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16 - The Savannah Tribune • Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Savannah-Chatham County Drug
Court holds 11 th Graduation Ceremony
L-r: Georgia Supreme Court Justice Robert Benham, his wife Nell Benham, Superior Court
Judge James Bass, and Sheriff A1 St. Lawrence. Back row (l-r): Colonel McArthur Holmes,
Programs Manager Angelia Dorsey, Court Administrator Shawn Amacher.
On August 13, 2008,
The Savannah-Chatham
County Drug Court held its
ir graduation ceremony.
Eleven graduates were wel
comed back into the com
munity by the Honorable
James Bass of Chatham
County Superior Court and
Drug Court Programs
Manager Allen Canady.
The guest speaker was
Justice Robert Benham of
the Supreme Court of
Georgia.
Justice Benham
encouraged the graduates by
highlighting some of the
positive events that occur at
the Courthouse: marriages,
adoptions, and home owner
ship.
"Community's hope is
restored at the courthouse
and lives are made whole,"
he expressed. It is only fit
ting that the Drug Court
Program is centered around
the courthouse.
Judge Benham com
mended Chatham County
for implementing such a
program. "Drug Courts are
good economics for the
county and its taxpayers,”
he noted. “For every $1.00
we spend on a participant,
we save the community $7
to $8 dollars," he continued.
Judge Bass also com
mended Chatham County
for its continued support of
the Drug Court Program.
As an alternative to
incarceration, Chatham
County established a Drug
Court Program in October,
2001. Drug Court is under
the supervision of Superior
Court Judge James Bass and
has served 258 clients to
date. Of those clients, 72
have graduated and 97 were
terminated. There are cur
rently 85 participants in the
program.
Of the 72 graduates,
only 6 have been convicted
for felony drug charges
since graduation, which is a
91% success rate of the pro
gram.
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ON 2008 BUICK AND GMC VEHICLES
SMILEY G TOUR is
spreading after SMILE
check up with local Dentist
Dr. Gerald Kramer, DDS (1) examines smile of SMILEY' G before
tour with Bill Oakley, President/CEO, Goodwill Industries of the
Coastal Empire, Inc.
Savannah, Georgia-
SMILEY G officially began
his Savannah & Coastal
Empire Tour on Wednesday
August 13 after receiving a
good SMILE report from
local Dentist, Dr. Gerald
Kramer. “SMILEY G has
one of the best smiles I have
ever examined and my office
was honored to have assisted
in the smile checkup of SMI
LEY G, a smile always
brightens one’s day and will
go a long way in assisting
people with disabilities and
other barriers to employment
to live independently and
become employed.” says Dr.
Gerald Kramer.
After a good SMILE
report, SMILEY G made an
appearance at Curry
Cleaners on Derenne
Avenue. SMILEY G has
been traveling Savannah and
the Coastal Empire with
stops at the home of Callie
Downing, the office of Dr.
Ken Hardigan, Savannah
Recycling and Dr. Michael
Zoller, just to name a few
appearance sites. The SMI
LEY G TOUR concludes on
Friday September 5, 2008.
SMILEY G is a 4ft
Goodwill SMILE that will
be traveling across Savannah
and the Coastal Empire shar
ing a SMILE, friendraising
and promoting awareness of
Goodwill Industries of the
Coastal Empire, Inc.
Local individuals, com
munity leaders/volunteers
and businesses will have the
opportunity to sponsor the
tour by contributing the sug
gested sponsorship donation
of $100 or more, the spon
sorship AKA AGENT FEE
allows participants the
opportunity to share a
SMILE and pass it on to
family, friends,
customers/clients, associ
ates, etc. SMILEY G will be
delivered to the sponsored
location. When SMILEY G
arrives at designated loca
tion, that individual or busi
ness is asked to pay the sug
gested AGENT FEE to have
SMILEY G delivered to
another individual or busi
ness.
THE SMILEY G
TOUR complements the
Goodwill focused theme for
2008-2009 (DONOR) which
honors all Goodwill
DONORS; whether it be
DONORS donating clothing,
furniture, household items,
cars, computers, etc.,
DONORS shopping in the
14 Thrift Stores, DONORS
volunteering their time,
DONORS making financial
contributions, DONORS
participating in fundraising
efforts, DONORS partnering
with Goodwill and
DONORS promoting the
Goodwill name and mission.
For more information
and to schedule a sponsored
SMILEY G appearance,
please contact Joe Driggers,
Director of Marketing &
Development, Goodwill
Industries of the Coastal
Empire, Inc. at 912-354-
6611 ext. 128 (office), 912-
596-6208 (cell) or by email
at joed@goodwillsavannah-
ga.org.
To locate the Goodwill
nearest you and for informa
tion on all Goodwill servic
es, call 800-847-8117or visit
www, goodwillsavannahga.org.
Shinhoster...
American-owned enterprises.
However, Shinhoster
was candid about the chal
lenges of helping to direct
this revenue to African-
American-owned businesses.
He said, “As we have studied
trying to direct $72 million to
the African-American enter
prises, we have identified
several challenges that must
be addressed, and not all of
them belong to the School
Board. Some of these chal
lenges must be addressed by
the African-American busi
ness community. Our prob
lem is that there are not
enough African-American-
owned businesses of suffi
cient size to handle multi
million dollar contracts. This
is a problem that we must
address together.”
With the help of URS
and Pat Mathis Construction,
the firms hired by the Board
of Education as Program
Manager, a statement of
intent has been established,
“to maximize minority par-
Continued from page 1
ticipation.” However,
Shinhoster signaled a desire
for the Board of Education to
establish a firm commitment
to exceed a 20 per cent mini
mum level of minority partic
ipation when he said that the
Task Force is “not satisfied
with the results of this state
ment of intent.”
Shinhoster said that the
oversight group is working to
obtain “The Greatest Good
for the Greatest Number.”
However, he challenged indi
vidual contractors as well as
other business owners and
professionals to take advan
tage of the energy to develop,
grow, and expand their own
businesses.
Shinhoster ended his
presentation by saying,
“While the Oversight Task
Force is advocating for SIL
VER RIGHTS, the Savannah
Branch NAACP is still a
CIVIL RIGHTS organiza
tion, and will continue to
fight discrimination, injustice
and racism.”
