Bethlehem Township: Prisons, We Don't Need no Steenkin' Prisons!

Last night, I visited Bethlehem Township commissioners' cathedral-like meeting room for the first time. I was there because locals are unhappy about county plans to relocate a new work release/rehabilitation treatment center at 4255 Fritch Drive.

Have you ever visited that meeting room? What a magnificent waste of space! It's a blend of rustic beams and stones, contrasted by what appear to be gigantic sewer pipes, located up top, sweating and ready to burst. That's some strange kind of holy water. The ceiling is at least seven hundred feet high, and I swear I saw a few birds perched on a beam right over the commissioners, waiting for their magic moment to drop a little white bomb.

"Say hello to my little friend."

I was a little late because there are actually two of these gargantuan Bethlehem Township buildings. The first is actually one of those rec centers that municipalities are building everywhere. That place was packed, and I thought I was in for one hell of a meeting. It turns out everyone was doing step aerobics. It features an indoor pool, basketball court and gym.

I finally stumbled into the right place, where it was a lot easier to park. There were only twenty-seven people scattered throughout this cavernous room, which could easily seat a joint session of congress. But I saw two familiar faces right away, Mary and Jenn, whose office is only a stone's throw from a proposesd Northampton County recidivism center. They're worried. I told them I'd drop by to show my solidarity.

"Really, Bern, you don't have to come. Aren't you regarded as some kind of --

- "Genius? True, but I'm actually pretty modest."

Funny thing. When Mary and Jenn saw me coming, they immediately got up to leave. They were probably getting cold feet about attending a public meeting. It's a good thing I came. I blocked the exit, walked them back to their pews, and told the old lady who had been sitting next to them that her house was on fire.

In this cathedral alone, you probably could house about a thousand prisoners. But that's not the plan and nothing about a work release center was on the commissions' lengthy agenda. Nevertheless, during courtesy of the floor, four people addressed all five commissioners.

Here's how courtesy of the floor works in Bethlehem Township. President Tom Nolan calls people up, pew by pew, just like Holy Communion. Joseph T. Perno, a Bethlehem Township resident who lives nowhere near this proposed facility, still opposes the idea. He was the lead off hitter. He argues this facility, especially when combined with a 132 room hotel that will be finished this month, will stretch municipal resouces to their breaking point. Bethlehem Township has only 23 patrolmen, two volunteer fire departments and just four ambulances.

After just three hours of circulating a petition, he was able to provide 115 signatures. A woman, accompanied by her young daughter, told commissioners that if a recidivism center comes to Bethlehem Township, her family will simply leave.

"Build it and they will come. But we will leave."

She provided another ten signatures. A third resident noted the center's proximity to Routes 191 and 22. "I would hate to think our community is a place where drugs are more readily available."

Batting cleanup was Jennifer Hodges. She told commissioners that the recidivism rate in Pike County has dropped from 63% to around 10%, thanks in large part to programs administered by its progressive warden. He even mailed her a packet of all the programs that are really working. She told the commission it is a mistake to call the Bethlehem Township proposal a "facility." "It is still a prison." She expressed reservations about the quality of personnel that a private buysiness would supply. What works best, according to Jenn, is "not sending people away from a prison to a place where there is no treatment, but keeping them at the prison and offering treatment programs there."

President Nolan told each speaker nothing is before them, and their concerns should be addressed to Northampton County Council.

After everyone had spoken, they went out in the lobby and were joined by just about everyone in the room, including two curious reporters. The meeting finioshed about two minutes after courtesy of the floor, and even more joined in this outside discussion. Total meeting time? Forty-two minutes.

Perno told reporters and the crowd that the county had already agreed to build another phase of the prison, expanding its size. That's news to me. He claims Northampton County Executive John Stoffa "is being unfair. He's already tried to take it to two other communities. The third time's the charm. The people I really feel bad for are in Lower Nazareth Township. Their residences are actually closer and they have no say." Northampton County's prison, built in 1871, is getting old, and Easton residents are just as unhappy about another expansion on their turf. One asks, "Why should Easton bear the burden of the rest of the county on this issue?"

In the meantime, Lehigh County will quietly forge ahead with its new treatment center, experiencing none of the controversy that has plagued the Northampton County proposals.

As Mary and Jenn quickly tried to leave, I invited them to join me at the Brazilian steak house.

"We're vegetarians."

-"But Mary, I saw you eating ham on rye on Friday."

"I switched over the weekend."