DRUG COURT LOOKS AT POTENTIAL SUITOR WARILY

FAYETTEVILLE -- The state's probation and parole agency has offered a
solution that would lift Washington County's fledgling drug court from
financial uncertainty.

The drug court's founders aren't sure it's an offer they want to accept.
David Guntharp, director of the Department of Community Punishment, pitched
the idea at a meeting earlier this month with Circuit-Chancery Judge Mary
Ann Gunn, who runs Washington County's drug court.

Under Guntharp's proposal, Washington County's drug court would change to a
system similar to that used by Pulaski County. Community Punishment
Department employees, rather than staff members at Decision Point, a
substance-abuse treatment center in Springdale, would handle most of the
addiction counseling.

Gunn told Guntharp that she needed more information before making a
decision. She spent four hours in Little Rock on Thursday watching hearings
in Pulaski County's drug court. She and Circuit Judge William Storey will
meet with Guntharp on Friday to discuss the idea again. Gunn said she's
"leaning toward" keeping the existing program. "If we have a current
treatment program that is meeting the needs of our community, then before we
change it, I want to know all the facts," Gunn said. Guntharp said he's not
trying to take over Washington County's drug court program but is merely
offering a solution to its financial straits. "We advised them that we have
the money to set up a court similar to what we've got in Little Rock,"
Guntharp said. "If they're not interested, we'll get out of the picture."

Gov. Mike Huckabee made establishing more drug courts a top priority in his
agenda for this legislative session. His agenda includes $662,590 for the
next fiscal year and $672,787 for the year after to continue Pulaski
County's drug court and to "establish an additional drug court outside
central Arkansas."

Huckabee spokesman Jim Harris wouldn't provide details of how Huckabee
proposes to spend the requested drug court money. Guntharp said a little
more than $300,000 will be spent to continue Pulaski County's drug court,
and the rest will be spent on new drug courts.

The details have yet to be worked out, but Guntharp has been meeting with
judges to gauge their interest in working with his agency. He said a drug
court most likely will be established in Van Buren. Pulaski County drug
court Judge Mary McGowan said late Friday that Guntharp's budget request
also includes money to start a drug court in Texarkana. Crawford County
Circuit-Chancery Judge Floyd "Pete" Rogers said he's been working on
establishing a drug court since he learned about the courts at a conference
two or three years ago, but he hasn't been able to find the money to start
one. Last year, he even visited Arkansas' congressional delegation in
Washington to build support for a grant he requested from the U.S. Justice
Department. The grant was rejected.

He talked to Guntharp on the phone about two months ago and met with him
earlier this month.

"He was just extremely positive, and I could tell he had a tremendous
attitude about drug courts," Rogers said. Rogers hopes to start a drug court
in July.

Teaming up with the Department of Community Punishment Department could
rescue Washington County's drug court from financial limbo. The program
started in January 2000 with a $77,000 grant from the state Bureau of
Alcohol and Drug Abuse Prevention program, followed by a $125,000 grant from
the same agency for this fiscal year. The grant pays Decision Point to run
the treatment end of the program. The grant runs out in July. Decision Point
is applying for another $125,000 grant. The 25-member Alcohol and Drug Abuse
Prevention coordinating council will vote on the application and announce
its decision in June.

It's uncertain whether Decision Point will be awarded the money again.
Alcohol and Drug Abuse Prevention team leader Ray Stephens noted that the
grant was for "seed money."

"That does not necessarily indicate it's going to be an ongoing project,"
Stephens said.

The drug court is paying its part-time prosecutor, public defender and case
coordinator with a $48,500 grant from the abuse prevention program. That
money runs out in April, and county officials have no idea how they'll pay
for the jobs after that.

The county is applying for a three-year, $500,000 grant from the U.S.
Justice Department. The county's application for the same grant was rejected
last year.

Even if the county secured the grant, County Judge Jerry Hunton said he
doubts the county could pay the $60,000 per year in matching money the grant
requires.

"As things stand right now, we're strapping ourselves to fund basic
services," Hunton said. "They need to find another source of funding for the
short term."

Pulaski County's drug court, founded in 1994, was in a similar situation
until 1997, when it switched from a diversionary court to a circuit-chancery
court division.

Before the switch, prosecutors agreed not to file charges if offenders
completed the program. Under the current system, defendants enter the
program after pleading guilty. Completing the program is a condition of
their probation. Because the defendants are on probation, the Community
Punishment Department staff handles the counseling, McGowan said. "One of my
goals was to get this so it was institutionalized, so that you wouldn't have
judges figuring out how to get these things funded," McGowan said. The
Community Punishment Department, she said, is "the easiest vehicle, because
they'll go fight my battles for me, and I can do what I'm doing, which is
judging."

Switching to the Pulaski County model would mean sidelining Decision Point,
which was instrumental in starting Washington County's drug court. Decision
Point director Larry Counts started a series of meetings on the program in
1998 with judges, prosecutors and public defenders. Two of Decision Point's
staff members and an intern are assigned to the program. Counts said he
hopes the Legislature appropriates money that local jurisdictions can use to
establish drug courts however they want. "The concept of drug courts is not
designed for a state entity," Counts said. "The drug courts have been
effective because they've allowed local jurisdictions to design a
cooperative approach that best meets their needs." Gunn pointed out several
differences between the drug courts in Washington and Pulaski counties.
While Pulaski County drug court defendants are ordered to complete the
program as a condition of their probation, participation in Washington
County's program is voluntary. Criminal charges are filed, but prosecutors
don't pursue the charges while the defendant is enrolled in the program.

If an offender completes the program, the charges are dropped. Washington
County's drug court accepts primarily nonviolent offenders who aren't
dealers. Pulaski County's drug court accepts criminals convicted of a wide
range of charges, from manufacturing methamphetamine to burglary. The only
requirement is that the defendant is an addict. Both programs require
several drug screens and counseling sessions per week. Residential treatment
is more common in Washington County's drug court. In Washington County, a
prosecutor and public defender appear at every hearing. In Pulaski County,
only the defendant and the probation officer show up, unless the defendant's
probation is being revoked. This article was published on Monday, January
29, 2001