Pubdate: Tue, 24 Dec 2002 Source: Lexington Herald-Leader (KY) Copyright: 2002 Lexington Herald-Leader Contact: http://www.kentucky.com/mld/heraldleader/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/240 Author: Risa Brim, Herald-Leader Business Writer EX-CONVICTS MENTOR OTHERS IN BUSINESS The Facts Behind PLUS Ed Garner was a drug dealer in Lexington until he landed in prison. Gary Shanks was arrested for drug possession and got handed a 10-year prison sentence under Kentucky's third-strike law. But the two Lexington natives have more in common than their criminal pasts. Garner, 45, is now the owner of a neighborhood diner and of Uncle 1's, a Lexington car dealership known around town as the place to go for hip-hop, classic cars. Shanks, also 45, is now the owner of a music and clothing shop, a construction company and a rental properties firm. Both have become Christians and do business in the same neighborhoods where they once sold drugs. And now they are joining forces to start a network of black entrepreneurs to serve as mentors to parolees and probationers. Members of the new group, called PLUS, for Positive Living Under Supervision, will assist the ex-convicts with job searches, help them find churches and rehabilitation programs and share their stories of rehabilitation and business success. "I want to show them that you can change, you can become a positive person and do something positive with your life, but only if you surround yourself with positive people," Garner said. And he should know. Garner, who dropped out of school when he was a freshman at Bryan Station, started selling drugs when he was 17. "I started with marijuana and gradually worked up to other drugs," he said. "I liked the sense of power that came with it, the respect people had for you, the fast money, the fast cars, the women." But when a police raid landed him in prison, Garner came to loathe the "drug life" after seeing so many young people in prison. "They were just little kids, 19 and 20 years old, that should've been in college somewhere, and here they were sitting in prison and admiring me for all the wrong I had done," he said. "I was ashamed about what I'd done with my life and that I was part of the reason kids like that got mixed up in that lifestyle." Garner joined a program at Blackburn called the Warden's Inmate Panel that allowed him to go to schools and talk to children about the ills of drugs and life in prison. A New Lease On Life When Garner got out of prison, he got a job at a local car dealership. The owner, Mike Luttrell, took Garner under his wing and taught him all about the car dealership business. After about a year, Luttrell offered to give Garner the financial backing to start his own dealership. Garner chose a location at the corner of Loudon Avenue and Limestone Street, in the same neighborhood where he once sold drugs. "I wanted to come back to this neighborhood, I wanted to do something positive there, to invest back in the community," he said. "And most of all, I wanted the kids who lived there to see that there was an alternative to drugs, that you could do something positive and be successful at it." This fall, with proceeds from car sales, Garner opened a neighborhood diner in an abandoned building across from the dealership. With help from friends, Garner did the remodeling work at night after closing the dealership. Garner said the diner, which sells barbecue, deli sandwiches and ice cream, has yet to turn a profit, but is already making an impact. "People come in all the time and tell me they're happy someone is finally cleaning up this corner," said Garner, called "Uncle Ed" by neighborhood children. "A lot of people didn't think the dealership would be a success or that it was a front for drugs, but now they see I'm still clean and still living a positive life." Giving Back Gary Shanks knows first hand how hard it is to start over. "People are quick to throw your past up in your face," he said. "You could do a world of good, and people will still remember the bad." But that hasn't discouraged him. After spending 10 years at Eastern Kentucky Correctional Complex, Shanks severed ties to his old life. He earned a business management degree while in prison and used that knowledge to open Shim's Music and Fashion. He later started a construction company, S&C General Contractors Inc. and a home-rental firm, Shim's Properties Inc. Shim is Shanks' childhood nickname. In addition to running the businesses, he also works with the prison ministry program at Greater Liberty Baptist, where he goes to church. "I'm on a crusade to keep our young black men out of prison and to get them engaged in positive things," he said. That's why he and Garner are forming PLUS. Garner said the governor's release of hundreds of prisoners with drug charges makes such a program even more necessary. In addition, according to the federal Justice Department, about 40 percent of the men and women granted parole in 2001 were returned to prison for violating rules or committing new offenses. About 60 percent of black men were returned to prison. Garner said it's no wonder recidivism rates are so high: Getting out of prison, "you're faced with finding a job with a criminal record, and seeing your old friends, and ridicule from the people who are quick to throw your rap sheet up your face. You have to be determined and disciplined. You went from selling drugs and having wads of money in your pocket to trying to make ends meet off minimum wage." The businessmen in PLUS will help parolees make it through those crucial few months after release. "Sometimes, you just need someone to vent to, you need to talk to someone who's been through the same thing," Shanks said. Garner said he encourages black men to become entrepreneurs. And to open businesses in black neighborhoods. "If you can sell drugs, you can sell anything, you can sell something that won't kill people or tear someone's family apart," he said. "Owning a business is the perfect way to put money and value back into a community." In addition, Shanks said, he tells young men to get their GEDs and learn a trade. "An idle mind is definitely the devil's workshop," he said. "You have to stay focused and get yourself around people who want to see you succeed." - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mentoring Program Contact To participate in the PLUS program, contact Ed Garner at (859) 381-1047. Population: The total prison population reached a record 6.6 million in 2001. Terms defined: About 5 million adults were on probation or parole in 2001. Probationers are offenders courts place in community supervision instead of incarceration. Parolees are offenders conditionally released from prison after serving their term and are subject to being returned to prison for rule violations or new offenses. Demographics: About 55 percent of probationers in 2001 were white, 31 percent were black and hispanic. About 40 percent of parolees were white, 41 percent black and 19 percent hispanic. Probation repeaters: Of the 2 million adults discharged from probation in 2001, more than three out of five successfully met supervision conditions. About 13 percent were re-incarcerated because of violation of parole conditions or because they committed a new felony offense. Parole repeaters: Of the 464,500 parolees discharged from supervision in 2001, 46 percent had successfully met the conditions of their supervision and 40 percent were returned to prison for rule violations or a new offense. Racial repeaters: In 1999, 61 percent of black parolees from state prisons were returned to prison for rules violations or new offenses, compared with 49 percent of Hispanics and 59 percent of whites. Range of convictions: About 53 percent of probationers had been convicted of a felony, 45 percent of a misdemeanor and 1 percent of other infractions. About 25 percent were on probation for a drug-related violation and 18 percent for driving while intoxicated. - --- MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager