GROUNDBREAKING FOR CHARLESTON PRISON TO BE EHLD FEB. 1

CHARLESTON -- Work on the South East Missouri Correctional Center is set to begin in two months.

A ground-breaking ceremony will be held at 2 p.m. Feb. 11 at the prison site, which is about 300 feet off Highway 105 near Interstate 57.

Gov. Mel Carnahan will be the principle speaker for the event.

River City Construction of Benton, Ill., received a $70,933,000 contract to build the 1,500-bed prison. The project will take a projected 540 days, or 18 months, to complete from its start date.

The original completion date was March 2000, but the project was delayed in 1998 when bids came in $12 million over budget.

Support for the facility is great among Charleston residents, who are hoping the prison's presence will invigorate their county's sagging economy and dwindling population.

"I think we have yet to see the effects of the prison. There lies the hope of Charleston," said former Gov. Warren Hearnes, a longtime Charleston resident, during an interview in November.

His wife is equally optimistic. Betty Hearnes, who is president of the Mississippi County Industrial Development Authority, said the prison is expected to provide some 439 jobs and a $9.1 million annual payroll, a welcome site in a town of 5,000 that has an unemployment rate of nearly 10 percent.

The prison also will mean more contracts for health-care and other services, and demand for housing and other needs could increase. The prison could improve the welfare of people in a four-county area, Betty Hearnes said.

"This is an opportunity to provide decent salaries, health benefits and a retirement plan to people who really need good jobs," she said.