February 4, 2019
By: Dwayne Page
Tom Vickers, the owner of the Sober Living Services and Omega House of Smithville addressed the Mayor and Aldermen Monday night to explain how his drug and alcohol recovery programs and halfway houses operate hoping to ease concerns that have been raised in recent weeks.
Mayor Josh Miller asked Vickers to attend the meeting after being confronted by citizens who had questions about the facilities that the mayor could not answer.
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Vickers said he is a believer in the Sober Living Services because he has seen it change lives of people addicted to drugs and alcohol including his own. “It touched me personally. I got addicted to opiates years ago from a car wreck. I went to one of these homes and got clean. I have been clean 10 years. I am a total believer in them. These are people trying to change their lives. They are getting their lives together” he said.
Since he started the programs here in 2011, Vickers said many have been served. “We have seen approximately 2,000 people. I’ve got six Sober Living homes and one of them has three apartments in it. I own probably 30 total rentals. We have about fifty to sixty people at a time (from outside DeKalb County). They come from different places including treatment centers, and hospitals. We have homeless veterans and some come from jails. We don’t take sex offenders or anybody with an aggravated (violent crime) charge. You must have an alcohol or drug problem to get in our program and just anybody can’t come,”said Vickers.
All are subject to house rules and curfews and those who are on probation or parole are monitored closely. Probation and parole officers check on them several times a week and we send progress reports to each probation or parole officer, or whoever is over that person each month. They are also drug tested randomly the whole time they are here. If they fail a drug test they can be discharged but we try to get them to go to a treatment center,” Vickers continued.
“For the first 90 days the participants are not allowed to go anywhere by themselves. They must have someone walking with them. If they walk to the store, wherever they go they must have somebody with them,” he said. While transportation is provided in some cases, Vickers explained that it is difficult to keep the participants from walking about town, especially if they have jobs.
“All but about seven or eight of them have jobs and many work at Omega, Shiroki, and a lot of different places. Those who don’t find employment go to the Haven of Hope and make stuff for cancer patients most of the time. Some do walk to work but a majority of the time we take them by van although some may walk home at lunch. The problem is we offer a three month to a year program so how do you tell somebody who has been here three or six months they can’t walk down to McDonalds and get something to eat if they have a full time job with no car?” asked Vickers.
For those who are bothered about people staying at the halfway houses, Vickers suggested that they be just as concerned about others in the community who may be hooked on drugs or alcohol who roam the streets without supervision.
“All the people who walk in Smithville ain’t Tom Vickers’ people. There are a lot of different areas in Smithville where people walk from. It ain’t my people who you have to worry about it’s the people who live in this town you have to worry about. This town is really affected with drugs very badly and those people are not monitored at all,” said Vickers.
Although the rehab programs and halfway houses are supervised, Vickers admits that the system isn’t perfect. “We have a house manager and a 24 hour a day staff with men and women working three shifts. Anybody who leaves the house must have permission from the staff and must sign a log noting where they are going. Sometimes people just walk off but if they do there are consequences for that. If they break curfew or other house rules they are placed under restrictions. After three violations they are discharged,” said Vickers.
“If they are discharged and don’t leave (town), what do you do then?” asked Alderman Brandon Cox.
“If they fail a drug test I try to send them to rehab or inpatient treatment. If they don’t want to do that then we try to give them a bus ticket to send them back to wherever they are from,” replied Vickers.
“If they refuse both of those, legally what are you able to do?”, asked Alderman Cox.
“Nothing”, answered Vickers. Except for those on probation or parole who continually violate the rules. They can be sent back to jail.
“If somebody is already on probation or parole, they are taken care of?” asked Alderman Cox.
“Yes, sir”, answered Vickers.
“What percentage of your population is not associated with probation or parole?” asked Alderman Cox.
“Probably 30%,” said Vickers.
City attorney Vester Parsley said that Vickers is operating within state laws and regulations and there is nothing the city can do to force him out.
“Tom, your program is governed by the state of Tennessee, correct?” asked Alderman Gayla Hendrix.
“Yes” replied Vickers.
“You are licensed by the state of Tennessee?” asked Alderman Hendrix.
“Yes” said Vickers.
“As a city we have no authority over your license or what goes on in your program. You meet all the state qualifications. There are no issues with that. I think you are doing a great service and I appreciate it,” added Alderman Hendrix.
“I would also like to emphasize that as long as Mr. Vickers is in compliance with the state regulations, he can put these Sober Living houses anywhere he wants to in the city limits and we don’t have any control over that. It is protected by the state,” said Alderman Shawn Jacobs.
Sue Puckett, attorney for Vickers, quoted from a recent article in a magazine with statistics that show how serious the drug problem is here. “There is an excellent report in Tennessee’s magazine that UT put out. We really have a problem in Tennessee. DeKalb County is on a national list among the 50 highest places for drugs and that is terrible. There is one quote here “the numbers tell that even if you are completely devoid of compassion for addicts, their families and their communities, this is a battle worth fighting purely on economic terms”. There is a problem and we need to do everything we can to give people a second chance,” said Puckett.
“It’s a dark community when you look at it as far as drugs. Then you compile that with suicide rates. It’s a mess here but we need a local partnership, not only with Tom but with our local recovery court programs, and anybody else we can,” added Alderman Cox.
“I really appreciate you coming tonight Tom. I know it probably wasn’t easy to do. The bottom line is if you came in here against it, you may leave against it. If you came in here for it you may be for it but we’re not scared to talk about it and I do appreciate you coming tonight,” said Mayor Miller.
“Just for the record I am not doing any more (halfway houses)” concluded Vickers.