A fond farewell: Counselor turns seminarian and gets roasted at fundraiser
September 17, 2007
By STEPHEN GURR
The Times
GAINESVILLE
Scott Rogers The Times
Judge Jason Deal, right, roasts Michael Devine, left, as Devine was seated on stage alongside his wife, Kit, during Tuesday night’s Friends of Recovery Banquet at First Presbyterian Church
Michael Devine’s life took a few twists and turns before he ended up as the guest of honor at a banquet Tuesday night.Devine, who was director of treatment services for Hall County’s drug and DUI courts before entering seminary at Emory University two weeks ago, spent most of the night wearing his trademark smile as he was alternately praised and roasted by a panel of Hall County judges and prosecutors during a farewell fundraiser.
Devine, 46, later spoke openly of his life as a recovering addict, who at 25 was snorting an “eight-ball” (one-eighth of an ounce) of methamphetamine a week and drinking up to a case of beer a day when he tried to commit suicide.
“It’s an amazing gift for me to be here,” said Devine, clean and sober since March 1990. “You can’t come to this place without God’s help.”
Devine was lauded Tuesday as a counselor who offered addicts in the local judicial system hope through his own story of recovery and redemption. He turned skeptics of drug court into believers, Superior Court Judge Jason Deal said.
“I went from looking at it as a hug-a-thug program to really becoming involved in drug court because of Mike,” Deal said.
Said Court Administrator Reggie Forrester, “Mike has shown you can take the rustiest nail in the barnyard, and with enough care make it shine as much as any nail in the cabinet.”
Devine didn’t make it through the night without considerable ribbing.
Hall County Solicitor-General Larry Baldwin, poking fun at Devine’s penchant for writing long-winded policy manuals, commented, “when Mike quit, a local paper mill went out of business.”
Tuesday’s event was held at First Presbyterian Church as a fundraiser for Friends of Recovery, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping recovering addicts who have gone through Hall County’s various accountability courts. The group focuses on drug and DUI court participants who don’t have a support network of family or friends to help them stay clean and sober, Friends of Recovery chairwoman Stephanie Woodard said.
“I can’t think of a better way to extend a hand of friendship to people who feel they have no friends,” Woodard said.
Losing Devine to a higher calling is tough to take, she said.
“He has such unique skills and perspective,” she said.
Baldwin seemed to be only half-joking when he said, “Mike truly may be irreplaceable. He put in his notice six months ago and we still haven’t found a replacement.”
Contact: sgurr@gainesvilletimes.com, (770) 718-3428.
Originally published Wednesday, September 12, 2007
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