By Patrick Adrian
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UNITY, N.H. — Sullivan County Manager Derek Ferland said he plans to hold another community forum in Claremont about the proposed sober housing project in an effort to broaden public understanding and support.
Ferland told the Sullivan County Commissioners on Monday that he is considering Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2020 as a tentative date for a new forum on the county plan to provide temporary housing to 40-50 graduates from the Sullivan County Transitional Reentry and Inmate Life Skills (TRAILS) program. TRAILS serves county inmates whose crime relates to the person’s substance abuse. The sober house would provide transitional housing and services to inmates who are returning to the community but lack a stable living environment conducive to staying clean and sober.
According to Ferland, he wants to structure this forum differently from the county’s forum held in January 2019, when the county was considering locating the program in the Junior Sports League at 45 School St. Rather than creating the panel of county officials, Ferland said the panelists and guest speakers at the new forum will include parents and family members of TRAILS graduates, local employers and representatives from sober housing facilities in other New Hampshire municipalities.
“People who can speak directly to the good, the bad and the ugly of the programs,” Ferland said.
In August and September, Ferland and Superintendent Dave Berry of the county department of corrections held several smaller community discussions about the project, including one with Claremont’s four state representatives: Rep. John Cloutier (At-large), Andrew O’Hearne (Ward 1), Gary Merchant (Ward II) and Walt Stapleton (Ward III). Ferland and Berry held the other meetings with neighbors abutting the 19 Sullivan St. property or with Claremont small businesses. In September, Ferland said that these discussions helped to answer questions and correct misperceptions about the project, though the meetings only reached roughly 15 or so members of the local business community.
Jan. 22 appears to be an ideal date because there is no conflict with a city council or school board meeting, and is also five days before the county will discuss the project again with the Claremont Planning Board on Monday, Jan. 27, 2020. Ferland hopes that many of the Claremont Planning Board’s questions may get answered at the community forum.
The county would like to hold the forum at the Sugar River Valley Regional Technical Center, where it can be televised on CCTV.
Letter from a family
Earlier in the commissioners meeting, Ferland shared portions of a letter from the family of a TRAILS graduate who wrote Berry to thank the county for helping their daughter.
“Incarceration saved [our daughter’s] life,” the letter stated. Ferland did not disclose the name of the TRAILS graduate or any family members identified in the letter.
Ferland said the letter was a reminder that the effort to help people recover from addiction is not just about the addict but his or her family members. He said that for every addict there are about five family members who are impacted.
Ferland praised Berry and the county corrections staff for their dedication.
“This [letter] is a great reminder of what we are doing and why we’re doing it,” Ferland said. “It just shows that if they are willing to do the work, they can do amazing things.”
Berry also noted that this TRAILS graduate had to go to a sober housing facility outside the county, away from her family, due to a lack of an in-county facility.
“When people refer to these inmates as ‘those people,’ they should realize that ‘those people’ are ‘our people,’” said Commissioner Ben Nelson. “They shouldn’t have to go through 360 days of separation for someone who lives next door.”
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