NEARLY $170,000 SLATED TO FIGHT SUBSTANCE ABUSE

Porter County substance abuse agencies could be getting some grant
funding early this year.

If the auditor's office can print checks early, the Porter County
Substance Abuse Council may disperse $168,849,60 to 34 organizations
and police departments to work on substance abuse problems at its
Sept. 13 meeting, Sharon Cawood of the Substance Abuse Council said.

Usually, the Substance Abuse Council does it in October, the end of
the fiscal year.

That's grants from $520 to $10,000 for groups working in education,
treatment or the justice aspect of substance abuse.

"I can't think of a better way the money in this county is dispersed,"
Sgt. Mike Grennes of the Valparaiso Police Department. Grennes is also
chairman of the county's Drunk Driving Task Force, which will receive
$10,000 for DUI education and another $10,000 for patrols.

The extra patrols and checkpoints on holidays come from the grant
money, Grennes said.

His police department is getting $9,145 for a drug sniffing dog, and
in the past, they've gotten portable breathalyzers, cameras and other
things to fight drunk driving and substance abuse. The grants help
them get things they need sooner, he said.

Paula Drainger of Choices! Counseling services agrees.

The $10,000 her organization will receive means they can work with the
Chesterton alternative school to offer a program that helps seventh
through twelfth-graders not just make choices now but plan life goals.

"We could not do that without the funds," she said. "The stuff to help
kids and their parents is not free."

The money comes from people convicted of drunken driving. Every person
convicted of DUI is fined an extra $200 Counter Measure Fee, Cawood
said. The money stays in the county that collected it, and for the
program's 15 years, it's been in the $160,000 to $180,000 range.

The council itself gets $35,176 for programs it spearheads, such as
opening Alice's House, the first women's halfway house in Porter
County, Cawood said.

Alice's is earmarked to receive $7,500 for rent scholarships, $10,000
for operating expenses and $1,5000 for drug testing.

The council also backed the drug court and assists in lobbying for a
graduated license for teens, similar to the one Illinois is enacting.