KEEP THE LOCAL DRUG COURT

Here's a suggestion for Mike Taylor, the Lincoln County attorney Gov.
Haley Barbour appointed last week to succeed Keith Starrett as circuit
judge. Continue the drug court that Starrett set up.

The drug court has helped a lot of people in Pike, Walthall and
Lincoln counties regain control of their lives. It has done this at a
low cost to taxpayers when compared to the expense of prison, and
probably has a much better success rate than prison ever will.

"Back when we started in 1999, the attitude of the public was, the
only way to solve the drug problem was to lock them all up, and that
is just not the case," said Starrett, who was a circuit judge for more
than 12 years before being appointed a federal district judge last
month.

"We can't afford it, and it is not the right thing to do," he added.
"If you have any compassion for humanity and any kind of belief in God
and redemption, you have to know that you can't lock someone up
forever for one mistake."

Starrett, who now works in Hattiesburg, has drug court statistics that
prove its value.

Since it started six years ago this month, 321 people facing felony
charges in circuit court have agreed to join the program. Sixty of
them have completed all four phases of it, which can take three or
four years and involves frequent drug testing and other rules.

That, by the way, is an average of one person a month helped by drug
court to kick drugs out of their life. And Starrett said there is no
known felony conviction among the 60 graduates.

Another 110 people are in the second phase of drug court, which
involves weekly drug tests. Thirty-three people are in the third
phase, getting tested every month; and 12 are in phase 4, which does
not include drug tests but does require payment of fines and fees.

Starrett added that 68 people have been removed from drug court and
sent to prison for breaking the rules.

There are failures. But there are a lot more successes.

"People will tell you that they would be dead today if it were not for
the drug court," Starrett said. "It is not rocket science. It is not
complicated. What you do is you use the carrot and the stick; you
encourage people to do the right thing in their lives, get clean and
sober, go to work, take care of their family, and you use gradual
sanctions if they don't do it."

Statistics are fine, but the impact of drugs hits home when someone
you know is involved.

Starrett wanted me to talk to someone in drug court and mentioned a
few names. One of them rang a bell: Was this the little girl who lived
across the street from us in the 1980s?

It was, and her story is a typical one: Feeling left out as a teen,
she started drinking to be cool, then tried some drugs, moved in with
a drug-dealing boyfriend, got into more drugs, then into prescription
drugs, then got caught burglarizing a clinic.

For her, joining drug court was an easy decision, and so far it's
working. She's in the second phase, getting tested weekly. She has a
full-time job and a part-time job, and more importantly, has found the
self-esteem that eluded her for so long.

Starrett is proud of drug court and wants it to continue. Hopefully,
Barbour asked each person he considered for Starrett's old job if
they'd want to preside over drug court. "The governor may not have
asked it, but I sure did," Starrett said. "I got commitments out of
every one of them.

"Saying don't make it so, but I think they are all honorable men, they
would do the best they could to live up to that commitment."

It is a big commitment for a judge to make.

"He'll have to have a heart for helping people, and he'll have to be
able to be tough when he needs to be," Starrett said. "I call it an
iron fist with a velvet glove.

"And he'll have to be willing to spend the extra time. It will take 20
percent of his time. That is not an exaggeration."

The drug court is fully funded by the state, thanks to a $10 fee
assessed on all criminal cases. Starrett also said the court's staff -
coordinator Russanna Lindley, probation officers DeBorah Garfield and
Don Lindley, and treatment specialist Senetra Murray - play key roles
in the program's success.

Since he left for the federal bench, they've been holding regular
meetings with participants, just like Starrett used to do.

"This is something that I am pretty proud of," Starrett remarked. "In
the last two years, Mississippi has gone from having no drug court law
to having one of the best in the nation."

The three counties in the 14th Circuit Court District should be proud
of the local drug court's efforts. It is clearly a program worth
keeping - whether or not you know someone in it.