Bid Improprieties Examined; Federal Funds At Stake An FBI inquiry and high bids have delayed Hinds County in applying for a federal grant for its drug court. FBI spokeswoman Deborah Madden said the FBI investigated allegations of bid improprieties after Professional Associates submitted a low bid of $45,000 among three bidders to evaluate the drug court program. Pathfinders and Associates and MPART each bid $48,000. "We took our information to the U.S. attorney's office," Madden said. "It was evaluated there, and as a result, we closed the matter." [continues 261 words]
Frank Lambert would have been headed for a year in prison after being convicted of felony DUI in 1999. Instead, he was accepted into Circuit Judge Keith Starrett's Pike County drug court and served a year of house arrest. "I have been sober for 35 months," said Lambert, 53, a retired barge operator from McComb. "The authority of the judge was my motivation, then it turned to God, a higher power. I have a place to live, a new truck I can drive and volunteer work I can do I would not have had in prison." [continues 1293 words]
I.S.I.A.H. House For Men Expands For Third Anniversary The I.S.I.A.H. House, which helps men battling with alcohol and drug addiction, celebrated its third anniversary Saturday. At the same time, the celebration helped launch Sarah House, a residential treatment facility for women. George Cunningham, clinical director-outreach coordinator for the founding group, The Common Bond Association Inc., said women need the same kind of grace he has experienced. "Somebody believed in me, now I have to believe in others, and that is everybody," said Cunningham, a recovering alcoholic who worked for a Meridian beer distributor for 25 years before spending a year in the South Mississippi Correctional Institute for armed robbery. [continues 392 words]
