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Show ' - j the arl Sometimes its hard to believe in hearing Process K It's hard to maintain trust public hearings when it seems that the powers that be have already made up their minds regardless of what the people may say. And frankly that's the way a lot of local residents feel about the decision to turn the operation of the laundry facility at the Utah State Training School over to Utah Correctional Industries, where local labor will be replaced with inmates from the Utah State Prison. When the proposal was first made, many area residents were concerned. After all, some 23 jobs will be lost if UCI takes over the laundry. That's a negative factor for the local economy. Even more were concerned about the fact that convicts con-victs would be used as the labor force - and placed inside in-side the community on a daily basis to operate the facilities. Others have objected to the plans to put a 10- to 12-foot fence around the laundry, changing it from a training school facility into a corrections institution. Arguments in favor of the proposal are strong ones. Yes, jobs will be lost, but the savings to the state budget will more than make up the difference. And besides, we have been told, it's not the state's job to make sure people are employed when the cost is greater than the benefit. . TT. . hc,vP been eliminated Thousands of state jobs in Utah nave penses. in recent years as the te Jcut to o P & Urging the state to save these 23 jODs uu compelling argument. oraHon can then be Money saved in the laundry 0Petl0n cs han-used han-used to provide more direct care to the dicapped residents. inmates who will in addition, UCI assures that er come to American Fork to operate the laundry a dangerous, but prisoners who art near the ena sentences and who have earned a degree of trust- Other similar programs have been operated sue cessfully with inmate labor in other V Such programs help inmates learn a marketable skill for when they return to society. . True, the razor-wire topped fence will give the laundry the look of a prison compound rather man a facility for the handicapped. But the fence UCI maintains, is designed as much to keep training school residents out as to keep the inmates in - and will a iiso help control contraband that might filter into the prison from the laundry as prisoners are moved back ana forth. issue. 91e n However, they fail to address the issue that . dovV has not really been involved in this decision :?ran' a hearing scheduled for last night. ' p i're 'r True, some have spoken up at city council i At the American Fork City Council m loV" Tuesday, many people were in attendance M&( 10 were told that the meeting was no public hLlfi that the public-at-large could not particinaKtei discussion -- only those listed on the agenda 1J than Nevertheless, that meeting must have mart ,Jshin! impact, since the city's official position, as Z 'V Mayor Kent Evans, was against the proposal : dei But the promised public hearings came down. K Jet night's meeting at the training school. Xils And while it remains to be seen if public onDo t , the plan is going to make any difference, at 2 MH many feel as if their participation in the hearb P be an exercise in futility, since the decision willC L i out of the public sight. ff (Q J That won't encourage public input in the future A f could damage our basic faith in the way our syster . government works . g1 t E ' |