DRUG REHAB PLAN PASSES CITY'S HURDLE

After a debate that touched on prostitution, gangs and liberty, Oklahoma
City Council members narrowly granted conditional approval Tuesday for an
aging motel to become a drug treatment center for women. Tara Investments
won permission to rezone its old Southgate motel at 5245 S Interstate 35 so
it could be refurbished for use as a drug rehab center, pending an
evaluation by city staff of the financial status of an investor.

As in previous debates over the proposal, neighbors of the motel spoke in
protest of the treatment center, which would house up to 200 women.

A banker said businesses along the interstate had invested in improvements
that might be jeopardized by having a treatment center nearby.

Crossroads Mall General Manager Jim Swenson presented a petition he said
was signed by more than 100 merchants, employees and others involved with
the mall. He said they were concerned rehab residents would frequent the
mall, which is about one mile south of Southgate.

"We're concerned about an image issue," he said. "We're concerned about
shoplifting."

That touched a nerve for Ward 7 Councilwoman Willa Johnson, who said
Swenson "didn't say anything about the gang members that are hanging out
there making it a hazard. I didn't hear you getting upset about that."

Several residents of neighborhoods near the motel spoke in opposition, some
showing photos of their backyards that abut the motel's crumbling stockade
fence. One woman said prostitutes work at the motel.

The complaints raised questions from some on the council over whether a
rehab center wouldn't be an improvement. The center would have "sight-proof
screening" on two sides, and proponents said they would add decorative pear
trees. It would not house women with a history of "gross antisocial behavior."

But opponents argued turning Southgate into a treatment center would lower
their property values and threaten their safety.

"We all feel in that area we are going to have a loss of liberty," resident
Kevin Mitchell said. "Women are just as capable of killing somebody as any
man is."

Supporters of the proposal said women who would be living there are not
violent. Most are local residents who would be back in town eventually
anyway. Staying at such a treatment center would allow them to better
transition back into society, working regular jobs in the community.

"They're your sisters. They're your daughters. They're your mothers. These
aren't ladies that are going to kill someone," Deborah Harrington said. "I
don't know what these people are afraid of."

Harrington said she is a former resident of Northgate, a treatment center
on Lincoln Boulevard operated by Ron Alexander, the same person who wants
to renovate Southgate. Harrington said she now has a college degree and
works at Northgate as a counselor.

"They don't want women like her shopping in their mall," Ward 2
Councilwoman Amy Brooks quipped.

Dennis Box, attorney for the investor, said 37 women living at Northgate
take buses daily to work in south Oklahoma City, and 14 others work downtown.

"It's possible you may have women like this working at Crossroads Mall,"
Ward 6 Councilwoman Ann Simank said.

Ward 4 Councilman Brent Rinehart, who has consistently opposed the idea,
argued that prisons are "releasing their inmates into our city. It's just
not a good plan to try to thrust something like that on our neighborhoods."

Pete White, a former council member speaking for the investor, said women
at Northgate return $40,000 a month from their paychecks to the Corrections
Department. He said the program is good for neighborhoods and reduces
recidivism. Besides, he said, "these people don't come from Skiatook. They
come from Oklahoma City."

Mayor Kirk Humphreys said, "I think we're the ones that arrested them in
the first place."

Ward 5 Councilman Jerry Foshee led opposition to the proposal, presenting
information filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission by a company
tied to the Southgate proponents through complicated financial connections.

Foshee said the filing showed Sooner Holdings had $2 million more in debts
than assets, it lost almost $1 million last year and might have to seek
bankruptcy protection.

Foshee said the filing raised serious questions over whether investors had
the financial clout to invest enough in Southgate to refurbish it adequately.

Questioned by Humphreys, Alexander, who runs Northgate with his wife, said
Sooner Holdings owns a subsidiary that owns Northgate. Alexander, who is
vice president of Sooner Holdings, said he would be executive director of
Southgate, but a nonprofit company would own the center.

"This is more complicated than I'm used to," Humphreys said.

Several critics said Northgate has not been adequately maintained and that
part of it is vacant and boarded up. Humphreys joined others in questioning
whether Alexander and his associates had financial resources to refurbish
Southgate.

Alexander said he had $550,000 to spend on the refurbishing and has a
bank's promise to lend him $2 million, pending approval of his plan and a
contract with corrections officials to handle drug offenders.

"I'm just trying to make sure you have the wherewithal to do this deal,"
Humphreys said.

The council voted 5-4 to approve the proposal, pending a financial review
by city staff that will be presented to the council within three months.
Voting in favor were Humphreys, Brooks, Johnson, Simank and Ward 8's Guy
Liebmann. Against were Rinehart, Foshee, Ward 1's Mick Cornett and Ward 3's
Larry McAtee.