THUNDERBOLT'S DRUG COURT GRADUATES ITS FIRST CLASS

Vodka and tonic used to be Wendy Johnson's drink of choice.

The 26-year-old Savannah woman doesn't remember many days in the past few
years when she wasn't on some mind-altering substance.

That was before a day of drinking at the beach, followed by a DUI on the
way home, landed her in Georgia's first municipal drug court -- which
started a year ago in Thunderbolt.

After months of supervision and substance abuse treatment, Johnson was
among 14 people Monday in the program's first graduating class.

"I had to stop living the way I had been," said Johnson. "Getting sober was
the hardest thing I've ever done in my life."

Johnson credits drug court for keeping her clean for the past four months
and helping her get a job answering phones at a lawyers' office. It's a
start, Johnson said. And she doesn't dread the future anymore.

"I have more ways to go now," Johnson said.

The small town of Thunderbolt celebrated its first drug court graduation
with half a dozen speakers, patriotic tunes and some anecdotes from Georgia
Supreme Court Justice Robert Benham about effects of substance abuse.

Graduates heard about the importance of "turning stumbling blocks into
stepping stones" and "taking one day at a time." Organizers even showed a
clip from the notorious drug-scare movie, "Reefer Madness," from 1936.

But the outdated film -- which said marijuana leads to "acts of shocking
violence, ending often in incurable insanity" -- doesn't represent the tone
of drug court, graduates said.

Instead of scare tactics, drug court offers a strict regiment of probation
to help minor offenders avoid incarceration. Anyone charged in Thunderbolt
with misdemeanor drug possession or DUI charge automatically ends up in the
new program.

Of the 40 defendants who started in the first program, 26 either dropped
out or were kicked out, said Thunderbolt Court Administrator Pat Flynn.

Drug court uses home electronic monitoring and the Visatel sensor, a video
monitor attached to a type of breathalyzer to measure alcohol content, to
supervise defendants. Those who need it are sent into an immediate
drug-treatment program. A drug and alcohol counselor sits in on court --
held every second and fourth Tuesday -- and meets with new defendants to
set up their evaluations.

Funding for the program, which costs between $35,000 and $40,000 a year,
comes from the fees assessed to defendants, Flynn said.

The program's success is showing participants they can either be a criminal
or a productive member of the community. As graduate James Douglas said at
the ceremony at Thunderbolt Municipal Court: "This is the first time I've
been to court without a subpoena or a summons, without wearing handcuffs I
was actually invited here and with my history, that's a change."

The program

Thunderbolt, with a population of about 2,340, started the first municipal
drug court program in Georgia. It's among a growing number of drug courts
nationwide.

* The idea for Thunderbolt's drug court came when town officials sought a
different way to handle a yearly load of about 300 criminal cases.

* The program aims to help offenders avoid incarceration by following a
strict regiment of probation to keep minor offenders from becoming career
criminals.

* Started with a $10,000 start-up grant from Georgia's Administrative
Office of the Courts, Thunderbolt graduated 14 people Monday from its first
drug court session. An additional 27 are currently enrolled in the program.

* Besides intensive supervision, which can include home electronic
monitoring, the drug court also sends those who need it into an immediate
drug-treatment program, including an in-patient, 28-day program if needed.

* A drug and alcohol counselor sits in on court -- held every second and
fourth Tuesday -- and meets immediately with new defendants to set up their
evaluations.

* Thunderbolt's program, which started a year ago, does not take hard-core
drug users.