12/6/2007 9:48:00 AM Email this article • Print this article
Program for at-risk teen girls prepares to close
GABRIELLE JOHNSTON
Messenger staff writer
ZALESKI — News that the Eckerd Girls’ Challenge Program in Zaleski will be closing its doors next month was received with sadness this week in Vinton County.
Bruce Bishop, area director for Eckerd, met with the Vinton County Commissioners on Monday to formally declare the program’s intention of shutting down. Located in Zaleski State Forest on Wheelabout Road, Eckerd is a therapeutic residential program for at-risk girls ages 12 through 17.
Word of the impending closure reached the county leaders on Friday and Bishop was able to fill in the details.
“It’s with sadness that I am here,â€