Four teenagers graduate Drug Court
November 7, 2007
BY ALAN RIQUELMY - ariquelmy@ledger-enquirer.com –
Donna Owen remembers the day her 17-year-old son was caught with drugs in his car. He was going to be the starting pitcher for his high school baseball team.
She held the hope that the telephone call from the principal telling her about the discovery was a mistake. She was wrong. That message changed her family’s life.
“He didn’t start pitching that day or any day,” she said, her words sometimes broken by emotion. “He got expelled.”
Some eight months after that day, her son and three others wore caps and gowns as they sat at the front of the assembly at the Columbus Government Center that had gathered on Tuesday in celebration of their successful completion of Drug Court. It’s a ceremony that occurs every three months in Columbus and across the country at countless drug courts.
“It’s to honor their hard work and success,” said Mary Bode, director of Drug Court. “There should be a formal ceremony.”
Juveniles who qualify for Drug Court enter a program that can last up to a year. They attend bi-weekly status hearings before a Juvenile Court judge, treatment and after-care proceedings. Upon successful completion of the program, their charges are dismissed and they can apply to have their record expunged.
Since its inception in October 2000, 201 juveniles have graduated the program in Muscogee County.
“They’re starting with a clean slate,” Bode said. “It’s huge.”
Crystal Wilson, parent of a girl who went through Drug Court a few years ago, encouraged the graduates to take advantage of that clean slate. She said it’s often easy to fall back into old patterns and associate with old friends not healthy for a drug-free life. Instead, she said the graduates shouldn’t be afraid to get outside their comfort zones and wait until they meet people who will be good friends.
“Your past does not determine your present or your future,” Wilson said. “You can make choices today that will affect who you want to be.”
Mayor Jim Wetherington referred to his days as the commissioner of the Georgia Department of Corrections, saying he watched inmates go through the revolving doors of the justice system over and over. He commended the graduates for avoiding that cycle and taking control of their lives.
“We all make mistakes in life,” Wetherington said. “It takes a special person, it takes a caring family to get that person where he needs to be.”
For Owen, it also takes Drug Court.
“I am very proud to be standing here,” she said.
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