoc had been identified as
the site for a planned $120 million high-security facility.

The denial came from Todd Craig, chief spokesman for the BOP, who
quickly denied Dunne's response.

"There has been no official decision," he emphatically and tersely
stated.

In a meeting at Lompoc City Hall Wednesday night, Rodney Anderson, a
site selection specialist with the prison system, told a small crowd
of residents and city officials that "no decision has been made" and a
"draft environmental impact statement" would have to be completed
before a final determination would be issued.

Anderson said a site at Herlong in Northern California (on land
currently owned by the Army)was also being considered as a possible
site, but he did not specify whether the prison system was looking at
two potential sites for one prison or two sites for two prisons.

"One is planned for Lompoc and another in Herlong," Dunne confirmed.
"We need the beds as we expect to have 178,000 inmates by the year
2006."

Todd continued to deny that a decision has been made, but did confirm
that the Lompoc site - already the home to four existing federal
complexes - had the "necessary infrastructure that is an additional
incentive to put it in Lompoc."

"It's federal land out there and they can do whatever they damn
please," stressed DeWees. "I'm not against the facility on the face of
it."

Anderson said that the existing federal property, located northwest of
downtown Lompoc, had three areas that could accommodate the proposed
facility.

Several people, however, felt Wednesday night's meeting was a
formality dictated by federal law and not a serious attempt by the
feds to consider citizen input.

"You have to remember that while (the site) is in the city limits,
it's on federal property and we have no say," said Frank Priore, city
administrator. "I think there's an excellent chance they would prefer
Lompoc, but I wouldn't think (a decision has been made)."

"I think they're very serious about Lompoc," echoed DeWees. "I'm
anxious to see what the (environmental impact statement) has to say.
Hopefully there will be detailed information on demographics and
environmental impacts."

The existing facilities outside Lompoc include a high-security
penitentiary, a medium-security confinement institution and two
low-security complexes.

Federal prison officials are proposing the construction of a
1,000-inmate high-security prison that would have an annual operating
budget of $27 million. The facility would employ 350-400 staff members
and include up to 300 medium security prisoners. The construction
budget is listed at $120 million and the new facility would take up to
four years to complete.

The new staff would not be able to live in housing on federal property
and would have to seek housing in the local communities. This has some
government officials concerned.

Joni Gray, 4th District Supervisor, urged prison officials to meet
with local cities and Santa Barbara County to address housing, road
and water issues.

Most federal prison facilities across the country are housing up to 50
percent or more of rated inmate capacity, according to the BOP.

"We have 24,000 beds planned or under construction," stressed
Dunne.

Information provided to the Record late last year listed 10 potential
projects locations ranging from South Carolina to Pennsylvania. Also
listed were 18 projects under construction in Arkansas, Virginia,
Hawaii, Louisiana, Texas, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina,
Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Florida, Kentucky and California. The
California projects included a penitentiary in Atwater with 960 beds
and a medium-security facility in Victorville with 1,152 beds.

Since 1985 the Bureau of Prisons has constructed 29 new facilities in
21 states and Puerto Rico capable of housing more than 35,000 inmates,
according to BOP figures.

Prison officials expect the demand for prison space to continue due to
mandatory federal sentencing laws and the upswing in drug offense
convictions.