Published: October 23, 2009 10:28 am      

Graduation marks steps in right direction

PRINCETON — They didn’t wear long robes or mortar boards as they accepted their diplomas, but two very special Mercer County graduates began new chapters in their lives just as surely as any high school or college grad.

Mercer County’s Southern Regional Drug Court saluted its 30th and 31st graduates since its 2005 inception with in a special ceremony Thursday afternoon.

The event was a celebration of lives truly lived, savored and salvaged from the grips of addiction and heartache. It was a celebration of the people the two graduates have become since making the pledge to remain sober and stay out of the court system.

The three-step alternative sentencing program currently counts 28 active participants who entered guilty pleas to non-violent, drug-related crimes and pledged to get their lives in order under the supervision of a judge and intense treatment team. In exchange for their pleas and willingness to work on their own problems under the scrutiny of many people, they will stay out of jail as long as they stay clean and out of trouble.

Wednesday’s first graduate is 21 years old and completed the three-phase Drug Court curriculum in about 14 months.

She tries not to dwell on the days when drugs ruled everything, but she knows it began, “when I was using and stuff, and hanging out with a crowd I shouldn’t have been.”

Before long, she faced a criminal charge that threatened to put her behind bars, but a referral to the Drug Court kept her out of jail and set her spirit free.

“I just finally got my thoughts clear,” the young woman planning to start college in January said. “I learned that you can have fun without using drugs, and that you have to surround yourself with good people.”

The young grad isn’t sure whether she will attend Concord University or Bluefield State College, but she’s positive what she intends to study. She aims to become a teacher, hopefully one who will inspire students as the Drug Court treatment team has driven her toward her dreams.

“I just want to say thanks to Susan and Laura and the treatment team that’s helped me and been patient with me,” she said.

The second graduate to complete his Drug Court program Thursday was a 33-year-old Princeton man who said he got into the program through “years of practice.”

By his early 20s, the young man said he routinely turned to drugs as an escape from his day-to-day problems, but the trouble always followed him.

Drugs cost him employment opportunities, friends and even the chance to say goodbye to his dying mother.

“I pretty much lived for one thing and one thing only, and that was drugs,” he said, in a Drug Court promotional video recently.

A burglary charge sent him to jail in 2008. That’s where he met Heaven Sent Ministries’ Pastor Lyle Mullins and found his faith in something other than illegal substances.

“I found the Lord, and He changed everything for me,” he said. “I was in jail for eight months, and it was a long time to clear my head.”

When the young man discharged his sentence for burglary, he really had no place to stay. His habit had burned every bridge he had and consumed everything but his spirit and determination to change. Mullins and the people at Heaven Sent Ministries believed in him enough that they took him in and put him to work, provided he comply with the requirements of Drug Court and complete the program.

“I was in the right frame of mind the day I came here to Drug Court,” he said. “It’s given me the chance to be an example, and to help other people.”

Today, that young man is a full-time Heaven Sent Ministries employee and is proud to say he is a missionary spreading God’s word and steadfast nature. Truly happy for the first time in a long time, he plans to continue his mission there for the foreseeable future.

“I’ve accomplished more in the two years since I went to jail than I did in all of the 14 before that,” he said.

Southern Regional Drug Court Coordinator Laura Helton said she’s been very proud of all her graduates, but the two who completed the program Thursday were extra special, and they progressed quickly through the program designed to last at least a year.

The first phase focuses intensely on making sure the participants remain sober. They must attend and take part in 8-10 hours of substance abuse treatment each week, attend Drug Court classes, speak with the Drug Court judge each week and comply with regular drug screenings. They must log at least 60 consecutive drug-free days before participants can even ask to advance to Phase 2 of the Drug Court process.

Once they achieve the second level and remain drug-free, participants begin working with their case managers to make a plan for their lives past addiction. It’s during this time when Helton said they begin building job skills, seeking new jobs or choosing to return to school.

When those plans are in place, the participants advance to Phase 3, where they work to show the court they can live independently as productive members of society, and that they can do that without drugs and new offenses.

“A lot of people think Drug Court is being easy on crime, but Drug Court, day to day, is very strict,” Helton told the Times recently. “They are paying back. They’re paying restitution. They’re paying their fines. They’re doing community service.”

Along with local judicial leaders, West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals Justice Menis Ketchum and Justice Thomas McHugh were set to speak at Thursday’s graduation ceremony.

To date, the Southern Regional Drug Court has enrolled approximately 100 participants. Of those, 31 have completed the program, approximately 40 have been dismissed for failure to comply with drug court rules, and 28 are still enrolled.

— Contact Tammie Toler at ttoler@ptonline.net.