Hunter Jones

On Friday in the Garden of Hope, members of the Jackson County recovery community are out. Signs are being made for the roadside while the others are catching up and waiting for Judge Brent Benson to arrive, currently in a court hearing.

On the table are sandwiches and behind them, racks of various tomato plants. The plants are donated from someone within the recovery community while the sandwiches are donated by Payne’s.  Each year, the drug court gathers on the Friday before Mother’s Day to hand out free tomato plants. Though this year, it was pushed back a week due to weather. While the skies look ready for rain, for now, it will hold off.

“While they were in addiction, a lot of times they may have done things that were not about giving back to the public so in a way, (events like this) are a way to atone for those things,” Benson said.

As they are waiting, Hunter Gillilian grabs a guitar after the group finds out someone brought one. Caleb Hardeman jumps in to sing, with the pair playing some songs. After a few songs, Judge John Graham appears to support the court he led for so many years. Upon arrival, he is quickly swamped by the group, everyone wanting to catch up. Around that time, the roadside sign is complete and two people, one holding a sign and another a tray of tomato plants, head down to the sidewalk to try and hand out plants to those passing.

As the group is catching up with Judge Graham, Judge Benson appears soon after, fresh out of the courtroom. He quickly takes off his suit jacket and puts on a Tomato Day t-shirt, before suggesting they start their drug court session while it’s not busy.

As the group goes around, sharing their plea dates, clean dates and days sober, Benson asks them how they are doing in their personal lives. They are joined by a couple of people who asked to observe the court as well.

“We get them out here to do community service and share some goodwill with the community. I think anything they can do to share goodwill gets attention on drug court and other people that might need help. That gives them an outlet or somebody they can look to and say ‘hey, how can I do this, how can I get help,’” Benson said.

Once court wraps up, they split off into their own groups, some trying to move down the hill to assist in sign holding and handing out, others talking in groups while waiting to help the next person looking for a plant.