GINA B. GOOD / PVT Petitions asking for a hearing by the Public Utilities Commission on the annexation of the federal detention center site into the Utilities Inc. service territory were available in front of the Bob Ruud Community Center during the Pahrump town board meeting Tuesday night. Advertisement

Corrections Corporation of America cancelled a planned June 5 groundbreaking for the federal detention center in Pahrump.

Opponents of the project claimed it was canceled because a protest was planned. A notice of the cancellation stated it was because scheduling conflicts affected the availability of key participants from the CCA management team and Nevada leaders.

"It was sort of a perfect storm of schedule conflicts," Louise Grant said, the CCA vice-president of marketing and communications. Instead, the company may just skip a groundbreaking entirely, she said.

"It was really my error in scheduling that date which ended up conflicting with several of the executive's meetings they couldn't get out of and we had a number of our customers who were not able to come that day and we were not getting very many RSVPs from some of the local people," Grant said.

"Very often we will do either a groundbreaking ceremony or a dedication ceremony once the facility is open. We don't always do both. So because of the timing and all of the heat, we're just going to go ahead and more than likely do just the dedication ceremony once the facility is open. We'll be able to have the ceremony inside," she said. "The good news and the most important news, is that construction is still very much under way as planned. That's our priority, that's where all our focus lies."

The detention center site on East Mesquite Avenue has been graded but construction of the actual buildings hasn't yet begun. CCA hopes to begin receiving inmates by fall of 2010.

Donna Cox, president of the Concerned Citizens for a Safe Community, charged the cancellation was an attempt to avoid the embarrassment of a protest. Cox said opponents of the project planned to show up with diesel trucks, motor homes and blow horns.

"My feeling is they don't want to be embarrassed by having their dignitaries find out there's a whole bunch of people against it," Cox said.

Attorney Nancy Lord, who represented the CCSC in an unsuccessful attempt to get a federal judge to issue a temporary restraining order to stop the project, called the cancellation "a small victory, not very meaningful, but it's something."

"It obviously wasn't very important to the political leaders who couldn't change their schedules around," Lord said. "I'm speculating but I think they are finally aware most people in this town don't want this prison and regardless of what CCSC does, there will be people up there protesting."

Grant denied fears of a protest led to the cancellation.

"We haven't been to Pahrump when there haven't been protesters to anything we've done. That hasn't stopped us in the past," Grant said.

Opponents will come to realize CCA is not the enemy they think, she said.

"They will have a mother, a brother, an aunt who works in that facility, they will have neighbors and friends. They will quickly realize we're a partner, we're safe and we're not damaging the beauty of the environment," Grant said.

The latest tack by opponents of the project is circulating a petition asking the Public Utilities Commission to schedule a hearing in Pahrump on a request by Utilities Inc. of Central Nevada to annex the federal detention center site into their service area. Copies of the petition were on display at the Pahrump town board meeting Tuesday.

The brief, two-paragraph petition states: "we, the people, strongly urge you, beg you, demand, that the PUC set a public hearing in Pahrump and allow us to express our opinions regarding the above referenced application. I strongly oppose this tariff expansion. Thank you for your consideration. I appreciate your time and effort in protecting our water and look forward to a public hearing here in Pahrump."