Rader residents to be relocated after AC fails

Saturday, June 17th 2006, 12:25 pm

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ A failing air-conditioning system may force the relocation of residents in a maximum-security building at the Rader juvenile treatment center in Sand Springs.

Office of Juvenile Affairs board members yesterday voted to spend 46-thousand dollars on temporary emergency repairs to the 35 plus-year-old system after being told it would take up to four months and $360,000 to replace the system with new rooftop units.

The Rader maximum-security building holds up to 48 youths, including some of Oklahoma's most violent juvenile offenders.

Engineers say the air-conditioning system could stop working at any time, and they couldn't guarantee how long temporary repairs would last.

An OJA administrator says if the system fails, residents will be moved to a gymnasium at the treatment center where they will sleep on cots.