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Juvenile Center bond gains ground Official tally remains an unknown By Chris Bristol With the official final tally a day off, it remains to be seen whether the third time is the charm for a new-and-improved Jackson County juvenile center. With barely 18 percent of the vote counted by press time, Measure 15-15 was leading 8,681-6,716 no � 56.4 percent yes to 43.6 percent no. Robert Holliday, a Southern Oregon University political science major who managed the Yes on 15-15 campaign, said the early results left him feeling "nervous but excited." "We�ve tried in two other elections to get this through," he said, "and to finally see it happen is just wonderful." Bob Grindstaff, director of the county�s Community Justice department, expressed similar thoughts and said he hoped a final tally was available later today. "I�m pleased that it�s in favor at this point," he said. "I think that�s a good sign." The proposed $16.5 million juvenile center has been turned down twice by county voters � in 1998 by less than 1 percent and again in 1999 when a solid 60 percent vote in favor was negated by the double-majority rule. The rule was not in effect Tuesday, since it is set aside in general elections in even-numbered years. But a batch of botched ballots meant that the county had to send out separate, supplemental ballots with the juvenile center measure. Those ballots had to be counted by hand. The new center would replace the current juvenile facility, which had only 12 beds when it was built in 1957 and has been expanded only once � to its current 20 beds in 1979. Over the same period of time, the county�s population has grown from 68,000 to 170,000 and counting. Plans for the new center call for 40 detention beds � twice the current capacity � as well as 16 shelter beds for runaways and other troubled children or minor offenders who are too young to mix with older kids in detention for more serious crimes. The design also includes four classrooms, a first-rate courtroom, more office space and four times the existing space for counseling programs. At $16.5 million, it would cost the owner of a $200,000 home about $50 a year extra in property taxes. Holliday said it is crucial that voters pass the bond this year, since the county could lose a federal matching grant of $4.1 million if the facility isn�t nearly completion by 2003. "I don�t think anybody�s crazy about doing this a fourth time," he said. "Plus, we could lose the federal funding, which makes it all the more urgent that it pass now." Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2000 Mail Tribune, Inc.