TUNKHANNOCK - Tanya Thomas stood before a group of around 200 this week and admitted if it weren't for drug treatment court, she'd probably be dead.
"Where we were three years ago when we were arrested, and where we are today, it's something," Mrs. Thomas said, noting that she has been sober for two years. "Yeah, I could go to state prison and let somebody else fix my meals and do my laundry, but they helped me get focused."
At a graduation ceremony Thursday, Wyoming County President Judge Russell Shurtleff noted that Mrs. Thomas and her husband, Dillin, were the first married couple to graduate from the Wyoming/Sullivan Counties Treatment Court. Counting Thursday's graduation, 30 people from Wyoming and Sullivan counties have completed the program, the judge said.
While completing more than two years of treatment court, Mrs. Thomas finished college, got married, had a baby and got a job as a paralegal.
"I can walk in the courthouse and not be concerned about cops looking at me," she said.
Her husband asked Wyoming County Chief Detective David Ide to be his sponsor.
"I arrested him, so I was honored and surprised that he would ask me to speak on his behalf," Chief Detective Ide said. "I'm very proud and applaud his hard work."
Kevin Davis, another newly minted drug treatment court graduate who also was once on a downward spiral, said that family trust had been restored, and he had a beautiful child and a wonderful girlfriend.
And although he was a little embarrassed to be 26 years old and have to ask his mom for frequent taxi service, Carol Davis said that was no big deal.
"I have my son back," she said. "I want to thank everyone who had anything to do with this. He had gone from minutes away from death to standing here today."
Her advice to others in court: "Stick with it and do not give up. The resources are out there if you need help."
Contact the writer: bbaker@wcexaminer.com