FELONS GET FRESH START AT SEMINAR

ASHEVILLE - With a criminal record that includes gun and cocaine
possession, and having spent three and a half of his 26 years behind bars,
Joshua Young knows he's already squandered one chance at life.

Along with 20 other men with similar histories, Young signaled his desire
to begin anew by attending a one-day seminar on Friday designed to help
convicted felons begin to chart a fresh course.

"I'm trying to find a better life and not live this illusion I've been
living," Young said of his past, later adding, "We always end back at zero,
we've been ending up with nothing."

The seminar was conducted for clients of Life on Life's Terms. That program
helps felons find a life past crime by offering - or helping them find -
clinical treatment, "friend of the court" services, a place to call home
and education programs.

More than a dozen people representing the area's education, law enforcement
and employment community offered attendees tips and insights on how to move
away from the lifestyles that landed them in prison.

"In order to be part of a community, you have to give. You've been taking
for quite a while. You've been taking the lifeblood of the community," said
Glenda McDowell, admonishing the men for the choices they've made.

McDowell, of the Mediation Center, told attendees she works with juveniles
as young as 9 years old who are already first-time offenders. She held
attendees responsible for the problems she sees with the youngest generation.

"Let me tell you my brothers, you are all role models of the community,"
McDowell said. "Those little guys want to be just like you. You are all
barriers in my community."

It's often difficult for felons to see beyond the "revolving door," said
Matt Bacoate, founder of the Life on Life's Terms.

Often the judicial process can make a defendant feel like an outsider, and
the felony population, with little stability in their lives, continuously
moves through the courthouse in a cycle of crime-prison-release, he said.

But Bacoate , an admitted addict who has been sober more than a decade, was
able to break that cycle in his own life. He is now determined to help
others who want to do the same.

"At some point, we have to have to get a grip on the next generation.
They're patterned after this generation," he said. "We have to stop it
somewhere. We have to plug the dike somewhere."