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By THERESA REY NOLDS
Rappahannock 'New* Staff Writer
Editor's Note: With this article we begin a series on changing community attitudes and how they affect our laws and, ultimately, our local courts. In weeks to come we will examine the new child restraint law, changes in local legal services, and growing community concern about drunk drivers.
The wheels of justice move slowly and along tracks that are confusing to many. Judges try to pick a prudent path between rehabilitation and punishment as law enforcement officers attempt to respond to pressing—often conflicting—demands from the community. Many of us will live a lifetime with no contact with our criminal justice system. But we are affected every day by the choices that our legislators make and the ways in which local courts handle offenders.
There are certain types of offenders most likely to touch our lives—the drunk drivers, the reckless driver, and ‘‘hootin’ and hollerin’” misdemeanant offenders. These offenders are the ones that most often appear in Rappahannock General District Court.
Many of them, upon conviction, will be handled by the Rappahannock-Rapidan Division of Court Services, an independent agency with a main office in Culpeper under the supervision of Dean Irvine. There is a new field office now in Warrenton that handles court services for Fauquier and Rappahannock offenders.
Bronwyn Hughes mans the new field office, financed, like the entire program, by defendant fees. She handles VASAP, the driver improvement clinics, and the community service restitution programs for the Rap
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