DRUG ABUSE FACILITY SET TO OPEN

Center Will Be Able To House And Help Abusers Find Jobs So They Can
Prepare For A New Life

Two kids sat on the floor staring at a spot on the wall. The spot
where their television used to be. The TV their daddy sold to support
his drug habit.

Mound Bayou Mayor Kennedy Johnson saw the kids when their mother asked
him to talk to her husband. "You know, that hurt me so bad," Johnson
said of seeing the kids.

As a way to help people like the children's father, a substance abuse
facility is scheduled to open at the end of the month in Mound Bayou.
The 8,000-square-foot facility will house 16 patients over a
nine-month period. Eight patients will be able to bring their
children. The facility will create eight to 10 jobs, Kennedy said.

Several people in the Bolivar County city of roughly 2,000 residents
have crack and marijuana problems, Johnson said. Capt.

Arthur Coleman of the Mound Bayou Police Department said most thefts
in the city are because of substance abusers.

"We couldn't recruit any top-paying jobs until we really clean up our
home. I wanted to do it from a different angle. Instead of
incarcerating the people, let's look at getting them rehabilitated,"
Johnson said.

"If you rehabilitate the people, they can be law-abiding citizens," he
said. "If you incarcerate them, they're going to be a tax liability.
It's best to try to give them an opportunity to change their way of
life and be good citizens."

A multiyear $5 million grant to open the substance abuse facility came
from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The city received a grant for nearly $500,000 from the Mid-Delta
Empowerment Zone to renovate an old community building where the
facility will be located. The building hadn't been repaired for at
least 12 years, Johnson said.

People will come to the Mound Bayou facility for the second phase of
their treatment from a similar site in Cleveland. The center will help
them find jobs and "get them to mix back in with society," Johnson
said.

Through a memorandum of understanding with Mound Bayou, Mississippi
Valley State University in Itta Bena helped write a grant, train
counselors and provide other technical assistance, Johnson said.

"We don't have to pay the money to get it done. They pay it for us. It
saves us thousands of dollars," Johnson said.

Moses Newsome, Valley's vice president of research, planning,
community and economic development, said Valley also has memorandums
of understanding with Tchula and Itta Bena.

"We see this as an opportunity to give back to the community," Newsome
said.