PARISH'S JUVENILE DRUG COURT IN OPERATION

VIDALIA, La. -- The first rural juvenile drug court in central Louisiana is
up, running and "doing well."

"I'm very pleased with the way we got it started so quickly," said Keith
Baker, a licensed clinical social worker who works with the juveniles.

Since January, about 20 juveniles, mostly from Concordia Parish but also
from Catahoula, are participating in the Seventh Judicial District's
juvenile drug court. "We are trying to catch them when they're starting to
experiment," said Judge Kathy Johnson, who holds drug court every two weeks.

Juveniles are referred to the court from parents, truancy court and law
enforcement and enter court if they test negative on a drug screen, and
parents accompany them to court.

"Most of these parents didn't have any idea (their kids) were using,"
Johnson said.

The Concordia Parish Sheriff's Office has helped the program tremendously,
according to Johnson. CPSO provided two officers to serve as probation
officers for the juveniles.

Johnson said the juvenile court is "piggybacking" the drug counseling at
the correctional facility.

Baker and Komonicca Cook-Collins, licensed clinical social workers, counsel
the students and meet with the judge and probation officer to decide where
each juvenile is or should be in the program.

Four or five students are moving to phase two this week.

"It's doing what it's supposed to do," Baker said. Students are attending
and paying attention, he said.

The drug court places students in phases based on improvement. At first,
juveniles have frequent drug tests and two individual counseling sessions
as well as one group session per week. And curfew is set at 8 p.m. In
phases two and three, the stipulations decrease as far as testing and time
in counseling.

Students in drug court must attend school, keep a a C average and have no
behavior problems. Resistance to treatment and not meeting requirements can
result in penalties such as community service and staying in phase one.

Johnson said if the juvenile drug court can complete one successful year,
then she and District Attorney Ronnie McMillan are interested in applying
for an adult drug court, a request that was turned down in 1998. But law
enforcement and the community have to see the benefit of such a program and
support it, she said.

"I've tried to do the juvenile (court first) because I think the community
accepts it more," Johnson said.

For an adult court, offenders would have to enter a plea and there would be
a prosecutor and a defender. For juveniles, the court does not have a
prosecutor.