A Howard County alternative sentencing program for minor offenders eliminated July 1 in a budget cut is being revived, thanks to an $85,000 state grant and the interest and ingenuity of a host of officials and K. Frank Turban.
The County Council is scheduled to vote on approving the grant July 30. Turban, 62, a retired drunken-driving probation agent and a recovering alcoholic who founded a 12-step program called Serenity Center in Columbia, hopes to get the county program running again in August.
"A tremendous number of nonprofits use community service for a lot of labor," Turban said. When he read newspaper stories about the 14-year-old program formerly run from the county sheriff's office ending July 1, he contacted County Executive Ken Ulman to propose a revival.
"I listened to County Council members who expressed concern about losing that program," Ulman said. Then he attended an event at the Serenity Center in Oakland Mills.
"I'm excited that it looks like the program will work."
Councilwoman Jennifer Terrasa, a North Laurel-Savage Democrat who pushed with others to revive the program, said she's also gratified.
"This piece of our justice system was really important," she said. The new program won't deal with juveniles, but Terrasa is hopeful that will be revived, too. Anne Towne, director of the Association of Community Services, an umbrella group for county human service nonprofits, said her organization is trying to find a way to solve that problem.
People convicted of drunken driving, disorderly conduct, traffic offenses or who were given alcohol citations were sometimes ordered by county judges to perform community service instead of paying fines or going to jail. Cash-strapped nonprofits and county agencies benefited.
Circuit Court Judge Louis A. Becker said sometimes judges use the program for people who can't afford to pay fines, but can stay out of jail or afford to pay restitution to victims if they are sent to do community service.
"I'm really glad to see it back. Most of my colleagues want to see a program," Becker said.
Although the sheriff-run program would have cost $466,743 to operate in fiscal 2010, including $289,743 in county funds helping to pay for four full-time workers, Turban expects to get by with one full-time and one part-time employee, he said. The new version will more heavily depend on help from state parole and probation agents, he said.
