CLALLAM BAY — Dick Woodward of Sekiu had an idea for economic development inspired by protests and brought to fruition with flowers.
The logging industry was in the dumps in the early 1980s, as were other natural resource-based industries that had employed West End residents.
Timber company Crown Zellerbach pulled out of the area, as did ITT Rayonier.
The community needed jobs and a tax base to save local schools, and Woodward knew the perfect site for a business — a tree-covered hilltop, streaked with mist and dripping with moss.
“It’s kind of difficult to find an industry that wants to locate at the end of a dead-end road,” Woodward said.
But he found one.
Woodward was in attendance Thursday at the 20th anniversary celebration at Clallam Bay Corrections Center, which he counts as not just a 900-bed prison, but a breath of life for West End communities.
200 attend event
About 200 people showed up to help celebrate the prison’s first 20 years, honor longtime employees and listen to an inmate choir and band sing spirituals.
“A lot can happen in 20 years,” said Howard Clarke, state corrections secretary, who delivered the keynote speech.
Clarke, Gov. Christine Gregoire’s pick to run the state’s prison system, said that “The Bay” has been on the forefront of developing new techniques in dealing with inmates.
The techniques range from the mundane, like serving inmates brunch on Sunday, to the psychological, like researching how the color of paint on the walls affects inmate behavior.
The Bay also has specially trained staff members who deal with security incidents.