DRUG COURT IMPORTANT, JUDGE SAYS

With no secure funding in place and the end of his term in office
approaching, Circuit Judge Keith Rutledge said he will launch a drug court
in the 16th Judicial District in September.

With members of his drug court team at his side, Rutledge said he
determined to get the program up and running even if the federal grant for
which he has applied does not come through

"If I have to fund it myself, we will do it - all right?" said Rutledge,
estimating that the drug court will cost about $150,000 a year for the
first three years, but only $40,000 or so for the last quarter of this year.

Rutledge also maintained the election will not thwart his plans. He said,
"chances are" that he will run for one of the other three circuit judge
positions in the 16th district.

Rutledge was appointed to a newly created judgeship in July, and as an
appointee, can not run for the office he now holds. That means if Rutledge
wants to remain a judge, he will have to challenge one of the three other
circuit judges in the 2002 elections a " Steve Choate of Heber Springs,
John Norman Harkey of Batesville and John Dan Kemp of Mountain View. All
three have said they will seek re-election.

Two candidates have announced plans to run for the position now held by
Rutledge -Tim Weaver of Mount Pleasant and Bryan Tilley of Heber Springs.

"I don't think it will be a problem, whether I am the judge or someone
else," Rutledge said. "I think another judge might be able to pick it up.
I know this, we've got to do it."

Rutledge said the timing of his news conference "on the day the political
filing season opened " has nothing to do with his decision to run for
office. He did note, however, that the drug court concept has been around
for 10 years and the other judges "could have done it a long time ago."

He and Keith Watkins, Independence County public defender, said the plan
all along was to come together as a group within 10 days of members
returning from training in Louisiana. That training was last week.

Team members besides Watkins include David Coleman, director of the Wilbur
D. Mills Center in Searcy; Bill Huddleston, chief executive officer of
North Arkansas Human Services System; Jim West, chief operating officer of
NAHS; Scott Russell, investigator with the 16th Judicial Drug Task Force,
Jana Vinson, a probation officer with the Arkansas Department of Community
Punishment; and Linda Boone, deputy prosecutor in the 16th Judicial
District. Taylor, who was not present at Wednesday's meeting, also serves
on the committee and Roger Fry will be the program coordinator.

Additionally, Rutledge said he has recruited an advisory panel of district
residents, which contains more than 100 people.

The last training will be an operational workshop. "We are in the process
of planning properly," Rutledge said. "I learned a long time ago that
proper planning is a plus and if you do it right, you don't have to undo it."

The target participant in a drug court is a drug addict who has not
committed a violent crime. The court differs from other courts in its
stringent demands for treatment that is required five days a week. Some
drug court operate as diversion from regular court, but Rutledge foresees
his court has been a probationary measure. Participants will be sentenced
to probation, but a condition of that probation will be the completion of
drug court.