Dear Editor:
In regards to the remand centre ,the province is wanting to build in the South Okanagan, here are some comparable figures of prisons in small towns.
Bowden, Alberta, population approximately 1,300 has 494 inmates.
Drumheller, Alberta, population approximately 8,000 has an inmate capacity of 598.
Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta, population approximately 15,000 has an inmate capacity of 440. The first prison in Fort Saskatchewan was for the Northwest Mounted Police in 1875.
It is a great advantage for a town with a small population like Summerland, with our population a little more than 11,000. There is much more benefit for each and every taxpayer and citizen of Summerland compared to Penticton or Kelowna.
To have a remand centre in Summerland would be a fantastic gift from the province. A $1 million plus grant from the province will be a gift to the future that will be there forever. If we lose it, it will be gone forever and it will mean higher taxes to make up for a $1 million shortfall. More taxes forever.
Of all the naysayers and fear mongers, how many of them will actually be here 10, 15 or even 20 years from now? They will not be here to make up the $1 million shortfall. They will likely have moved to complain somewhere else.
Reinhold Prochnau
Summerland