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WILKES-BARRE — Afraid of what might happen with the opening of a drug and alcohol abuse treatment center in their neighborhood, Joseph Yenason tried to assure some Darling Street residents the biggest change would be in the men temporarily living there.
Yenason spoke from experience.
“In April, God willing, I’ll have 32 years of sobriety and it’s because of a place I went to like we want to establish,” Yenason said.
The city’s Zoning Hearing Board on Wednesday gave Yenason and the doctors of Addiction Alliance LLC that chance with its approval of his application to convert the upper floor of his warehouse at 345 N. River St. into a 14-bed, residential treatment center. The board’s vote was 4-1 with vice chairman Leon Schuster opposing the application.
There would be no inmates or men ordered by the courts to participate in the 28-day program of detox and counseling. Instead, they would voluntarily walk through the doors, according to Yenason. They also could walk out of the program at any time.
Yenason, of Dallas, operates a plumbing, heating and air conditioning business in the bottom floor. He explained that the men at the center would not have vehicles and could not come and go as they please. They wouldn’t be allowed outside during their stay and the center would be supervised around the clock.
Still, Dave Day wanted a guarantee from Yenason that the center would not bring problems with it. Day recalled the days when Luzerne County operated a women’s prison on the hill overlooking the warehouse. Day said from his Darling Street house, he used to be able to hear the women yelling.
“Now all of a sudden you want to bring these sickos in,” Day protested.
Yenason disagreed with Day’s description of the program participants.
“They’re human beings that need help,” Yenason said.
But Day persisted, saying the city has plenty of abandoned buildings where Yenason could put the center.
”At the end of the day, you get in your car and you drive home. That’s my home right there. Could you understand that?” Day asked.
In response to a question from resident Charles Boyer, Dr. Robert Dompkosky of Mountain Top, president of Addiction Alliance, acknowledged that he and the other doctors have never run a treatment center, but are involved in the care of patients needing addiction therapy.
The goal is to return men to society after completing the program, Dompkosky said. The men either enter a halfway house or counseling where they’re monitored for years to come, said Dompkosky.