REHAB CENTER LOOKS FOR NEW HOME

- - Oxnard Vows To Help The Rainbow Facility Relocate After Approving A Park
Plan To Turn The Site Into A Farm Museum.

For 17 years, staffers at the Rainbow Recovery Center have gone about the
painful task of repairing the lives of women ravaged by drugs, alcohol and
mental illness. By all accounts, it has been a quiet, successful operation,
located at Oxnard's College Park.

But in the fast-growing city, the "Rainbow Ladies," as employees and
patients of the center are often called, are in the wrong place at the
wrong time.

Last week, a divided City Council adopted a $20-million renovation for the
75-acre park that does not include the recovery center.

The two houses they rent will be used for a farm heritage museum. The women
have to be out by January 2004, enough time, they say, to find another home.

"It was a sad night, but we've regrouped and we're not going to let this
get us down," Executive Director Kathleen McQuillan said. "We've got each
other. We're just trusting in God, trying to be grateful for the things
that we do have."

The city's plan calls for development of two dog parks, baseball and soccer
fields, a lighted basketball area, a fenced skate park and a
26,000-square-foot community center with a gym.

The Rainbow house would be converted into a farm museum dedicated to the
county's agricultural history.

The women had vowed to fight to the bitter end, but conceded defeat after
last week's council vote.

"We're going to have to apply for grants and write proposals until our
hands fall off," McQuillan said.

The center, which relies on a variety of grants and private donations, has
no reserves to pay the $2 million it would likely cost to buy a new
building that could accommodate up to 22 women, McQuillan said.

The city has pledged to help find a new place, and officials have said they
will not formally agree to any museum plans until the center finds a new home.

But Mayor Manuel Lopez, who voted against the master plan for the park, has
warned that finding a welcoming place will be difficult and costly.

"We'll probably have to wind up building something for them, and it's going
to be very expensive," he said.

In recent weeks, city officials began trying to find a new location, but
they have already run into opposition from residents who lived near a
proposed site in Oxnard's historic district.

"That's where you see the contradictions," Rainbow counselor Jerry Smith
said. "They want to see alcoholics and drug addicts off the streets, but
they don't want the place that treats them and keeps them off the street in
their neighborhood."

McQuillan said she hopes the city keeps its promise, but isn't counting on it.

"We're not going to let them off the hook," she said. "But we're not
putting all our eggs in one basket."

From the beginning, the Rainbow Ladies had a tough fight on their hands.
For starters, they have no legal claim to the two old farmhouses.

Also, when the county transferred ownership of the park to the city in
2000, the deed stated that the property could only be used for "parks and
recreation purposes," officials said.

"They do great work, but when the recovery center was allowed to come to
College Park, they had no intention of staying 17 years," City Atty. Gary
Gillig said.

"The Rainbow people, maybe not the ones that are there today, knew that the
plan was for the park to be developed. They had a month-to-month lease."

Even if the city and county changed the terms of their agreement to allow
inclusion of the center, state grants to finance the estimated $20-million
cost of renovating the park might be more difficult to obtain if there is a
drug recovery center on park grounds, Gillig said.

"The state provides money to the city, but it's always with strings
attached," he said. "It's very difficult for me to believe that an
alcohol-and-drug recovery center is appropriate use of a public park."

But Nancy Williams, an assistant at the center, beams with pride at the
houses she and the other women have rebuilt. "We do a service for this
community," Williams said. "We're saving lives here; we're reuniting families."

Oxnard officials do not deny this. They have praised the Rainbow Ladies for
their hard work and say they recognize the city needs their services. But,
the officials add, not at a park.

McQuillan and other counselors have tried not to mention the controversy to
the women they help. But recovering addicts such as Robin Olson, 35, know
their place of refuge might soon be in someone else's hands.

"They break you up and build you up and get you rooted for real life here,"
she said. "There's been a lot of tears shed here throughout the years, and
it's just wrong to have to go."

Speaking through her own tears, McQuillan tries to stay optimistic. "Moving
day will be sad, but we'll go on. And wherever we go, we'll make that our
home, and we'll help women, and we'll continue to do our work," she said.

"The truth is," she said, "that anything can happen in a year, honey."