DRUG COURT RECOGNIZES FIRST GRADUATES

GREENVILLE -- For Steve Hendrix, the trip to Muhlenberg County's Drug Court
started at age 16 with marijuana and alcohol.

About 1999, Hendrix started using methamphetamine.

"It was a weekend thing," the 37-year-old Greenville resident said. It
became a twice-a-week thing and eventually a daily habit that left him with
little motivation to get out of bed, he said.

"Then it just eats you up," Hendrix said Friday after a ceremony honoring
him and three other men as the first graduating class of the drug court.

"Used to, my daddy wouldn't even come to my ball games," said his daughter
Megan, a 9-year-old soccer and softball player with thin arms and a nose
sprinkled with freckles.

She lived with Hendrix's parents after he was jailed following a September
2001 arrest on charges of facilitation to make meth and possession of drug
paraphernalia.

After he got out of jail, Hendrix was allowed to join the drug court, which
began in January 2002.

"It made all the difference in the world to me," Hendrix told about 65
people at the graduation ceremony in the Muhlenberg County Courthouse's
Circuit Courtroom.

Hendrix said he likely would have returned to using drugs once he got out
of jail.

Hendrix said he dropped his old friends and now, "I can go out and have a
good time without drugs."

Avoiding repeat offenders is one of the goals of the drug court, which was
begun in part because of the increased use of meth and meth-related cases
in the court system.

Preventing reincarceration saves about $22,000 per graduate, said state
Rep. Brent Yonts, who presented each graduate with a House citation
honoring their efforts.

"It represents a very focused effort to rehabilitate themselves," Yonts
said during the ceremony. "It's significant that you have done what so few
have managed to do."

The three-phase court uses a regimen of supervision, education and
treatment for a minimum of 48 weeks. It is available for those with a
felony drug conviction who have no history of violence and no sex offenses
or drug-trafficking convictions.

Members must attend Alcoholics or Narcotics Anonymous meetings. Sometimes,
they have to write essays assigned by drug court co-founder Circuit Judge
David Jernigan, who presided over Friday's ceremony.

They also are required to hold a job. Two of the three graduates at the
ceremony -- Scottie Groves of Graham and Aaron Faith of Central City --
wore work clothes and scuffed boots.

The fourth graduate, Jason Wood, was absent.

Jernigan thanked members of the volunteer drug court team, who meet on
Friday mornings to review cases and make sure appointments and counseling
sessions are kept.

The team includes coordinator Marianne Darity, a victims advocate for
Commonwealth's Attorney Ralph Vick, who also is on the team.

Other members include Sheriff Jerry Mayhugh; Circuit/District Clerk Janet
Hearld; probation/parole officer Tommy Fauntleroy; public defender Paul
Allen; and Phil Latham with the Pennyroyal Mental Health Center in Greenville.

Jernigan said a federal grant is being sought for the drug court, which
still has 16 people enrolled.

"If we can get funded, we can hire someone to run it," Jernigan said.

During Friday's ceremony, Jernigan gave the graduates plaques, then gave
them a chance to speak.

"These three people chose to change their lives," Jernigan said.

Groves thanked the drug court team, including Mayhugh, who arrested him.

"I had to learn the hard way, but I can now say I am living a drug-free
life," Groves said to applause from the spectators.

"The main thing I learned is how to live my life without drugs," said
Faith, who, like Groves, had an infant son in the audience.

"It saved my life in many ways," Hendrix said.