ADDICT HOME DENIED

The Fort Payne Zoning Board of Adjustments denied a variance last week to
the DeKalb County Fellowship House, which wanted to set up a facility on
Alabama Avenue for recovering drug addicts.

At a "three-quarter-way house," addicts find a new living arrangement that
provides another layer in the support structure designed to ease them back
into mainstream society. While such a facility is welcomed by most people,
those same people are not quite as eager to see one located in their own
neighborhood.

Bill Cyr, of Mentone, is with Fellowship House. He said the variance was
needed because Fort Payne's zoning law requires a review before someone can
set up a group home. The intended property is 1614 Alabama Ave. North.

"There was not a single neighbor who supported it and adjoining property
owners are concerned," Cyr said. "The ZBA unanimously denied the variance."

He declined to state what the next course of action might be, but the
process allows for the ZBA's decisions to be appealed to circuit court if
Fellowship House chose to do so.

"I can't answer what will happen next because we have a 13-member board of
directors," Cyr said.

The organization unsuccessfully attempted to set up a home for addicts in
Collinsville in 1995, but Cyr said a three-quarter-way house for male
addicts has been operating on Forest Avenue in Fort Payne for about six
years without a single incident.