Bellefontaine Avoids Budget Axe

The Legislature will leave a center for the mentally-retarded and developmentally disabled open, despite the Governor’s early recommendation it be closed. Keeping the Bellefontaine Habilitation Center in St. Louis County open has been a crusade this year for Senator Tim Green of Spanish Lake. He helped convince Senate Appropriations chairman Chuck Gross to leave money for the center in the budget. The budget for the Mental Health Department lets the Department experiment with community placement at one of the habilitation centers – the one in Nevada. Green says the kind of experiment at Nevada is the kind of change in services that could be adapted to other habilitation centers.