OFFICIALS RETHINK PASSING ON GRANT

Balto. Co. Administrators Want Extension From State On $450,000 For Drug Center

Facing the loss of a $450,000 grant to establish a drug detoxification
center for teen-agers, Baltimore County officials have reversed their
position, saying yesterday that they would accept the money if the
state gives them more time to find a home for the program.

The decision came days before the county was to forfeit the money,
earmarked for the county's first center to treat teen-age drug
abusers. Under the terms of the grant, unless the money is allocated
for a project by Sunday, the end of the current fiscal year, it must
be returned to the state.

The grant was announced by the state Alcohol and Drug Abuse
Administration in March. The County Council voted to accept the money
June 3. But county administrators initially said they wouldn't commit
to accepting the grant until negotiations on a site for the program
were complete.

Administrators softened that stance yesterday, when The Sun made
inquiries into the fate of the money. Elise Armacost, spokeswoman for
County Executive C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger, said that if the state is
willing to give the county an extension, the county will accept the
grant money.

"If they are willing to give us that in writing," she said, "we'll be
happy to accept [the grant] and continue looking for a building."

State officials could not be reached to say whether they would grant
an extension.

County officials have targeted the Rosewood Center, a state-owned
facility for the developmentally disabled in Owings Mills, as the
possible home of the 15- to 20-bed treatment center for teens.
Patients would stay there for about 30 to 90 days.

Because the county has no residential facilities for teens, some are
sent as far as the Eastern Shore for drug treatment.

Right Turn of Maryland, a private nonprofit agency, was selected to
run the center and was to negotiate the purchase of the building at
Rosewood, where the agency operates other treatment programs.

However, a snag developed when Right Turn learned that the building it
wanted was about to be bought by a third party. That meant that the
agency would have to negotiate with the new owner. It asked the county
to accept the grant money contingent on the completion of a sales agreement.

"What we want the county to do is to make the grant subject to us
getting the building," Charlie Powell, Right Turn program manager,
said this week. "It would be kind of a shame to see that money go back
to the state."

Peter Luongo, director of the state Alcohol and Drug Abuse
Administration, said it's not unprecedented for a grant to be accepted
with conditions.

"It's not the usual, but it's not unusual," Luongo
said.

Baltimore County is scheduled to receive another $450,000 grant from
the drug abuse administration Monday for the coming fiscal year. Right
Turn hopes to use that money for treatment once the teen center site
is selected, Powell said.

County Councilman Wayne M. Skinner, a Towson Republican, said he can't
understand why the county was willing to give the money back to the
state. He noted that the council is to vote Monday on giving a $5,000
grant to the "Baltimore Believe" anti-drug campaign, a contribution
strongly backed by County Executive C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger. Skinner
asked why council members would do that while officials allow $450,000
for a program of its own to slip away.

"I don't know why we put the full-court press on the $5,000 while
we're sitting on the bench for this one," Skinner said.

County Health Department officials say the need for teen drug
treatment in the county is great. A recent survey of county high
school students found that 60 percent have used a drug other than alcohol.

"There is no question that the need is there and the need has been
there," said Michael Gimbel, director of the county Bureau of
Substance Abuse. "Getting this building open is a big priority."

Mountain Manor Treatment Center, with four facilities throughout the
state, said it has accepted 50 Baltimore County teens in the past six
months.

"That kind of shows you the need is out there," said Mary Roby,
president of the private center. "And I don't know how many kids are
not calling us."

Baltimore County Circuit Judge Kathleen Cox has been trying to
establish a juvenile drug court. A treatment facility would be a big
asset, she said.

"It was a perfect complement to the adult places," Cox
said.

Right Turn operates five treatment facilities at the Rosewood Center
off Reisterstown Road near Owings Mills Boulevard. This month, it
opened a new adult treatment center. In addition, it operates two
halfway houses, a DWI facility and a transitional living house.