TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Judge Rules Class Is Sober

ADVERTISEMENT

By TODD LESKANIC, The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 1, 2008

Updated: 01/31/2008 09:45 pm

LAND O' LAKES - Only on rare occasions do court proceedings have happy endings.

It happened Thursday when the county's drug court officially graduated its first class. Twenty-four defendants completed the program - a combination of counseling, probation and court appearances - and were honored by court staff, family and friends.

"It changed my life," said Teresa Turkowski, a recovering crack addict. "I don't think I'd be here today if it wasn't for the program."

Turkowski, 51, of Crystal Springs, was arrested on drug charges Sept. 19, 2006. Her drug history dates to her teenage years, when she began drinking and smoking marijuana with her father.

Turkowski was a weekend drug user for years, but in 2004 she got her first taste of crack. She spent the next two years obsessed with getting her next high, spending hundreds of dollars feeding her never-ending appetite for the drug.

Following her arrest, prosecutors with the state attorney's office referred her case to drug court. Turkowski weighed 85 pounds and, by her own admission, "looked like death warmed over."

She appeared at graduation Thursday weighing in at a slim but healthy 130 pounds. Gone were the sores on her face she used to pick at. About the only remnant of her crack addiction was the rough skin on her palms, the result of constant glass cuts and burns.

"I didn't think I'd ever get off of it," she said. "And I wouldn't have if it wasn't for this program."

Pasco received money to start the county's first-ever drug court in January. Circuit Judge Linda Babb presides over drug court, which she has aptly renamed "treatment court."

Babb has become a cheerleader for the defendants, constantly encouraging them and rewarding success. She gleamed with pride as she spoke to the graduates during the short ceremony.

"You have been and will continue to be a blessing for me," she said.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT