MARSHALL COUNTY DRUG EFFORTS LAUDED

Testing Firm Gives Award To Court Referral Services For Success With System

GUNTERSVILLE - Marshall County Court Referral Services Inc. was recognized
as a "Center of Excellence" Wednesday when it received one of only three
awards given nationally this year by a drug testing company.

Randy Daniel, president of Dade Behring Inc., presented the award to Angela
Sparks, the CRS director, at the agency's office in Guntersville.

Dade Behring is based in Deerfield, Ill., and provides a drug testing
diagnostics system to the agency. The system includes drug testing
equipment and a data management program. Also on hand were representatives
of the Huntsville-based Integrated Management Solutions, a subsidiary of
Dynetics Inc. It designed and installed the data management system.

According to a news release from Dade Behring, the Marshall agency was
recognized because of its success in using the company's Syva drug testing
diagnostics system. The system is used to intervene and help break the
cycle of substance abuse, addiction and crime among offenders.

Daniel said only two other agencies, both in Indiana, received the award
this year.

He praised the agency as being "on the forefront" in the battle against
drug abuse, and several local judges attending the ceremony agreed.

Circuit Judge David Evans said the local courts have started to take the
agency's service for granted. When he handles domestic court cases, he said
he sends a group of participants to the agency for drug tests, which he
receives before court hearings begin that day. "A lot of them 'fess up
(without going for a drug test) because they (the agency) are so good," he
added.

District Judge Tim Riley said the court referral service works with other
agencies to fight drug abuse as well, teaching classes at the county's work
release center.

"All you have to do is call and they are there," he said.

District Judge Howard Hawk said when he speaks to community groups about
"the tsunami of meth," his title for the rapid growth of use of crystal
methamphetamine in the county, he tells them Marshall County has services
that other counties don't have, including a court referral service.

He said the county's juvenile drug court is drug testing parents as well as
their children. And parents who don't have children in the court system can
also get a drug test on their children at CRS.

The county was one of the first in the state to establish an adult drug
court five years ago. Currently, Sparks said the agency is conducting about
2,400 individual drug screens a month, with six to seven drugs tested for
each time.

"Thirty-five to 40 percent of the positive tests come up positive for
meth," she said.