Pubdate: Fri, 16 Apr 2010
Source: Garden Island (Lihue, HI)
Copyright: 2010 Kauai Publishing Co.
Contact: http://kauaiworld.com/forms/letters/
Website: http://kauaiworld.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/964
Author: Dennis Fujimoto

ROADS COME TOGETHER AT DRUG COURT GRADUATION

LIHU'E - Three successful participants of the Kaua'i Drug Court 
program were added to a community of recovering Kaua'i Drug Court 
alumni Friday.

James Henley, Amber Kane and Lauwae Torres were presented 
certificates of successful completion of the Kaua'i Drug Court 
program by county Prosecuting Attorney Shaylene Iseri-Carvalho; Mel 
Rapozo, vice president of the Friends of Kaua'i Drug Court; Drug 
Court Judge Calvin Murashige; and Alton Amimoto, Kaua'i Drug Court coordinator.

As in the 14 other graduation ceremonies preceding Friday's, the 
courtroom was filled to overflowing with relatives, friends and 
supporters of the graduates.

"It's been a long hard road," said Torres, a sentiment echoed by the 
other two graduates. "The turning point for me was to hear my 
daughter call me 'the best mom in the world.'

"Up to that point, it was all about me, me, me," Torres said.

"I thought what I was doing was right," she said. "I was doing a lot 
of drugs, stealing and lying (to support the habit). My child was 
with my parents and I had no worries."

Friday, Torres celebrated 656 days of being clean and sober, said 
Drug Court Probation Officer ToriAnn Laranio.

"I was a menace to my friends, family, and to people I didn't even 
know," Kane said. "My grandpa passed away in 2000 and two months 
later, I was into ice, alcohol, weed and pills."

After induction into the Kaua'i Drug Court, Kane continued to be 
defiant, accumulating four felony charges and fighting introduction 
into a treatment facility on O'ahu.

"My mom tried to change me and went to hell and back," Kane said.

But after successfully completing the in-patient program, Kane 
graduated on Sept. 11, the birthday of her deceased grandfather.

That was a turning point in her life, she said.

"It took an old man and Alcoholics Anonymous to make me become 
happy," Kane said. "Today I don't need to go to drugs because no 
matter where I turn, there is someone to show me how to stay straight."

Kane believes Jack Viohl, a Drug Court probation officer, was the 
last person to believe in her.

"You believed in me when others had given up," Kane told Viohl. 
"Because of you, I made a 180 (degree) turn (a term used by Araceli 
Gonzalez of the Kaua'i Drug Court)."

Lenny Rapozo, representing Kaua'i Mayor Bernard Carvalho Jr., charged 
the graduates with remembering where they came from and the hard work 
it took to get to this point.

He also noted the contributions Kaua'i Drug Court participants give 
back to the community as a demonstration of the program's success.

In October, Drug Court participants repainted the old Koloa 
courthouse with a crew of 20 students working for about four hours.

Some 19 participants spent four hours at Kapa'a Beach Park, 
repainting the restroom facilities, pavilion and benches on March 19.

Over the years, Kaua'i Drug Court participants have cleaned up 
Hanama'ulu Beach Park eight times, Nawiliwili Harbor two times, and 
the Gateway Project fronting Lihu'e Airport three times, Rapozo said.

"This has saved the county more than 200 man hours and more than 
$110,000," said Rapozo, director of the county Department of Parks 
and Recreation. "This is a demonstration of the success of the 
program in the community."

Viohl said the one common denominator among the 92 alumni of 15 
Kaua'i Drug Court graduations is they have come to a place of 
acceptance. That acceptance has made it possible for them to make a 
decision, to remain clean and sober.

"When most of us wait for an answer, we expect it to be 'yes' or 
'no,'" Viohl said. "But a recovering addict can not afford to expect 
anything other than 'maybe.' Maybe I'll use drugs tomorrow, but right 
now I'm just going to focus on today. Maybe tomorrow I'll lose my 
job, but today, I have one. Maybe I won't have enough money to pay my 
bills this month, but today I can pay this one."

Viohl said most people cannot deal with "maybe" because life is 
fast-paced, even on Kaua'i.

"Most of us are impatient and impulsive because opportunities come 
and go, and the world wants an answer now, yes or no," Viohl said.

"The recovering addict has to wait. They have to accept life on 
life's terms. For the recovering addict acceptance isn't dealing with 
the outcome, it's never knowing what the outcome is, and living life 
to the fullest, or just getting by, the best they can, each day.

"The recovering addict has to make a tough choice each day. When they 
wake up each morning, the question is the same - 'will I use drugs 
today?' And for the sake of their survival, they must come to the 
conclusion that they will not use today. Beyond that, they can make 
no promise for tomorrow."

Viohl cited Matthew 6:34: "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for 
tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."

In 2006, the Kaua'i Drug Court graduates decided to create a group 
now known as the Kaua'i Drug Court Alumni, whose goal is to assist in 
creating drug-free functions, to support each other by appearing at 
court hearings and any other way to support participants.

This volunteerism by alumni is one of the keys to the success of the 
Kaua'i Drug Court, said Amimoto.

In a time of budget cuts, Amimoto said whatever crisis the program 
goes through, he hopes the program will continue and "not one ounce 
of quality is lost."

Henley said, "I hope the program continues because it helped save me, 
and if it can save me, how many others can it save?"
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MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart