A bi-partisan legislative commission is hearing testimony Friday on the governor's proposed closure of the Murray Developmental Center in Centralia.
The Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability is holding a public hearing at Centralia High School. The son of Murray Parents Association president Rita Winkler is a resident at the facility. She says he comes every weekend, but if Murray closes, she's afraid her son will be uprooted out of south-central Illinois.
Winkler says her main concern is how will Murray residents who need round the clock care - like her son - function in a community-based treatment setting? She doesn't believe Governor Quinn and others who support the closure have thought that far ahead. Winkler says the director of the Illinois Department of Human Services admitted to her he would be scared to death if that happened to his child.
The commission will eventually make a non-binding recommendation to the governor about the proposed closure.
