SON OF 'COCAINE MOM' WINS ANTI-DRUG CONTEST

DARE judges pick boy's artwork out of more than 900 anonymous entries

A young Waukesha County boy whose mother's widely publicized drug addiction
spurred the state's "cocaine mom" law has won a top prize in the countywide
DARE poster contest.

"In some ways, it's ironic. In some ways, it isn't," said Waukesha County
Assistant Corporation Counsel Bill Domina, who was one of eight judges in
the poster competition.

"Maybe no one knows better the impact of drugs or alcohol in their family.
Maybe the passion for the issue is a little stronger and that came through
in the work he contributed."

Because the entries were anonymous, Domina said he and the other Drug Abuse
Resistance Education contest judges had no idea the child whose work they
honored is the son of the Waukesha County "cocaine mom."

There were 961 anti-drug posters in the boy's category and 2,200 entries in
all from the county's grade school students.

The child won a savings bond for a poster that exhibited a simple message:
Go drug free.

It was Domina who spearheaded Waukesha County's legal battle against the
boy's mother in a court case that forced the then-pregnant cocaine abuser
into detention to protect her fetus, her third child, in 1995.

Legislators worked out the "cocaine mom" law after the Wisconsin Supreme
Court ruled last year in the Waukesha County case that the state law did not
allow the detention of pregnant, drug-abusing women to protect their
fetuses. The new law, which went into effect July 1, allows a judge to order
a pregnant woman into the home of an adult relative, treatment home or a
hospital if her habitual use of alcohol or drugs will injure or endanger her
fetus.

"I really hope that it's a positive opportunity for their family. I believe
it is," Domina said of the boy's recognition. "I hope that he learns from
the mistakes of his elders in terms of contributing to his life, to the
community, and I'm sure he will."

The Journal Sentinel has identified the boy's mother only as Angela to
protect the identity of her children. As such, the newspaper is not
identifying the poster contest winner.

Angela was last in court in June after pleading guilty to a drug
paraphernalia possession charge. She had just given birth to her fourth
child and was ordered to remain in an inpatient drug abuse facility for
another six to nine months. Admittedly using cocaine again, she had
voluntarily entered the facility just weeks before giving birth.

Angela has custody of her new baby. But a state appeals court in June upheld
the termination of her parental rights to the son she delivered in 1995.

Her two older children -- including the one who won the poster contest --
are in the custody of their grandmother.

"I'm hoping that he will go for a different route, on a straight path and
not get involved in the stuff his mother did," the grandmother said Monday.

She said the boy has been interested in art for many years and she hopes
it's a passion that will help steer him away from trouble.

"He gets picked on and teased and called the cocaine baby," she said. "He
gets mad at his mother. I have to calm him down."

The boy now preaches the DARE lessons he has been taught in school, the
grandmother said.

"I smoke and he's griping at me to quit smoking because that's a drug," she
said. "He makes sure his mother don't do it no more. When he was being
called names, he would confront her and he'd say 'You better not be doing
that any more.' "

Waukesha County District Attorney Paul Bucher, who organized the poster
competition, said he did not initially make the connection between the young
boy and his mother but added, "I can't think of a greater irony."

"I hope it's an indication that you can't judge a book by its cover and
there's always hope for the next generation," Bucher said. "You should
always keep trying. I'm hopeful that's the case for this young man."

Waukesha police Capt. Richard Piagentini, whose department runs the DARE
program in Waukesha schools, said one of the main thrusts of the DARE
program is to stimulate conversation between children and their parents.

"It's nice to see that's happening," he said. "It's good to see something
working."

Checked-by: Don Beck