Tarro will represent Wakefield city council on Ojibway committee

By P.J. GLISSON

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Wakefield — The Wakefield city council voted Monday to appoint mayor pro tempore Amy Tarro as a representative to attend meetings of a regional committee that will work to keep Marenisco’s Ojibway Correctional Institute open under a new threat of state closure.

The action occurred at the end of a slide presentation by Jean Graham, dean of students at Gogebic Community College in Ironwood.

Graham said Ojibway once again is among possible candidates for closure by the Michigan Dept. of Corrections. She said Sen. Tom Casperson, R-Escanaba, who serves the state’s 38th senate district, was the person who called for the new committee.

“The people at the prison, as you know, have been given a gag order,” said Graham, in explaining why the college and the developing committee are stepping up to voice support for OCI.

“We’ve already met with several other entities in the community,” said Graham, who assured that she expects the new committee to be fully formed quickly.

Graham said Casperson also wants a report with bullet points of how the prison benefits the region.

Graham said OCI already closed a 160-bed unit earlier this year and now has an average of under 1,000 inmates, with more than 200 full-time staff.

The facility has advantages, she said, citing its “outstanding reputation” and its own potable water and wastewater treatment facility, which reduce operational costs.

However, she said its distance from MDOT’s Lansing office is “not in our favor.”

Graham reminded the council of how the local economy “deteriorated dramatically” after many mines closed by the middle of the 20th century. She said the economy has rebounded somewhat, but cannot afford the loss of a major employer such as OCI.

She said every dollar earned and spent by Ojibway employees has an impact on “everything from utilities to health care,” and that area schools also would lose significant funds if OCI employees did not have their children enrolled here.

Graham said Casperson indicated that MDOC will make a decision on which facility to close by September.

“We would like your help, your support, in doing everything we can,” she concluded. “We have to make our voices heard as loud as we can.”