EDGAR WILL PARTICIPATE IN TAMMS PRISON VICTORY PARTY

TAMMS, Ill. -- Gov. Jim Edgar and officials from the Illinois Department of Corrections are expected to attend the Super Maximum Security Prison Victory Picnic in Southern Illinois today.

The picnic, a fund-raising celebration for the successful five-county effort that resulted in the site selection near Tamms for a $60-million super-maximum prison, will be held at Egyptian High School.

"We originally scheduled the party for Tamms Village Park," said Jerry L. Reppert, who headed the area's efforts to get the prison in Southern Illinois. "But, with a weather report calling for snow, rain and cold weather, we decided to move it inside."

Egyptian School is alongside the Olive Branch-Tamms blacktop, about four miles from Tamms. The celebration will be held from 1 to 4 p.m. Donations will be $10 per person.

The award-winning barbecue team, Great Boars of Fire, will prepare the barbecue.

Tamms, a community of 748 people about 20 miles east of Cape Girardeau, beat out 30 other communities for the prison and its $11 million payroll.

The new facility will employ up to 250 people during its two-year construction and about 300 when the 500-bed facility opens.

Corrections officials are hopeful construction can begin late next spring.

Also Included in the plans for the new facility will be a 200-bed minimum-security work camp to be constructed next to the prison, state officials said. Cost of the work camp already was factored into the $60 million price of the prison, said department spokesman Nic Howell.

Howell did not know, however, if the camp would mean more jobs in addition to the 300 permanent ones the prison will create. About a third of the 300 jobs will be department employees who transfer to Tamms; the remainder will be new hires, Howell said.

Walter Pang, mayor of Tamms, said the prison would be a big economic boost to the area.

Currently, Tamms' largest employer is a minerals company that has about 100 people working at two plants making cosmetic powders. The village has only one part-time police officer, one drug store, one grocery store and no motel within eight miles.

"With the announcement of the prison, I can envision a motel, another grocery store, and some smaller businesses," said Pang.

The prison and work camp will be on a minimum of 80 acres a half a mile northwest of town. The owner of the property agreed to give Tamms an option on 150 acres at $1,000 an acre. The village will buy 80 acres outright with a county loan covering half and city and private funds making up the difference.

Who pays for the other 70 acres, if they're needed, will be negotiated with the state, said Pang.

Tamms is in Alexander County, which has a poverty rate of 32.2 percent, according to the 1990 census. Nearly 3,400 of the county's 10,626 residents live below the federal poverty standard. The county ranked 139th in the nation in terms of poverty, according to the census. The latest unemployment figures show the county with 18 percent unemployment.