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61 °F Forecast | Road Cams Sunday, September 12, 2004 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics Tempo AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map SPECIAL SECTIONS Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Prime Times Wellness Connection Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Wedding Guide Rogue Valley's Finest EXTRA Newspaper in Education Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People MARKETPLACE Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Classifieds Place an ad eSouthernOregon Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar CUSTOMER SERVICE Frequent Questions Advertising Information Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Network Affiliate Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend January 1, 2004 County’s sobering center to cut hours By SARAH LEMON Mail Tribune Instead of giving drinkers an around-the-clock place to dry out, Jackson County’s sobering facility will leave them high and dry two nights a week. Faced with a 34 percent state budget cut, the center, located at Third and Front Streets in Medford, will close each week between 3 a.m. Sunday and 9 a.m. Tuesday until July 1, said Hank Collins, Jackson County’s director of health and human services. The facility has been open 24 hours a day and seven days a week to house inebriated people who may pose a risk to themselves or others but who have not committed any crime. The cities of Medford and Ashland, Asante Health System and Providence Medford Medical Center have pledged a combined donation of $46,000 in an effort to keep the sobering unit open, but that money wasn’t enough to maintain 24-hour operation, Collins said. If more money doesn’t come in, the sobering unit may close another two days a week to make up its budget shortfall, Collins said. "If you’re closing four out of seven days, you wonder if the juice is worth the squeeze," Collins said. "We may just shut the whole thing down." Advertisement Collins added that he thinks both the state and county budget situations will likely worsen over the next year. The sobering unit is funded with $100,000 from the county’s general fund, $60,000 in taxes on beer and wine sales and $82,500 from the state’s budget for drug and alcohol treatment, money that was cut over the past year. Letting one detainee dry out in the facility over an approximate eight-hour period costs about $115, he said. Sundays and Mondays were determined to be the center’s slowest days with five or six admissions each day. Weekend numbers rise into the teens or twenties, Collins said. Police will now be faced with the dilemma of what to do with drunks on the two nights. "We need to come up with an alternative," said Medford Police Chief Eric Mellgren. "And maybe the alternative is to change our tolerance level." Medford police bring in approximately 80 percent of all detainees at the sobering unit, about 1,785 last year, according to statistics kept by the health and human services department. Ashland police were responsible last year for about 4 percent of the unit’s detainees. State police and sheriff’s deputies brought in 2.5 and 3 percent, respectively. About 3 percent of those housed walked in on their own, according to county statistics. Collins said he thinks police may charge more people who wind up drunk in public with a minor crime just to put them in jail until they sober up. However, those inmates would be low on the jail’s priority list and likely would be released just hours after arriving, said Sheriff Mike Winters. Sheriff’s department staff are challenged daily to release enough inmates to meet the county’s cap of about 235 in jail. The jail does not accept inmates just to provide a place for sobering. "If it doesn’t meet the system, it will be kind of like in the back door and out the front," Winters said. Local police officials have proposed assessing drunken drivers additional fees to fund the sobering unit. Suspects charged with driving under the influence now pay $115 at Jackson County Community Justice to undergo an alcohol assessment used for treatment programs, Collins said. Reach reporter Sarah Lemon at 776-4487, or e-mail [email protected] . Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright © 1997-2004 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions Website Feedback ADVERTISERS A D V E R T I S E R S SPECIAL SECTIONS Auto Finder Job Finder Home Finder Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Tempo Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Moving to Southern Oregon? Volunteer Opportunities