BALTO. CO. COUNCIL VOTES AGAINST GRANT FOR CITY'S ANTI-DRUG EFFORT

Panel Did Not Get Enough Information, Members Say

Baltimore may believe, but the Baltimore County Council has its doubts.

Asked at its meeting Monday night to support the high-profile Baltimore
Believe anti-drug campaign in the city with a $5,000 grant, the council
refused, saying the advertisements and billboards are a waste of money that
could be better used on drug treatment programs.

Yesterday, County Executive C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger scrambled to get the
three councilmen who voted against the grant to change their minds,
acknowledging that he had made a mistake in not explaining its importance
thoroughly.

"I'm asking the council to reconsider based on the information that I
personally have given them," Ruppersberger said. "I am concerned about the
issue that we are working together as a region to fight drugs."

The $5,000 isn't much in terms of the $2 million campaign or the county's
$2 billion budget. But the vote represented the most prominent public
questioning of an effort endorsed by many of the area's biggest
governments, community, religious and business leaders and sports figures,
including Mayor Martin O'Malley, National Association for the Advancement
of Colored People President Kweisi Mfume and University of Maryland
basketball star Juan Dixon.

The council members who voted against it said yesterday that they might
have voted differently if Ruppersberger had answered questions they raised
about the program a week before. But even after yesterday's lobbying, they
weren't all convinced of its worth.

"I'm happy to invest $5,000 or more toward drug treatment programs," said
Councilman Kevin Kamenetz, a Pikesville Democrat who led the charge against
the grant. "I guess that if I can be shown that this $5,000 grant will
result in greater drug treatment program availability, then that's a good
thing."

He said, however, that after three phone calls from Ruppersberger, he
hasn't been convinced.

The other councilmen who voted against the grant, Republicans Wayne M.
Skinner and T. Bryan McIntire, also got calls from the executive.

McIntire said he would reconsider the issue if it were brought up again,
and Skinner said he would likely support it.

"If I had a dollar to choose between a newspaper ad and drug treatment,
I'll take treatment, but they're trying to use the money to get more money,
and I understand that," Skinner said.

If the grant is reintroduced, the outcome is not certain. Councilman
Vincent J. Gardina, a Perry Hall Democrat, was absent from Monday's
meeting. Yesterday, he expressed doubts about the value of an advertising
campaign but said he likely wouldn't oppose the grant because it is such a
small amount and could be chalked up to anti-drug education.

And Councilman Stephen G. Samuel Moxley, a Catonsville Democrat, questioned
the value of the grant Monday but voted for it.

The problem, Skinner said, is that the Ruppersberger administration didn't
put effort into lobbying for the grant until after the vote.

Dr. Peter L. Beilenson, the city's health commissioner, said he would have
been more than happy to testify on behalf of the grant if he had known the
county was voting on it. He said the point of the campaign is to persuade
everyone in the region - not just drug addicts and not just city residents
- - to help solve the problem.

In the past month, the city's central clearinghouse for drug treatment
calls got a record 1,400 inquiries, about twice as many as normal. Since
the advertisements specifically dealing with drug treatment began running,
a third of the callers have mentioned Baltimore Believe, he said.

"Clearly, it's getting to a need," Beilenson said. "There is a real value
to the campaign."