Pubdate: Mon, 26 Apr 2004
Source: Boston Herald (MA)
Copyright: 2004 The Boston Herald, Inc
Contact:  http://www.bostonherald.com/news.html
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/53
Author: Dave Wedge
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?159 (Drug Courts)

DESPITE CUT$, ONE MAN VOWS TO KEEP FIGHTING

New Bedford teen drug counselor Robert McPherson vowed to continue fighting 
the war on drugs, even though funding for his job ran out.

But when Bristol Sheriff Thomas Hodgson found out the retired Navy officer 
wasn't getting paid, he opened up his checkbook.

"It's too important to not have him working with these kids because they're 
real targets," Hodgson said of his decision to pay McPherson $18,000 out of 
his drug task force budget. "So we're going to pick up the tab."

The sheriff will pay McPherson's salary through September, which is when 
the state is expected to re-fund the New Bedford Juvenile Drug Court post. 
As one of three juvenile drug court case managers in the state, McPherson 
counsels kids between 14 and 16 and their families, oversees random drug 
tests, keeps tabs on their schoolwork and enforces curfews. "This is my way 
of giving back to the community," McPherson said.

A New Bedford native who moved away for two decades, McPherson joined the 
war on heroin in the Whaling City after learning about 25 friends dying 
from the drug.

"It's alarming," he said. "I think the Legislature has to face the reality 
that (treatment) beds are needed here. We have nowhere to send these kids."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom