EVERYTHING `GO' FOR 600-BED SUPER MAX PRISON IN TAMMS, ILL.

TAMMS, Ill. -- The first employee of the planned $60 million super-maximum prison has been named.

The environmental survey is history, and a group of small, golden mice has its own little corner of the prison site preserved. And a rock chestnut tree will not be disturbed.

Everything seems to be "go" for a spring ground-breaking for a 200-bed work camp to be constructed near the 600-bed prison.

"We're ready to go," said Nic Howell, a spokesman for the Illinois Department of Corrections at Springfield. "We're ready to break ground."

"Everything is moving smoothly now," agreed Tamms Mayor Walter Pang. "We're looking forward to an April ground-breaking."

Pang and other village officials, members of the Southern Illinois Prison Selection Committee, engineers and others meet weekly to keep abreast of things.

"We don't have a date for the work camp ground-breaking," said Pang, "but we've been told it would probably be in April."

The prison work camp will open a year before the $60 million super-maximum-security prison, which is expected to open in mid-1996.

"The timetable I have is for the work camp to open in 1995, with the prison to open the following year," said Pang.

"This time next year we'll be preparing to start hiring folks for the work camp," said Howell.

The work camp will consist of five buildings totaling about 60,000 square feet. It will include two residential units housing 100 inmates each.

"The work camp will create employment for about 75 to 80 people when it opens," said Pang. "And, when the prison opens, we'll be seeing another 250 to 300 jobs." About two thirds of the workers will be new hires.

The first employee to be hired for the prison is George Welborn, who will be the warden. Welborn has been warden at the maximum-security Menard Prison at Chester for almost four years and has 18 years experience with the Illinois Department of Corrections.

The prison in Tamms will house the state's most violent criminals.

"A place like Tamms is a place prisoners will not want to go," Welborn said when his new position was announced. Welborn also has experience opening prisons; in 1980 he was named the first warden of the Centralia Correctional Center.

Welborn's appointment went into effect Jan. 16. He will be working with the architects and community leaders during the prison's construction.

Tamms, a community of about 750 people, was one of 30 sites to file applications to be considered for the new prison. The Alexander County village, situated 18 miles north of Cairo and 20 miles east of Cape Girardeau, will start receiving some economic benefits from its selection as the prison site this spring.

"Prison construction is expected to employ up to 250 people during the two year-construction period," said Pang.

Selection of the site, about two miles northeast of Tamms, was announced Oct. 22.

Said Pang: "We had some anxious moments when the environmental survey revealed some golden mice and a rock chestnut oak tree at the proposed site. You can image our fright. We didn't know how many golden mice there were or how wide an area would be affected."

But all turned out well. The prison will be moved 300 feet east of where it was originally planned to avoid conflicts with the two threatened species.

Pang said the prison would be a big economic boost to the area.

Currently, the town's 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, we stand a good chance of drawing more businesses and more people into this region," said Pang. "I can envision a motel, another grocery store, and some smaller businesses. We've already had some inquiries concerning new businesses."

The prison will have some far-reaching effects; the facility will need power sources and supplies for everyday needs.

During the early 1900s, Tamms was an important switching point for locomotives traveling between Chicago and the Gulf Coast. More than 150 people worked for the railroad in town.

A brick, opera house dominated downtown, train crews and adventurers stayed at the three-story Alexandria Hotel and drank their fill at the "Silver Moon" saloon, the only drinking hole in town. The opera house and hotel have since burned down.

Tamms' downward slide began about 1955, when passenger service was discontinued. Within 20 years regular freight service also stopped and the stockyards were pulled up, leaving the proud rails to the weeds.

Today, the old train depot, which has been restored, serves as city hall.

Other details on the prison:

-- A total of 300 permanent jobs, two thirds of them local hires.

-- Estimated annual payroll of $11 million.

-- Situated immediately north of Tamms on 150 acres adjacent to Route 127.

-- New road to be built off Highway 127 onto site, with cost to be borne by county, town and prison committee.