New rehab center planned in Reserve
Published 12:00 am Friday, April 30, 2004
By LEONARD GRAY – Managing Editor
RESERVE – A 5.5-acre site is to be sold to New Life Recovery Center Inc. by the St. John Parish government for a drug rehabilitation center.
The organizers, including Harold Keller of Get High on Life Inc., have three years to pay the $112,500 price out of private donations.
The center will be designed to serve 20 men and be available for St. John, St. Charles and St. James parish residents.
Also in the same 300-acre region are sites for a veterans home and a senior citizen center, all near Regala Park.
“I’ve dreamed of this for 24 years,” Keller said, and added the nearest rehab centers are in New Orleans and Houma.
With this purchase agreement in hand, Keller noted, the way is open for the non-profit corporation to see federal grant funding to sustain operations, once the center is completed.
There were no opposing voice at the Tuesday council meeting where the agreement was approved. However, former Parish President Arnold Labat has suggested a West Bank site, perhaps at the old Second Ward High School.