Local News in Brief : Anti-Jail Campaign Shifts Into High Gear

Supporters of an initiative drive against a proposed jail near Anaheim Hills put their signature-gathering effort into high gear Monday, this time in a recreational vehicle with a loudspeaker and a banner reading “Stop Jail!”

“We’ll take it around neighborhoods, shopping centers,” said Marsha Miller, spokeswoman for Citizens for a Centralized Jail.

She added that the group has hired professional canvassers, who will begin work on Saturday.

The original initiative drive began in response to the Board of Supervisors’ 3-2 vote in July to build a 6,000-bed maximum-security jail complex in Gypsum and Coal canyons. The initiative seeks to block jail construction at the sites and restrict future jails to Santa Ana.

But when they had not collected enough signatures by February, sponsors refiled the proposal to qualify instead for the November ballot, allowing them until July 5 to collect the 66,000 signatures.

Joan Cain, vice president of the citizens’ group, said more than 17,000 signatures have been collected since February.

“The next big push is election day (June 7),” Miller said, when volunteers will gather signatures at the polls.

“People do escape from jail,” said Anaheim Hills resident Tom Daughters, who signed the petition. “There’s 10,000 square miles of desert out there (for a jail) where (escapees) won’t bother anyone.”