SE RESIDENTS' PROTESTS STALL METHADONE CLINIC

Saying they were tired of being exploited, a buoyant group of Anacostia
residents won the first round last night in an impassioned bid to block a
private methadone clinic from opening in their neighborhood.

Unleashing heartfelt testimony, some of the more than 50 residents who
attended a hearing persuaded a three-member review committee of mayoral
appointees to unanimously reject the proposed Good Hope Institute at 1320
Good Hope Road SE. The for-profit clinic would treat up to 300 heroin
addicts and charge $10 for a dose of methadone.

The decision went against a recent recommendation by the staff of the
city's health agency to approve the proposal.

The battle isn't over. The committee's recommendation goes to a full
committee--the D.C. Statewide Health Coordinating Council--which will
forward its recommendation after Nov. 2 to the director of the District's
State Health Planning and Development Agency for a final decision.

"This is a significant victory; I'm pleased with the decision," said Oliver
Johnson, an Anacostia advisory neighborhood commission chairman who
testified at the hearing in a city building on North Capitol Street. "It
renews my faith in the District of Columbia employees."

Mayor Anthony A. Williams's office also lauded the decision.

"The mayor is very satisfied with this committee taking into account the
concerns of the citizens, which he concurs with," said Lamont Mitchell,
special assistant to Williams (D) for economic development east of the
Anacostia River.

Neal Berch, president of the proposed clinic, operates three methadone
clinics in Maryland. He declined to comment last night.

Robert A. Malson, chairman of the review committee, said residents'
testimony "certainly had an influence" on the panel's vote.

The methadone clinic would be the fourth in Ward 6 but the first in Anacostia.

The hearing began with testimony from company officials who testified about
the need for drug treatment in the neighborhood.

"The addict does not live out of town," said Ronald Koshes, the company's
medical director. "Methadone clinics do not import addicts from out of town."

But residents said the clinic would lead to further decline in the
neighborhood and would put schoolchildren in harm's way. They called for
more economic development and jobs, not clinics.

"We will not tolerate another [methadone clinic] in our community," Johnson
said. "These people are in it for the money. These are people selling drugs
[methadone]. They are pushers."

Johnson vowed to picket in front of the building and block traffic if
necessary.

"What they are doing is destroying what is known as historical Anacostia.
It's the wrong message, it's the wrong signal," he said.

Resident Cardell Shelton agreed. "We do not need anymore junkies coming to
our neighborhood," he told the committee.