PANEL'S OPPOSITION TO CLINIC UNANIMOUS

Johnson City commissioners took a strong stand Thursday night against a
proposed methadone clinic locating just outside the city's downtown area.

"I don't oppose a methadone clinic in downtown Johnson City," City
Commissioner Steve Darden said during his board's regular meeting. "I
oppose a methadone clinic in Johnson City, period."

By a unanimous vote, the commission adopted a resolution declaring its
intent to work against allowing the Johnson City Addiction Research and
Treatment Center LLC to locate at 200 W. Fairview Ave.

"I have not heard from one member of the local medical community that would
like to see this (group) set up shop in Johnson City," Darden said. "That
speaks volumes."

The clinic would treat those addicted to heroin and other opiates by using
the alternative substance methadone. In June, the center was granted a
certificate of need by the state Health Facilities Commission to locate in
Johnson City.

In a second presentation to the commission asking for its assistance in
working against the clinic, Frontier Health President Doug Varney said the
area's medical community has a unified front against the clinic.

Varney has joined numerous other city organizations, including the city's
Public Library, East Tennessee State University, the Johnson City
Development Authority and the Chamber of Commerce in asking for an appeal
of the state commission's decision.

The appeal hearing will be held in Nashville next week.

In an emotional presentation to the commission, Susan Barry told of the
recent death of her 29-year-old daughter, Bridgette Barry Boudle, and said
she was working to keep the methadone clinic out of Johnson City in memory
of her daughter.

Boudle was found dead in an Elizabethton motel on June 30. Medical tests
revealed the woman, who had two children ages 6 and 9, had methadone in her
system when she died, her mother said.

"I'd give anything in the world if I didn't have to be here tonight," Barry
told the panel.

Holding back tears, she said her daughter wasn't in a treatment program,
but was with group of people staying at the motel at the time of her death.

"Don't ask me why she's dead. The only reason I know she is dead is because
methadone was in her system," Barry said, pleading with the commission to
stand against the clinic. She warned them about having an open mind to
alternative treatments.

"Anybody can forget about me having an open mind about methadone," she
said. "There is nothing anybody can say that would change my mind."

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