ARTICLE BELITTLED NEIGHBOURS' CONCERNS ABOUT CLINIC

Re: Doctor defends methadone clinic at public meeting, July 6.

The Citizen report missed the point of Monday's community meeting
regarding the new methadone clinic on Somerset Street and has
misrepresented my intervention and those of others at that meeting.

The position of the neighbouring condominium complex, of which I am
board president, is, and has been, that methadone treatment is an
essential and urgently needed health service in the downtown core.
However, we and our city councillor, Diane Holmes, feel that opening
this clinic in what is now a predominantly high-density residential
neighbourhood and co-located in a senior-citizens' residence, was not
a wise choice by Dr. Jeff Daiter of Ontario Addiction Treatment Centres.

The clinic could have easily served the needs of its clients and
avoided this unnecessary conflict with residents by opening in a
commercial area just a few blocks away. For some time now, our
condominium board has accepted the fact that the clinic is here to
stay, which is why we are lobbying the city and Councillor Holmes for
increased policing in the area.

Your reporter's negative characterization of me as some kind of
"ringleader" for championing the legitimate concerns of area residents
belittles the seriousness of the situation and demonstrates his
misunderstanding of the issue. At no point during the meeting did I
"shout over the doctors' " responses or otherwise impede them from
making the case for their clinic.

If it were not for the lobbying of this so-called "ringleader" and
other concerned residents, our community meeting would never have
taken place and Dr. Daiter would have continued to ignore our community.

Shawn Dearn,

Ottawa

(The Citizen stands by the facts of the article.)