HALFWAY HOUSE DENIED AGAIN

Opponents of a proposed halfway house for state parolees applauded when the Cape Girardeau City Council voted to deny a special use permit for a halfway house at Gibson Recovery Center.

The vote Monday night was 5-0 to deny a requested rezoning and special use permit that would have allowed the Gibson Center, 1112 Linden St., to operate a halfway house for up to 20 state inmates. The inmates would have received drug and alcohol treatment through a contract with the Missouri Division of Probation and Parole.

The council has been considering the matter since early this year.

Many of the opponents at Monday night's meeting were parents of students enrolled at Parkview State School, which serves severely handicapped children. The school is located near the Gibson Center.

Parents were concerned that inmates in the halfway house might attack children or staff at the school.

Dick Decker, the executive director of the Gibson Center, said he was disappointed by the vote.

The program "would have been a benefit to all of Cape Girardeau," Decker said.

Proponents of the plan said it would provided a needed transition for men being released from prison.

Instead of being released directly into the community, Decker and his supporters said, inmates would have had a 90-day transition period to receive treatment, job training and other services while in a secure, supervised environment.

Decker said he wasn't sure that the rezoning and permit were actually needed -- the halfway house would not have required any change in the center's operations or services.

But the state wanted assurance the facility was properly zoned to provide the service, and the city would not provide that, Decker said.

He isn't sure if the center has any legal recourse to appeal the decision.