Two decades on, halfway house draws fire

MESA NORTH -- Quiet McKinley Way is lined with ranch homes, well-cut

lawns and driveways plugged with station wagons and sedans.

Nothing strange, nothing exceptional. No reason to appear on the city’s

radars, except for the fact that six residents of a gray home on the

corner of McKinley and Cheyenne Street are chained and cuffed before

they’re shuttled off to work in a van, escorted by an armed guard.

“The children ride by on their bikes every day with their eyes like

saucers,” said Nick Hanson, whose home faces House of Sarah, the only

state-contracted women’s halfway house in Orange County.

The home is where six women -- convicted of nonviolent, often

drug-related crimes -- serve the final three to four months of their

prison terms while working and saving money for their post-prison life.

Although it’s been there since 1979, mostly unnoticed by its neighbors, a

preexisting city ordinance may force House of Sarah out of the

neighborhood.

In the fall, the City Council -- concerned that too many group homes were

moving into the city -- directed its development services staff to count

its nursing homes, halfway houses, alcohol and drug recovery centers,

foster homes and homes for disabled children.

The staff found that the city’s only halfway house violated city codes

prohibiting group homes in residential neighborhoods.

Perry Valantine, the city’s development services director, said the state

may have licensed the facility more than 20 years ago without considering

the city ordinance.

“It appears that the type of facility they’re operating would not have

been permitted at any time, even 20 years ago,” he said. “But it’s not

surprising for the state to issue permits without verifying whether

they’re permitted by the city’s laws.”

But Betty Pannell, a supervisor in the state Department of Corrections’

Parole Division, said the city has known about the facility and its

location for years.

She said the city gave the center “verbal or some other approval” when

its owners signed their latest contract with the state in 1996.

“The city would have to have some change in their ordinance for it to be

an issue,” Pannell said.

Nine people living on and near McKinley Way say they are indifferent

about House of Sarah. One said she brings the inmates fresh oranges.

Another said she is proud the residents are trying to re-integrate with

society.

But others -- such as Ernie Feeney, who has spoken up at several City

Council meetings, and Stan Brown, whose home is diagonal from House of

Sarah -- say there’s no room for the inmates in a residential area.

Nicole, a 36-year-old inmate at House of Sarah, said she understands such

concerns, especially since there are young children in the neighborhood.

“But we are quiet, respectful and aware of our neighbors,” Nicole said.

“We live quite conservatively.”

Nicole is serving the final week of a 16-month drug possession sentence

there. On Tuesday, she was seated at a table inside the home, which has

the sagging couches, small cluttered kitchen and scent of shampoo more

evocative of a sorority house than a prison.

She said she spent the last 90 days of her sentence at House of Sarah,

where she attended regular drug counseling and group therapy sessions.

She spent the three months working in retail and said she’s being

considered for a clerical position.

“This house focuses on positivity,” she said. “Not a single one of us has

had trouble since we’ve been here.”

Still, despite the apparent serenity of the home, Brown said it must go.

He said the “satellite prison” brings property values down. He also said

Florence and William Woolbright, who run the home, do not maintain their

property as well as other neighborhood residents.

“There are blocks missing from its walls,” he said. “That’s not good for

the neighborhood’s image.”

But William Woolbright, who said he didn’t know the home was in jeopardy

until Tuesday, said he has tried to make it look like any other home. He

said he even decorated it with elaborate Christmas lights last month to

ensure it wouldn’t be the only dark house on the block.

Valantine said the city’s code enforcement department would continue

investigating whether House of Sarah should be in the neighborhood. He

said he didn’t know how long the research would take. But he said the

facility would need to go if the city finds the neighborhood was

designated for homes only -- despite its relatively quiet history.

Hanson, who has lived on McKinley Street for 33 years, said removing

House of Sarah wouldn’t necessarily guarantee a better neighbor.

“I’ve seen worse and I’ve seen better neighbors,” he said. “You should

have seen what I had to put up with before they moved in there. It was

not a good scene.”