STARTING A NEW CHAPTER IN LIFE

His Love Of Books Has Helped Baldwin Park Ex-Con Turn His Life Around.

ARCADIA--Used books aren't the only ones getting a second chance at
the new Goodwill Industries used bookstore and donation center.

The bookstore/donation center, the only Goodwill facility of its kind
in Southern California, also offers its disadvantaged, disabled or
rehabilitated employees the opportunity to start over. Among the
shelves full of stories is the real life tale of someone who has made
mistakes and is trying to move on to the next chapter of his life.

Lavon Coles of Baldwin Park, 55, said he was on the straight and
narrow before becoming involved with street drugs.

"I considered myself a square because I didn't drink, never smoked a
joint until I was 28 and I'd never even seen cocaine until I was 32,"
said Coles, who helps operate the Goodwill bookstore in Arcadia.

Coles was arrested in 1986 and 1998 for possession for sale and sale
of controlled substances, namely cocaine.

"I was hooked on the fast money, fast life and power," said Coles, a
Vietnam veteran.

He relocated to San Francisco from the East Coast and began driving a
school bus and then a Greyhound bus in 1973. He enrolled at Santa Rosa
Junior College, where he earned an associate's degree in business
administration in 1976.

Following a divorce, Coles said he began selling marijuana, powder
cocaine, heroin and methamphetamines to make quick cash. His own drug
use was limited to marijuana and cocaine a few times, he said. He
began selling drugs in 1978, and was convicted in 1986 for possession
for sale of controlled substances.

He received three years in jail, but served about 15 months, first in
a correctional facility in Susanville and then at a fire camp. He
served 10 months in 1990 at a rehabilitation facility in Norco for
drug trafficking. He was arrested again in 1998 in Baldwin Park for
selling drugs, and served time in Susanville and another fire camp
until he was released on parole in May 2000. Coles was sent to a
halfway house reentry program in Hollywood in June and eventually got
a job in a Goodwill donation center in July.

"I'm responsible for my own actions," said Coles, who is up for a
parole discharge review in August.

"He's made some great strides and I have to give him a lot of credit,"
said Myron Hester, Coles' parole agent in West Covina.

Coles now makes minimum wage and he and his wife live in a motel where
she is a housekeeper.

"Our lifestyle has changed a lot, but I'm happy," said Coles, an avid
reader.

"I'll read anything between two covers," said Coles, who wanted to be
a lawyer as a child and now enjoys reading courtroom dramas.

"I chose him for the bookstore because he has a great love of books
and he's very knowledgeable about authors," said Kim Rupp, who manages
donation centers for Goodwill. "He was an exceptional candidate."

Rupp thinks giving people a fresh start enables them to live up to
their potential and enrich the lives of others as well.

"This gives him self-esteem and a chance to reenter society feeling
important and proud of himself," she said. "I think this job gives him
personal gratification and a chance to feel responsible and part of a
team. He takes charge and does very well."

Coles is content and wants to move on with his life.

"This is a stepping stone to a better job," said Coles, who added that
he feels a sense of loyalty to Goodwill. "The most important thing is
to understand that Goodwill gives jobs, hopes and fulfills dreams for
people. I'm a person who needs to be a contributing member of society."