DRUG COURT GIVES GRADS NEW START

Tulare County Ceremony Lauds 148 People Who Have Stayed Drug Free For 18
Months.

PORTERVILLE -- Amid the cheers and tears of more than 1,200 people, 148
participants were awarded their graduation certificates during the fourth
annual Tulare County Adult Drug Court graduation ceremony last Friday at
Porterville Memorial Auditorium.

Relatives, friends, city and county officials, and law enforcement officers
were among those attending the ceremony celebrating the fact that the
graduates have remained drug free for 18 months.

Superior Court Judge Glade Roper founded the court in 1996 as an
alternative to sending addicts to jail.

"I could see that sending these addicts to jail was not the solution to the
problem and only wasting taxpayers' money," Roper said. "It is hard for
most people to understand addiction, as it is not a rational act. It hits
all levels and areas of society."

Tulare County Sheriff Bill Wittman, one of the speakers, said: "I was not
supportive of this program when it started, but as I look into the faces of
the graduates, I'm glad that Judge Roper was a risk-taker. He brought back
to life so many people in this county with this program."

Phil Cline, Tulare County district attorney, said drug addiction hurts
everyone regardless of gender, race and age. He said 80% of the county's
crimes are related to drug use.

Graduates Alan Lambert, Sara Lambert, Diana Cates-Wesson, Juan Ledesma and
Lisa Dehaven all said that without the drug court, their lives would have
been lost to addiction.

A presentation of $306.12 was made to Dr. Greg Nichols, head of the Herbert
Sturgeon Foundation established to support the drug court. The foundation
was named after Sturgeon, a member of the first graduating class who was
fatally shot shortly after graduating.

The presentation was made by 8-year-old twins Joey and Jordan McIntire, who
set up a gumball machine at Global Testing Services, where drug court
members are tested, sometimes twice a week. They sold 2,452 gumballs at 25
cents each and divided the proceeds, with half going to the drug court.