DATE: Wednesday, March 5, 1997              TAG: 9703050507

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B4   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY TOM HOLDEN, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:   49 lines

CREEDS MAN WON'T SELL HOME TO GROUP FOR A BOYS' SHELTERNEIGHBORS WERE DELIGHTED TO HEAR THAT THE OUTREACH CENTER WON'T BE MOVING IN.

A proposal to convert a home in rural Creeds into a shelter for young boys ended quickly Tuesday when the home's owner announced he would not sell his house to the organization that wanted it.

James Dockiewicz, whose six-bedroom home on Muddy Creek Road was considered as a site for the shelter, delighted his neighbors when he said the house wouldn't be sold to the Judeo-Christian Outreach Center.

Dockiewicz's decision satisfied the residents who filled an auditorium at Creeds Elementary School to hear about the plans advanced by one of the city's leading advocacy groups for the homeless.

For months the center's executive board had been trying to find a location for a shelter that would house up to 10 young boys between the ages of 13 and 17, who for various reasons were at risk of being homeless.

The outreach center, at Virginia Beach Boulevard and Bird Neck Road, is for adults only.

Richard Powell, the center executive director, has said that while there are places for young people to go when their family life has ended - either through abuse or other circumstance - there are not enough such shelters.

The Creeds shelter would have been staffed full time and complied with a number of state regulations. But such assurances carried little weight with those in attendance.

Many resident wondered why the center could not put its efforts into expanding existing services with operations already in place.

Still others worried opening such a shelter would bring crime into an area of the city known for its quiet life.

One resident said Virginia law requires children from other states who run away and are found here to be sent home.

Given that, she wondered, why would the outreach center want a home for children who had run away from home?

The question brought applause from the audience.

Wayne Jones, a member of the center's executive board who helped moderate the program, reminded the audience that the center staff was not in the elementary school to argue.

``We're not here to have a confrontation,'' Jones said. ``We're here to have you help us solve our problems. We're not here to start anything.''

But the issue died on ``not in my back yard'' concerns that constantly plague advocates for the homeless.

Center officials said they would continue to search for a site because the problem of young people at risk of being homeless would continue regardless of neighbors' concerns.

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