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| Town Concerned Over Looming Prison Closure |
| By durangoherald.com |
| Published: 03/07/2011 |
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AS ANIMAS – For more than half a century, people in rural southeastern Colorado have depended on the jobs from a sprawling property that functioned as a Veterans Affairs hospital and now a prison. But a $1 billion state budget shortfall has Las Animas residents bracing for the possibility the prison will be closed, eliminating 204 jobs they say are crucial to the city of nearly 2,600 people. “A lot of these people would not be able to leave here,” said Jackie Wagner, 54, who owns a Las Animas coffee shop called Java Jackie’s. “There’s no money. We’re a very poor population.” The city’s median household income in 2009 was $27,719, compared with $56,222 for the rest of the state. The prison’s workers would be offered new corrections jobs elsewhere in the state. But businesses in nearby cities worry the prison’s closing would mean fewer customers from Las Animas. Read More. |
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