How time flies. Twenty-five years ago this month, the Northampton County Board of Supervisors voted against a plan from the Commonwealth of Virginia to locate a state prison near a longstanding African-American neighborhood in the Cheriton area.
According to this Associated Press story printed in the Daily Press newspaper of Newport News, the county wanted an environmental study, which the state did not complete.
The idea of a prison divided the county and the Eastern Shore — some folks wanted it, some didn't. Some felt the county needed the jobs and salaries a state prison would bring. Others felt the facility would be misplaced in an area of delicate ecological balances and remarkable natural beauty.
A scant few years later, a Virginia Beach firm announced plans to build the Bay Creek golf and resort development. Soon, the town of Cape Charles became a hot real-estate market and wonderful vacation destination. Could this have happened with a prison just a few miles away?
How time flies.
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