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 Rainsford's claims at town hall meeting found incorrect web posted August 24, 2009 EDGEFIELD – Bettis Rainsford, who stood at last week’s Town Hall meeting held by County Councilman Rodney Ashcraft, read off a list of three reasons why the county needed to purchase the Calliham property and then claimed an article by EdgefieldDaily.com was inaccurate. As it turns out, Mr. Rainsford’s claims were incorrect, and we wanted to set the record straight. Mr. Rainsford claimed, “The first and foremost reason is when the county has to expand its law enforcement center, acquiring this property will be extremely valuable to do so. Now, this past week Edgefield Daily published a, uh, segment saying the prior study indicated that was not the case that they can expand on the site. What they failed to point out is, and I have a copy of this and anyone who would like to sit down after this meeting I’ll be glad to go over it with you in detail. What it fails to point out is that although a few additional cells could be created on the existing site, we are already on regular occasions running a substantially in excess in the rated capacity of the law enforcement center.” Claims: Misleading - False Below: Phase 2 of expansion - click picture for larger view  Fact: Though the Edgefield County
Detention Center does run above
capacity on occasion and for very short periods of time (generally
during General Sessions Court), by and large the number of detainees
housed is well below the allowable number set around 70. On Sunday,
August 23, there were a total of 48 detainees being held, well below
the rated capacity.Fact: The independent study and plans by The Clark Group, dated March 10, 2003, shows the second expansion (Left) adding an additional 12 cells, increasing capacity to 85 inmates, and the third phase (below) adding 8 cells, increasing capacity to 103 inmates. Fact: All of the mentioned expansions can be completed on the current site without the use of the Calliham property. Mr. Rainsford claimed, “The problem with the plans for expansion is since that plan, this study was done in 2003, the county built the 911 center together with the law enforcement center and in doing so invested a lot of money and uh the 911 center and the plans which call for the expansion uh, uh, to the levels that were suggested in Edgefield Daily, would necessitate tearing out the whole 911 center to be building it.” Claim: False Below: Phase 3 click picture for larger view  Fact: As stated above, the plans show the
expansion of two more phases
on the current site and would meet the stated number of detainees that
could be housed.Fact: The 911 Center was completed in 1997, a full six years prior to the study completed by The Clark Group in March of 2003, according the Edgefield County Sheriff Adell Dobey. Fact: The 2003 study shows the 911 Center (noted in red in the photos) in all phases of future expansions being located in its current space and is not part of any remodeling plans, including the new law enforcement center. Mr. Rainsford claimed, “Also it would involve the construction of a two story facility for relocating and rebuilding the entirety of the Sheriff’s Offices and administrator’s section.” Claim: False Fact: The plans show the new law enforcement center being built in front of the current office as a one-story building and still residing on the current site. EdgefieldDaily.com notes that while Mr. Rainsford was making his claims he also held up a booklet claiming it to be the study by the Clark Group. The page the booklet was opened to view showed a very large vertical column graph that took up over half of the page. There is no such graph found in the 68-page report. EdgefieldDaily.com wanted to clear up the misinformation that was supplied to those attending the town hall meeting so that the debate can be based on factual information. © Copyright 2009
EdgefieldDaily.com All
original material is property of
EdgefieldDaily.com and cannot be reproduced, rewritten or redistributed
without the expressed written permission of Edgefield Daily.com
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