PRISON TO PUMP NEW LIFE INTO TAMMS, ILL.

TAMMS, Ill. -- The survey team is waiting on the weather, the design engineers are waiting on the survey team, the Department of Corrections is waiting on the engineers, and Tamms officials and residents are waiting for all four.

"We're anxious here," Tamms Mayor Walter Pang said Friday. "Once everything comes together we'll have a better idea for a timetable on construction of a new prison."

Tamms will be home to a $60-million super-maximum prison, which will employ up to 250 people during construction. When completed, the facility will employ up to 300 people and provide an $11-million-a-year payroll.

"The timetable now calls for a spring start on construction of the prison, with a fall start on a work camp," said Pang. "We're already looking into the things we have to do."

Some of the things the village of Tamms will be doing is running utility, water and sewage lines and a road to the prison site.

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

"Looking to the future, we envision a motel, another grocery store, restaurant, and some smaller businesses," said Pang. "Although it's too early to speculate on things, some people have been in the area looking at motel sites."

Charlie Bennett, a realtor and auctioneer, and Reed Abercrombie of Abercrombie Abstract Co. of Cairo, agree that the potential for a new motel is real.

"A new motel and housing are two of the needs for the area," said Bennett. "We've had some inquiries about both. There's plenty of room to build here."

Sherman Dodson, the one-man police force at Tamms, is optimistic about the new prison.

"We're looking for all kinds of good things to come of this," said Dodson. "I think it's great."

Dodson, who previously worked at a state prison in Florida, is a native of the Tamms area.

"I watched all my friends grow up here," he said. "But, like me, most left once they finished high school."

Dodson return to the area and has been a village policeman the past two years.

"We needed this," he said. "At least now there will be a reason for the young people to stay here."

Dodson said he had no qualms about the facility housing the state's worst criminals.

"These guys will be locked down," he said. "Even if one of them did manage to escape -- and the chances are slim -- they wouldn't stick around here; they'd move on."

Dodson said one of the primary needs of the area is housing.

One business in town is already planning expansion.

"We recently did some remodeling," said Billy Pace, manager of the Butcher Block. "And we're looking at some other things."

Right now, if you want a sandwich and coffee, the Butcher Block is the place to go. "We offer a complete line of groceries and bakery items," said Pace. "We serve burgers and other sandwiches, and we're looking to expand into plate lunches."

"We're ready to see some construction," said Sharon Abercrombie, village clerk and a native of the area. "We're real excited."

The prison will be just northwest of town at the foot of the red clay cliffs, and will house the worst of the worst offenders -- murderers, rapists, and drug dealers.

"Naturally we would have preferred a nice general motors plant," said one citizen. "But we've been down on our knees for a long time begging for something. Until this came along we had no place to go."

Tamms was once a major north-south railroad switching station founded by businessman Oscar Tamms around the turn of the century. The village featured a brick opera house, a three-story hotel and the Silver Moon Saloon. All three are gone.

By the mid-1950s, passenger rail service to town ended. More than 20 years later freight service also dried up, except for service to the town's only remaining manufacturer, Unimin Specialty Minerals Inc,., which employs more than 100 people.

Tamms has tried in the past to reverse its fortunes by offering incentives to factories and businesses that wound up across the river.

In one case, the village attempted to attract a prison facility.

John Abercrombie of Tamms State Bank recalled that about 12 to 15 years ago information was compiled in efforts to get a prison.

"This was 12 to 15 years ago," said Abercrombie. "It was even the same land. We compiled all of the information, but the prison went somewhere else. I was glad that this time around all the advance planning was not for naught."

Tamms was the smallest of 30 -- population, 748 -- communities that sought the prison.

Only recently more than 250 people attended a victory picnic at Egyptian High School near here to celebrate the successful effort that resulted in the site selection near Tamms.

The prison was solicited to the area through a coalition of Alexander, Johnson, Union, Pulaski and Massac counties of Southern Illinois.

During the selection process, the Department of Corrections had two priorities: The site had to meet the needs of the Department of Corrections and had to fill an economic need in the area.

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.

"I think this is a great step on the road to economic recovery for all of Southern Illinois," said Larry Brymer, pharmacist at the local drug store. "People are more positive now."

Try-County Building Supplies, which opened almost 10 years ago, is looking forward to the future.

"We opened in 1974," said owner Janette Chaudoin. "We sold the business in 1979 and re-purchased it in 1986. The new prison will be an asset for us. We're hoping to see new growth for Tamms and the area."

Details on the prison:

-- $60 million and 250 jobs during construction.

-- Space for 500 of the state's most violent criminals.

-- 300 permanent jobs.

-- Estimated annual payroll of $11 million.

-- Immediately northwest of Tamms on 150 acres adjacent to Route 127.

-- The site is a clover field with a few woods owned by Gerald Cain, who has agreed to sell it to Tamms for $1,000 an acre. Tamms will in turn give the site to the state.

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