TOP STATE COURT TO RULE ON BETHANY DRUG CENTER

BETHANY -- The city's battle with a company hoping to open a drug and
alcohol treatment center is now in the hands of the state Supreme Court.
Resolution of the matter could be a long way off. David Davis, the city
attorney, said he filed an appeal to Broadway Place LLC's lawsuit last
week, and that the city now has 60 days to provide the court with written
arguments in the case.

Broadway Place then will have another 40 days to respond to the city's
arguments.

"Generally speaking, nothing happens on appeals for about a year," Davis said.

The city council earlier this month unanimously authorized Davis to file
the appeal.

Broadway Place sued the city in February after city leaders tried to
prevent the company from opening the Windgate Treatment Center at 6900 NW
39 Expressway at the former Bethany Village nursing home. The city council,
after learning of Broadway Place's plans, instituted a moratorium on the
establishment of treatment centers in the city.

Broadway Place owners complained that this was unfair since they had
already been granted a business license by the city and had begun work on
the building. The city revoked the license.

The city responded to Broadway Place's lawsuit by claiming that the
proposed facility was within 1,000 feet of three primary schools, which
violates state law.

District Judge Karl Gray, in a ruling last month, said the location of the
proposed Windgate Treatment Center is within 1,000 feet of the Southern
Nazarene University School for Children.

However, Gray said that the other two facilities claimed by the city as
primary schools failed to meet the legal definition of a school. The
Children's Center is a residential treatment center that provides
instruction to its residents, while the Floyd Center is a prekindergarten
school.

According to Gray's ruling, only one corner of the building is within 1,000
feet of the SNU school.

Charles Alden, an attorney for Broadway Place LLC, said the treatment
center could comply with the state law by operating in the portion of the
building that is beyond the 1,000-foot line.

Davis said the city's appeal will reassert the opinion that the Children's
Center and the Floyd Center should be considered primary schools. Davis
said the appeal will also question the way distance between properties is
counted. He denies the legality of Broadway Place's plan to subdivide the
building to get 1,000 feet away from the SNU School for Children.