GUILFORD FINALLY GETS MONEY FOR NEW DRUG COURT

GREENSBORO -- The Justice Department on Tuesday finally awarded Guilford
County $499,914 under a three-year grant for a drug treatment court --
almost a year after it was announced the county would receive the money.
Delays in getting federal grant money means Guilford County's drug court --
already pushed back from its spring debut -- won't open until October.

"Now I'm all excited again," Guilford County project coordinator Wheaton
Pike said. "Everything's good to go."

The delay, according to a Justice Department spokeswoman, was caused after
Guilford County sent a letter in February announcing it was transferring
management of the program to the state Administrative Office of the Courts.

Pike said the county originally decided to manage drug court because the
AOC wasn't accepting any new grant programs. But earlier this year, county
officials made another request that the AOC's drug treatment court office
run it because the AOC was better equipped to manage court programs, Pike said.

"To have that program route through the county versus the AOC was not going
to work logistically," she said.

That meant another round of paperwork after receiving word of the transfer
in February, said Linda Mansour, Justice Department spokeswoman.

"We explained that it usually takes us about six months and it actually
only took us four," Mansour said.

The program's opening, meanwhile, shouldn't be affected by proposed cuts in
state-financed drug courts in North Carolina, said Randy Monchick, the
AOC's drug treatment court administrator.

"We hope the cuts do not go so far as to disrupt the operation of the local
drug treatment courts that are administered by the AOC," Monchick said.

North Carolina has 18 drug courts that receive state funding.

But in the past year, the AOC was forced to propose $11 million in cuts to
help offset a $1.5 billion state budget shortfall. Those cuts included
eliminating money for drug treatment courts.

Under the Guilford County program, based at the courthouse in Greensboro,
40 to 60 nonviolent drug addicts will enter plea bargains, undergo
intensive counseling, meet with probation officers and attend community
support groups. They will be placed on supervised probation for at least a
year and appear before the same judge every week.

The number of participants is expected to increase to 110 during the third
year.

Guilford has agreed to contribute the equivalent of $201,466 in matching
funds in the form of manpower, supplies and technical support.