DRUG OFFENDERS TO GET JAIL ALTERNATIVE

Drug Court begins in St. Landry Parish this month. It is the first time the
program has been instituted in the parish, although it has a good track
record in 32 other parishes, according to Judge Alonzo Harris.

"The four judges of the 27th Judicial District Court and the St. Landry
Parish District Attorney's Office have instituted a drug court here in St.
Landry Parish," Judge Harris said Friday afternoon. "The judges will
preside over a drug court on a rotating basis during each judge's turn on
the criminal bench."

Judge Harris and fellow judges James Genovese, Frank McGee and Donald
Hebert and District Attorney Earl Taylor held a news conference in the
parish courthouse lobby Friday to announce that they have secured funding
from the Louisiana Supreme Court to establish a parish drug court.

Drug court will be held every Monday at 3:30 p.m., Harris said.

"The purpose of drug court," Harris said, "is to provide, for those
individuals who qualify, the opportunity to seek the necessary treatment
through an intense probation, counseling sessions, random drug screenings
and employment. This will help people get their lives in order and give
them an opportunity to secure a clean slate of the charges, and therefore
become productive citizens of the parish."

Harris offered a special thank you to state Sen. Donald Cravins,
D-Arnaudville, and Justice Catherine D. "Kitty" Kimball of the Louisiana
Supreme Court for securing the necessary funding. He also thanked the
efforts of St. Landry Parish Sheriff Howard Zerangue, Chief Deputy Laura
Balthazar, Opelousas Police Chief Larry Caillier and Eunice Police Chief
Gary "Goose" Fontenot.

"Illegal drugs and persons who are addicted to those drugs are a big
problem in St. Landry Parish," said Taylor. "We believe as much as 75 or 80
percent of all crime in the parish has drugs or alcohol as a major factor.
I see two deficiencies in our system. At present there is no mechanism for
them to receive treatment while in prison. If they go in with a drug
problem, when they come out, they still have that problem. Also, a drug
offender on probation, if he violates, that probation is revoked. There is
no graduated punishment. Drug court will remedy both of those two areas in
our criminal justice system and help us deal with the serious problem of
drugs in St. Landry Parish."

Alternative program

Drug court is an alternative program to more traditional jail time for drug
offenses. It is designed to give drug and alcohol treatment to people
arrested for non-violent drug arrests, according to Pam Bollich, drug court
coordinator. Unlike jail time, drug court focuses on the person's problem,
attempts to help get the violator off drugs, and provides avenues to family
education, anger management, job training, and life skills training.

According to Bollich, the state Supreme Court agreed to foot the bill of
$4,500 per person for drug court.

"We are excited to get started," Bollich said. "We have clients who have
been referred, and we are ready to get this program going in St. Landry
Parish."

Clients can be referred by judges, law enforcement, probation officers, or
the district attorney, Bollich said.

"One of the reason for trying the drug court," said Judge McGee, "is
because, as a judge, once you sit on the bench long enough, you start to
see some familiar faces; faces of people who are strung out on drugs. You
try to give them a suspended sentence so that they can get their act
together, but then you find that those people are not getting any
treatment. So the net effect is that, while they are on probation
sometimes, they commit the same offense again. So you see the same faces
time and again and you just wonder if there is not a better way. We think
this is a better way."

McGee said that only non-violent offenders will be accepted into the program.

Joining the judges and the district attorney in the effort are assistant
Disrict Attorney Kipp Bertrand, Opelousas defense attorney Ed Lopez,
Probation Officer Norman Coldine, Drug Court Coordinator Pam Bollich and
Drug Court Administrative Assistant Betty Hanchett.