DRUG TREATMENT CENTER'S NUMBERS ARE ROOT OF RIFT

ST. PETERSBURG -- A new treatment center for Pinellas County's drug court
was pitched as a local effort for local addicts caught in an endless cycle
of drugs and crime.

Yet, three months after the center opened in St. Petersburg, 28 of its 75
beds are occupied by people with no ties to Pinellas, most coming from
Broward County. Four other beds remain vacant.

Explanations behind those figures may expose a rift in the local treatment
community as officials of Bridges of America, the non-profit group
operating the center, complain about a lack of support.

"Everywhere we've wanted to accomplish things, there have been land mines,"
said Watson L. Haynes II, executive director of Bridges' Pinellas operation.

Haynes said Bridges brought people from outside Pinellas to its center
because the drug court simply wasn't sending enough local addicts.

"We were losing a significant amount of money because we were not full," he
said. "We should have been full from Day 1 based on the court docket. That
didn't happen. We didn't want to go broke."

Since the center at 1735 Dr. M.L. King (Ninth) St. S opened in July, he
said, he has suspected another treatment group, Operation PAR, of using
links with the court to direct patients away from Bridges.

Haynes said it is a PAR employee who recommends to drug court Judge Lauren
Laughlin where addicts be placed. Laughlin is on vacation and unavailable
to comment.

But officials of PAR, the drug court and Pinellas-Pasco Public Defender Bob
Dillinger all say accusations of defendants being funneled to one program
at the expense of another are untrue.

"That's crazy," said Nancy Hamilton, a PAR chief operating officer. "To say
anyone is keeping their patients out is a distortion of the truth."

Hamilton said PAR doesn't even compete with Bridges for referrals from drug
court. Bridges provides six-month residential treatment while PAR offers
only longer-term care, she said.

Haynes and PAR are not without some history. Haynes is a former PAR vice
president who worked for the agency for eight years before departing in
1999. That's the year he said he filed a discrimination complaint against
PAR with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

The complaint was settled, and Haynes never sued PAR. Neither side will
discuss the settlement or details of the complaint.

Hamilton, drug court coordinator Thomas Toy and Dillinger all say filling
Bridges' 75 beds quickly was unrealistic. They say filling all the beds was
expected to be a gradual process.

The center is funded with $1.1-million from the Florida of Department of
Corrections, so no local funding for treatment is used for out-of- county
addicts. Nonetheless, the city sold the building to Bridges for $1,
expecting local treatment for local people.

"It's a DOC-funded facility, DOC can send anyone they want there,"
Dillinger said.

About 630 defendants are in drug court. But only a fraction are tagged for
residential care at facilities such as Bridges'. Many more receive
out-patient care, provided by several agencies.

Since the Bridges facility opened, 40 of 45 defendants referred for
treatment have gone to Bridges, Toy said.

Haynes said he expects that all Bridges beds will be filled within a week.