2011 Liberty Bell Award Presented to Lucy Bates Davenport
The South Central Mississippi Bar Association (SCMBA) is pleased to announce Lucy Bates Davenport is the recipient of the 2011 Liberty Bell Award. The SCMBA presents the Liberty Bell Award annually to an individual in the local community whose outstanding community service promotes a better understanding of the rule of law, encourages a greater respect for law and the courts, stimulates a sense of civic responsibility, and contributes to community government.
The 2011 Liberty Bell Award recipient, Lucy Bates Davenport, is the Coordinator of the Forrest and Perry County Adult Drug/DUI Court Program. Lucy has served as Coordinator since the inception of the Forrest-Perry Adult Drug Court in 2003 and helped establish the DUI court that has been operational since 2007. There are more than 200 drug court participants, and Lucy knows each one by name. Her duties are numerous and vary from acquiring and maintaining grants and funding, to performing participant drug screens, communicating with the Mississippi Department of Corrections regarding drug treatment for inmates, and planning Drug Court graduation ceremonies. Davenport works closely with treatment providers, the district attorney and the public defender’s office, while also organizing participation in Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous meetings and various volunteer activities, such as the American Cancer Society Relay for Life. She is a member of the National Association of Drug Court Professionals and serves as the Membership Chairperson of the Mississippi Association of Drug Court Professionals.
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HOPE LIVES HERE!
I just really wanted you guys to see this. I know no one there knows me, but MARR had such an impact on my life I just had to share this. For so long, I hid from the law....now I work with them. CRAZY!!!! I came to MARR from Hattiesburg, MS in 1998. Sandra picked me up from the train station, and I was scared to death. I was scared to death to look at me, after all I was (am) the problem, and I had spent years running from the problem. MARR gave me no choice but to look at me (thank you feelings school)!!!!!! LOL Next month [July], I will have 13 years of sobriety; thank you God, MARR, the fellowship of AA, and the Twelve Steps (design for living). I trust God, I clean house and I help others. Thank you MARR for teaching me how to do that.
I just have to say one more thing....I have been through quite a few treatment centers in my time, however, MARR helped my family more than any facility I have completed. My dad and I could not be in the same room with each other. I am NOT exaggerating. After family week at MARR, he said he never knew I actually had a disease. MARR explained that to him in family week; how alcohol and drugs affect the brain. That lecture was the best thing that ever happened to my family. The day I received the 2011 Liberty Bell Award, my dad could not stop tearing up. They had asked him to present it to me and he could not do it. He sent me a text (haven't gotten that great with TALKING about feelings yet) saying how proud he was that I was his daughter!! He has NEVER said that to me. He is an attorney and a judge here in Hattiesburg, and for years I caused him lots of embarrassment (bad checks, DUIs, arrests, etc.). I now work with the very attorney that prosecuted me (he had highly suggested that I complete MARR). Talk about coming full circle...I also work with some of the judges. The award I received was given to me by attorneys. AGAIN....CRAZY!!!!
If you had asked me 13 years ago what I wanted out of life, I would not have said this. My life today has far exceeded anything I thought I ever wanted. It's funny what happens when you trust God...I think I want something, God gives me something else AFTER I surrender and it turns out to be BETTER than I ever thought it could be. I was asked yesterday if I had it to do over, would I change anything. Absolutely NOT!!!!! Every single detail of my life thus far had to happen exactly as it did to get me here!! It was all in God's plan. I wouldn't change a thing. This award may not be a big deal to some, but it is HUGE for me! I just had to share it with the very people who helped make me who I am. Thank you MARR!!
