Pubdate: Sat, 21 May 2005
Source: Kentucky Post (KY)
Copyright: 2005 Kentucky Post
Contact:  http://www.kypost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/661
Author: Jeanne Houck

RECOVERY CENTER PRESENTATION SET

Proposal to Be Outlined Sunday

Transitions Inc. will sponsor a presentation Sunday on the residential
recovery center it hopes to build and operate in Latonia for 100 male
drug addicts.

The recovery center would be modeled on the Healing Place in
Louisville, which has been offering detoxification, residential and
continuing care for men and women for 15 years.

Sunday's session will include a short video on the Healing Place with
stories of people who have recovered there, according to Mac McArthur,
executive director of Transitions. It will run from 2 to 4 p.m. at
Latonia Baptist Church on Church Street.

Staff from Transitions, including McArthur, and Mike Townsend,
Recovery Kentucky program manager from the Kentucky Housing
Corporation, also will be available to answer questions.

On Monday night, the city will conduct a public hearing on the site
proposed for the recovery center. The public hearing will begin at 7
p.m. at Latonia Elementary School at 39th Street and Huntington Avenue.

Transitions wants to lease property owned by Kenton County next to the
Rosedale Manor nursing home. Neighbors, though, don't want the
recovery center there, saying it is too close to their homes, the
nursing home and Latonia Elementary.

Covington Mayor Butch Callery has proposed that the residents let Gov.
Ernie Fletcher know they oppose the center by sending him a transcript
of statements they make at Monday's public hearing.

Fletcher announced in January that the state is offering a total of
$9.5 million in grants and tax credits to construct and operate 10
recovery centers across Kentucky. Recovery Kentucky is a joint effort
by the Governor's Office for Local Development (GOLD), the Department
of Corrections, and the Kentucky Housing Corporation. Its target
population is people with substance abuse problems who are poor,
uninsured or homeless.

One-third of the residents in all Recovery Kentucky centers must be
referrals from the state Department of Corrections.

Maysville Mayor David Cartmell said earlier this week that his city
would welcome a recovery center on secluded, vacant, industrial land
adjacent to the Maysville Community and Technical College. That
prompted the Covington City Commission to pass a resolution forwarding
Transitions bid for a recovery center in Latonia to Maysville.

McArthur said the suggestion that Transitions should apply in
Maysville is unrealistic because Comprehend Inc., which provides
substance abuse and mental health services in Mason, Bracken Lewis and
Fleming counties, already is working on an application for a men's
recovery center in Maysville.

McArthur also said there is a need for a men's recovery center in
Northern Kentucky, especially since the Kenton and Campbell county
jails are overcrowded with people that include many people with
substance abuse problems. 
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