WHAT HAPPENED TO QUEST CENTER?

What Happened?

A reasonable taxpayer might be wondering just how a residential
drug-and-alcohol treatment program -- seven years and roughly $1 million in
the making -- could collapse after a mere two months of operation. The new
program, managed by Quest Recovery Services in a long-vacant Massillon
Psychiatric Center dormitory, will shut down Dec. 15, leaving 10 workers
jobless and scores of future patients without the service.

And leaving as many questions as answers in its wake. The Stark County
Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services Board -- which channeled funding for
the project -- promptly owes taxpayers specific answers.

Did the board's executive director, Marlin Pitchford, mislead backers of
the project, promising more money than would be available? Or did the
center backers jump the gun and anticipate funding that wasn't guaranteed?
Was a detailed business plan being followed to direct each dollar coming
into the project?

The idea had drawn support from many quarters, especially from state Rep.
Kirk Schuring, who alone garnered $750,000 in funding, and local municipal
judges who have doggedly pushed the project along.

The facility was designed to help nonviolent drug and alcohol offenders,
providing better treatment than incarceration would while alleviating
strain on overcrowded jails. The idea remains a good one.

Taxpayers deserve quick answers. The community deserves the services
promised by the new facility. And would-be patients deserve our continued
efforts to see the idea to fruition.