Frustration erupted into anger over a group home for the mentally ill slated to open on a cul-de-sac off of Swifts Beach Road during a continued public information session Monday night.

Residents pleaded with Selectmen and the owner and landlord of the home, Jeff White, to listen to their concerns about community safety and the impact the home could have on the atmosphere of the neighborhood.

White began leasing the property to Fellowship Health Resources after Fellowship was awarded a contract with the state Department of Mental Health to operate the home. Representatives from the Department of Mental Health and Fellowship were in attendance Monday.

“We shouldn’t be mad at [Fellowship or the Department of Mental Health.] We should be mad at Jeff White and the Town of Wareham,” Lynne Road Lori Murphy said.

The group home, located at 7 Lynne Road, is being renovated by White. Fellowship officials say they plan to open a six-bed "therapeutic respite" program for patients with mental illnesses and disorders. Patients will live at the home for anywhere from a week to 30 days.

Neighbors are angry that White did not get permission from the Beaver Meadows Homeowners' Association before renovating the home. They say the addition he put on the house broke the development's covenants.

Before Monday night’s meeting, White did not respond to inquires from the community or from Wareham Week.

“He doesn’t care what he did to us. Our children will be prisoners in their own homes,” said Jane Bracchi, who lives next door to the home.

Neighbors agreed, saying they feel they have been dismissed by White. One member of the Beaver Meadows Homeowners' Association called White’s attitude “disgusting.”

At the meeting White said he didn’t receive letters from the Homeowners' Association regarding the violations to the covenants. Residents asked if White were being compensated by Fellowship.

“I should make something from all of this,” White replied.

Denise Silvia, regional director for Fellowship Health Resources, said she has worked with White for more than 15 years and stands by him.

“There is not one person on my team that doesn’t have heart,” Silvia said.

Residents also questioned Board of Selectmen Chair Walter Cruz (who was in attendance Monday along with Selectmen Ellen Begley and Steve Holmes) about why the issue has not been added to the Board of Selectmen’s meeting agenda after numerous requests by residents.

“We have a right to be heard,” Murphy stated.

Myles Burke, director of Inspectional Services, says the town's hands are tied since the home falls under state licensure and is exempted from local zoning regulations.

Despite the mounting concerns, Silvia said furniture will be moved in on Wednesday and the home will open its doors to patients on July 1.

Department of Mental Health representative Bob Jope said the patients will be people who already live in the community or who have been cleared by medical professionals to re-enter the community. Jope said the people living at this home might suffer from depression, anxiety, or bi-polar disorder.

Jope said patients will be allow to walk around the neighborhood unmonitored. Residents asked if Fellowship or the Department of Mental Health could guaranteed that sex offenders would not be patients.

“If it happened, it would be very rare,” responded Joyce O’Connor from the Department of Mental Health. “We are not going to have seriously dangerous folks.”

Jope added that if a sex offender were to stay at the home, he or she would be brought to the Police Department and registered.

Clients of the home will enter voluntarily. While a curfew is encouraged by the staff, it is not mandatory that patients oblige.

In response to residents' concerns that the home's clients will be drug addicts, Jope said while patients may have a history of substance abuse problems, the home will not accept anyone who isn’t sober and will not deal exclusively with people in need of that type of treatment.

Neighbors said that's little consolation.

“I don’t understand how you can sleep at night with all the children that live in this neighborhood,” pleaded a visibly upset Daniela Tolle, of 23 Lynne Road. “I have a 12-year-old daughter! If anything ever happened to her, it is going to be a huge problem!”

Fellowship Health Resources representatives pointed out that the agency has been in operation for more than 30 years and that safety is a top priority.

The group is expected to go before the Board of Selectmen during the Citizen’s Participation portion of the meeting on Tuesday, June 21 at 7 p.m.

Neighbors will have another chance to voice concerns to Fellowship and the Department of Health on Monday, June 27 at 10 a.m. in the Town Hall Cafeteria and at 6:30 p.m. at the Gleason Family YMCA on Charge Pond Road.