FIGHT CONTINUES OVER SHELBY METHADONE CLINIC

A group thwarted in its first attempt to open a methadone clinic in Saginaw
filed a new application with state regulators Thursday.

The filing by the proposed owners of the Shelby County Treatment Center
follows a court fight and ruling that prevented them from opening the
clinic for more than a year.

The state Health Planning and Development Agency granted the owners a
license to operate last year, but Shelby County Circuit Judge Dan Reeves
blocked the opening after Saginaw residents sued.

Reeves ruled that the clinic's owners had denied residents the right to
participate in public discussion before the clinic won state approval
because the clinic's final proposed location was not made public until it
was too late for meaningful protest.

The new application names the same site on U.S. 31 in Saginaw as the
clinic's location. The center would be the first methadone clinic in Shelby
County.

Methadone is a prescribed drug taken by mouth to reduce the desire for
drugs such as painkillers and heroin.

Opponents of the Shelby County clinic expressed concerns about the
potential increase in crime and abuse of methadone.

The clinic owners have appealed Reeves' decision in the Court of Civil
Appeals in Montgomery. One of them, Susan Staats-Sidwell, said she decided
to pursue a new application simultaneously in case the appeals court
affirmed Reeves' order.

"If we win in the Court of Civil Appeals, then everything stops and we can
open," she said.

Public hearings will be held before the state board votes on the application.

"This time at least we'll have a voice in it," said Alan Edmondson, an
Alabaster barbershop owner and Saginaw resident who organized the protest
against the Saginaw clinic. "It's the proper thing for them to do it and go
back through the process. We'll be there."

In the original court case, Shelby County District Attorney Robby Owens,
who represented the Saginaw residents, asked that the clinic's application
be sent back to Montgomery to allow more to participate in the approval
process.

Owens said he was pleased that would occur, and he'll go to Montgomery to
oppose the clinic.

"We'll fight them again, but it'll be on different grounds," Owens said.
"The argument then becomes whether or not it's a good thing or a bad thing
and whether or not it's appropriately placed."

In addition to the Saginaw clinic, Owens said he'll oppose a methadone
clinic proposed by different owners a few miles away in Alabaster.

Staats-Sidwell said her clinic would serve Shelby County addicts who
otherwise have to drive daily to clinics in Bessemer, Homewood or Roebuck
or at the University of Alabama at Birmingham for treatment. She said
methadone is a proven and legitimate form of drug treatment.

Owens said Shelby County does not need a methadone clinic. The county
already has drug treatment programs that don't use chemicals, he said.

"Maybe these things have a purpose, but not here," Owens said.