MOVE DRUG CENTER OUT OF CLEGHORN

The decision by the state Office of Community Corrections to force
Worcester County Sheriff Guy W. Glodis to remove correctional officers from
the Community Corrections Center in Cleghorn has rightly angered a lot of
city officials and residents.

Stephen V. Price, executive director of the OCC in Boston, told the
Sentinel & Enterprise correctional officers are not necessary for the
drug-testing and counseling facility.

"The center is primarily for substance-abuse treatment and education, where
teachers teach in a classroom setting," Price said. "Offenders that are
seen there and use the services all live in the Fitchburg area, either on
probation, parole or in home confinement. There is no need for heavy
security, because they don't have heavy security anywhere else."

It appears Glodis is right when he says his office had no control over the
decision to pull the correctional officers out of the center.

But he was at fault for not informing city officials, who are worried that
the lack of a uniformed presence in the center will lead to more crime.

They are also rightly upset that Fitchburg continues to be forced to host
drug-treatment centers without any voice in the decision.

"If the sheriff is going to take the correctional officers out, then he
should take the building and the rest of the bums with him," City Councilor
at large Ralph R. Romano III said Monday.

The facility expanded in Fitchburg roughly five years ago under former
Sheriff John "Mike" Flynn, Romano said.

We agree.

If you have to have these kinds of centers in the city, they shouldn't be
in neighborhoods or in the downtown, they should be in isolated sections of
Fitchburg, away from homes and families.

What's also troubling is that Romano and City Councilor Matthew C. Straight
proposed a resolution in 2000, urging Flynn not to expand the center to
include drug testing for people on parole or probation.

The City Council narrowly defeated the resolution with a 6-5 vote, in
effect supporting Flynn's proposal to expand the center, located on
Fairmount Place.

Mayor Dan H. Mylott, who has strongly opposed the removal of correctional
officers from the center, voted down the resolution in 2000 when he was
City Council president.

"At the time, (Mylott) voted against it because he felt that the presence
of uniformed sheriff officers at the facility gave great value to the
facility, the neighborhood and the city," said Robert Pontbriand, Mylott's
assistant.

That was a reasonable decision then. Unfortunately, it's backfired on the
city now.