BUSINESSES OPPOSE METHADONE CLINIC

BANGOR - Maine Square Mall tenants are banding together to fight a
methadone clinic proposed for the strip mall by a Florida-based operator of
substance abuse treatment centers. Officials from the dozen or so
businesses at the mall are meeting Friday morning at Quiznos Subs, the
clinic's soon-to-be next-door neighbor, to discuss their options and
determine a course of action, Quiznos owner Walter Cirone said Wednesday.

That action might include a petition, but to whom the tenants have yet to
decide.

A representative of the Florida business, Colonial Management Group, will
be at the Bangor clinic site Nov. 22 to meet with the clinic's future
neighbors.

City officials have set Nov. 29 as the tentative date for a public meeting
with Colonial officials.

Mall tenants are worried that the methadone clinic proposed by Colonial
could attract drug dealers, lead to loitering in the parking lot, put at
risk the teenagers and young adults who work at and frequent the mall, and
worsen the parking crunch that already exists at the busy East Side strip mall.

They also are concerned that the methadone clinic - and the police presence
that may come with it - will deter customers, which will hurt the bottom
line of their businesses.

If a second clinic must open here, they said Wednesday, it should locate in
a medical setting, like the one that opened at Acadia Hospital more than
three years ago.

"Nobody wants it in here," Cirone said Wednesday. "[Treatment for
addictions] is a good thing, yes, but it has to go somewhere else. In a
medical setting, the risks are a lot lower."

City Manager Edward Barrett, Council Chairman Frank Farrington and City
Solicitor Norman Heitmann all said Wednesday they've received no telephone
calls on the issue, other than from the media, since it came to light last
week.

"I think the zoning permits this, and there's nothing we can do about
that," Farrington said Wednesday, adding, "The owner of the mall can lease
to anyone he wishes."

He said the clinic's plans "caught us completely by surprise. We're trying
to check these people out, but we can't get the word out until we know more."

"I think that there's a lot of misunderstanding out there, and I'm going to
address it if they just give me a chance," Lynn Costigan, Colonial
representative, said Wednesday in a telephone interview. "I'm willing to
work with people."

Cirone said he is unhappy with the retail center's out-of-state owner,
Bangor Realty Limited Partnership, which could not be reached Wednesday for
comment.

The sub shop owner is unhappy with city officials, whom he said have known
about the proposed clinic since late September and "sat on it for more than
a month."

"I'm wondering why they were caught flat-footed on this," Cirone said. The
entire handling of the matter was "kind of backward," he said.

Heitmann said informing tenants was the landlord's duty. He said the city
could not prevent Colonial's clinic from opening because it is a permitted
activity in the city's general commercial districts.

Cirone also is unhappy with Colonial Management, which he said should have
set up shop in a community not yet served by a clinic.

"They chose Bangor because it gives them a good body count," he said. "That
concerns me as well."

Other Maine Square Mall business people echoed his concerns.

"It should be, to me, in a medical setting," said Tammy Plante, a manager
at Strictly Formal, a formal wear rental business at the strip mall.

Costigan said a medical setting was not an option for her. She said she was
"cubbyholed" into a commercial setting because that's where the city's land
use code says chemical treatment facilities must go.

Michael Turner, owner of Turner Sporting Goods, is worried about his
customers, most of whom are teenagers or younger.

"Obviously, everybody is upset about it," Turner said of the clinic. "It
doesn't have any place in a retail setting."

Staff Sgt. Jay Stevens, a recruiter for the U.S. Marines office, isn't
anticipating any problems from the clinic or its clients but does wish
Colonial would locate somewhere else.

"I think they could have picked a better location," he said.

"I don't expect any trouble," the Marine said. "If anyone there gives us
any trouble, we'll take care of them. It's not like we're going to be over
there recruiting anyone."

Tammy Plante, manager of Strictly Formal, one of the businesses in the
Maine Square Mall in Bangor, says she thinks the methadone clinic is fine
but that it doesn't belong in a business district. She is concerned about
the impact the clinic will have on already limit parking at the mall.

Mike Turner, owner of Turner Sporting Goods in the Maine Square Mall in
Bangor, says he is very strongly opposed to a methadone clinic in a retail
setting. "This type of setting is no place for a methadone clinic," Turner
said. "People are frightened by it. It should be in a hospital setting."

Marlene Thomas, owner of Marlene's Uniform Shop in the Maine Square Mall in
Bangor, is concerned about the impact the methadone clinic will have on her
business.

Tammy Hancock, assistant manager of Marlene's Uniform Shop in the Maine
Square Mall in Bangor, says she is concerned about the methadone clinic and
plans to attend Friday's meeting of mall business owners.