Lincoln Behavioral begins moving clients out

YOUNGSTOWN — About 70 youths were moved out of Lincoln Behavioral Health Care’s residential facility this morning for “their safety,” according to a company spokeswoman who refused to identify herself.

Large, unmarked white vans were loading the young people at about 10 a.m. They were being returned to the counties who sent them there, said the woman, who then ordered The Vindicator reporter off the property.

Youth, 8-20, are sent to Lincoln for counseling and other services. A Lincoln spokesman said Friday that it would close its residential facility, but that it was negotiating with a national company to take over the business, located in the former Woodside Receiving Hospital on Indianola Avenue on the city’s South Side.

For more on this story, please see Tuesday’s Vindicator or Vindy.com.