DRUG REHAB PROPOSAL RESUSCITATED

City council members on Tuesday resuscitated a proposal to turn an aging
motel along what some proponents call Oklahoma City's "meth row" into a
drug treatment center for women. Proponents convinced the council they can
refute reasons given when the council last month rejected Tara Investments
Ltd.'s plan to refurbish the Southgate Motel, 5245 S Interstate 35.

Dennis Box, attorney for the company that operates a similar treatment
facility on the city's north side, said an appraiser has determined a drug
facility would not hurt property values in the area. He also said
statistics show the crime rate around the Northgate treatment facility,
3115 Lincoln Blvd., is lower than around, or even inside, the Southgate Motel.

"One of the first murders that took place in 2003 was at Southgate," Box
said. "That's the kind of problems we have."

Former Councilman Pete White, also speaking for Tara, said crime within a
six-block area around Southgate is 10 times as high as around Northgate.

"You'll see robbery, burglary, many incidents of violent crime, lots of
drugs," White said. He said motels between SW 15 and SW 59 along I-35 "on
the street ... are referred to as 'meth row.' This strip of motels is not a
family motel area. If you went there tonight, you would be taking a risk."

Opponents said the proposal has been considered several times.

"This whole thing just keeps coming back, crawling out of the woodwork,"
said Louis Scoles, who lives near Southgate. She said she was protesting
the plan for all of south Oklahoma City. "I have not spoken to anybody who
is for this."

Scoles said she is concerned about felons in the community, at least
overnight. She said she worked in the past at the state Department of
Public Safety with inmates bused in daily from correctional facilities,
each carrying a sack lunch "with green bologna and stale bread." Some were
good workers, she said.

"I had murderers working with me that were lovely people," she said.

Ward 5 Councilman Jerry Foshee said the council was "setting a dangerous
precedent" by reconsidering a proposal that has been decided. "Every time
somebody loses, they're going to bring it back and bring it back."

Besides, he said, nothing really has changed regarding the proposal.
"They've said the same things over and over and over again."

Ward 4 Councilman Brent Rinehart said such facilities could sprout
everywhere because budget cuts could force corrections officials to parole
many inmates.

"We're just going to be inundated with these types of 'economic
development' projects."

Other opponents said Tara hasn't adequately maintained Northgate, leaving a
large building there vacant and boarded, and allowing fences to become
dilapidated.

"Why in the world are they trying to expand when they're not taking care of
the property they already own?" Foshee asked.

Mayor Kirk Humphreys said such concerns are valid.

"Are they going to invest enough money to upgrade the property to where
it's really something we want to have in our city?" he asked.

Box assured him the company would address those concerns.

Ward 3 Councilman Larry McAtee said he was told a drug center in Ohio
worked well with the community there. He said some officials believe crime
can go down near such centers "because of the presence of law enforcement
people connected with it."

Council members voted 7-2, with Rinehart and Foshee opposed, to reconsider
the plan. The proposal will be heard by the council for a decision Feb. 4.