CHARLESTON: WINNING SITE FOR NEW PRISON

Success at last.

Charleston celebrated the news with a toast of apple cider at City Hall. Months of hard work and hope had paid off: The Southeast Missouri town of 5,000 was chosen as the site for one of two new maximum-security prisons. The other will be built in Licking in south-central Missouri.

Charleston made its pitch without hiring consultants or lobbyists. And Gov. Mel Carnahan's decision was clearly based on need.

Both cities chosen as in the latest round of prison construction suffer from double-digit unemployment. The two 1,500-bed men's prisons will bring 439 permanent jobs each, with an estimated payroll of about $10 million in each community

In Charleston, the prison will quickly become the city's largest employer. And it will mean jobs for people in a four-county area.

Short term, it will result in numerous construction jobs. Each prison could cost as much as $85 million to build, and both are scheduled to open in 2000. Charleston's prison will be built on a 120-acre site south of Interstate 57 and the city limits. It is the only one of the finalists near a four-lane highway.

The people of Charleston and the region owe much to the hard work of Warren and Betty Hearnes for their critical role in securing the prison. From the start, the two civic leaders went to bat for the town. The fact that Mr. Hearnes is a former governor of Missouri and that Mrs. Hearnes is a former state representative gave the town respected negotiators in this drawn-out process.

The prison should provide other benefits as well. Typically, prisons attract many support businesses such laundry or food services.

Town growth is another possibility. The city of Cameron in Northwest Missouri doubled in size after it landed a maximum-security prison.

This prison will provide Charleston with an economic boost not seen since the Brown Shoe Co. factory opened in 1937. That factory closed a few years ago.

Politics raged hot and heavy over the prison sites through this year's regular and special legislative sessions. But Charleston was chosen the top site for a prison by the Joint Committee on Correctional Institutions and Problems in July. The committee deadlocked over Licking and Trenton. It is a relief to see that impasse didn't alter Charleston's chances.

When it comes to Charleston, clearly, the best site won.