PROBLEMS, LOSS OF FUNDS BRING END TO LAPEER TEEN DRUG COURT

LAPEER - The county's two-year juvenile drug court experiment
apparently is over.

A spokeswoman for the state court administrator's office said funding
for the drug court will end Friday and not be renewed for 2005.

Issues over cooperation with Lapeer County Prosecutor Byron J.
Konschuh and recently resolved reimbursement paperwork apparently
doomed the program.

Lapeer is the only county to lose its continuing grant funding for the
drug court, said Marcia McBrien, spokeswoman for the court
administrator's office.

Lapeer Circuit Judge Michael P. Higgins hinted at the funding end
during a November interview for a Journal article on the drug court.

Higgins at the time said the county likely would look for alternate
funding to keep at least part of the program going. He could not be
reached for comment last week.

Reimbursements of about $30,000 for 2003 and about $40,000 for 2004
were held up because of missing or improper paperwork filings by
Lapeer County, McBrien said.

The reimbursement problems were resolved during a November conference,
but lingering disputes between Konschuh and Juvenile Court
Administrator Lori E. Curtiss resulted in the denial of new grants,
McBrien said.

Curtiss referred all questions to Higgins.

Konschuh said he had concerns that some of the drug court participants
were not being adequately supervised or punished for rules infractions
and dirty drug screens.

One participant was arrested three times in two counties for auto
theft but remained in the program, Konschuh said.

Another boy, the first graduate of the juvenile drug court, was
suspected of stealing a camera just days before he was feted at a
ceremony honoring his drug court graduation.

Lapeer's juvenile drug court began in 2003 and offered intensive
counseling and oversight of juveniles involved in alcohol or substance
abuse.

The $165,000 program was 75 percent funded by state and federal
grants. It served about 15 juveniles.

Konschuh first dropped out of the program in April, then reluctantly
agreed to return after receiving a promise of changes. But he said
little has changed.