WASHINGTON COUNTY: DRUG COURT DOESN'T TRY FOR GRANT OF $500,000

FAYETTEVILLE -- Chancellor Mary Ann Gunn thought Washington County's drug
court had a good chance this year at obtaining a $500,000 federal grant
from the U.S. Justice Department.

The court had been passed over for the same grant last year, but now it had
a year of results behind it. It also had the support of U.S. Rep. Asa
Hutchinson, R-Ark., who wrote a letter to U.S. Attorney General John
Ashcroft on Friday praising the program.

But Gunn will never know if the application would have been approved. Drug
court officials missed a Monday deadline to apply for the grant because
they couldn't find an entity willing to administer the funds. "It's very,
very disappointing," Gunn said. "This time I was so hopeful." Gunn and
Larry Counts, director of Springdale-based Decision Point, which handles
the treatment end of the drug court program, said they learned for the
first time Friday afternoon that Washington County officials weren't
willing to administer the grant.

"It was always my understanding that they would disperse the money," Gunn
said. Counts scrambled to find another grant administrator. State Health
Department officials held a meeting late Monday to decide whether to
sponsor the grant but decided they didn't have enough time to consider the
request, said state Alcohol and Drug Abuse Prevention team leader Ray
Stephens. The deadline elapsed at 12 a.m.

County officials said they made it clear at a Feb. 2 meeting with drug
court officials that the county wouldn't take part in the grant unless drug
court officials could find a source for the $180,000 in matching funds the
three-year grant requires.

"I don't know how anyone could have left that meeting thinking the county
was going to sponsor that grant," said county grants administrator Hattie
Lee. "We made it very clear: 'No. N-O.' Big time."

Counts said he didn't expect the county to sponsor the grant, only to
administer the funds. A sponsor of a grant assumes the responsibility for
supplying matching funds and spending the grant money properly. The
administrator handles the bookkeeping.

Lee said she didn't realize until Friday that drug court officials still
wanted the county to administer the funds.

The county applied for the same grant last year on behalf of the drug
court. At that time, County Judge Jerry Hunton said, Counts assured him the
drug court would supply the 25 percent match with a $125,000 grant from the
state Bureau of Drug Alcohol and Drug Abuse. Counts is applying for the
state grant again this year, but Hunton said Counts couldn't assure him he
would get it.

Counts said Justice Department officials told him the county could apply
for the grant now and find a source of funding later. Hunton said he wasn't
comfortable doing that.

"There was no way I was going to sign a grant request and basically lie
about having the match money available," Hunton said. Missing the grant
deadline narrowed the possible sources of funding for the Washington County
Drug Treatment Court, which held its first hearing in April. The program
allows drug offenders who aren't dealers to complete nine months of
treatment in exchange for having their charges dropped. Future funding for
the drug court is uncertain. The $125,000 state grant, which pays for the
treatment end of the program, runs out in July. So does another Drug and
Alcohol Abuse Prevention grant, which pays for a part-time prosecutor,
public defender and case coordinator.

Drug court officials haven't lined up any other sources of funding,
although Counts said he also plans to look for other grants. The state
Department of Community Punishment has offered to establish a drug court in
Washington County similar to the one it operates in Pulaski County. Counts
is against that proposal because he thinks the drug court should remain
under local control.

Gunn said she and other Washington County judicial officials have yet to
formally decide on the offer. Meanwhile, Gunn said she's already started
working on applying for the Justice Department grant next year.