ORANGE DRUG ABUSE OUTFIT DENIED FUNDS

ORANGE - The rented building in the rear parking lot of a shopping center is
filled with former addicts trying to help others go straight.

The staff members at the Orange County Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse
have seen their share of battles, but the latest battle has them worried
about funding and upset about a community's perception.

When the Orange City Council denied funding to the agency June 13, it was
just another blow to the 46-year-old organization that has already seen a
65-percent cut from United Way over the past two years.

No one seems to know why the drug council is having problems securing local
funding. If they do, they're not saying.

"We've lost confidence in them," Orange City Councilman Bill Klein said.
"There's not one reason in particular."

Klein said other local agencies, such as Artie B.'s and Life Resource, are
doing a similar job, and he'd rather see the money go to a place where the
city will get more for its money.

"As far as the City Council, we just feel like we're taking the safe road,"
he said. "We have a loss of confidence that they're using these monies as
effectively as they can be used."

The agency's current budget is about $330,000, with $268,740 going toward
salaries.

That is not out of line with expectations, an official with the Southeast
Texas Regional Planning Commission said.

"For a service-oriented program, the majority of the budget should go
towards the counselors who are actually doing the programs," said Terleen
Hurst, director of the commission's substance abuse division.

According to monthly performance reports, the agency has screened 245 adults
and 12 juveniles since October.

During the same period, 365 adults and 769 juveniles have attended
presentations.

For Orange County Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse board member Julie Lane,
the cut in funding without specific complaints seems irresponsible.

"I think it's very sad that the people who are taking the funding away don't
have anything to substantiate the accusations," she said.

Hurst said she received one documented complaint against the Orange agency.

"We haven't found anything we have been subcontracted for that has not been
done to some degree," she said. "It's more just kind of an uncooperative
attitude."

Drug council executive director Nancy Fezia thinks the agency's local
problems are a personality issue.

"I really think that I made someone angry," she said.

Her agency was at one time housed with Orange County Family Counseling, but
she objected and wanted the two agencies to separate. Since then, she's seen
a decrease in local funding, she said.

"We have had to spend a lot of time trying to disprove accusations," Fezia
said. "All they have to do is come in here and look at our records. I'll be
glad to show them."

Joe Ely, Orange County United Way board president, said he doesn't know why
the group reduced funding to the drug council.

"We just look at the cash flow figures, and we analyze them," he said.

United Way once gave the drug council about $60,000 a year, but over the
past two years the annual donation has decreased to $25,000.

"We didn't give them near as much as they asked for," Ely said.

On the state and federal level, the agency isn't having problems. An October
1999 audit by the Texas Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse gave the agency
a 90 percent rating.

"That is a good score," said communications director Stephanie Goodman said.
"Anything under 70 requires action by the agency or additional oversight."

But the Orange Drug Council uses local money to pay the matching
requirements on state and federal grants. More than half the agency's
funding comes from the state.

"The future of the agency is questionable," Fezia said. "Once they close a
council down, you can't really get it back up."

Since the City Council denied the grant request, Fezia said her phone has
rung off the hook with calls from concerned citizens worried the agency is
shutting down.

Fezia said she's a fighter. She's fought a drug addiction, and now she's
fighting breast cancer. She'll fight this battle too, she said.

"We want them to write letters, file charges or leave us alone," she said.

To her, the City Council's decision to deny the grant application was fine.
She can handle not having the money. But for a citizen and a City Council
member to both imply the agency is not doing its job is an insult to her,
the board and her staff.

She doesn't think she'll ask the city again for Community Development Block
Grant money.

Klein said once Fezia's agency is "back on track," the council will again
consider giving block grant money.

"This wasn't something that just came out of the air," he said.

The trouble is, Fezia doesn't believe the agency is off track, and if it is,
no one will be specific about how it got off track or how to get it back on.