Pubdate: Wed, 24 Apr 2002 Source: Huntsville Times (AL) Copyright: 2002 The Huntsville Times Contact: http://www.htimes.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/730 Author: Laranda Nichols Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?159 (Drug Courts) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth) MARSHALL JUVENILE DRUG COURT TRIES TO REPLACE FEDERAL FUNDS 3-Year-Old Program Hurt By Loss Of Money For Therapist, Testing GUNTERSVILLE - The 3-year-old Marshall County juvenile drug court program has become a victim of federal/state budget cutting. But county officials said Tuesday they hope to use local money to keep a limited program going. Donna Johnson, the county's chief juvenile probation officer, told the County Commission the local program will not receive money next year from the Alabama Department of Economic Development and Affairs, which funnels federal money to local agencies. Neither did any other juvenile drug courts in Alabama, she said. Instead, Montgomery officials allocated the money to other programs, Johnson said. Marshall County is losing money to pay a licensed therapist to provide substance abuse treatment to juveniles and drug testing to keep them clean, she said. She asked the commission to provide about $76,000 to pay for the therapist and drug testing. In three years, the program has worked with 250 juveniles, and 150 of them graduated from probation supervision because they tested clean for six months. Johnson said 83 juveniles are in the program now. ''Thirteen- and 14-year-olds are using crystal meth intravenously,'' she said. One result of the program, said Johnson, is that Judges are ''holding the parents responsible for the actions of their children.'' The program started charging juveniles fees from $100 to $400 as grant money dwindled, but it is difficult to collect fees from juveniles, she said. District Judge Howard Hawk, who handles most of the county's juvenile cases, said the county has been ''light years ahead'' of some other counties in dealing with juvenile problems but the loss of the drug court program will set things back. He said he and Johnson were alerting the commission now that they would ask for more money when the new county budget is prepared. Hawk said he and other officials also will look for other money from at-risk funds earmarked for local school systems and Children First funds. Chairman Billy Cannon and the four district commissioners said they support the program. ''We are going to have to find a way to fund it,'' said District 4 Commissioner Tim Bollinger. Cannon asked County Administrator Pam Gilmore to set up a line item for the program when the new budget is being prepared later this year. In other business, the commission: Said bids will be opened May 21 at 2 p.m. on work to convert the second floor of the Albertville Courthouse addition into a courtroom and court-related offices. Set Dec. 31 as the deadline for county employees with more than 300 hours of annual leave to use those excess hours. A new regulation will allow them to carry over only 300 hours from year to year. Now there is no limit on accumulated leave. The new rule affects 10 county employees, Cannon said. - --- MAP posted-by: Josh