Ogdensburg Mayor Bill Nelson and St. Lawrence County Clerk Patty Rutchie today announced that their online petition to oppose the closing of the Ogdensburg Correctional Facility has collected 5,441 signatures.

The petition will be delivered to the OCF Task Force at the community rally planned for 4 PM, Friday, at Ogdensburg City Hall.

“From across St. Lawrence County and the North Country, to as far as San Diego, Arizona, Hawaii, and the brave men and women serving in our military overseas, people who care about our community are speaking with one voice to tell Albany to save our prison, save our jobs and protect our future,” said Ritchie.

“The entire community is speaking out, adding their names to petitions, writing letters, standing up at rallies and joining forces to save the jobs at OCF. We’ve taken the fight to the Internet, to the streets and soon we will be taking it to Albany to make sure they understand how important this facility is to families, employees, staff and this entire community,” said Nelson.

Ritchie said that half of the signers of the online petition at www.SaveOurPrison.com indicated that they did not work at the prison, or have a family member who works there, but in written comments,  they indicated that they understood the importance of the facility to the region’s economy.