DEPUTY OBSERVES LOCAL DRUG COURT PARTICIPANTS' ACTIONS

Talking participants through the canning process and providing tips on
gaining employment is all in a night's work for Bartow County
Sheriff's Office Deputy George Angel, who keeps tabs on local drug
court participants, making sure they are home by curfew and ensuring
they are holding down jobs. That's an important function, according to
Superior Court Judge Scott Smith, who presides over Cherokee Judicial
Circuit Drug Court, which formed more than one year ago and now has 56
participants.

"George's job is probably one of the most important elements next to
the treatment phase in drug court because without George out there
enforcing that which I require people to do in the courtroom there
really is no meat behind what I say," Smith said. "In other words,
there's no way for me to ensure that people are going to take me
seriously and do the things that I asked them or require them to do
unless there's somebody out there in force making sure they're abiding
by the curfews, staying where they're supposed to and don't have any
drugs or alcohol in their homes. Without his presence and them knowing
he is going to be there regularly and randomly, this would not have
any teeth in it."

The U.S. Army veteran, who was an artilleryman in Korea and now also
heads up security in Smith's courtroom, said the program, which has
been funded mainly through grants and will become a tax-free,
charitable organization accepting contributions, "is one of the best
things that's happened in [Bartow] County.

"You've got these people that have been on drugs, some of them 15 or
20 years. They've finally had enough, but can't get any rehabilitation
unless they go to jail," Angel said. "If they get a job and start
bettering themselves, become good citizens and contribute to society,
that's what we care about ... [This program] has given these people
more self respect, they are reuniting with their families they had
lost during their drug days, they're getting back with their children,
getting jobs and actually working for a living and being more
responsible.

"When these people get out and be productive citizens in Bartow
County, it's going to help everybody in the county. Everything [we do]
has a purpose. If they have a job, they're not stealing, they're not
breaking into houses or shoplifting."

Angel, a Rhode Island native who has been in Georgia for 33 years,
conducts surveillance on drug court participants, which at times
includes spot drug testing and searching homes.

"George is a perfect match for this job because he is intimidating, in
a way, because he's a big deputy, but he really has a heart for these
people and is trying to participate in this program," Smith said. "I
believe he really believes in it and really wants to see these people
succeed. He does not like having to do the things he has to do
sometimes, like arrest them and punish them and things like that, but
that's part of it because it's really a tough love program because if
you don't have the tough you can't make sure that these people succeed.

"He is a person who genuinely cares about people, but also a person
who's not going to be intimated and he's not going to fall for
somebody's games. He's not going to fall for a lot of tricks. A lot of
addicts, their mode of getting away with what they've done is to lie
and to scheme and George is not going to give in to those things. He's
going to ask the right questions and stand on what he needs to."

The father and grandfather, who said law enforcement is where he
belongs, is responsible for observing the activities of 35 people in
Bartow County. Gordon County residents also participate in the
circuit-wide program.

"I really do like helping people and always have," he said. "I always
wanted to be a police officer since I was little kid. I wanted to be a
detective."