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State High Court Lets Stand Detox Ruling: Refusal to Hear Appeal May Affect Plans for Lynn Twp. Site.

Posted on: Wednesday, 5 April 2006, 09:00 CDT

By Dan Hartzell, The Morning Call, Allentown, Pa.

Apr. 5--The state Supreme Court has refused to hear an appeal intended to allow drug and alcohol detoxification services at a residential treatment center in Lynn Township.

It was unclear Tuesday whether White Deer Run Inc., a nonprofit provider of treatment services for drug and alcohol dependency, will continue its effort to offer detox services at the facility at 8284 Leaser Road, a Kempton mailing address.

White Deer Run had appealed a Commonwealth Court ruling upholding a decision that detox treatment, which includes the dispensing of medications, and intensive, 24-hour supervision of addicts, is a substantively different use compared to the less intensive drug and alcohol counseling services.

The original decision that detox services could not be provided at the facility, known as White Deer Run at Blue Mountain, was made by the township Zoning Hearing Board in November 2004, and affirmed last April by Lehigh County Court Judge Lawrence J. Brenner.

The state appeals court upheld Brenner in October, and the high court's March 28 refusal to hear White Deer's subsequent appeal would appear to doom the highly touted plans of the Allenwood, Union County, company to provide detox services at the site.

"They're done" as far as appeals go, said township Supervisor Vice Chairman David C. Najarian, an Easton lawyer.

In fact, according to the zoning board, only alcohol rehabilitation services are allowed at the site, Najarian said. "The zoners determined [that White Deer] could not have detox, nor drug rehab and treatment" at the facility near Leaser Lake, he said.

Township officials contend that only alcohol treatment is allowed because that was the only service authorized at Blue Mountain House of Hope, the building's identity under a previous nonprofit provider. House of Hope closed in August 2003 after 19 years.

White Deer's attorney for the zoning case, Emil W. Kantra II of Center Valley, could not be reached for comment Tuesday, nor could Dominic Marfisi or Mark Sarneso of White Deer Run.

It was also unclear Tuesday whether Lehigh County, which strongly backed the detox program and allocated $1 million to renovate the White Deer building and provide treatment services, will be able to recoup any or all of the money it spent on the plan.

It could not be determined how much county money has been spent thus far. Mary Elizabeth Miosi, the county's drug and alcohol treatment director, declined comment Tuesday.

The planned detox center at White Deer was heavily promoted by county officials in late 2004 as the long-awaited return of detox services to the county. The last detox center, at what is now Sacred Heart Hospital- Allentown, closed in 1996.

County officials have described detox as a highly intensive, three- to five-day medical treatment designed to help addicts survive the physical effects of withdrawal. Longer-term drug or alcohol counseling generally follows to help prevent relapse.

hartzell@mcall.com

610-778-7942

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Morning Call, Allentown, Pa.

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Source: The Morning Call, Allentown, Pennsylvania

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