SCOTT OFFICIALS STANDING FAST AGAINST METHADONE CLINIC

WEBER CITY - Plans are in the works to mount "across the board''
opposition to Appalachian Treatment Services' plan to locate a
methadone clinic in Scott County, Board of Supervisors Chairman David
Redwine said Wednesday.

Redwine said although he cannot speak for every member of the board,
he is "quite confident" his fellow supervisors and other elected
officials in the county will oppose the clinic, which ATS has proposed
to locate near Weber City on a piece of property a few hundred yards
from the Virginia state line.

Redwine said he knew it was just a matter of time before "this type of
facility'' would try to locate in the county due to the lack of zoning.

Zoning for Scott County is in the works, but County Attorney Dean
Foster said officials cannot take a final vote on the matter until the
last quarter of 2005 because of public workshops and hearings required
under state guidelines.

"We knew that Scott County was vulnerable to this coming because we
lack zoning to keep them out,'' said Redwine.

"We are one of the few counties in the region and the state that do
not currently have zoning, so that left us as a prime target (for a
methadone clinic)," said Redwine. "This type of business really brings
nothing positive along with it in the research I have done on it. I do
not think it brings anything positive to the economy or quality of
life in Scott County.

"We had hoped to get zoning in place before something like this
happened, but now we must deal with it. We are trying to get as much
information as we can from other areas where these clinics currently
exist and where they have failed and see what they have done.''

ATS official Dr. Richard Skelskey confirmed earlier this week that his
company has purchased an option on a piece of land along U.S. Route 23
in the State Line area of Scott County outside the Weber City
corporate limits.

According to tax maps and deeds from the Scott County Circuit Court
Clerk's Office obtained by Foster, the land is the property of Big
Stone Gap resident Bruce Riggs.

The location made all the difference in where ATS placed the clinic,
said Redwine.

"With its proposed entrance being just off of U.S. (Route) 23 and so
close to a four-state region, I guess we were the most centrally
located county to get picked by their officials,'' he said.

"In speaking with the sheriff of Tazewell County today, where one of
the clinics currently exists, he spoke of several incidents where
people who had just come from methadone treatment had been involved in
everything from car accidents to painting graffiti," Redwine said.
"The suspects were not from Tazewell County but from other states like
West Virginia and Tennessee. (This clinic) would just offer a threat
to the people of Scott County, so we plan to oppose it any way we can.''

Sheriff Jerry Broadwater said the clinic would bring in "the wrong
element,'' adding that past history proves that methadone clinics are
just a pacifier for a drug addiction.

"I don't see how it could possible be good for our citizens and this
county. I opposed one that tried to come in here in 1999, and I plan
to fight this one,'' said Broadwater.

"We have heard from other departments around the state where these
clinics are where the people who go in for treatment just bring a
crowd with them that is usually up to no good.

"One thing that needs to take place is for citizens of the county who
are against this clinic to write a letter telling the ones who license
these clinics that they don't want it here in Scott County.''

Virginia law requires that local governing bodies and community
service boards submit comments on the proposed issuing of a license to
the commissioner of the Department of Mental Health, Mental
Retardation and Substance Abuse Services within 30 days of the county
receiving notice of the license application being submitted.

Skelskey noted that ATS has been a registered Virginia business for
two years.

He said Tuesday that 60 percent of the company's clientele at its
Asheville, N.C., clinic comes from the Tri-Cities, and ATS has been
looking for a possible location in the region for two years.