Wednesday, July 02, 2008
Pike County Board of Education Receives Money From Westcare
Pikeville –William J. Baird,III, Co-chairman of the WestCare Kentucky Board of Directors presented a $92,000 check to Pike County Board of Education Superintendent Roger Wagner on Wednesday, July 2, at the board’s headquarters in Pikeville.
The money was granted to WestCare Kentucky by the Pike County Fiscal Court, through single county coal severance taxes. The money will be used by WestCare Kentucky to finally purchase the former Lookout Elementary School from the board of education. WestCare Kentucky will be transforming the site to a “family friendly” women’s drug rehabilitation treatment center.
Several leaders in the battle against drug addiction in Pike County spoke at the check presentation ceremony, including Pike County Judge/Executive Wayne T. Rutherford; District Court Judge Kelsey E. Friend; Dr. William Fannin, drug treatment director at Pikeville Medical Center; Pike County Jailer Rodney Scott; Pike County Deputy Judge/Executive John Doug Hayes, and HUD’s Director of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives Anna Maria Farias.
At the ceremony, Judge Rutherford presented Ms. Farias with a certificate naming her an Honorary Pike County Judge/Executive. Ms. Farias left her position as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Grant Programs in HUD’s office of Community Planning and Development in 2007 to become HUD’s Director of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. She said the new position brought her life “full circle.”
Ms. Farias grew up in government housing in Texas, and went on to graduate college from Boston University and obtain a law degree from Temple University. She has also attended Harvard University’s JFK School of Government Programs.
WestCare Regional Vice-President Jenifer Nolan brought Ms. Farias to Pikeville to show her what the area’s concerned citizens were doing to fight drug problems. The WestCare Kentucky Board of Directors is eager to work with Ms. Farias in the later phases of its women’s treatment center.
In his opening remarks, Judge Friend thanked Superintendent Wagner and the Pike County Board of Education members for their patience in waiting for funding of the Lookout property.
“They’ve been very patient with us in our efforts to secure funding, and we’ve been long past our deadline to pay, but they believed as we did that the treatment of women drug addicts is crucial to the health of this community,” he said.
“We’re going to educate our kids—that’s the easy part. The toughest part is to change the climate of the community,” said Superintendent Wagner, after accepting the check.
“And our common goal is to rid the county of its problems with drugs,” he added.
The money was granted to WestCare Kentucky by the Pike County Fiscal Court, through single county coal severance taxes. The money will be used by WestCare Kentucky to finally purchase the former Lookout Elementary School from the board of education. WestCare Kentucky will be transforming the site to a “family friendly” women’s drug rehabilitation treatment center.
Several leaders in the battle against drug addiction in Pike County spoke at the check presentation ceremony, including Pike County Judge/Executive Wayne T. Rutherford; District Court Judge Kelsey E. Friend; Dr. William Fannin, drug treatment director at Pikeville Medical Center; Pike County Jailer Rodney Scott; Pike County Deputy Judge/Executive John Doug Hayes, and HUD’s Director of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives Anna Maria Farias.
At the ceremony, Judge Rutherford presented Ms. Farias with a certificate naming her an Honorary Pike County Judge/Executive. Ms. Farias left her position as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Grant Programs in HUD’s office of Community Planning and Development in 2007 to become HUD’s Director of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. She said the new position brought her life “full circle.”
Ms. Farias grew up in government housing in Texas, and went on to graduate college from Boston University and obtain a law degree from Temple University. She has also attended Harvard University’s JFK School of Government Programs.
WestCare Regional Vice-President Jenifer Nolan brought Ms. Farias to Pikeville to show her what the area’s concerned citizens were doing to fight drug problems. The WestCare Kentucky Board of Directors is eager to work with Ms. Farias in the later phases of its women’s treatment center.
In his opening remarks, Judge Friend thanked Superintendent Wagner and the Pike County Board of Education members for their patience in waiting for funding of the Lookout property.
“They’ve been very patient with us in our efforts to secure funding, and we’ve been long past our deadline to pay, but they believed as we did that the treatment of women drug addicts is crucial to the health of this community,” he said.
“We’re going to educate our kids—that’s the easy part. The toughest part is to change the climate of the community,” said Superintendent Wagner, after accepting the check.
“And our common goal is to rid the county of its problems with drugs,” he added.
# posted by Joe Kinzer @ 4:47 PM 
