Church's Addiction Recovery Center Faces Opposition From Community

A south Oklahoma City church’s plan to open a Christ-based addiction recovery facility in Bridge Creek is facing growing opposition.  

Beth Haven Baptist Church wants to open Victory Ranch on May 20 on the edge of Bridge Creek and Blanchard.  

Beth Haven senior pastor Rich Carter said the 12-bed facility won’t accept violent felons or sex offenders.

However, Amy Callaway lives three blocks away from the planned 41-acre site. She said Victory Ranch is bad news.  

“My concerns are they’re going to get out here and get bored, and there’s going to be a lot of theft and more drugs,” she said.

Carter said Victory Ranch will be funded by private donations and a work scholarship program.  

“It’s not that we won’t help people who have had a history with the law, but they won’t be able to be in legal trouble when they are in our facility.  And we’re going to make sure we protect the neighborhood, our concern is to help everybody,” he said.  

Donna Strother is the president of Bridge Creek’s Neighborhood Watch program.

“I don’t feel good about this at all, sir,” she said Monday afternoon. “Because it’s not what we want in our backyard.”  

Britnee Vanhouten has two children, 1 and 6 years old, and she lives right across the street from where Victory Ranch — which will be housed in two modular homes -- is planned.

“These people are maybe coming out of rehabs, just simply need more help than what a rehab could probably give them,” she said. “I am a young person, and if I was in the same situation, I would want the exact same help.”