Local treatment courts expanding

Local drug and driving under the influence courts are continuing and expanding in Hill County, with the U.S. Department of Justice awarding the county a three-year $349,923 grant to set up a dedicated drug court.

Hill Count Justice of the Peace Audrey Barger, who presides over the drug and DUI courts, said the team started running a full drug court Oct. 1, as soon as it received the grant. The DUI court, which has had some limited ability to handle drug cases, started operating last December after receiving a $68,000 grant from the Montana Department of Transportation.

Hill County was one of 16 jurisdictions in the nation to receive an Adult Drug Court implementation grant from DOJ.

“It’s highly competitive,” Barger said. “This is the second time I applied. The first time I didn’t get it.”

She said the MDT grant that helps fund the DUI court has been renewed as well, to pay for operation of the court next year.

Barger spearheaded the creation of the courts in Hill County, with the DUI court starting last December and the celebration of its first one-year participant held last month.

Barger said that participant had been in custody before being transferred to the new court last December, and now has been drug and alcohol free for more than a year. He graduated Thursday to Phase Three of the treatment court program.

She said the participants work very hard to help the treatment program help them.

“They just give themselves up to the court and trust that we’re there to help them, even though sometimes it means going to jail,” Barger said.

“When they see themselves start to get better and see they can change their lives, the tables really start to turn,” she said, adding that the efforts of the team that has volunteered to work on the court are essential to its success.

The Hill County Commission approved the creation of the courts as an alternative to other sentences in drug and DUI cases. Judges can refer defendants with drug or alcohol addictions to the treatment courts rather than sentencing them to jail, probation, prison or the state treatment programs such as Connections Corrections in Butte and Warm Springs.

The courts, which generally work with participants for one to three years, use both sanctions for failure to comply with rules and rewards for achieving goals and following requirements.

In court Thursday, each participant received a Halloween treat bag and all who had not had any compliance problems were entered in a drawing for a $20 gift card.

The program involves a team from throughout the law enforcement, probation and counseling community who review each participant’s progress, and any failures, each week before meeting with the participants in the court itself.

Participants visit with Judge Barger, who asks how their week has gone, goes over any lapses and assigns penalties for lapses, commends them for meeting requirements and asks if they need any help the court can provide.

Penalties for lapses range from writing a letter of apology or spending a few hours doing community service to spending time in jail. In severe cases, where the participant shows a pattern of lack of participation and compliance, the participant can be terminated from the program and sent back to the referring court for resentencing.

The funding for the two courts has provided money to increase the staff, with a full-time coordinator and a full-time probation officer hired and working.

Barger said Paul Nugent is the coordinator and Shane Huston is the probation officer. Their pay is split between the budgets of the drug court and DUI court, with each budget paying half of each employee’s salary.

The courts can apply for grants to continue operation, and Barger said the Montana Legislature generally has approved funding for drug and DUI courts after grant funding runs out, but the intent is for each community’s courts to become self-sustaining.

Barger said the drug court has become a United Way-funded agency, and a nonprofit corporation, Hill County Drug Court Inc., has been created to accept funding contributions.

The Havre law firm of Bosch, Kuhr, Dugdale, Martin and Kaze donated the money to pay the IRS fee to set up the nonprofit status, and helped Havre attorney Karen Alley set up the nonprofit status.

Alley also serves as judge pro tem for the court as needed.

Barger said people can contact Hill County Juvenile Probation Officer Kevin Buerkle, who has volunteered to serve as treasurer of the nonprofit corporation on his own time, for more information about the funding corporation.