PARENTS, TEENS PRAISE DRUG COURT

The graduation certificates for the first Columbus Drug Court class had
been handed out Tuesday when the mother of one of the teenagers made her
way to the front of the packed room.

Her voice quivering, obviously nervous, the woman looked into the crowd and
began to speak.

"My son went through a very, very difficult time for a very long time," she
said. "He surrounded himself with the wrong people -- and I lost him.

"When no one else wanted to help him, Drug Court stepped into our lives,"
she said, tears rolling down her cheeks as she turned toward Juvenile Court
Judge Aaron Cohn and Drug Court Judge Warner Kennon.

"Thank you," she said, turning to walk back to her seat, a journey
interrupted when her son jumped to his feet and embraced her.

That moment symbolized the goals of the program still in its first year of
full-fledged operation as a rescue net for young people willing to work to
turn their paths from drug and alcohol abuse.

More than a dozen young people received their certificates marking their
success and the cleansing of their record of the criminal offense that
brought them into the new program.

"We love young people, and this court that we, we think, is a caring
court," Cohn said. "We care about young people who have a problem, and we
care about their families."

For many years, he said, Columbus officials believed the underlying cause
of much of the criminal activity in the community was the result of drugs
and the pressure to feed drug habits, but there was no concerted program
available to reach out to young people just getting into that problem area.

After a one-year pilot program that resulted in four teenage graduates last
year, Columbus landed a $475,000 federal grant to establish a $600,000
three-year Drug Court program. Young people whose nonviolent behavioral
problems land them in Juvenile Court, where their alcohol, marijuana or
drug use is discovered, are eligible to enter the six-month program if they
and their parents agree to abide by the program rules and requirements.
Success not only results in a drug-free youth, but one whose criminal
activity is removed from his or her history.

Another grandparent whose grandson graduated from Drug Court on Tuesday
thanked the staff for turning the teenager from regular marijuana use and
putting him back in high school with a chance to succeed.

Some of the young graduates also nervously paused for a few words of thanks.

"I want to thank my parents for helping me get through this, and to thank
Drug Court for helping me get back in school and to stop smoking," said one
boy.

"I love you and I appreciate your help," said another. "You helped me turn
my life around. For this reason -- I never want to see you all again."

Cohn said the end result all people who work with young people pray for is
simple.

"We don't want you to love just your own children -- that's easy," he said.
"We want you to love all children, without regard to race, creed, color or
religious background."

Those children are going to be the adults who will run this county, state
and country one day, Cohn said. Steering those in trouble back onto the
correct path cannot be done without the help of parents and the whole
community, support that Columbus' Drug Court has been able to obtain, he said.