Nov - Office of Juvenile Justice - Louisiana

• Lewis North was the “taster” andmade sure everyone ate. He assistedwherever needed. He was known asthe handyman. Director Northmopped the floor in Sunrise andcarried trash to the dumpster.• Melvin Carter is well known as thecook. He reported back to workearly from vacation because hewanted to make sure that the staffwas taken care of and he nevercomplained.• JoAnn King acted as SafetyI n s p e c t o r a n d M u l t i - t a s k e r,responsible for anything needed.She reported back to work two daysearly, and took pictures before andafter the storm. She placed all thepictures on disks, labeled the disksand made several copies for theleadership team.• James Spears has a great attitude –his attitude is always “when?” Heshowed commitment to the vision,displayed noticeable leadership andworked as a team player.• Jewel “Mama” Veal workedtirelessly for countless hours at theemployee shelter, taking care offood, supplies, and mattresses, etc.,without complaint.Lafayette/Opelousas RegionalOfficeCongratulations to:• PPO1s Beth Broussard and JodyOsmer, who both graduated from theSt. Martin Sheriff’s Office POSTAcademy in October. Both did wellin the academy and we are extremelyhappy to have them back.OJJ Success StorySome say our success stories are few and farbetween, especially for our secure custodycases. Here is one success story. A 16-yearoldclient (whom we'll call Kaleb) had beenreceiving services while on supervisedprobation for several years. At one point hewas being seen, supervised, and serviced bytwo OJJ PPOs, two city court diversionprogram staff, an OMH Drug Court/ADACcounselor, a Gulf Coast tracker and a G.C.mentor, and a CADENCE Youth Re-EntryProgram worker, - eight professionals - in anattempt to prevent his removal from thehome and community. (We really can say wetried the "It takes a village approach!") OJJ'sPPOs even helped this troubled youngsterstart his own lawn care business byproviding him with a lawn mower andpromotional flyers.Unfortunately, none of this seemed toi m p r o v e h i s b e h a v i o r a n d s o c i a lperformance. Kaleb was failing the 9thgrade, and having behavior problems atschool. His delinquency actually escalatedduring this time, involving some quite11