Pubdate: Fri, 22 Sep 2000
Source: Longview News-Journal (TX)
Copyright: 2000sCox Interactive Media
Contact:  P.O. Box 1792, Longview, TX 75605
Fax: 903.757.3742
Website: http://www.news-journal.com/index.html
Author: Anntoinette Moore

FORMER PROSECUTOR TURNS HIS ATTENTION TO SUBSTANCE ABUSE

As a Bee County prosecutor, Jay Kimbrough said he was in "the 
deconstruction business," bringing people to trial and sending them to prison.

Many that he convicted had problems with drug and alcohol abuse, the 
executive director of the Texas Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse said 
Thursday night at the annual dinner of the East Texas Council on Alcoholism 
and Drug Abuse.

That's why Kimbrough took the job as TCADA's executive director earlier 
this year, though the Austin-based agency was in turmoil because of a 
serious budget shortfall.

He wanted to help reduce the number of people in the alcohol and drug abuse 
pipeline.

"There's a whole lot of young people ... that, if we have the right message 
and we have it early, then we can keep these people out of the pipeline," 
Kimbrough said.

Alcohol and drug abuse programs also can keep young inmates in Texas 
Department of Criminal Justice facilities from returning to prison, he said.

"I'm in the public safety business. Everybody that we keep from getting in 
the pipeline, that we stop from dabbling (with drugs), that we turn around 
in prison, that person is no longer a threat to my son or my daughter or my 
wife, or your son or your daughter or your wife," Kimbrough said.

He was appointed TCADA executive director Feb. 1. In November, the agency 
revealed a budget shortfall that affected local substance abuse prevention 
agencies such as the East Texas council. TCADA went through six executive 
directors, three boards and one conservatorship in six years before he came 
on board, Kimbrough said. The agency administers federal block grant funds 
for the state of Texas.

For years, TCADA relied on an annual $125 million block grant from the 
federal government plus a large pool of unspent money from previous 
allocations, Kimbrough said. The agency thought it had about $33 million in 
this "savings account" in 1999, but the figure actually was $8 million, he 
said.

When the shortfall was discovered, the agency had to cut its grants to 
local councils back to 1999 levels, Kimbrough said. Because the Texas 
Legislature has given the agency $32 million in extra funds during the past 
seven months, it has been able to maintain 1999 funding levels for fiscal 
year 2001, which began Sept. 1, he said.

The Legislature seems willing to continue giving TCADA $20 million annually 
for the next couple of years to keep total funding at $145 million, 
Kimbrough said.

Kimbrough said he has reorganized the agency, cutting staff from about 250 
people to about 150 people.

He praised the work of one-time Longview resident Alice Day, former program 
director of the Longview Drug Task Force, now Partners in Prevention. Day 
heads up TCADA's program division.

"She's a good soul. She's a good spirit. She has contributed mightily to 
the reorganization," Kimbrough said.

He pledged TCADA will work hard to provide funding to councils "so that you 
are empowered to talk to these young people and make a difference in their 
lives."

The East Texas council is a model for others around the state, Kimbrough said.

He previously served as the director of the Texas Commission on Private 
Security and has experience as an attorney in both the public and private 
sectors. Kimbrough also was elected county judge in Bee County, where he 
was an assistant district attorney and county attorney.

At Thursday's dinner the council gave community service awards to Pine Tree 
Independent School District, represented by Superintendent Joe Dan Lee, 
because of its support of the "Focus on Youth" and "Every 15 Minutes" 
programs, and to Mike Lee, owner of Guthrie Creek, where the council's new 
Longview offices are located, for his help in remodeling the property for 
the council.

Leslie "Buck" Elmore received the volunteer of the year award for his help 
in setting up computers and teaching staff and volunteers how to use them.

The council is celebrating 35 years of providing substance abuse services 
for Gregg, Anderson, Camp, Cherokee, Harrison, Henderson, Marion, Morris, 
Panola, Rusk, Upshur and Wood counties. The council is a nonprofit United 
Way agency offering education, prevention and screening services for 
problems related to the abuse of alcohol, tobacco and other drugs.
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