BIBB STILL AWAITS FUNDS FOR HALFWAY HOUSE

Supporters Say Short-term Recovery Programs Not Effectively Saving Lives

After years of lobbying, the state Legislature allotted money this year to
buy a building where Bibb County men could find long-term treatment for
substance abuse. But the purchase has been delayed, and no funding has been
provided to run the program.

Supporters of the effort say Bibb's addicts, many of whom live homeless on
Macon's streets or crowd its jail, continue to suffer while they wait.

"There's just no place for people to go for intense treatment," said
Marjorie Almand, director of the Department of Family and Children
Services. "And there's so many people that need services."

In 2001, the state estimated that 7,935 Bibb County adults needed
substance-abuse treatment, and that, due to lack of insurance and financial
resources, 4,848 of those would have needed services provided by the
government, said Jed Nitzberg, spokesman for the state Department of Human
Resources.

But only 1,695 people in the county are known to have gotten treatment that
year, according to the state.

After Rep. David Lucas and local leaders lobbied the state for $500,000 to
open a halfway house for men with drug and alcohol problems, the
legislature budgeted $400,000 this spring. The money is intended to buy the
Clinton Cove Convalescent Center, a former nursing home on Old Clinton Road
that is owned by the Salvation Army.

It would house a 30-bed program for men operated by the Department of Human
Resources' Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and
Addictive Diseases, Nitzberg said.

Frank Fields, director of River Edge Behavioral Health Center, said River
Edge has been asked to provide treatment to the residents of the proposed
center.

Representatives of the state agency visited the center a few weeks ago, but
nothing has been done to buy the property. Nitzberg said it's unknown when
the state will act. The building might need renovations to make it safe and
up to date.

Lessons from the women's center

Fields said until recent years there were more halfway house programs for
men than women. Then programs for women and children gained more support
even as state budget cuts eliminated some men's programs.

Even non-profits like Macon Rescue Mission stopped offering shelter
programs for homeless men, including addicts. The rescue mission's 1997
decision was reversed in less than a year when other shelters found
themselves overwhelmed by the demand.

In 1992, the Department of Family and Children Services and River Edge
joined to create a halfway house that shelters 14 to 20 women and about 50
kids, Almand said. Its structure and treatment would be a model for the
men's shelter.

More than 1,000 women have been through that substance-abuse facility, with
about a 10 percent return rate, Almand said.

"I know a lot of men who could use a program like this," said Erin Person,
who has spent five months in treatment at the shelter on Seventh Street.
"Some of them are homeless and dying of smoking dope."

The need

Today, Macon does have some free long-term recovery programs for male
addicts. The Macon Rescue Mission has 50 beds where men, most recovering
from addiction, can stay up to a year. Lighthouse Missions Inc. houses
nine, who may remain more than a year if necessary. Loaves and Fishes can
shelter 14 men for up to two years. And the Salvation Army offers a
six-month residential program with 40 beds.

"We stay full all the time," said Salvation Army development director Sally
McLemore.

Some who manage existing programs aren't sure whether more services are
needed, while others feel confident that many addicted men remain unserved.

River Edge already runs a crisis stabilization center on Fulton Mill Road
for men and women fighting addiction, but most stay only 10 days.

"We're looking for a program for once (substance abusers) are out of
detox," said Frank Fields, director of River Edge Behavioral Health Center.
"We need to get them out of the same home environment where they were using."

Tommy Olmstead, chairman of the Bibb County Commission, agreed short-term
treatment is not successful. "We aren't getting any place with picking them
up and putting them somewhere for seven days," he said.

Karen Barnes and Tanya Hasty are both mothers who went through the Fulton
Mill program but returned to smoking crack cocaine until they entered the
women's long-term shelter.

"I don't think it was enough time," Barnes said. "And if you try to lock a
person up in jail, it just makes the addiction mad. You'll go right back."

After a previous stint in short-term treatment, Persons had resumed using
crack because she wasn't associating with other recovering addicts any
more. Instead, she went home to Hightower Road in south Macon.

"It was kind of hard to stay clean there because dope was everywhere,"
Persons said. "I can't hang with my old playmates any more."

In long-term care, Persons has made friends who are struggling through
recovery with her. "It helps a lot to know you ain't in this thing by
yourself," she said.

Although addicts cost taxpayers money through the welfare and jail systems,
Olmstead said there has been little public support for long-term recovery
programs.

Albert Billingslea started campaigning to create the men's halfway house as
a county commissioner more than seven years ago. He said Barnes promised to
pony up the funding, an estimated $900,000 a year at the time, to run the
center in a building furnished by the county. It never materialized.

"At this point, I don't feel very optimistic about it," he said. "I don't
think people realize what this costs the community."