Angry Threats Greet Jail Site Decision

After a week that saw several strident rallies, county offices flooded with phone calls and desks buried in protest mail, the Board of Supervisors made a decision Wednesday that it called the most difficult and emotional of 1987.

As expected, the supervisors voted 3 to 2 to build a massive, 6,191-bed jail in the Gypsum and Coal canyons area behind Anaheim Hills and adjacent to Yorba Linda. And, as expected, angry residents reacted with threats of litigation.

On the podium, during the long and testy afternoon, Anaheim Councilman Fred Hunter threatened, “We’re going to tear you apart and probably sue.”

And immediately after the vote, a visibly angry woman wearing an Anaheim Hills No-Jail T-shirt shook as she said, “You can’t print what I have to say. We’ll sue the S.O.B.s”

Like higher taxes and crime, the issue of locating a prison struck a resonant chord in the audience. It was not just a pocketbook issue affecting their property values. This would change the quality of life that they moved to the remote and sometimes expensive sections of Southern California canyons to find.

“Most of us have made sacrifices to live in Anaheim Hills; we’re not wealthy,” said Diane Williamson, who lives about two miles from the site chosen by the supervisors. “But we would find a way to contribute to a legal fund.”

More important than loss of property value, however, is a more basic concern. Williamson said fear motivates her to oppose the plan. “You’d look up and see a helicopter, and if the jail were there, you would know it was an escaped prisoner,” she said. “It scares me. If any of those people escape, this is the place they will hide.”

Like others, Williamson arrived at the county Hall of Administration about 8 a.m. because neighbors had told her to be there early. By the time the meeting began at 9:30, about 400 people had filled the supervisors hearing chambers and an adjacent hearing room. Still, it wasn’t as much of a crowd as the protesters had hoped for.

Other Sites Considered

The supervisors considered four sites for the jail. Besides the Gypsum-Coal canyons site, the others were at Fremont Canyon, Irvine Lake and Chiquita Canyon.

The residents from different cities sat in their respective camps and taped signs to the walls that identified their homes. Some had the same slogans that crowds had used in rallies over the past week: “Gypsum is not remote,” “We Don’t Want County Supervisors to Sentence Us to a Lifetime Prison Term” and “Nice City or Jail City.”

The meeting started at 9:30 a.m. but it was more than an hour before the supervisors began discussing the jail site. And it was about four hours later before county staff members had finished their presentations, the supervisors had each made their comments and the public was allowed to speak.

By that time, the crowd had dwindled to half of its size, many people returning to the jobs they left temporarily. Others were just weary.

Several people also said they were frustrated because they believed the supervisors were not listening. They said it appeared there were three members already committed to building the jail at the Gypsum-Coal canyons site.

“I think they had their minds made up,” said Dwayne Wright, a father of two children who has lived in Yorba Linda for three years. “If they had listened, it seems rather inconceivable that everybody would have the same complaint: that you didn’t do the right (research).”

Yorba Linda residents were particularly upset that an environmental impact report prepared for the board had failed to consider any impact on their city from the site. The report said Yorba Linda would not be affected because it is on the other side of a freeway, which would act as a barrier.

But Yorba Linda residents and city officials repeatedly told the supervisors that the site is less than two miles from their city and there is easy access by road.

“You’re facing a firestorm of public hostility and anger,” said Yorba Linda Mayor Irwin Fried. “If you make the decision today . . . you are facing lawsuits.”

Moving to Yorba Linda

Greg Honore took time off from work and carried his 10-month-old son on his shoulder to the supervisors meeting. He is scheduled to move into a Yorba Linda home with his wife and two children next month, barely a mile from the chosen prison site.

They bought the home because of the safe, quiet neighborhood where “your only worry is getting bitten by a rattlesnake,” Honore said. “But you will have a worry. They’re really going to put pressure on the life styles. People who can afford to do it are going to move.”

Like some others, Honore said he had sympathy for the supervisors’ difficult decision. Obviously, the criminals have to be put somewhere, and “you don’t want to feel unpatriotic,” he said.

Supervisor Don R. Roth said just before the vote: “Every board member up here is a loser, no matter what we do. It’s a no-win situation.”

Several people suggested outside the chambers that the county should simply add floors to its existing jail in Santa Ana. But even though that idea was not considered, a contingent of Santa Ana officials and residents monitored the meeting for just such a suggestion.

“It happens every time they talk about jails,” said Tony Dalessi, assistant school superintendent in Santa Ana. “We do feel we have done our share.”

Rick Violett, who was appointed by the Yorba Linda City Council last month to organize and coordinate opposition to the jail, said after the vote that the next step might be litigation. And, he said, that might stall the project for years.

But whatever happens, the supervisors’ vote cast a shadow over Yorba Linda’s future.

“Would you move there?” he asked.

Supervisors choose Gypsum-Coal canyons site for new jail. Part I, Page 1.