Ex-mayor Is Sent Back To Jail

Former Medina Official Fred Greenwood To Remain In Cell Until He Can
Enter Drug Program

MEDINA: While final arrangements are made to hospitalize him for drug
addiction, former Medina Mayor Fred Greenwood will remain in a bare,
concrete-and-steel cell in the Medina County Jail.

County Common Pleas Court Judge James L. Kimbler yesterday ordered
Greenwood back to jail because he failed a drug test that violated his
bond agreement on a January 1999 charge of possession of crack cocaine.

Kimbler said he believed constant supervision was the only way
Greenwood would recover from his addiction. ``If you get residential
treatment, I will consider modifying the bond to allow him to
attend,'' the judge told Jeffrey Largent, Greenwood's attorney. ``The
best thing for him now is to be somewhere where he absolutely cannot
use drugs.''

County Prosecutor Dean Holman did not oppose Kimbler's plan to modify
the bond for Greenwood, 74, who served as mayor from 1966 to 1974.

Late yesterday, Greenwood was accepted as a patient at the Veterans
Addiction Recovery Center in the Brecksville Veterans Affairs
Hospital. ``We have a bed for him, on the 21st, if the court will
release him,'' said Harold Adkins, a VA rehabilitation and addiction
outreach technician.

Largent said he will contact Kimbler on Tuesday to authorize
Greenwood's release. ``Hopefully, Fred will be on his way to the VA by
Friday.''

Largent said he did not know if Greenwood has been notified of his
acceptance as a patient. ``The family has been working to arrange
treatment since Christmas. I haven't talked to him since the hearing.
I think his son will tell him.''

Greenwood declined to comment yesterday.

While Kimbler spoke at the hearing, Greenwood clutched a white
baseball cap in both hands and sat hunched forward in his chair next
to Largent. He did not move as his attorney apologized to the court
for his behavior. ``He needs treatment desperately,'' Largent said.

A widower since 1994, Greenwood has said loneliness was the source of
his problems with the law. He was arrested March 6 on a grand jury
indictment and spent four days in jail. The indictment came after a
January search of his Leisure Lane apartment conducted by the Medina
County Drug Task Force. Drug agents were looking for an Akron man on a
drug possession warrant.

In November, Kimbler gave Greenwood the opportunity to receive drug
treatment rather than face prosecution under an Ohio law that allows
some nonviolent first-time offenders to treat their addiction rather
than face imprisonment. Greenwood tried to plead guilty to the charge
Jan. 7 so he could complete the program. But Kimbler ordered a drug
test before allowing the plea change after he was told that Greenwood
had in November confessed to a probation officer that he had again
used crack cocaine.

The former mayor's Jan. 7 drug screen showed a level of cocaine 10
times the allowable limit, his lawyer said. A test conducted Jan. 12
came back negative.

``The judge bent over backward on the November go-round,'' Largent
said after the hearing. ``And (Greenwood) was as honest as a crack
cocaine addict can be. He told the counselor when he relapsed.
Everyone has tried to help him, and he has tried to help himself.''

Greenwood will be evaluated by the Psychodiagnostic Clinic in Summit
County to determine whether he is competent to stand trial. The
results of the test should come in about six weeks.

If he successfully completes this rehabilitation and is found
competent, he still could be eligible for an Ohio law that allows some
nonviolent, first-time offenders to face their addiction rather than
be sentenced for their crime. Possession of crack cocaine carries a
maximum penalty of one year in jail and a $2,500 fine.

Medina County Sheriff Neil Hassinger said Greenwood will be jailed
with other low-risk inmates. ``Corrections officers will keep a pretty
close eye on him,'' the sheriff said. ``We also have nurses on duty
almost all the time and a doctor on 24-hour call. But if he shows
symptoms of withdrawal, we'll transfer him to Medina General Hospital.

``He was pretty alert when I talked to him this afternoon, but he said
he was cold back there, Hassinger said. ``There's really no way we can
keep the cells as warm as an old person would keep their home.''