JUDGE KEEPS METHADONE CLINIC STALLED IN SAGINAW

Circuit Judge Dan Reeves ruled Monday that no methadone clinic can
open in Saginaw until would-be clinic operators get a Certificate Of
Need with Saginaw as the stated site.

The methadone clinic received a Certificate Of Need from the Alabama
State Health Planning and Development Agency, but the partners
proposing to operate the clinic had specified a Calera location. After
obtaining the CON, the clinic owners changed their location to Saginaw.

The clinic's lawyer, David Belser, claimed that all residents of
Shelby County received proper notice when clinic owners intended to
open in Calera. Saginaw residents object to a methadone clinic in
their neighborhood.

Although the clinic originally was planned for Calera, the state
certificate was issued for the entire county and didn't require
further notification, Belser argued.

Reeves found "that the decision of the defendants to locate said
facility in Saginaw, without first providing any form of public notice
of such intent, deprives the plaintiffs of their right to due process."

Reeves' preliminary injunction extends the effect of a temporary
restraining order he issued last week.

"No citizen of the State of Alabama, regardless of their interests or
their efforts, could have known of the intention of the defendants to
locate in Saginaw" while there was still time to exercise rights to
object to a CON, Reeves wrote.

The right to be heard on a CON application at a public hearing or the
right to appeal the decision of SHPDA, Reeves wrote, are "guaranteed
by statute, by rule or by regulation."

Susan Staats-Sidwell and Dr. Glenn Archibad are seeking to open the
Shelby Treatment Center on U.S. 31 in Saginaw. Methadone is a
prescribed drug taken by mouth to reduce the desire for drugs such as
painkillers and heroin.

At the request of District Attorney Robby Owens, Reeves had issued a
temporary restraining order last week, stopping all preparations at a
converted Saginaw warehouse.

"The next move now is really in their court," Owens said. "I intend to
take this as far as I can take it."

In his Monday order, Reeves did not tell Staats-Sidwell and Archibald
they had to stop remodeling work on the building. However, he warned
them that any expenses they incur cannot be used to help their case.

Belser said he intends to file a motion to move the court case to
Montgomery, where officials with the State Health Planning Agency
would participate. Belser said complaints about notification and
fairness to residents are issues dealing with state regulations, not
the clinic.

"If anything went wrong it went wrong in Montgomery," Belser said.
"Every rule, regulation and statute has been fully complied with by
Shelby Treatment Center."