STATE STILL SEEKING MACON PROBATION SITE

A day after Macon Mayor Jack Ellis announced that a controversial probation
day center is a no-go at the old Anthony Road armory, state prison
officials say they still want to open a rehabilitation facility in the city.

The mayor in mid-April agreed to let the Georgia Department of Corrections
use the four-acre McKenna National Guard Armory site for a day reporting
center that would serve primarily non-violent drug offenders who have not
succeeded in traditional programs.

Department officials say they've seen success at a similar center they
established in Atlanta two years ago and are looking to expand in Macon,
Jonesboro and Rome.

The new center would be modeled after the one in Atlanta, which currently
serves 89 offenders and averages about 18 per week. The facility could
probably serve about 125 people and employ 10 to 12.

Offenders spend the first five weeks quitting drugs or alcohol, then the
following weeks are spent learning cognitive skills and going through
substance-abuse counseling while department officials try to place them in
new jobs.

"We've had great results - these are the people who are on probation and
parole and are one step out of prison - and the (centers) are working,"
Corrections spokeswoman Peggy Chapman said. "This is their last-ditch effort."

The expanded locations were selected based on the population of
probationers and parolees in those areas and would serve only offenders
from those communities.

"These are not like prisons where people come from all around the state -
this would only serve Macon people," Chapman said.

Although the center had strong support from the mayor, the council on May
30 opposed the proposed plan in a 10-0 symbolic vote after strong community
opposition.

Residents near the building at Felton Avenue and Anthony Road have been
trying for more than a year to turn it into a community resource center.

Neighbors have formed the Central South Task Force of Macon, Georgia, which
meets twice a month to discuss ways to rehabilitate the neighborhood as
well as the old armory.

These community activists and city council members have complained that the
probation center would place nearby residents in harm's way.

"These types of centers play a very major role in rehabilitation, but you
don't want to destroy something while trying to create something," said
Councilman Charles Dudley, chairman of the city's Public Safety Committee.
"We can find an appropriate place and when we do, we'll welcome it with
open arms."

Dudley said the city currently uses the recreation department's gymnasiums
to hold Alcohol Anonymous and Narcotic Anonymous meetings and, possibly,
the state could use city property to host a day center.

"We just want to keep it out of the residential area - maybe put it out in
the business district," he said.

Chapman said the department pulling out of the former armory isn't a
setback, but a "small glitch."

She said state officials are not upset that the community didn't want to
use that particular site for a center and that the department will continue
to look for locations in Macon.

"We're definitely going to go ahead with our plans - we're looking for a
new location right now," she said.

Chapman didn't know how long it would take to find another area, saying "it
could be one day or a couple of months."

The department and the mayor still plan to meet at 6 tonight at a scheduled
town hall meeting at Pentecostal Temple at 928 Anthony Road to continue
discussing the issue because there are still some residents who are concerned.

"I'll have to see it in writing before I believe it," said activist Charles
Watts, questioning whether the department would really pull out of the old
armory site. "That place needs to be a community center."