Community proved itself, camp should have same chance

The lead editorial in the Saturday, Nov. 15 edition of the Omaha World-Herald, the most-circulated newspaper in Nebraska made some excellent points in regard to the Nebraska Work Ethic Camp in McCook.

The heart of the World-Herald's message is that the work ethic camp "is the type of prison alternative that has success in other states. It's also cheaper than prison: It cost about $15,000 a year to house one work camp inmate last year vs. $24,000 per inmate at the state penitentiary."

Continuing, the World-Herald declares: "Use of the camp is growing, but it is still about 25 percent shy of full capacity. That strikes us as an awareness problem, not an indictment of the facility. Give the center a few more years to establish itself. Then a full and fair evaluation could and should be made."

Summing up the World-Herald's position, the editorial writers make their point by saying: "This certainly isn't the time to eliminate the camp, despite the continued presence of inevitable budget cuts."

Our thanks go out to John Gottschalk, the World-Herald publisher, and Charles Reinken, the editorial page editor, for their support of the Work Ethic Camp. It's as supporters of the Work Ethic Camp in McCook have been saying all along: The camp is the best thing done in years to reduce recidivism -- the return to prison rate -- in Nebraska. While it's too early to get results from definitive studies, the early indications are that the Work Ethic Camp will help steer young offenders away from a lifetime of crime.

Despite the wisdom of the World-Herald's editorial, as McCook newspaper commentators we have to take issue with the Omaha writers' contention that the Work Ethic Camp was a "bone" that former Nebraska Governor Ben Nelson threw to his hometown of McCook after Tecumseh was chosen as the site for a new state prison.

It was not a "bone" at all. It was an earned honor. If you remember, it was McCook, not Tecumseh, which was rated highest in the prison site selection process. Tecumseh was the one which got the "bone" ... thrown to them after the director of the Nebraska Department of Corrections, Harold Clarke, and the site selection committee bowed to political pressure from eastern Nebraska to take the state prison away from McCook and give it to Tecumseh.

By telephone Monday, now Sen. Ben Nelson told the Gazette: "McCook earned the Work Ethic Camp on its own by coming out on top in the siting process. There was no need to go through the process again. McCook had already shown it would be an excellent site."

Yes, McCook did. And the community has proven itself, serving as an excellent host for the Work Ethic Camp. Now, the state's judges need to make full use of the camp as a sentencing alternative. If they do, as they should, the work ethic camp approach will not be abandoned by Nebraska, it will be expanded.