FORREST SELECTED TO GET DRUG COURT

Juvenile drug offenders in Forrest County will have better and more
scrutinized supervision in an effort to steer those children away from
alcohol and drug abuse.

The U.S. Department of Justice authorized a drug court planning initiative
in Forrest County that will give the county preferred status for funding in
fiscal year 2004.

"A drug court will create an environment with clear and certain rules for
the youth," Forrest County Youth Court Judge Mike McPhail said. "We are very
excited by this opportunity, and we fully expect to have a juvenile drug
court that will benefit children and families and the communities in Forrest
County."

Forrest is the seventh county selected to participate in the Department of
Justice Drug Court Program.

Forrest County officials will soon participate in three workshops to draw
the plans for a proposed youth drug court, McPhail said.

Officials do not know what form the drug court will take, but it will give
them alternative punishments or the chance to put the children in treatment.

"One of the major benefits we'll have is the opportunity to intervene with
some youthful offenders in a manner that will be more likely to change their
behavior," said Bettie Ross, executive director, of Drug-free Resources for
Education and Alternatives in Mississippi.

"What we are really looking at from my perspective is reducing the number of
underage people who are using (drugs and alcohol), and drug courts can give
you some alternative ways of dealing those infractions," she said.

McPhail estimates between 55 and 65 percent of the cases that come before
him are related in some way to drugs or alcohol.

Forrest County Sheriff Billy McGee said the court will help the county
because added supervision might deter younger juveniles from future drug and
alcohol use.

"I would say the majority of the kids that are involved in the system are
there because they don't have the supervision or roll model at home," he
said.

The selection means Forrest County gets preferential consideration for
Department of Justice funding once the court completes the training and
planning program, said Beverly Pettigrew Kraft, public information officer
for the Mississippi Administrative Office of Courts.

"We don't have a timetable on when the court will be operational," Kraft
said. "It depends on how quickly the planning is done."

If the county does not get any funding for the program, it will still be
instituted, McPhail said.

"We are not guaranteed (the federal money), but we are going to do it,"
McPhail said. "If nothing else, we would probably start out on a smaller
scale."

Ross said her agency would help by working with the court.

Now courts in Hinds County, the three counties in the 4th District, which
includes Sunflower, Leflore and Washington, and the 14th Circuit, which
includes Pike, Walthall and Lincoln counties, have drug courts.

Green and George, Madison and Harrison counties have juvenile drug courts in
the planning stages.