AGREEMENT CAUSES METHADONE CLINIC TO LOOK ELSEWHERE

Advanced treatment Systems is looking at six other sites in York
County to locate the clinic.

The six people crowded behind the podium all but kissed and made
up.

There will definitely not be a methadone clinic in the Tri-Hill
Professional Center on South Queen Street, sang three political
figures, a Spring Garden Township resident, a health official and a
businessman at a Tuesday morning press conference.

All parties involved in the four-month disagreement finally announced
that Advanced Treatment Systems of Coatesville will find another
location for the methadone clinic that the York-Adams Drug and Alcohol
Program insists is needed - the same clinic that residents argued
would invite criminals into the area and push property values down.

Members of the group took turns congratulating each
other.

York-Adams Drug and Alcohol Program Administrator Steve Warren
reiterated the need for a clinic, noting that 50 percent of York
County's drug court cases revolve around heroin.

Dr. Doug Schmitt wished Advanced Treatment Services good luck at a
location away from his dentist office in Tri-Hill.

Advanced Treatment Systems Executive Vice President Jeff Kegley
thanked local residents for being kind.

But then came the issue of where the methadone clinic will go, and
things got strained again.

"The proposed location was inappropriate," York County Commissioner
Shirley Glass said. "(The clinic) will be in a more appropriate place
in the future."

York County Commissioner Christopher Reilly said he deemed it
"appropriate" that the clinic be placed in a spot removed from
residential neighborhoods.

Kegley interjected that clients themselves wouldn't want to be near
neighbors who view them as stigmatized.

"It's best for us to relocate to an area where they can get the
privacy they desire," he said.

No one had any definites on where that new location would be. Kegley
and Warren said they've been driving around the county together and
have about six spots in mind.

They would not comment on whether the new site will be in Spring
Garden Township, but they are leaning toward a commercial or
industrial zone with access to highways and bus service.

Kegley said the clinic should open in a new site by June or July. He
would not comment on how the business got out of its lease at 1601 S.
Queen St.

All involved laughed when asked how to avoid in the future the
controversy that arose when Advanced Treatment Services announced its
plans in January.

"I was caught completely off guard by the reaction of the community to
the site," said Warren, also of Spring Garden Township. "I thought
that was a really good location. But in terms of the next time, we'll
have to look beyond bricks and mortar."

Warren also passed out handouts on facts about methadone treatment,
dispelling the idea that crime would rise and that heroin addicts
would loiter the streets.

He cited that less than 15 percent of potential clients would come
from downtown York. The rest would come from across the county.

Having a clinic in the county would cut down on the $150,000 bill
spent transporting and treating York County residents at the nearby
Harrisburg clinic.

When all was said and done, Bob Snider got up and smiled.

A neighbor of Schmitt's, Snider said his home backs up to the lot
where the clinic would have opened.

"I like to work in the yard in the early morning," he said. "I was
worried about property values and safety issues, so I'm thankful it's
been moved."