The Clarion | November 4,2005
Mercy Seat shelter involved in drug raid
by Tom Cowan \a o . i ■ ■ . .
by Tom Cowan
Staff Writer
Mercy Seat, the county’s only home
less shelter, plans to reopen next week. A
police drug raid led to the closing of the
shelter and the arrest of its director nearly
two months ago.
According to the Michael Collins, the
interim director of Mercy Seat, police sus
pected a woman staying in the shelter of
selling marijuana. On Aug. 31 police con
ducted a raid of the building, which re
sulted in three arrests, including the arrest
of Michael Collins the founder and direc
tor of the shelter. The shelter has been
closed since the raid, but board members
plan to reopen it next week after investiga
tions and needed repairs are completed.
Located down town at 107 Duckworth
Street, Mercy Seat is Transylvania
County’s transitional housing agency for
women and children. It was founded in 1999
by Michael Lance, a local minister who
started the shelter with the main purpose
of assisting the evicted families of prison
ers. With some exceptions the shelter only
houses women and children. Mercy Seat
originally had a house for men as well but
it was closed due to lack of funding. Today
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Mercy Seat has eight beds and is the only
homeless shelter in the county.
While Lance was in the building on
Aug. 31, police broke down a front and
back door According to Collins, Police
searched every inside the building and
found one woman in possession of mari
juana and paraphernalia. The woman’s sis
ter and Lance who were in the room with
her at the time of the raid were also arrested.
Lance is currently charged with a felony
possession of marijuana. Lance has since
passed a drug test and the other two
women who were arrested say that he had
no knowledge of their marijuana. A prob
able cause hearing will be held for Lance
on Oct. 25. Lance’s lawyer Mack McKeller
says “we hotly contest the charge” and
the case is likely to go to trial. Both
McKeller and police have declined to dis
cuss any details of the case since all
charges are still pending.
Two other women in the shelter at the
time of the raid were served warrants for a
meth lab discovered by police at the Pine
Crest public housing facility. Collins ex
plained that the shelter’s designed drug
policy was to drug test anyone needing to
stay at the shelter for more than one night.
If a person tests positively they will usu-
Injury
continued from page I
Some of Zhoa’s hospital visitors say
that she is fully coherent and in good spir
its though in pain. Zhoa’s visitors say that
she is not paralyzed though she is unable
to walk or fully sit up. Dean Susan Yowell
has indicated that Zhoa is expected to make
a full recovery and return to campus soon.
Yowell said since the
incident a light has been
put out near the window
well near where Zhoa fell.
She also said that the
company that handles
campus maintenance,
Sidexo, is looking for a
way to prevent this from
happening again.
ally be allowed to continue to stay in the
shelter if and until their next test shows
that they have stopped using drugs. Due
to the apparent failure of this policy
Lance’s removal as director is likely to be
permanent regardless of whether or not his
charges are dropped. Who will take Lances
place is not yet known.
Collins said “the reason it is taking so
long for the shelter to reopen is because a
lot of things have had to be done by the
books.” Collins described a series of au
diting and investigating which is being done
in order to regain funding from organiza
tions such as FEMA, and the United Way.
It is still unclear weather or not this fund
ing will be fully restored.
Members of board at Mercy Seat have
been using the last two months as time to
make needed repairs and improvements on
the house. Several businesses and church
groups have answered the call for dona
tions such as Jennings Builder Supply who
has repaired the house’s two broken doors
and the local Quaker community who do
nated a new shower While there is still a
fair amount of work to do, Collins says the
shelter should reopen next weak.
Fitness
continued from page I
tant to create a campus environment that
attracts and retains high-caliber students,
faculty and staff. That’s why we work tire
lessly to improve our residential and aca
demic facilities. Increasing our offerings
of health and wellness opportunities for
the members of our campus community is
essential to that effort.”
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