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BRITTNEY CHAMBERS TEEN CENTER PROPOSED FOR CITY

Mother Seeks To Help Others Avoid Ecstasy Death Suffered By Daughter

The mother of a former Monarch High School student who died after taking ecstasy is following through on plans to establish a local teen center in her daughter's honor.

Marcie Chambers on Nov.  19 filed with Louisville city officials plans for the "Rose Teen and Resource Center," to be located in the basement of Christopher Village at 1075 S.  Boulder Road.  In her filing, Chamber said the free center would give teens a safe drug-free place to socialize.  Brittney Chambers, a former Monarch student from Superior, died after taking an ecstasy pill in late January to celebrate her 16th birthday.

"Included in the teen resource center would be a place where accurate information on the dangers of substance abuse could be obtained," Marcie Chambers wrote in her letter to the city's Planning Department.  "I firmly believe that if my daughter and her friends were aware of the possible danger of taking ecstasy, they would have never made the choices they did."

According to the application, the center would feature: counseling on drugs, sex and alcohol, dances, pool and air hockey tables, a recording studio and food and drinks.  The federal Drug Enforcement Administration would play a key role in the center, Chambers said.

In her letter, Chambers said the owner of the building has offered the use of a 4,000-square-foot basement for the teen center.  Chambers said she's met with tenants of the retail plaza, which include several restaurants and a kid's museum, and heard support for the plan.  She hopes to open this spring.

The center would be open 4-10 p.m.  Thursday and 4 p.m.-midnight Fridays and Saturdays.

"In my opinion, we are almost in a crisis situation with our teen- agers," Chambers said at the end of her application.  "While I am not naive enough to believe there is an easy answer, or that a teen resource center will be a cure-all, I do believe it is a step in the right direction.  The motto ...  is 'it could happen to you.' Nine months ago, I certainly didn't believe this could happen to me."

Monarch High School on the Louisville-Superior border has been hit over the last few months with numerous drug-related arrests.  A student there recently committed suicide, reportedly after being punished for an alcohol-related offense.