By Tonia Rose - Staff Writer
It was a unanimous decision by the Grayson City County last week to deny a business license to the owners of a pain management clinic.
According to Harry Vaughn and Tracy Bias, seeing vehicles in Miami from, Rowan, Carter, Elliott and Greenup Counties sparked them to open a pain clinic in Grayson.
“We don’t want you here,” were the words Vaughn and Bias heard from several folks who addressed them at a regular called council meeting.
Bias and Vaughn are the owners of the Pain Management Clinic of Grayson LLC, which opened June 1, but was shut down the next day due to not acquiring a business license.
Prior to the council meeting, a large group of protestors gathered outside city hall to pray and voice their opinions concerning the pain clinic opening in Grayson.
About 30 protestors were given permission by Mayor George Steele to attend the meeting and ask questions about the clinic.
“We want to say the idea of opening this type of facility here is a sore subject for our community,” said Steele as the council meeting began. “I don’t know if there is a person in Carter County or this city who hasn’t been touched by the drug culture. I’m not saying your business is illegal, but this type of business does have a bad reputation. We are a city governed by rules and we want law to prevail at this council meeting.”
Vaughn and Bias were then given the floor to defend the clinic and their reasoning for opening the partnership in Grayson.
Bias, who also is the owner of a pain management clinic in Portsmouth, said a recent trip to Miami for Bike Week provoked him to believe Grayson was a suitable location for his business.
“When I was there I saw numerous license plate tags from this county and other connecting counties at pain clinics down there,” Bias said. “Those people are driving a long way to see doctors and we thought Grayson would be a good place to open a new clinic…We do intense drug testing with all our patients. We don’t just hand out prescriptions for medications but also give prescriptions for MRIs, Cat Scans, physical therapy and even to drug addiction centers. We also check through CASPER and Ohio’s drug program to make sure no one is doctor shopping.”
Bias said several people from the Grayson area also are patients at his Portsmouth pain clinic.
Steele asked Bias about the normal procedures a person must take to be seen by their physician, Dr. Michael Maynor.
Bias said with $200 and an MRI or CT Scan a person will be seen at the facility. Bias also said all patients must undergo drug testing and no insurance was accepted.
Steele then asked about the employees at the Grayson clinic, but neither Bias nor Vaughn could recall the name of one employee.
Both men were then questioned about Louisville native and Folly Beach, S.C. resident Maynor. Bias said he was hired through a private contractor would fly weekly to Kentucky to see patients.
During the week, Maynor stayed in local hotels and was paid $1,200 each day for his services. Bias said he pays the private contractor money up front, who then pays Maynor the $1,200.
“Has he practiced in Florida? And is this his first pain clinic?” Steeled asked.
Bias said Maynor had practiced at other pain clinics in Florida and other states.
“He said he didn’t like the way they run the clinic down there (Florida), and that’s why he came back up this way,” Bias said.
Steele asked both Bias and Vaughn if they would be willing to provide the city with all financial records and the number of patients they would see on a monthly basis. Bias said the requests could be arranged.
“I want to say that the people here in this county can use their family physicians to get needed prescriptions,” Steele said. “We have wonderful doctors here in our town and excellent and reputable pain management facilities at King’s Daughters Medical Center and Belfonte Hospital. I just don’t think we need this in our city.”
Pastor Jim Varney also attended the meeting and had with him a petition that included 1,000 names of people protesting the pain clinic opening in Grayson.
Following the conclusion of questions for Bias and Vaughn, Steele said the decision was made not to issue a permit. “It’s a closed door that we hope does not open back up,” Steele added Monday.
