WRONG REHAB SITE

Tallevast Area Ill-Suited For Salvation Army Center

It seems almost sacrilegious to say anything negative about the Salvation
Army. It is one of the leading faith-based organizations serving the poor,
homeless, drug-addicted and jobless with no questions asked.

Yet we must speak out against the site the Salvation Army has selected for
an adult drug and alcohol rehabilitation center in south Manatee. The
37-acre site at Tallevast Road and U.S. 301 is in the middle of a
residential area and just seven-tenths of a mile from Kinnan Elementary
School. That's the wrong place for a facility that will bring upward of 125
adults with drug and alcohol addictions for full-time residence and, it is
hoped, rehabilitation into productive lives. The "hope" is emphasized
because the Army admits that its success rate is only about 35 or 40
percent, and some rehab clients come back five or six times before the
treatment works.

Those statistics are not much comfort to residents of the area who worry
about the presence of so many people with substance-abuse problems in their
neighborhood, especially near the school. Some of their fears are no doubt
exaggerated. Salvation Army officials say the clients are closely
supervised and won't be wandering the neighborhood. Clients, who seek
treatment voluntarily, are carefully screened before admission to weed out
any who have committed violent crimes. Clients are kept busy all day in
drug counseling, job training and remedial academic classes and are locked
in at curfew, Army officials say.

Yet the center is not a detention facility, so clients can leave if they
want to. And go where? That's what worries neighbors. It's quite a distance
into town, and there isn't much public transportation in this area.

No question a rehabilitation center is needed and would provide a valuable
service in helping people overcome their addictions and regain control of
their lives. Salvation Army is to be commended for its efforts at salvaging
human wrecks. But we suggest Army officials look for a more compatible site
farther removed from residential areas and schools. Surely there are
existing light-industrial parks that would be suitable for this use.

It's relevant that this isn't even a locally-controlled project. It has no
ties to the local Salvation Army branch on 14th Street West. Rather it
falls under a separate adult rehabilitation division of the Salvation Army
whose regional headquarters is in St. Petersburg. Its operations are funded
by proceeds from the Army's thrift stores, not by donations to the Manatee
branch.

That makes it an out-of-town agency, trying to foist an undesirable
facility on a local residential neighborhood. Manatee County has no
obligation to approve the center in the Tallevast neighborhood.