ROCHESTER, Ind. (AP) -- This month's scheduled shutdown of the Standish Maximum Correction Facility and the loss of its 300 jobs is giving new impetus to supporters and opponents of housing Guantanamo Bay inmates there.
Officials in Au Gres and Arenac County passed resolutions last week supporting the transfer of the detainees to Standish, about 150 miles north of Detroit, to temper the economic impact of the prison's scheduled Oct. 31 closure. The Standish City Council is expected to vote on a similar resolution Thursday.
But opponents will hold a forum in Rochester, near Detroit, at 7 p.m. Monday to renew their arguments against housing the detainees in Standish.
"Everyone thinks Standish is off the table, but it's not," Dave Munson of Standish, a founder of the Michigan Coalition to Stop Gitmo North, told the Detroit Free Press for a story published Sunday. "If they bring those people here, we become the center of the bull's-eye."
Rep. Peter Hoekstra, senior Republican on the House Intelligence Committee and an outspoken opponent of transferring the Guantanamo inmates to U.S. soil, said recently that Pentagon officials have told him the Standish prison no longer was being considered.
President Barack Obama has pledged to close the U.S. military prison in Cuba by January, but administration officials recently said he might miss that target. Among possible U.S. destinations for about 150 Guantanamo detainees are the Standish prison and the military prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., officials have said.
When the Standish City Council meets Thursday, another item on its agenda is a proposed 40 percent hike in water rates because of the loss of prison revenue.
"We'll be losing $36,000 a month in water and sewer revenue and losing some excellent families who live in our community," Standish City Manager Mike Moran said. "Our council has been in touch with the community for the last several months, and we're getting a lot of positive reaction to keeping the prison open."
The Coalition to Stop Gitmo North also wants to see the prison remain open but used as either a private prison or by another state, Munson said.
California considered but rejected Michigan recently as a spot for some of its inmates. And Michigan sent a proposal to the state of Pennsylvania last week to house up to 1,500 of its prisoners, said Russ Marlan, a spokesman for the Michigan Department of Corrections.
The state is on schedule to transfer the remaining 297 Standish inmates to other prisons and close the facility by Oct. 31, Marlan said.