COURT FINES TO FUND LAURENS DRUG TREATMENT PROGRAM

DUBLIN - Drug addicts and their families can now seek help from a new
treatment program that county officials admit probably should have been
offered years ago. The program, approved Tuesday by the Laurens County
Board of Commissioners, will be funded exclusively through court fines
levied under a 1996 law to fund education and treatment programs. Until
this year, when a separate account was established, revenue from the fines
had been placed in the county's general fund.

However, county officials say the fines - and more - have been spent on
various drug treatment and education efforts.

"The money was spent correctly, but it was not tracked properly," said
finance officer Scott Bourassa.

Mike Haywood, one of several citizens pushing for the treatment program
since January, filed a request Tuesday for records on how much in fines the
county had collected since 1996.

"I'm just concerned about how much money has passed through for this
specific purpose," Haywood said.

Bourassa said the county expects to receive about $44,000 this year from
the fines. He said getting a total for past years will take "a lot of digging."

Commissioner Emory Lake said he wants to see the fine totals made public.

"Looking at it from that side, it makes it look like we misplaced some
money," he said.

Chairman Clinton Lord said the county's failure to set up an account for
the fines was simply an oversight.

"There are all kinds of add-ons, it's sort of like a phone bill," Lord said.

The new treatment program will offer two weekly sessions - one for addicts
and one for their families. The Community Mental Health Center of Middle
Georgia will provide the program for about $35,000 annually. Patsy Thomas,
the center's director, said the sessions should begin next month.

A private counselor, who had been recommended by a panel to run the
program, withdrew his name Tuesday.

Denise Dobbins, a member of the panel, said she would have preferred that
the program be modeled after one in Bleckley County. It uses a private
counselor instead of a government agency, which she feels encourages more
people to attend.

Still, Dobbins, who is director of the Promise of Hope home for chemically
dependent women, said she was pleased to see the program begin.

"My concept is surrender to win," she said. "The one reason why the program
in Bleckley County has worked so well is they have kept it simple. It's as
simple as walking in off the street."