Four More Problem Solving Court Graduates

(PROBLEM SOLVING COURT JUDGE ERICKA SANDERS LEADS IN APPLAUSE FOR THOSE NOW IN THE PROGRAM)

Four more graduates of Problem Solving Court were celebrated during a ceremony Friday afternoon at the Effingham County Government Center.

The four have completed two years of instruction and repeated drug tests, but they've accomplished more than just stay clean. The graduates have learned coping skills that will hopefully keep them clean and able to lead productive lives.

Judge Ericka Sanders oversees Problem Solving Court in the 4th Judicial Circuit. She shared a story participants in the program have heard many times. She asked what you have when you get a horse thief to stop drinking? You have a sober horse thief. The program is not just a matter of achieving sobriety; it's achieving a whole new way of thinking.

Fiscally speaking, Problem Solving Court is a much more affordable option than incarceration. The judge noted that the Problem-Solving Court program costs $6,000 per participant. It costs $38,000 to incarcerate an offender. Annually.

(4TH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT CHIEF JUDGE KIMBERLY KOESTER)

Chief Circuit Judge Kimberly Koester, the featured speaker, noted that with 14 graduates from the program this year between the spring graduation and Friday's ceremony, $1 million in incarceration costs were saved.

The graduates at Friday's ceremony are Tanner Barnes and Nick Fizer of Effingham County, Joshua Durre of Fayette County, and Freddie Payne, Jr. of Clay County. As is always part of a graduation ceremony, each graduate presented a bouquet to the person who stayed with them through the program. 

(PROBLEM SOLVING COURT GRADUATE NICK FIZER)

Among the remarks heard from the graduates..."the only way to change my behavior is to change my way of thinking"...and "do the next right thing every day."

Recognition was to Problem Solving Court Coordinator Cheryl Meyers and all of those who participate in counseling and enforcement throughout the program.

(FRANCES WILL)

There was also presentation of the Mark Heth Memorial Award, in memory of a young man who developed mental illness believed to be the result of a fall from a skateboard and eventually led to his death. This year's recipient was Dunkin Donuts and Frances Will, who has worked to provide job opportunties for those in the battle for recovery.