“DREAM TANK” Project Deserves our Support

by: Bill Liblick

Village of Monticello Justice Josephine Finn tired of seeing our courtrooms overflowing with criminal activity is convinced preventive measures can stop our youth from entering a revolving door criminal justice system.

Last year she embarked on a campaign to raise money both from the public and private sector for her project “DREAM TANK” a program which teaches a core group of high-risk adolescence how to take responsibility, learn and have fun all at the same time. Those who finish the course successfully then become mentors to the next group, and so on and so forth.

First and foremost, Josephine Finn deserves a standing ovation from each and every resident in Sullivan County for conceiving this brilliant program. This is the type of “Out of the Box” thinking we so desperately need in Sullivan County.    

Finn knowing she will need suitable funding to make the inroads required to make the program a success turned to the Sullivan County Legislature for assistance. Robert Berman’s Project Dream Foundation funded her first year startup costs and provided her with the administrative assistance of Sonia Caycho.

After making her “from the heart” plea to the legislature, I am elated to say they did not grant her the $30,000 she was requesting, but instead awarded her project “DREAM TANK” $60,000.

Unfortunately two legislators Jodi Goodman and David Sager did not vote for the motion, because they said the money was taken away from funds allocated for the Sheriff’s Office. They said they supported the $60,000 earmarked but wanted the funds to come from another line item. One has to seriously wonder why there was even a need to debate this point. Was it just political nitpicking?

In fact, Undersheriff Eric Chaboty told me he and Sheriff Michael Schiff were strong supporters of Judge Finn’s project.

Leni Binder Chairperson of the Legislature’s Public Safety Committee summed it up best by telling me, "Through programs like Judge Finn's DREAM program, we are giving our youths a strong foundation and a sense of direction, which will lessen, and ideally prevent, the need for criminal justice programs later in their lives.   There is no dollar value we can place on a person's life, yet we must recognize that prevention is always more productive and cost-effective than cure. This program does not in any way negate the need for other public safety efforts, but should run parallel to the existing law enforcement and intervention efforts."

Legislator Frank Armstrong told me funding the program might indirectly help Sullivan County in its plea to the State to build a smaller jail.  “We are demonstrating to the state that we are working diligently to divert and reduce the number of youths and young adults who enter the juvenile or adult penal systems, and that we are seriously interested in preventing their incarceration, not on building a bigger facility to house them. I believe this type of program gives us strong credibility and a great foundation to go back to the Commission on Corrections and ask for a reduction in the size of jail they mandate Sullivan County to build.”

Judge Finn said she was elated that the legislature is taking her project “DREAM TANK” so seriously. “I am delighted that the Sullivan County Legislature has recognized the need for preventive measures as well as criminal justice solutions. Our solution cannot be just putting people in jail. We have to do something on the front end.”

Like Finn, I have always been an advocate of preventive measures. History shows, that once someone enters our criminal justice system there is little rehabilitation and they just become repeat offenders.

Our county is plagued with children having children, and many of those parents continually ignore the needs of their offspring. The vicious cycle of family lineage of criminals must cease. I am tired of hearing from law enforcement officials that they are arresting the children of the parents they arrested years before for the same type of crimes.

Chief Assistant District Attorney Jim Farrell told me his office is flooded with these types of cases and that there is a desperate need for programs that entail preventive measures. He applauded the Dream Tank project.

Judge Finn’s program will not only target members of our population that other programs do not, but hopefully it will restore some morals, respect, and self worth in these children.

Accolades to the Sullivan County Legislature for allocating the funds, and may Josephine Finn have nothing but success with her “DREAM TANK” project.

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