COURT: COVINGTON MUST OK CLINIC SITE

A federal appeals court decision Wednesday appears to have cleared the way
for a Pittsburgh company to establish a methadone clinic in Covington, said
an attorney who represented the company in litigation with the city.

Covington discriminated against MX Group five years ago in its efforts to
open a treatment program for drug addicts, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals ruled Wednesday.

MX Group likely will open a clinic at 1 West 43rd St. in Covington near a
trash compacting st ation, said Bill Oldfield, who helped represent the
company in its legal battle to force the city to accept the clinic.

The for-profit company had tried to establish a clinic in Covington in 1997
and again in 1998 , but its applications for zoning permits were rejected
both times for the 43rd Street building and a building at 200 Pike St.,
near Carlisle Elementary School.

The city then amended its zoning code to make it impossible for MX Group to
establish a Covington clinic.

The company uses methadone, a synthetic drug comparable to heroin, to treat
drug addicts.

MX Group filed suit in January 1998, saying it had been denied rights under
the Americans wit h Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act.

At the time, residents and city officials voiced a concern over the
proposed location on Pike Street, fearing it would increase crime in the
area and was too close to school children.

But because MX Group's customers are disabled, the company is protected by
the ADA and the city cannot discriminate against it, the appeals court ruled.

U.S. District Judge William Bertelsman found that ''the blanket prohibition
of all methadone clinics from the entire city is discriminatory on its
face,'' Judge Eric Clay wrote for the three-judge panel of the 6th Circuit.
''We agree with that finding.''

What happens next is up to the city, Oldfield said.

He said the city can either ask the 6th circuit court to review its
decision or appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

''I think it's probably over with,'' he said of the court case.

Covington City Attorney Jay Fossett said he had not reviewed the appeal and
did not know what action the city would take.

The city wouldn't decide what to do until that review is finished,
Assistant City Manager T om Steidel said.

MX Group also plans to sue the city for damages in U.S. District Court, Old
field said.

Though he's not sure when MX Group will open its clinic in Covington, he
said the community ought to cool its worries about the clinic.

''Honestly, I think if everybody would just settle down and let these
people open, I don't think there'd be any problems at all,'' he said.
''It's been a lot of hysteria over nothing.''

Pat Lance, who as chairman of a Covington Business Council committee
drafted the amendment to the zoning ordinance that kept the clinic out,
said he was disappointed by Wednesday's ruling, but thought the community
isn't as concerned about the clinic as it once was.

''I think the whole controversy has died down,'' he said. ''It's been a
couple of years now .''

Publication date: 06-13-02