OFFICIALS: COUNTY'S KIDS NEED DRUG COURT

Family Court Judge Henry Woods didn't mince words Thursday for at the Rock
Hill Kiwanis Club's meeting, as he spoke of the community's need for a drug
treatment court for York County children. Woods spoke of a county juvenile
court system burdened by more than 1,700 cases last year, with more than 90
percent of those kids or their families having some history of substance abuse.

Woods spoke of a case where a mother hooked on drugs had her daughter
selling herself for drug money.

Mary Jane McGill, Key-stone substance abuse services director, spoke of a
14-year-old girl asking for drug treatment after being arrested for
breaking into a car to get money for drugs. The girl, who started smoking
at age 12, has smoked marijuana every day for months, McGill said.

Woods, McGill and 16th Circuit Assistant Solicitor Ouida Dest told the club
that without community support, a drug treatment court that aims to keep
kids clean and out of trouble as they turn into adults won't work.

"Kids are coming into the system carrying a tremendous amount of baggage,"
Woods said. "We need the community to know this is not a feel-good program,
though. This is down-in-the-trenches dirty work."

Drug court for juveniles will be the second part of drug treatment court
started this year in York County by 16th Circuit Solicitor Tommy Pope,
along with assistance from treatment professionals, the judicial system and
the public defender's office.

The court, initially funded by state and federal grants, will involve
six-day-a-week treatment, weekly court dates, drug testing and counseling.

The adult court is already taking cases, and the juvenile drug treatment
court's goal is to start in October 2002.

Woods, who will be the judge for the juvenile drug treatment court in
addition to his regular duties on the Family Court bench, said training
sessions he's attended and his observation of juvenile drug courts in
Charleston and Lexington counties have made him a believer in their
eventual success in York County.

"These kids will live among you in the community," Woods said. "It's one of
the best uses I can think of to be good stewards of our taxpayers' dollars."