Issues and Eggs discussion: county drug court

By Cynthia Grau/WJEZ News

The Pontiac Area Chamber of Commerce held its Issues and Eggs Thursday morning with guest speaker Livingston County State’s Attorney Randy Yedinak.

Yedinak talked about what exactly a state’s attorney does, and expanded on the fact that having a Livingston County drug court is nearly a reality, as they’re currently in the process of applying to be certified by the State of Illinois.

“I’ve worked with various drug courts around the State – up north and then in Ford County when I was state’s attorney over there, and I’ve seen wonderful success with those most addicted, those who are having the most problems with controlled substances. We’ve found that getting to the root of the problem, I.E. the addiction, will lead to the snowball effect, which is stamping out not only those drug crimes, but we’re also stamping out crimes associated with drug addiction – the burglaries, the thefts, things of that nature, and so we’ve seen with our success stories, individuals who have spent days in and out of prison, in and out of jail, are now leading productive lives and actually contributing to society as opposed to taking from society. That’s one of the things we look to get up and running,” Yedinak said.