ROADS COME TOGETHER AT DRUG COURT GRADUATION

LIHU'E - Three successful participants of the Kaua'i Drug Court
program were added to a community of recovering Kaua'i Drug Court
alumni Friday.

James Henley, Amber Kane and Lauwae Torres were presented
certificates of successful completion of the Kaua'i Drug Court
program by county Prosecuting Attorney Shaylene Iseri-Carvalho; Mel
Rapozo, vice president of the Friends of Kaua'i Drug Court; Drug
Court Judge Calvin Murashige; and Alton Amimoto, Kaua'i Drug Court coordinator.

As in the 14 other graduation ceremonies preceding Friday's, the
courtroom was filled to overflowing with relatives, friends and
supporters of the graduates.

"It's been a long hard road," said Torres, a sentiment echoed by the
other two graduates. "The turning point for me was to hear my
daughter call me 'the best mom in the world.'

"Up to that point, it was all about me, me, me," Torres said.

"I thought what I was doing was right," she said. "I was doing a lot
of drugs, stealing and lying (to support the habit). My child was
with my parents and I had no worries."

Friday, Torres celebrated 656 days of being clean and sober, said
Drug Court Probation Officer ToriAnn Laranio.

"I was a menace to my friends, family, and to people I didn't even
know," Kane said. "My grandpa passed away in 2000 and two months
later, I was into ice, alcohol, weed and pills."

After induction into the Kaua'i Drug Court, Kane continued to be
defiant, accumulating four felony charges and fighting introduction
into a treatment facility on O'ahu.

"My mom tried to change me and went to hell and back," Kane said.

But after successfully completing the in-patient program, Kane
graduated on Sept. 11, the birthday of her deceased grandfather.

That was a turning point in her life, she said.

"It took an old man and Alcoholics Anonymous to make me become
happy," Kane said. "Today I don't need to go to drugs because no
matter where I turn, there is someone to show me how to stay straight."

Kane believes Jack Viohl, a Drug Court probation officer, was the
last person to believe in her.

"You believed in me when others had given up," Kane told Viohl.
"Because of you, I made a 180 (degree) turn (a term used by Araceli
Gonzalez of the Kaua'i Drug Court)."

Lenny Rapozo, representing Kaua'i Mayor Bernard Carvalho Jr., charged
the graduates with remembering where they came from and the hard work
it took to get to this point.

He also noted the contributions Kaua'i Drug Court participants give
back to the community as a demonstration of the program's success.

In October, Drug Court participants repainted the old Koloa
courthouse with a crew of 20 students working for about four hours.

Some 19 participants spent four hours at Kapa'a Beach Park,
repainting the restroom facilities, pavilion and benches on March 19.

Over the years, Kaua'i Drug Court participants have cleaned up
Hanama'ulu Beach Park eight times, Nawiliwili Harbor two times, and
the Gateway Project fronting Lihu'e Airport three times, Rapozo said.

"This has saved the county more than 200 man hours and more than
$110,000," said Rapozo, director of the county Department of Parks
and Recreation. "This is a demonstration of the success of the
program in the community."

Viohl said the one common denominator among the 92 alumni of 15
Kaua'i Drug Court graduations is they have come to a place of
acceptance. That acceptance has made it possible for them to make a
decision, to remain clean and sober.

"When most of us wait for an answer, we expect it to be 'yes' or
'no,'" Viohl said. "But a recovering addict can not afford to expect
anything other than 'maybe.' Maybe I'll use drugs tomorrow, but right
now I'm just going to focus on today. Maybe tomorrow I'll lose my
job, but today, I have one. Maybe I won't have enough money to pay my
bills this month, but today I can pay this one."

Viohl said most people cannot deal with "maybe" because life is
fast-paced, even on Kaua'i.

"Most of us are impatient and impulsive because opportunities come
and go, and the world wants an answer now, yes or no," Viohl said.

"The recovering addict has to wait. They have to accept life on
life's terms. For the recovering addict acceptance isn't dealing with
the outcome, it's never knowing what the outcome is, and living life
to the fullest, or just getting by, the best they can, each day.

"The recovering addict has to make a tough choice each day. When they
wake up each morning, the question is the same - 'will I use drugs
today?' And for the sake of their survival, they must come to the
conclusion that they will not use today. Beyond that, they can make
no promise for tomorrow."

Viohl cited Matthew 6:34: "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for
tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."

In 2006, the Kaua'i Drug Court graduates decided to create a group
now known as the Kaua'i Drug Court Alumni, whose goal is to assist in
creating drug-free functions, to support each other by appearing at
court hearings and any other way to support participants.

This volunteerism by alumni is one of the keys to the success of the
Kaua'i Drug Court, said Amimoto.

In a time of budget cuts, Amimoto said whatever crisis the program
goes through, he hopes the program will continue and "not one ounce
of quality is lost."

Henley said, "I hope the program continues because it helped save me,
and if it can save me, how many others can it save?"