DRUG COURT HAS FAN ON COUNTY BOARD

Other Commissioners More Reserved As $446,000 Funding Request Is Made

BOULDER -- Boulder County Commissioner Tom Mayer is so enthusiastic
about the proposed creation of a drug court that Commissioner Ben
Pearlman joked that he should be pitching the plan.

Boulder County District Chief Judge Roxanne Bailin on Tuesday led a
group of county social service and law enforcement leaders before
the commissioners to make a case for funding the proposed Integrated
Treatment Court to the order of $446,000.

The three-member board is in the middle of budget hearings for the
2007 budget year.

The new court would work with county social services, law
enforcement and local treatment programs to provide quicker and more
comprehensive treatment for substance abusers, with an emphasis on
keeping them out of jail and providing stable environments for
children of the offenders.

"It is about these kids as much as anything else," Mayer said during
the hearing, noting his early and fervent support for the court. "I
look at what can happen to kids, and I look at what can happen to
people's lives."

Pearlman and Commissioner Will Toor were more reserved with their opinions.

"We are just at the beginning of very lengthy budget hearings,"
Pearlman said, noting a tight budgetary year ahead. "We are going to
have some tough choices."

Boulder County Sheriff Joe Pelle also asked the commissioners to
fund the new court, in part to relieve crowding at the Boulder
County Jail by diverting some substance abusers or people with
mental heath issues into the alternative program.

The commission will be working on the budget through this month and November.