(Editor’s note: Today, The Daily Herald begins its Top Ten countdown of the most important local news stories of 2004. The series will continue each day the newspaper is published until the Number One story, as chosen by the Herald staff.)
Plans for a methadone clinic in Antis Township began in 2003 when Stephen K. Shaner, part owner of Alliance Medical Services Inc. of Pittsburgh, announced to the Antis Township board of supervisors that he planned to open a Methadone clinic in Bellmeade, near Splinter’s.
The clinic, which provides addicts with a daily dose of methadone, to not only suppress the body’s requirement of the drug, but also suppress the symptoms of withdrawal when the body isn’t being affected by the drug’s active chemicals, was originally set to open in September 2003.
The proposed clinic was to be placed on land owned by Brinton Simington. Simington said he had signed an agreement with Allied Medical Services Inc. to build and lease a building to the group.
The topic of a methadone clinic in the area was immediately met with tough resistance but the plans continued, blueprints were studied, permits were filed and excavation work began.
In a May 21, 2003 article in The Daily Herald, Stephen K. Shaner, co-owner of Alliance Medical Service, Inc., the group establishing the facility said, “Weather permitting, we’ll start putting the foundation in within the next two weeks. I’d like to have it up and running in September. That’s the goal.”
The Blair County Drug and Crime Awareness Committee held a public forum to gather public input on the situation.
Members of the Bellemead Civic Association also held a public forum, regarding the clinic, at the Pinecroft Fire Hall. Shaner’s company was represented at both meetings.
In June, Simington approached the Northern Blair Regional Sewer Authority in search of sewage taps for the facility. The NBRSA was unable to grant the taps needed for the facility.
Simington, the developer for the clinic to be run by Alliance Medical, a Pittsburgh company, told the board that he talked with Brent Brubaker of the Logan Township Sewer Authority and he told Simington that all he needed was a letter from the NBRSA and the taps would be ready to go.
Simington wanted one tap for the clinic, but NBRSA Engineer Jason Moore said the capacity needed for the clinic would be four taps. With the ban on multiple taps, it kept the authority from granting Simington’s request.
In October, the Antis Township supervisors then denied Simington permission to use a temporary holding tank on the proposed site.
Pittsburgh based, The Stark Group Inc., filed suit against the Antis Township board of supervisors in November over its decision to deny them permission to use a temporary holding tank for expected sewage from a proposed project in the township.
Simington had attempted to obtain a tap into a sewer line owned by the Northern Blair County Sewer Authority but the authority was not issuing new taps because of a dispute with Logan Township over the use of the plant in Pinecroft.
Instead, Simington had planned to use a holding tank for the proposed project in Antis Township.
Supervisors denied the request in early October. The lawsuit against Antis Township was filed in the Blair County Prothonotary’s Office.
According to the suit: The sewage plan submitted by Simington did address the sewage needs of the proposed clinic.
Despite all the legal ramblings that delayed a methadone clinic from operating in Blair County, Shaner remained optimistic in February 2004 that the clinic would be treating patients in the near future.
Attorneys for Shaner’s company petitioned Blair County Judge Hiram Carpenter to review Antis Township’s October denial of a permit to install a holding tank for sewage disposal.
A judge’s order handed down on March 9 said Antis Township was required to schedule a hearing on sewer taps for a proposed methadone clinic.
In April, Antis Township solicitor Patrick Fanelli announced that Antis Township officials would hold a public hearing with those hoping to bring the methadone-treatment clinic to Blair County.
Antis Township went forward with amending its sewage facility plan in regard to the proposed clinic in the township. However, plans for the clinic were considered to be in a holding pattern at that time, according to a letter received by solicitor Patrick Fanelli of Altoona.
The letter was from Attorney William Haberstroh, who represents the Stark Group Inc., parent company for Allied Medical Services. It has proposed the creation of a nearly five-thousand square foot building along Old Route 220 in Antis Township for a methadone clinic.
In August, the hot topic in Antis Township was once again the possible opening of a methadone clinic. This time talks involved the former Sassafras Cafe.
Over 120 concerned citizens attended the Antis Township supervisor’s meeting to share their feelings about the possible clinic. Four representatives of Parkview Estates in Tipton were chosen to voice the concerns of the development’s residents. A few others spoke up in favor of the clinic.
However, at that time, the proposed methadone clinic at the former Sassafras Cafe was just one of many possibilities and since no formal action had been taken, there was nothing that could be done by the township board.
By late August, as the controversy over the possible methadone clinic continued, many residents in Antis Township heard the news they had been waiting for.
According to Antis Township Manager, Jeff Ziegler, the supervisors received a call from the Pennsylvania Department of Health on August 18, stating the application for a methadone clinic at the site of the former Sassafras Cafe had been withdrawn.
Ziegler said there were still other locations being considered for the clinic but they were unaware of any plans for those locations because the supervisors never received any official information, other than the phone call from the Department of Health, regarding the possible clinic.
