Pubdate: Fri, 18 Feb 2005
Source: Kingsport Times-News (TN)
Copyright: 2005 Kingsport Publishing Corporation
Contact:
http://gotricities.net/domains/timesnews.net/lettertoEditor.dna?action=new
Website: http://www.timesnews.net/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1437
Author: Kevin Castle
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?136 (Methadone)

VIRGINIA HOUSE OKS EMERGENCY CLAUSE FOR METHADONE MORATORIUM

A bill establishing a moratorium on future methadone clinics will
become law as soon as the governor signs it because of an emergency
clause approved Thursday by the Virginia House of Delegates.

Gov. Mark Warner is expected to sign the bill within the next two
weeks.

Most of Virginia's new laws go into effect on July 1 at the beginning
of the new fiscal year.

The emergency clause was sought by Delegate Terry Kilgore, R-Gate
City.

"We had to act fast on this one. But now (the Virginia Department of
Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services) will
have the chance to have an in-depth review of these clinics and the
regulations that go with them,'' Kilgore said.

The bill seeking the moratorium, sponsored by Sen. William Wampler
Jr., was carried in the House by Kilgore.

An amendment added to the bill that was approved by a House committee
Thursday states "an emergency exists and this bill is in effect from
its passage.''

Kilgore said the addition to the bill was needed because he received
word Thursday morning that officials from Appalachian Treatment
Services LLC have reportedly changed the proposed location for an
opiate treatment facility in the state line area outside of Weber City.

"We didn't want to give them a window of opportunity and make a quick
fix to their plans,'' Kilgore said.

County Attorney Dean Foster said he received information from local
officials with the Virginia Department of Transportation that ATS had
applied for a commercial entrance permit for a piece of property
located near the company's first choice for its proposed clinic.

"Essentially what they have done is jumped from one side of the
property to the other. It is still on the same side of the road, but
it is located on the south side of the (Roadrunner) market instead of
the north,'' said Foster.

That location had been used as a used car lot previously.

ATS sponsor Richard Skelskey said Thursday that his company decided to
make the change to that side of the land in November because it was
better suited to their needs.

VDOT usually examines such factors as traffic flow, turn angles and
site distance before awarding such a permit to a business, said Foster.

Members of the Scott County Board of Supervisors had cited the
proposed location of the clinic as one of the reasons they objected to
ATS' plans in a letter written last year in opposition to the project
to Virginia substance abuse service licensing officials.

Foster also noted that ATS was reportedly looking at the other side of
the property due to an investigation of the property being conducted
by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The agency cited in a letter to Scott County legislative offices that
a body of water exists on the property that directly feeds into the
Holston River, a source of habitat that supports endangered freshwater
mussels.
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