CITY COUNCIL KILLS PLAN FOR WOMEN'S TREATMENT CENTER

Oklahoma City Council members Tuesday rejected a familiar plan to turn a
motel off South Interstate 35 into a drug and alcohol treatment center for
women. "This thing has been before us four times, and it's been turned
down," Ward 5 Councilman Jerry Foshee said. "There's not a blooming thing
that has changed."

The plan by Tara Investments Ltd., which operates a similar center north of
the state Capitol, called for spending $500,000 to renovate the Southgate
Motel at 5245 S I-35.

Proponents, led by former city council member Pete White, said the center
would provide a chance for non-violent offenders to rehabilitate themselves.

Attorney Dennis Box said the property is zoned industrial and is not being
used.

"What we want to do is come in and take what is a problem site ... and try
to help women."

White said treatment centers helps save lives. He said such centers should
be scattered throughout the community, instead of concentrating them in
areas that can become run down.

"In Boston, they call it the combat zone."

Ward 6 Councilwoman Ann Simank said Oklahoma is first in the nation in
incarcerating women for drug and alcohol problems.

"We need to help those people," Simank said.

Opponents, led by nearby residents, argued a treatment center would be an
eyesore and would reduce property values in the neighborhood.

Resident Lydia Mitchell said, "There's no guarantee that my family, my
neighborhood or even the inmates would be safe."

State Sen. Jim Reynolds, whose district includes the proposed site, said
businesses along I-35 have endured road construction problems.

Now that most of that is done, Reynolds, R-Oklahoma City, said "soon I
think you were going to see some positive things going on." Also, he said,
it is a bad idea to locate the center so close to Bricktown and to a
proposed American Indian center.

Jim Swenson, general manager of Crossroads Mall, said the proposed site
within a mile of his mall is not "an ideal location. Some of the drug
offenders will frequent the mall. It will become a second home for them."

After more than an hour of debate on the proposal, Mayor Kirk Humphreys
said, "We're beating a dead horse here, folks."

Council members voted 5-4 to reject the proposal.

Voting against were Ward 1 Councilman Mick Cornett, Ward 3 Councilman Larry
McAtee, Ward 4 Councilman Brent Rinehart, Foshee and Ward 8 Councilman Guy
Liebmann. Voting for were Humphreys, Ward 2 Councilwoman Amy Brooks, Simank
and Johnson.