They call themselves "Stop Detention Center in Downtown Carthage" and are out to do just that.

Bert Patrick, whose family settled in the area as far back as the earliest years of the 19th century, is the ad hoc leader of the group.

"We started meeting the last week of May after we heard the county commission was about to take a final vote," Patrick said Thursday in a telephone interview.

The group made a plea to the commissioners June 8, but it went unheeded. The board voted 3-2 to proceed with expanding the jail on an adjoining 21-acre site.

The county is also planning to build a public safety complex. The county bought the land from Johnny Grimm for $1.5 million in 2007. The present expansion plans are based on a study of new jail needs, including inmate projections and facility programming done for Moore County by Stephen J. Allan, president of Solutions for Local Government Inc., the Charlotte-based consulting firm that has handled previous facility studies for Moore County.

A 2003 study by Allan found that the county faced major issues. There was already an "urgent need for additional inmate housing capacity" and a general lack of space. Moore County would have difficulty complying with state jail standards without a major investment.

The resulting current plan will increase the number of beds from 110 to 260, and the new structure will house more than the county jail. It will also house the Sheriff's Department, public safety personnel, emergency medical services, 911 emergency communications and the fire marshal.

Patrick said she has no problem with the county needing more room to house detainees. She just thinks the historic district of downtown Carthage is the wrong place for it. She points to a law restricting prison facilities from being built within 300 feet of places where children gather. Carthage Elementary School is just across the street.

Commissioner Larry Caddell, the former mayor of Carthage, said this will not be a prison. He said most of the inmates housed there are simply charged with failing to comply with court-ordered child support or waiting for a hearing or to make bail. A small percentage are serving short sentences of less than 45 days, usually on misdemeanor offenses.

'Build on One Spot'

"We are not against having a detention center in Carthage," said Steve Ennis, a real estate agent whose office is adjacent to the Grimm tract. "But I see no reason in the world our county has to have a jail larger than any other in the state of North Carolina. Most agree on the need to connect the jail with the courts facility. Why not take them all over and build on one spot?"

Ennis' wife, Becky, serves with Steve Moody as finance officers for Stop Detention Center in Downtown Carthage (SDCDC). They are raising funds with garage sales and by selling yard signs against the plan. SDCDC contends such a large facility would present security problems, lower property values and hurt the town's image. They have collected hundreds of names on a petition opposing the location.

Patrick is adamant in her determination to stop the county from building what she foresees will be a blight on her hometown, one that will drive away new residents and rob present homeowners of the value they presently have if they live anywhere near the site. Her home is on Sunset Drive, not far away.

"If you want to know what a huge public detention center will do to a historic town center, just take a trip over to Concord and look at the grand old homes in their historic district," she said. "Stand across from their new county public detention center, and look down the street. You will see rows of beautiful homes with 'For Sale' signs in front of them, because of it."

Caddell 'Not Worried'

That won't happen in Carthage, Caddell says. Like Patrick, he has lived in Carthage all his life. He said he has no fear of this plan or its downtown location.

"My 87-year-old father (Alec Caddell) isn't worried, either," Caddell said. "My wife and I live here, my mom and dad, my son -- all in all, people in our family own property all over Carthage, and we are not worried about its value. There has been a jail there all my life, and this new facility will be brick. It will be in the present style of downtown. It will look like Carthage."

One of the criticisms of the present gray concrete Moore County Courts Facility from the beginning had been that it "just does not look like Carthage." Caddell and others have worked with architects to be sure any new county structures do not conflict with the look and feel of their surroundings.

There may be little SDCDC can do legally to block the downtown expansion, Ennis said -- though the group is consulting an attorney.

"You can't go to court and stop a county commission just because you don't like what they do," he said. "Our attorney will go over the process to see whether or not any procedural errors were committed."

In the meantime, they were looking for contributions and for items to sell this weekend in a yard sale outside his McNeil Street office.

Contact John Chappell at 783-5841 or by e-mail at jchappell@thepilot.com.