Juvenile center proposal moves forward

Stacy Ream said she believes it's a moral imperative to have a juvenile detention center.\nReam is the chairwoman of the programming subcommittee of the Monroe County Juvenile Facility Committee. She is also a parent who has faced the trauma of a child being held in detention, she said.\nReam, whose 14-year-old daughter had to be sent to an out-of-town facility for special treatment, feels that it is extremely frustrating for parents who are going through the ordeal to have their child sent so far away from them. \n"I still can't talk about it without tears in my eyes," she said of the nine months during which her daughter was in detention.\nThe committee submitted its report at a public meeting Friday at the District Courthouse. For the people involved, Friday's meeting is one victory, but supporters say they haven't won the war.\nThe sub-committees for program, finance and site submitted their findings to the committee, which in turn was presented to the commissioners for review before a final decision is made.\nMarge Faber, co-chair for the committee, said she was glad something concrete had been done and that some sort of action would be taken based on the findings of this committee and it would not sit on the shelf like so many other studies. \nThe committee recommended 1600 S. Rogers St. as the site for the facility. The facility would be designed to care for up to 75 youths and could cost as much as $13.5 million to build, the report detailed. It would also include a gym, classrooms, therapy rooms, a kitchen and eating area and satellite offices of the juvenile court and probation office.\nJudge Viola Taliaferro said the center is meant to be an facility for the youth of the community and detention would only be a part of it, she said. \nShe said such a center within the city would help the justice system have more involvement in the family and offer more services to the entire family. The facility would also help develop a sense of community ownership for troubled children and create more jobs and a system of help within the community, rather than isolating the children by sending them to a distant place away from their families.\n"Within reasonable limits, we want them to live a normal life, continue doing their normal activities and going to the same school, while at the same time receiving proper treatment and counselling for their problems," she said.\nOne of the greatest hurdles, Ream said, had been the community response. \n"No one, except parents who have been down that road, wants a detention center in their backyard," she said. \nIris Kiesling, one of three Monroe County Commissioners, said they hope to arrive at a decision by budget time this summer. \nShe said even after the decision is made, financing the facility will be their next hurdle because new funding cannot be created for the facility.