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State Holds Public Hearing for Jacksonville Closure

Residents in Central Illinois voiced their opinions Wednesday night during a public hearing on the planned closure of the Jacksonville Development Center.The center for the developmentally disabled in Jacksonville would be one of the first of the 14 major state facilities, including mental hospitals and a pair of prisons, Governor Quinn wants to close. Each would have to go through a hearing similar to the five hour long one held for Jacksonville.  Quinn wants to move its residents into community settings such as an apartment, group home, or back with their families. 

Mark Doyle is overseeing the transition.   He says its not a one size fits all approach.  It's an approach where the state is looking at individual options for each patient.  Quinn's team says it'll afford those with disabilities to lead richer lives while also saving the state money. But Senator Sam McCann, a Republican whose district covers Jacksonville, says  those motives keep changing. McCann says when it's convenient, it is a fiscal issue, at other times when it's convenient, it's philosophical issue and a policy issue.  And at other times it's neither and at other times its both. Residents' parents say the center is their children's home, and they will fight to keep it open.

The legislative bipartisan commission didn't take a vote on the matter and it may never. Even if it does, Governor Quinn can override the lawmakers decision.

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