TEEN TURNS LIFE AWAY FROM DRUGS, CRIME

KINGMAN - One Bullhead City teen is turning his life away from the pitfalls
of drugs and crime.

Hector Valenzuela's motivation to stay off drugs and alcohol is the cold,
hard reality of spending time in the juvenile prison in Phoenix.

Selling methamphetamine and marijuana at his junior high school landed
Valenzuela in the intensive probation program after several months at the
juvenile detention facility in Kingman.

Valenzuela has been using drugs, mostly marijuana but also methamphetamine
and alcohol, since he was 13 years old.

"I thought it was cool," he said. "I was doing it for the fun of it."

The teenager is currently in level 2 of three levels of intensive probation.

He hopes to make it to level 3 by next month.

Level 1 is the toughest, with county probation officers visiting juvenile
probationers several times a week and drug tests sometimes twice a day.

Level 2 is less restrictive, with drug testing and home visits once or
twice a week. Level 3 sees a juvenile tested about once a month.

Intensive probation requires Valenzuela to tell his probation officer, Tara
Newman, wherever he goes and when he will return.

"Of all the Bullhead City kids, he is one of the ones who's doing the
best," probation department Surveillance Officer Terry Schumacher said.
"He's done an amazing turnaround."

The more addictive methamphetamine was the biggest problem for Valenzuela,
a drug that led him to ditching school before he landed in juvenile
detention in January.

The teenager completed the Youth Enjoying Sobriety program in May after 70
days with the Kingman-based program.

Valenzuela, 15, who has been sober for six months, is expected to finish
his juvenile intensive probation in December.

The teenager started his freshman year Monday at Mohave High School and
admits it will be hard to stay away from drugs.

But said he is acutely aware of the consequences of going to juvenile
prison if he does not stay off drugs.

In one positive step, Valenzuela recently received an award from the Mohave
County supervisors for participating in the Coalition Youth Team, or
COYOTE, this summer.

Out of 60 teens who applied, Valenzuela was one of 20 chosen for the COYOTE
2005 summer program, he said.

COYOTE provides jobs for young people 14-21 years old during the summer at
businesses for government agencies.

For two months this summer, Valenzuela and six others worked digging
ditches, installing sprinklers and other landscaping chores at the dog park
project at Davis Camp.

"He makes sure the job is done," Valenzuela's supervisor Wes Beale said.
"Hector listens well and wants to learn as much as possible."

Valenzuela said he hopes to get a regular job next summer when he turns 16.

His goal is to join the Air Force because he's always wanting to fly,
despite never stepping foot in an airplane.

Hector now lives with his mom, who works in Laughlin, and three of his six
brothers and sisters.