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With money in hand, Butte Veterans Court eyes November start

Montana Standard - 10/22/2020

Oct. 21--With months of planning in place and nearly $500,000 in grant money in hand, a new court will soon be operating in Butte to help military veterans who have committed crimes turn their lives around.

A team of judges, prosecutors, police, mentors and others gathered in the Butte-Silver Bow Courthouse on Tuesday to hail the grant and formally announce establishment of the Butte Veterans Treatment Court.

The $498,450 grant from the U.S. Department of Justice came through late last week and because other pieces were already in place, the court and its counseling and treatment programs could be up and running by Veterans Day on Nov. 11.

The court, Mike Clague said, "is going to allow us to stop walking past the veterans who need our help the most" and will serve veterans from Butte and other counties in southwest Montana.

"Butte has put all hands in and we are going to help our veterans solve their problems," said Clague, a veteran and a longtime state prosecutor in Butte who is part of the new court team.

There are veterans courts in Billings, Bozeman, Great Falls and Missoula, but the one in Butte will be the first with two judges partnering to oversee cases. Butte City Court Judge Jerome McCarthy will handle misdemeanors, District Judge Robert Whelan felonies.

Veterans courts across the country have proven successful in helping veteran offenders address addictions, serious mental-health problems and often times co-occurring disorders.

A screening committee will identify veterans who might benefit from the court and as part of their criminal sentences, those offenders would be sent to the new court and agree to its standards and commitments.

The commitments often include intense supervision, alcohol and drug testing and treatment, mental health services and case management. As part of coordinated 12- to 18-month programs, they will meet with Whelan or McCarthy for 5 to 10 minutes each week.

McCarthy and Whelan started talking about and making plans for a veterans court more than a year ago.

"These gentleman will use their wisdom, their courage and their experience to change veterans' lives," Clague said.

The offenders will also have mentors -- fellow veterans who can identify with their pasts, "speak their language" and guide them through the treatment program and available services, including those from the Veterans Administration.

Four veterans in Butte -- Mike Lawson, Mike Vincent, Mick Ringsak and former Montana Tech football coach Bob Green -- will serve as mentors. They started meeting about their roles in June and in August completed a "mentor boot camp" training program in Billings.

"We will be their sidekicks, so to speak," said Lawson, commander of the United Veterans Council in Butte. "We will speak with them and guide them through and take them places and go to court with them and kind of coach them.

"It's going to give them a chance to change their habits and give them some direction," he said. "It's a learning chance for them to make changes or not, but most of them do."

The grant money will help fund a court coordinator, evaluations, drug testing and treatment programs, among other things. The money should last three years and help 25 veterans each year go through the programs.

If its success rate mirrors those from veterans courts elsewhere, Clague said, about 80 percent of those veterans will not re-offend, saving the state hundreds of thousands of dollars in potential prison costs.

"The program is worth it financially but more important, it's worth it for our veterans and their families," Clague said. "With our help, we are going to return veterans to their mother, to their father, to their siblings, as a person they are all proud of."

Numerous people, organizations and other entities played a role in establishing the court, and it shows something Clague said he learned 25 years ago when he returned to Butte from Navy duty in Desert Storm.

"People came out and they gave me and other veterans returning a parade," he said. "I didn't know these people, but at that point, I knew the people of Butte cared about their veterans.

"This program is going to reaffirm our dedication to our veterans."

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(c)2020 The Montana Standard (Butte, Mont.)

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