Drug court program celebrates 100th graduation

link Staff photo: Alisa Boswell

Judge Donna Mowrer, right, laughs with Percy Herrera as she presents her with her Hartley coin for graduating from the drug program. The coin is in honor of former Judge Teddy Hartley, who spearheaded beginning the 9th Judicial District drug court program in 2006.

Participating in the 9th Judicial District drug court program is an “intense process” but one that is well worth it, according to numerous participants and graduates.

There was no shortage of tears Wednesday afternoon as the main courtroom of the Roosevelt County Courthouse played host to a full house for the drug court program’s 100th graduation since its beginning in 2006.

Former Judge Teddy Hartley, who spearheaded the start of the program, was present for the ceremony.

“I can’t tell you how important this is for you as a participant or as a family member,” Hartley told those gathered Wednesday.

Along with a certificate, graduates receive the Hartley Coin, which entails a picture of Hartley and the phrase “99 percent’s a bitch; 100 percent’s a cinch,” a statement only too true for many of those gathered Wednesday.

The program’s 100th graduate Percy Herrera, who sold and used cocaine in the 1990s, said she has gone to prison about four times over the years for drug use.

“I got out on probation and I couldn’t complete it successfully, so I went back (to jail),” she said. “It’s been a long road for me.”

Herrera said after finishing one stint in jail, she was introduced to methamphetamines and began using that instead, spending the next 12 years being “strung out.”

Herrera said it was returning to prison again in 2012 that made her decide it was time to change her life.

“All the madness caught up to me in December 2012,” Herrera said. “I had been out of prison for 11 years, and I couldn’t believe I was going back.”

Herrera said she had gone through drug programs before just to go back to drugs, and she genuinely believes she would have gone back again if not for the drug court program.

“It’s been an awesome experience. This program has really helped me succeed in my sobriety and living a better life,” she said. “I know the tools that I have now, and I use them. I’ll call the drug court staff. They really show a lot of support. I know one day I’ll be off probation, but it’s not just until then (that I’m off drugs). I have to continue doing what I’m doing and staying around positive people.”

Judge Donna Mowrer said she has known Herrera for 20 years and their relationship was not always a positive one.

“I can tell you that the Percy who is graduating today is not the one I knew 20 years ago,” Mowrer told everyone in the courtroom.

The drug court program is a team approach to substance abuse, according to Mowrer, and an alternative to further incarceration, according to Kevin Spears, 9th Judicial District court executive officer.

Spears said participants in the program are usually on probation and are referred from adult probation officers (APOs), a law enforcement agency or the district attorney’s office.

He said drug court staff and other law enforcement representatives interview prospective participants and place them into the program, which entails a rigorous process of frequent drug testing, personal and group counseling as well as checking in regularly with drug court staff, along with their probation officer.

“It’s a pretty intense process,” Spears said, adding that it is at least a year before anyone can graduate from the program.

“It requires a commitment on the participants part,” Spears said. “I think it’s a good alternative in a community to incarceration. You’d like to not just throw everyone in the county jail. It’s cost effective and it has a great success rate. It gives them an opportunity to move forward and get on with life.”

It took Martha Sepulbeda two years to get through the drug court program due to a relapse.

“The first time I was to graduate drug court, I went to drug rehab instead,” she said.

Sepulbeda received her 9-month sobriety coin on Wednesday.

Spears said there are naturally relapses at times in the early stages of the program, but there is a 94 percent success rate for those who graduate the program not returning to drugs.

Mowrer said due to additional funding, the program is expanding, so Clovis can have its own program and Portales its own.

Judge Fred Van Soelen will be the judge heading the Clovis operation with 25 participants in the program at a time and 15 participants at a time in the Portales program.

Although there were stories of relapses shared at Wednesday’s festivities, there were also many stories of success with two former drug court participants, Chandra Watkins and Kitty Rodriguez, joining the drug court staff.

Watkins, who began using drugs at 15 years old, thanked not only people in the program, but her family for never giving up on her.

“(Thank you) to my daughter, Leesy, who was brave enough to turn in my meth pipe to my aunt when she was just 8 years old,” Watkins said through tears. “We are just people with a disease, and we are trying to get better.”

Rodriguez has been clean and sober since before she graduated the program in 2008 after a 25-year methamphetamine addiction. She has been on staff with the program for about two years now.

“Get over it,” was her advice to fellow recovering addicts in the courtroom. “Because we aren’t just hurting ourselves with our addictions; we are hurting everyone around us.”