CELEBRATE SUCCESSES OF FAYETTE DRUG COURT

Carlton Robinson credits Fayette Drug Court with planting the seed that
eventually produced a new life for him.

"I didn't know how to stop using drugs," Robinson said. It took the urine
testing, meetings, checking in and journaling for him to get back to the
life he had before drugs.

"I'm learning to be responsible," he said, "and I'm learning to grow up."

While attending the 12-step meetings to support Robinson, his fiancee, Edna
Sparks, gave up drugs as well. The couple have been drug-free for more than
two years.

That's more than Circuit Judge Mary C. Noble could have hoped for when she
founded Fayette Drug Court in 1996 after one of the county's largest drug
busts ever.

"From that, I got to thinking, there has got to be a better way to deal
with the drug users," she said. "They're not going to get themselves out
without help."

Louisville had established the state's first drug court in 1993. Now there
are 23 throughout Kentucky.

In Fayette County, however, the drug court has a police officer liaison, a
component that has made Fayette Drug Court a national model for programs in
other cities.

"We work closely with the police, and they work with us," Noble said. "They
are the ones who can really say who are the addicts."

This is National Drug Court Month, and the success of Fayette Drug Court,
as well as the success of the recovering addicts, will be celebrated
tonight at Southland Christian Church, 5001 Harrodsburg Road, beginning at
6 p.m.

"A Celebration of Changes Through Chances" will feature Circuit Judge Lewis
G. Paisley as moderator for an evening featuring representatives from
various drug-recovery programs and churches, and brief words of
encouragement and celebration from other Fayette County judges and State
Sen. Ernesto Scorsone, D-Lexington.

But the stars tonight will be the recovering addicts, who will speak about
how they entered recovery programs and how much better their lives are now.

"The program is about community inspiration," Noble said. "It's not about
how you got there, but recovery and how important it is to family and
community."

But the program is not a cure-all, Robinson said.

"I tell graduates, 'They give you a structure, but what you do after that
is up to you. Life is going to show up, and then what are you going to do?
Are you going to do what you've always done and get what you've got?'"

Sparks thinks the 12-step program can work for you, too.

"It has given me a life and responsibility and all the stuff I was using
drugs to avoid," Sparks said. "It taught me to grow up and to have concern
for others. It taught me I can do anything I can put my mind to.

"I am truly grateful for what I went through."

If you want to know more about the treatment programs, or if you need a
push to get off drugs yourself as Sparks did, come out tonight and learn.
It is open to the public.