| Ex-addicts are turning lives around: Treatment called key to staying out of jail
A few weekends ago, Shannon Leeson went roller-skating for the first time in decades. "It was fun," she said. "I haven't ever done that go out and have fun without getting high. When you're an addict, you think (getting high) is fun, but it's not." Leeson has been off drugs for two years now, and she attributes the strength to stay clean to skills she learned through DORA classes at the Utah County Division of Substance Abuse. "I'd been a drug addict for 15 years, on and off," Leeson said. "It was time to take a turn for myself and my kids. DORA (has) been so helpful. I've never had (this) kind of treatment." DORA, the Drug Offender Reform Act, passed by the Utah Legislature in 2007, allocates $9 million each year to fund substance-abuse treatment for people immediately after they get out of jail or prison.
Save your life, have a health check
READING about preventing catastrophic illness is as unpleasant as reading the fine print on a will, power of attorney or a life insurance policy. Facing our mortality and learning about preventing heart, lung or kidney failure, strokes, amputations, dementia and hip replacements, is not easy, but we should do it as a necessary part of protecting those we love. As medical technologies keep our ageing population alive longer, the over-50s age group will become a heavy burden on the young. The escalating costs of healthcare and private health insurance; the increasing strain on accident and emergency departments, hospitals and nursing homes and the worsening medical and nursing shortage have been identified by the new federal Labor Government as a first-order economic challenge.
Officer says obstructed view caused Friday wreck
A Henderson County Sheriff's Department officer escaped injury Friday afternoon when the county vehicle he was driving struck a van at the intersection of Edmonson and Cream Level Road in North Athens.According to Department of Public Safety reports, Sgt. Thomas Lee Robertson, 36, was driving a 2007 Ford pick-up east on Edmonson St. when the vehicle approached the intersection with Cream Level Road. Robertson attempted to make a left turn and struck the side of a 2006 Dodge Caravan driven by Sylvia De la Garza, 50, of Mabank.De la Garza refused transport by ambulance and was taken by a private vehicle to East Texas Medical Center in Athens, where she was treated and released. Two small children who were passengers in the van were not injured.DPS reports state Robertson's view of the intersection was impaired by large brush and trees.
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