FUNDS CUT TO HALFWAY HOUSE OPERATOR

GREENVILLE -- The state's budget problems will end funding for a halfway
house program for people addicted to drugs and alcohol.

Chris Marlowe oversees a dozen halfway houses, but his $85,680 contract
expires June 30 and won't be renewed because of state budget cuts, said
John Hart, spokesman for the state Department of Alcohol and Other Drug
Abuse Services.

No state money goes into the 12 Palmetto Houses Marlowe ran apart from his
$36,000 salary and the money used for his travel and phone expenses.

The Palmetto Houses will continue to operate, but Marlowe won't oversee
them or help about 100 residents -- many of them fresh out of rehab
programs or psychiatric wards -- deal with the day-to-day issues of a group
home.

"A part of me wants to quit, but then I've got people telling me, 'No,
Chris, fight 'em,' " he said. "We're afraid if we walk away from this, we
won't be able to start it up again."

With Marlowe out, residents will have to take care of the things he did,
including repairing broken washing machines, dealing with unpaid bills and
handling belligerent residents.

Other halfway houses have survived on their own, Hart said.

Up to eight residents live in each self-supporting, self-governing home.
People who live there split up the bills for the leased houses.

Marlowe has set up 30 similar houses around the state, and some of those
now are run by a private company.

Joe Altman, who moved into a Greenville house after struggling with alcohol
and cocaine addiction, said Marlowe helped guide residents when someone was
caught pilfering the house account.

"These houses would fall to pieces without someone overseeing everything,"
Altman said.

Hart said the state hopes to provide some guidance through local alcohol
and drug commission programs when Marlowe leaves.