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der=0 cellpadding=3 cellspacing=0 width=100%> State OKs drug facility move
JUNE 13, 2000

The Oklahoma State Health Department turned down a request to reconsider their approval of a drug rehablitation center in Newkirk.

In May, the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma sold its Arrowhead Lodge resort property for $1.9 million to the Association for Better Living and Education, a group affiliated with the Church of Scientology. The tribe purchased the 256-acre resort from the federal government in 1985 and had operated a gaming center there until they announced it was up for sale.

The Asssociation has leased the property to Narconon, a Scientology inspired drug and alcohol abuse center. The Narconon center was formerly hosted at the Chilocco Indian School in Newkirk which it leased from the Chilocco Development Authority, a development group composed of the Ponca, Otoe-Missouria, Tonkawa, and Pawnee tribes.

But the five tribes never saw the kind of money Narconon had promised, earning only $1 million instead of the $16 million Narconon said it would generate.

Upon moving to the Arrowhead Lodge, Narconon plans to expand the operation. Local residents opposed the state's approval but the state said they failed to show a good cause for reconsideration.

Get the Story:
State reaffirms rehabilitation center -- Arrowhead neighbors denied public hearing (Daily Oklahoman 6/13)