MADISON — Some Drug offenders sentenced to community service with the Boone County Office of the Logan Regional Day Report/Drug Court are working with the Boone County Commission Maintenance Department and the City of Madison to help clean up the county in which they live according to the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals.

Boone County was the first local county to get its drug court up and running, followed soon by Logan, after local judges had been experienced to the concept at a judicial conference.

Service projects in which drug offenders are participating include mowing, litter pick up, painting, servicing, and maintenance of county vehicles.

Drug courts work by allowing offenders the opportunity to enter a plea bargain on their criminal charges with the chance of being selected by a treatment team for the Drug Court program which is long term and can last over a year. In addition to counseling and therapy, participants meet regularly with circuit court judges and are screened for drugs. A work component is part and parcel of the program.

In March, April, and May the Drug Court and Day Report participants have picked up a combined 1,750 bags of trash from roads around Boone County. In addition, on May 1 the participants painted the Ramage Bridge prior to a dedication service held there.

The City of Madison and the Boone County Commission have worked with probation officers and drug court officers to get the most out of the hours worked by the Drug Court and Day Report participants New community service projects, including working with the county refuse stations, the dog pound, and the county water projects will begin later this summer. The Drug Court and Day Report team will be approaching other agencies and municipalities for community service projects in the near future as the program' grows.

"We are a pilot for the Drug Court Program," said Twenty-Fifth Judicial Circuit Judge William S. Thompson. "Within a few years, there will be a legislative mandate placing the drug court program in every county of the state. It is nice to get the program rolling here in Boone County and even better to see that we are making former drug addicts productive members of this county, not to mention the added benefit of cleaning up the community."

The judge said the program has received considerable support from the Boone County Commissioners as well as the City of Madison.

"Without their help and understanding support, this program would not be the success story it is today," Judge Thompson said.

One major component of the Drug Court alternative sentencing program is to make participants give back to the community, as well as provide them with job training and an enhanced work ethic.