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Last updated on Thursday, April 21, 2016
(BEDFORD) - The pride in a father’s eyes was one man’s reward for graduating Lawrence County’s Drug Court.
"I walked into my father's home and for the first time in five years my father was happy to see his son," Silvio Menna Jr. said Tuesday morning.
Menna says all his father said was - "Hey Sil" - but he could see in his father's eyes - pride and acceptance.
Menna and another man, who doesn't want his name published, are now among 49 other successful graduates of Drug Court.
Lawrence Superior Court II oversees and administers the program which offers those who have committed crimes with drugs and or alcohol - a second chance. The program is an intensive attempt to rehabilitate and reform offenders who have problems with addiction.
"Graduation day is a new beginning, the start of a new life," says Judge William Selva, "It's about recovery - recovering the courage to address a problem many of they have had for years. They recover the ability to take control of their lives, to regain employment, their families and trust. They recover their good old life back before drugs and alcohol."
Menna began taking drugs after he had a tooth pulled and was given a prescription for pain pills.
"I took them like they were a box of candy," he added. "When they ran out I began chasing the streets to find more."
Five months later he lost his job and moved from Philadelphia to Indiana.
"The problem was me not the location," he added.
He then started taking methadone.
"I bounced from job to job."
He started a new relationship and celebrated the birth of a daughter. But that was short lived because of his addiction and he couldn't keep a job.
"My need to get high destroyed everything," Menna says.
He began stealing to support his habit, was caught and went to jail.
"I hit rock bottom..." he added tearfully. "My baby girl cried when I called her from the jail."
In September 2013 Menna was accepted into the Drug Court program.
"I had no idea what was in store for me," Meena says. "I forgot how to live a normal life."
Since being in the program he has worked at Denny's as a cook and applied for the management program.
"For the first time in my life I am paying my bills on time," he added. "I have rebuilt the life I so gracefully destroyed."
The second man to graduate says alcohol became his best friend.
He began drinking in college socially. That soon became an obsession.
"I enjoyed the buzz from alcohol and began drinking more," he added.
Then then got his first operating a vehicle while intoxicated charge.
"I then began staying home and drinking there," he added.
In October 2013 he poured a drink to ease his hangover. Then got in his vehicle to go get a newspaper at a gas station a block from his home. He was pulled over and went to jail.
"Alcohol was ruining my life...I wanted to stop drinking," he added.
His attorney told him about the program and he applied.
"I knew the program would install self discipline, self control," he says.
He says the program helped a man who had lost his way in life - find his way.
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