Family members filed into the courtroom Monday, wrapping around the back wall and the side wall and out the double doors when all the seating rows had filled. They smiled and snapped pictures and carried toddlers who dropped shoes.
They gathered to watch their sons and daughters, their husbands and wives graduate from Hamilton County Drug Court, which celebrated its 10-year anniversary Monday afternoon. But before they could watch the 10 succeed, they had to remember why the participants had gathered here in the first place.
As the saying goes in Drug Court: “The failures are shared by us, the successes are celebrated by all of us.”
“This is not something I like or enjoy,” Judge Tom Greenholtz said. Then he summoned 11 people before his stand – the 11 people who didn’t show up and didn’t call during a mandatory random drug test Sunday. Their rides fell through, they said, their alarm clocks failed. One man was scheduled to graduate Monday. Instead, he was led into custody, hands jammed into his pockets.
“That is inexcusable,” Greenholtz said, pausing to draw a sigh. “It is inexcusable.”