FINAL BAN SOUGHT AGAINST CLINIC

A judge has been asked to permanently block Shelby County's first methadone
clinic from opening its doors for business in Saginaw.

Shelby County Circuit Judge Dan Reeves will hear the case next Monday
at 9 a.m. in the Shelby County Courthouse. Last month, Reeves issued a
preliminary injunction blocking the clinic owners from opening the
medical facility.

In January, Susan Staats-Sidwell and Dr. Glenn Archibald were issued a
certificate of need from the state Health and Planning Development
Agency to open Shelby Treatment Center. The certificate permitted the
applicants to administer methadone, a prescription drug used to combat
addiction to pain killers and heroin.

Originally, the clinic applicants intended to open the center in
Calera. However, after failing to secure a lease in that city, they
found a location on U.S. Highway 31 in unincorporated Saginaw.

Clinic attorney David Belser said during a June hearing that his
clients had not violated procedures for opening the clinic. Belser has
said securing the certificate of need is the only legal obstacle for
opening a clinic.

"Our job was over with when they got the certificate of need," Belser
said.

When clinic officials found out they could not secure a location in
Calera, Belser said, they filed a project modification on May 24 with
the state agency.

Alan Edmundson, a Saginaw resident with property adjacent to the
proposed location for the methadone clinic, said the modification was
granted two days after Reeves filed a temporary restraining order
against the clinic.

Shelby County District Attorney Robby Owens, along with Mickey
Johnson, a Pelham attorney representing clinic opponents in Saginaw,
said the community was not notified sufficiently of the forthcoming
clinic.

Following the June hearing, Belser said he wanted the case heard in
Montgomery circuit court, not in Shelby County.