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Jan. 8, 2001
By Jim Mimiaga Now that Montezuma County has built a new detention center and moved inmates and staff into it, it’s time to renovate the former facility. Community Corrections, a hodgepodge of state and county rehab and work-release programs, will move into the former jail beginning in July. The center will also have a drunk tank and officials are considering a detox facility, which provides direct rehabilitation and counseling programs for alcohol- and drug-abusers. Weminuche Construction has begun preliminary remodeling work, but strained funding and an antiquated electrical and heating system have the county looking for extra money. The county has a $300,000 energy-impact grant from the Department of Local Affairs to work with. Replacing outdated infrastructure is estimated to cost another at least $100,000, but right now there is no budget for it. "We need to find additional funding, then hope we can get a grant match so we have something to work with," said Montezuma County Commissioner Gene Story. A tour of the old jail Monday shows that it needs a lot of repair. Dingy walls, leaking pipes and questionable circuitry plagued the facility even when it was in operation. Now abandoned, the gloomy cells that once held the community’s "usual suspects" will soon cast a more positive light on criminals looking for a second chance. Ever since a homeless man froze to death four years ago in Centennial Park, the Christian Emergency Shelter south of Cortez has operated as a safe house for the homeless and intoxicated during winter months. A van cruises Cortez every evening in the winter and delivers the indigent to a hot meal and warm bed. The shelter closes in the daytime. With a sobriety tank now present at the new jail, the shelter’s organizers are looking toward offering more long-term treatment services. Montezuma County Sheriff Joey Chavez said officers will deliver intoxicated individuals to the drunk tank for the night, "give them a sandwich and let them out the next morning." The commissioners and Chavez discussed the need for a community solution to helping the homeless and indigent get back on their feet. In other action Monday, the board heard from Health Department Director Lori Cooper on the possibility that the county may have to consider paying for more women’s services in the wake of a funding cut for Planned Parenthood. The agency offers reproductive care and family services for 906 local women. In December the state cut $382,000 in health-department funding for Planned Parenthood, claiming an audit showed that state money was being illegally used to subsidize abortions, in violation of the state constitution. Planned Parenthood of Colorado has denied the charges. But the fallout for Cortez Planned Parenthood means less funding and therefore higher prices for services like birth control and cancer screenings. "What could happen is the sliding-scale fee would go away and that would mean many of the clients would have to start paying for services that they can’t afford," Cooper said. "Somebody will have to pick up the slack, and we may have to become a family-planning site because someone has to offer that service."
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Copyright © 2001 the Cortez
Journal. All rights reserved. |
