DRUG COURT HALTS WEB FUND RAISING

Lane County Drug Court will stop promoting an Internet fund-raising
campaign until it learns more about the cyber-company involved, the
court's advisory board decided Monday.

But board members won't discipline Marshall Waterman, an assistant
with Public Defender Services of Lane County who helped launch the
fund-raiser and hoped to make some money for himself on the deal.

Under the plan, shoppers can buy products on the PrimeBuy company's
Drug Court Web page with some of the money they spend - from 2 percent
to 20 percent - going to the Drug Court, a diversion program for drug
addicts.

Last week, Lane Circuit Judge Darryl Larson, who oversees Drug Court,
and other board members said they didn't know Waterman also expected
to profit from the plan. After they found out, Waterman agreed to sign
a pledge turning over any personal proceeds to the court, Larson said.

At Monday's meeting, held in a jury room next to the judge's chambers,
Larson and other board members pointed no fingers and in fact praised
Waterman's commitment to Drug Court. The program dismisses criminal
charges against addicts who successfully finish treatment and make all
their court appearances and drug tests.

Waterman, who attended the meeting, said he didn't intend to mislead
anyone and assumed board members would review PrimeBuy's Internet site
to learn its method of operation. The company gives rebates to sales
representatives.

"I apologize for nothing; I've not done anything wrong," Waterman
said. "I just want to help the Drug Court."

"You should not be under attack," Larson told Waterman. "You've been
the Drug Court's No. 1 cheerleader, and everyone in this room
appreciates what you've done."

Larson said later he's not sure Waterman understood the
inappropriateness of his plan to accept personal rebates. "If you're a
public employee, you don't benefit from a public program - at least
that's how it is west of the Mississippi," he said.

PrimeBuy bills itself as "the largest, member-driven, online global
community" in existence. The state attorney general's office, however,
considers PrimeBuy to be an illegal pyramid business because it pays
some commissions based on recruiting additional distributors rather
than on the sale of products, said spokeswoman Jan Margosian.

Waterman said previously that for every six drug courts across the
country he could get to link up with PrimeBuy, the Lane County Drug
Court would get a $400 commission and he'd get another $400 commission.

Waterman said he contacted PrimeBuy's co-presidents and legal counsel
Monday morning and is convinced that the company is a legal
enterprise. "This is a good, viable, new company that people just
don't understand," he said after Monday's meeting.

He said he doesn't expect any disciplinary action. His supervisors at
the public defender's office couldn't be reached for comment.

The Drug Court board decided to ask both the Office of the State Court
Administrator and the state attorney general's office to evaluate the
legitimacy of PrimeBuy.

Based on whatever legal advice it receives, the board will decide in
December whether to go forward with the Internet fund-raising
campaign. Margosian said PrimeBuy officials have contacted the
attorney general's office and are eager to share information about the
company.

Drug Court board members stressed that any proceeds from purchases
made on the court's Web page will go to an independent Drug Court
Foundation, not to the board. The foundation hasn't yet been
established, and Web page proceeds are being held in a bank account.

The court may have erred in publicizing the PrimeBuy site before the
foundation was established, said board member David Factor, trial
administrator for Lane County Circuit Courts.

"We kind of got the cart before the horse," he said. "But everyone was
eager to market this and raise some money."

The Drug Court's Web site won't be promoted, but will remain
operational while the court's board weighs what to do next.

Waterman has already netted about $8,000 in commissions from PrimeBuy
after teaming up with the company earlier this year. Larson said
Waterman can keep that money because he earned it on his own time and
it's unrelated to Drug Court fund-raising.

Larson said Drug Court, which has no permanent funding source, has
adequate money for the fiscal year that ends June 30 - despite the
loss of a major grant that expires in March.

But long-term funding sources are still needed, he said, and many
groups take advantage of Internet cyber-malls that provide rebates to
sponsors. "There's nothing unlawful about that - in fact, it seems
like an awful good idea," he said. "But we have to look at this with
our eyes wide open."