JACKSON TOWNSHIP Officials consider concerns about center

The fire chief was turned away from the facility last week.
By IAN HILL
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
NORTH JACKSON -- Jackson Township and Mahoning County officials say they're trying to decide how to address concerns about Victory Harvest Ministries, a Palmyra Road church that offers drug-and alcohol-treatment programs and operates a residential facility.
Late last month, the county sheriff's department informed nearby residents that Victory Harvest had accepted its first sex offender, Steven Rich, 40, formerly of Goodsprings, Tenn., who had been recently paroled. Rich pleaded guilty in 1998 in Columbiana County Common Pleas Court to rape and two counts of gross sexual imposition for sexual conduct with a 7-year-old girl in 1996 and 1997.
He was sentenced to six years in prison and labeled a sexual predator.
Meeting tonight
Some residents are expected to express concerns about Rich and the facility at tonight's trustee meeting, slated to be at 7:30 p.m. in the township hall.
Township Trustee Steve Gondol said representatives from the township and the county district board of health and prosecutor's office have met in recent weeks to gather information about the facility. The most recent meeting was Thursday.
Victory Harvest's pastor, the Rev. Ronald Pyles Jr., did not return calls to comment.
"We're trying to get all our information together at this point," Gondol said, noting there have been several rumors about the number of sexually based offenders staying at the facility. "We're trying to do everything cautiously."
Richard Setty,district board of health's director of environmental health, said the county is trying to determine what type of permits Victory Harvest needs to operate.
State officials said the facility does not have any permits or certificates.
Linda Janes, chief of the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction's Bureau of Community Sanctions, said Victory Harvest most likely won't need a permit to house sex offenders unless it receives state funding. A Vindicator story from 2000 said the facility is funded through donations.
Stacy Frohnapfel-Hasson, communications chief for the Ohio Department of Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services, added that Victory Harvest won't need a certificate for its drug- and alcohol-treatment program if it describes itself as offering rehabilitation through religion or the Bible.
"As long as they don't say they're licensed or certified in any way, they're not breaking any rules," she said.
The situation was different in 2000.
Sued the state
The state wrote a letter to the Rev. Mr. Pyles in November 2000 notifying him that he must stop offering treatment programs until he gets a state certificate. Mr. Pyles and five others who directed the programs responded in 2002 by suing the state, arguing that it had infringed on their religious freedoms.
Court records show the suit was dropped by Victory Harvest later that year. Setty said Victory Harvest then moved out of the church and tried to sell it in an auction.
When the church was not sold, Victory Harvest moved back in, Setty said.
He added that county and state building, fire and health inspectors have had difficulty trying to enter the facility over the years. Mr. Pyles' attorney told the Vindicator in 2000 that the Mr. Pyles believed he was being harassed by neighbors.
Jackson Township Fire Chief Wayne McDougal said he was turned away from Victory Harvest by facility staff last week when he tried to perform a fire inspection.
Gondol stressed that township and county officials are considering the rights of both the residents and Mr. Pyles when discussing Victory Harvest.
hill@vindy.com