Four young adults were afforded an opportunity for a second chance thanks to the city's fledgling Alternative Drug Enforcement Strategy.
DeMareo Weatherby was faced with what could be the biggest decision of his young life Wednesday afternoon.
The 20-year-old could accept a likely prison sentence of six to 30 years for alleged drug crimes. Or he could accept a job and make good on a second chance to lead a life free of crime.
He chose the latter. "I'm going to finish school, get my GED and get a job," he said.
Weatherby was one of four young adults afforded such an opportunity thanks to the city's fledgling Alternative Drug Enforcement Strategy. The strategy, implemented in the spring in the Coronado/Haskell neighborhood, is an unorthodox method of eradicating drugs from neighborhoods. Riding some success in the Coronado/Haskell neighborhood, the program — sometimes called "Hug a Thug" — is being expanded from the Rock River to Kishwaukee Street and from 15th Avenue to Walnut Street.
Neighborhood residents were invited to St. Stanislaus Church on Monday, where police presented their idea of giving nonviolent drug offenders a second chance with help and resources from within the city. Residents are being counted on to help the offenders and to turn them in if they continue in their ways.
Wednesday, many of those community members returned along with three offenders and family members.
Pam Hastings, a resident of the area for just over a year, scolded the offenders for their open-air drug dealings altering the lives of the neighborhood children.
Earlier this year, police singled out five drug dealers they thought could become productive members of society through mentoring programs and gainful employment. The five took the pledge to stay clean or face prison time.
Two were kicked out of the program after subsequent arrests. The three others are still in the program.
The alternative drug enforcement program has caught the attention of the Chicago and Chicago Heights police departments, who sent representatives to the church.
Ronnie White, a police chaplain in Chicago Heights, liked what he heard and said the program is worth doing.