TEMPEST IN TEAPOT?

Let Evidence Alone Seal Methadone Clinic's Fate

Is the Center of Hope methadone clinic in Fantasy Harbour deliberately
turning away customers until Horry County's zoning-adjudication panel
decides the fate of the business Thursday? That's what the clinic's most
visible detractor, S.C. Rep. Thad Viers, R-Socastee, contends.

Viers advanced this theory in response to a news report last week that
Horry County police report no problems at the clinic since it opened a
month ago. Parents of children who attend two nearby schools also report
they've observed no suspicious activity at the clinic.

The Horry County Board of Adjustments and Zoning Appeals, readers will
recall, in mid-2002 approved exceptions to allow construction of the
for-profit clinic. But late last year - under emotional pressure from
Viers, parents of children at nearby schools, nearby residents and
professionals who disapprove of methadone therapy - the zoning board voted
to reconsider its 2002 decision. On Thursday, the board will decide whether
to allow the clinic to continue operating or to shut it down.

Viers says clinic operators "may be trying to minimize ... their actions
until the hearing. The past couple of weeks are really no reflection on how
this clinic would operate [if the board allows it to continue in business]."

As is the case with most conspiracy theories not backed by evidence, no one
can disprove Viers' line of reasoning. But it strikes us as a stretch.

It's just as possible that the clinic would never become the
loitering-junkie, incipient-crime magnet envisioned by Viers' coalition of
the frenzied. No one can disprove this theory, either.

So what's our point? Only that zoning board members shouldn't decide this
issue on the basis of half-baked theories.

If board members' inclination is to kill off the clinic at Thursday's
meeting, they should come prepared to cite hard, cold facts in support of
their reasoning. To do it any other way would be an injustice to clinic
operators and the residents whom they potentially could help.