Jail Initiative Group Reports Raising $64,296

Campaigners for a ballot initiative requiring that all future county jails be built in Santa Ana have rebounded from their days as a cash-starved community group to become a financially formidable organization.

In May, the Taxpayers for a Centralized Jail reported that the group had raised just $7,900 since January. But in a financial report filed Monday, the group showed $64,296 raised.

Leaders of the organization said last week that they have completed 80% of a signature-gathering effort aimed at getting more than 80,000 names. About 66,000 signatures are required to place the measure on the ballot.

The group is working under a deadline of Aug. 15 to qualify the measure for the next countywide election after November. In the absence of a special election, the next vote will be in June, 1990.

Three county supervisors had also filed campaign statements by Monday. Harriett M. Wieder reported that she has about $131,000 in the bank; Don R. Roth showed $13,297, and Thomas F. Riley has $20,171. All of the reports covered the period ending June 30.