The war at home

Monroe County Veterans Court goal is to meet special needs of veterans facing legal troubles

By Denise M. Champagne
Posted: 4:08 pm Tue, July 20, 2010

Their long journey is not over, but there appears to be a light at the end of the tunnel.

Monday marked a day of recognition for the 20 veterans who graduated as part of the second class of Monroe County’s Veterans Court.

About 100 people packed Judge Patricia D. Marks’s courtroom, including the veterans’ family and friends, mentors and other supporters from a variety of agencies that make up the wide network of resources available to help the veterans get their lives back on track. The ceremony was marked by many smiles and tears of appreciation.

“Without you guys, I ain’t nothing,” said Matthew Dye, 51, of Henrietta, who paused to regain his composure as he told his story of recovery. “You gave me life again.”

Dye was the last of the graduates to accept his certificate and hug his mentor; presenting mentors Greg McClune and Julie Wilner; Judge Marks, supervising judge of criminal courts in the Seventh Judicial District; and Rochester City Court Supervising Judges John R. Schwartz and Teresa D. Johnson.

Judge Marks was instrumental in establishing the state’s second Veterans Court two years ago, patterned after one in Buffalo, to meet the special needs of veteran defendants who have returned home from the service to face new battles.

Judge Marks told those gathered that many turned to alcohol and other chemical substances, which led to trouble with the law — offenses such as driving while intoxicated, forgery, petit larceny, criminal contempt and traffic charges. Many veterans also deal with other combat-related mental health issues, from post traumatic stress disorder to drug addiction, to pain medications used to treat their wounds. She said a lot of them end up homeless.

Included in this week’s class were veterans from Afghanistan, Iraq, Vietnam and Korea.

To graduate, each must complete a substance abuse program, be employed or involved in a vocational or educational program, have a high school diploma or GED and have a minimum of 365 consecutive days of clean urine and breath screenings.

Dye, who served in the U.S. Air Force from 1978 to 1981, was charged with drug possession in 2002. Although he said he had been drinking a 30-pack of beer daily and using cocaine and marijuana, he didn’t think he had a problem.

Eventually, after stints in the Bath and Canandaigua VA medical centers, he recognized that he was killing himself and surrendered to the minions trying to help him.

“It’s like being in war,” he said. “Nobody wants to give up. I was getting high. I wasn’t doing nothing.”

Today he works at a local garage, attends daily Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and plans to “do the right things, enjoy my freedoms and cherish what I’ve got,” he said. He also would like to become a mentor.

The program’s lead mentor is Ken Moore, president of Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 20, who said the mentors lend moral support and help veterans through the entire process.

“What we instill in them is it’s not really about getting you out of your charges,” he said. “It’s a chance to change your life. Do you want to go this way and stay in prison for the rest of your life or do you want to go this way and get back to being a contributing citizen?”

Moore said the program is based on the belief that those who serve their country deserve a second chance, rather than to be jailed for non-violent offenses.

“I think one of the concerns we had when we started this is a lot of these defendants are young people who have just come home from the War on Terrorism,” he said. “A lot of mentors are Vietnam veterans. We wondered how it would be because we’re older, but they looked up to us.”

Among Monday’s graduation speakers was John Fahner-Vihtelic, deputy director and associate director for Physical Sciences at the University of Rochester Medical Center, who served as a medic in Vietnam and has been helping physically disabled veterans for years, shifting gears when he heard about the startup of the local Veterans Court.

“The idea is to cut down those barriers that get in the way and to allow our veterans to get treatment,” he said. “We have to navigate through the system so things don’t get out of hand and there are consequences. This court has to remove that backward movement and make sure if you want to, you can go forward.”
McClune, who has been with the Veterans Outreach Center since 1999, aptly calls the alternative “success delayed.”

“Sometimes, you have to let them fall so they can see the mistakes that they’re making,” McClune said. “Sometimes, you have to point them in the right direction.”

Not everyone makes it through the program, but that doesn’t mean they are forgotten. Judge Marks said she tells them the court wasn’t the means for them, and they are connected with prison re-entry services.

Many graduates, like Dye, will need the continued support of programs such as AA. McClune and Judge Marks said they also are available, along with the various network resources, for the graduates for continued support if they desire.