Pubdate: Tue, 25 Jan 2005 Source: Lexington Herald-Leader (KY) Copyright: 2005 Lexington Herald-Leader Contact: http://www.kentucky.com/mld/heraldleader/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/240 Author: Lee Mueller Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/UNITE+program TWO DRUG TREATMENT CENTERS IN THE WORKS Rogers Gets Funds For UNITE Program PIKEVILLE - A federally funded anti-drug program has entered what U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers called the "most expensive and most difficult" phase of its war on Eastern Kentucky's drug epidemic. After helping arrest nearly 1,300 street-level drug dealers since 2003, UNITE officials joined Rogers yesterday to help launch at least two drug-treatment centers in the mountains. "If our people cannot access the treatment they need, we will not be successful," Rogers told a crowd of local and state officials at Pikeville College. Rogers visited Pikeville and Manchester to announce he had included $750,000 in the federal budget to help start each of the centers, which will be operated separately. The Pike County center will be in a former juvenile detention center at Ashcamp, donated last year by Pikeville lawyers Gary C. Johnson and his wife, Anita Johnson, said Richard E. Steinberg, president of WestCare, a non-profit foundation that will run it. WestCare, based in Las Vegas, operates drug-treatment centers in six states and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The WestCare center could be open in three months, Steinberg said. It will be licensed for 96 beds and cost about $3 million a year to operate, he said. Operating expenses would be covered by a blend of federal, state and private funds. Visions of Eastern Kentucky, a faith-based group, will build a 75-bed center in Manchester, said Karen Engle, executive director of UNITE. She declined to speculate on when it will open, because its final design has not been chosen. "These facilities will not solve all of our problems, but they are certainly a huge step in the right direction," Rogers said. Speakers in Pikeville said a third center is planned for Irvine in Estill County that would provide outpatient and transitional services to 17 Central Kentucky counties. However, money for that project was not mentioned. The Pike County treatment center replaces the former Kentucky Youth Academy, which closed in 2001. The property was bought and sold several times, and the dealings prompted a federal grand-jury investigation. Courthouse records show that a company headed by Anita Johnson donated the property to WestCare on Dec. 30. At the time, the property had an assessed value of $620,000. The Johnsons bought the property for $360,000 on Feb. 7, 2002, from Youth Opportunities Unlimited, a Pikeville firm headed at the time by businessman Marvin Hensley. The problems concerning the property appeared forgotten yesterday. Anita Johnson told the crowd that she and her husband wanted to help the community deal with the problem of drugs. "I just believe that we're making a very good investment," she said. Asked later how much the donation would create in tax write-offs, she smiled. "Not nearly enough," Johnson said. Pike District Judge Kelsey Friend Jr., who presides over Pike County's drug court, called the proposed center a miracle. "We really couldn't believe they gave it to us," Friend said. He said WestCare, which has a $49 million annual budget, will be able to treat patients for as long as 14 months, although most treatments should be shorter. "Their credentials are immaculate," Friend said. "Hal (Rogers) selected them. They didn't come to Hal. But, believe me, he has researched them." Steinberg, who indicated yesterday that he is in Washington often lobbying for additional funds for his treatment centers, was not listed in federal or state campaign-finance records as contributing to Rogers or any other political races. Herald-Leader news researcher Linda Minch and The Associated Press contributed to this article. - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin