Last night at the Guilford County Commissioners meeting, I made a motion for the Manager to explore areas throughout Guilford County that can be considered for building a State funded Youth Development Center here in Guilford County.  The motion passed by a vote of 7 to 4, with Commissioners Kirk Perkins, Billy Yow, Steve Arnold and Mike Winstead voting against the motion.

Kirk Perkins proposed a motion to have the County Manager to consider sites within Guilford County, excluding the 800 acres Prison Farm.  His motion was defeated.  Kirk Perkins has stated that he will fight the building of the Youth Development Center if it is located on the 800 acre site that the County currently owns and operates the prison farm.

The question to Mr. Perkins is why are you opposed to this location?  Let's be specific. If the Youth Center is located at the Prison Farm, there could be plenty of distance between the Center, the adult Prison facility and the surrounding neighbors.  This center will have no negative affect on the current neighborhood surroundings. The Center would only occupy 10 to 15 acres.  With an 800 acre site to work with, the Center can and should be in an isolated area. 

Please allow me to remind you that this is a Center designed to house only 32 youth, between the ages of 12 and 13.  According to the State, there are approximately 57 youth in Guilford County at this time that would qualify to be housed in this Center.  This Center will allow the parents of these youth an opportunity to visit them on a daily basis and actively participate in their development process.  Without this Center, these parents would have to travel to other cities..... that will step up to offer this youth development assistance to their children and their families.  Why can't we do the same?

Our Sheriff, B.J. Barnes, has told me on two occasions that he supports the building of the Center and has no problem with it being located at the Prison Farm, as long as it is out of sight of the adult Prison Farm.  However, when asked publicly about his stance on this Center, he is waffling.  The question to our Sheriff,  why aren't you in support of this new Center coming to Guilford County to serve our youth?

Could it be that the Sheriff is not in agreement with any program that will reduce the "need"  to build a new 1040 bed County Jail?  One should note that the youth housed at the Center,  will be between the ages of 12 and 13.  The proposed new County Jail if funded within the next year, is scheduled  to  be open and operating within the next 4 to 5 years. 

So, if this Center is not allowed to come to Guilford County and these youth are allowed to stay on the same track that they are currently on, then in 5 years they will be 17 and 18 years old, which means that they would be just the right age to be inmates in a new County Jail.  Hummmmmm (Something to think about)

Also, note that Kirk Perkins has said he will not vote to fund the new County Jail through Certificates of Participation (COPS) but ,he has said that he favors building a new County Jail.  He also voted just two months ago to spend 3.8 million dollars of County funds to hire an architect to design the new County  Jail and to bring back plans and cost estimates as soon as possible. 

My question is this, why is there outright resistance and/or hesitation, to any proposals that will offer ways of reform and the  prevention of crimes and alternative ways of incarceration. Could it be that our Sheriff and other top level county officials in this County, believe that these programs will hurt their support and justification for funding of a new County Jail?

Let me remind you, that these are our children that we are planning for.  Unless we as citizens of this County  demand that our elected officials be proactive in preventing crimes, rather than being reactive in dealing with crime, we will allow them to place this County on the path to bankruptcy in the name of locking our children and our grandchildren behind bars like animals.

What are your thoughts on this subject.?