NATION : Barry Leaves Washington for Treatment Center in Florida
Mayor Marion Barry, facing a misdemeanor cocaine possession charge, left the nation’s capital today to check into a residential treatment facility in Florida, a city official said.
“At this point the mayor is not considering resignation,” City Administrator Carol Thompson told a news conference. “There will be no management vacuum” in the mayor’s absence.
Barry, who has turned over the daily control of the local government to Thompson, did not speak to reporters before leaving his home.
“The mayor has left the city. . . . He has left for treatment,” Thompson said. She said it was “not appropriate” for her to disclose details of the mayor’s treatment. She said Barry would be doing that.
However, a top political aide to the mayor said Barry left for the Hanley-Hazelden Treatment Center in West Palm Beach, Fla. Clinic spokeswoman Patricia McRae said confidentiality rules forbid the clinic from revealing the names of patients.
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