DRUG COURT HALL OF FAME HONORS LOCAL ADMINISTRATOR

Henry "Hank" Pirowski, coordinator of Buffalo City Court's Drug Court
Program, has been inducted into the Drug Court Hall of Fame in Washington,
D.C., local court officials said Friday.

Pirowski, 39, was chosen for his innovative work in dealing with the
nation's drug problem, officials said.

A Marine Corps veteran who has headed the 16-member Buffalo court program
since its creation six years ago, Pirowski is one of the first dozen drug
court officials nationwide, and only the second from New York State, chosen
for the honor.

Contacted at his City Court office, Pirowski said he was "overwhelmed to be
so recognized by my peers in the field."

Pirowski attended an induction ceremony earlier this month in the national
headquarters of the National Association of Drug Court Professionals in
Alexandria, Va., where the Stanley M. Goldstein Drug Court Hall of Fame has
been set up.

Goldstein, a retired judge, established the nation's first Drug Court
program in Miami in 1989.

City Judge Robert T. Russell Jr., head of the nationally recognized Buffalo
Drug Court operation and the new chairman of the National Association of
Drug Court Professionals, called Pirowski "one of the top professionals in
his field."

Russell, who last week hosted a contingent of U.N. officials dealing with
worldwide drug problems, called the Lackawanna native "an extraordinary man
who has helped make the Buffalo program one of the nation's best."

Chief City Judge Thomas P. Amodeo and State Supreme Court Justice Vincent
E. Doyle, administrative judge of the state's 8th Judicial District, said
Pirowski developed a computerized management system now used by drug courts
throughout the United States and in Germany, China, Austria, Canada and
Australia.

Since the Lackawanna High and Erie Community College graduate spearheaded
the development of the Buffalo court's computer-based management
information system four years ago, about 400 drug courts worldwide have
adopted the program, Russell said.

Amodeo said Pirowski has been instrumental in devising internationally used
programs to track the progress of drug court participants and has lectured,
trained and provided technical assistance to drug court programs statewide
and as far away as Australia, New Guinea and Pakistan.