Tito Ortiz Advertisement

Ultimate Fighting Championship notable Tito Ortiz, who recited his own hard luck story, gave drug court graduates a bit of advice at the annual graduation dinner Friday night: "I look in the mirror before I go to bed at night, and I respect myself, and I know each one of you can do the same."

The annual dinner at the Pahrump Nugget honored several 2007 graduates of the program, which has had 150 participants since it was founded in April 2002.

Nye County District Attorney Bob Beckett proclaimed, "This is the time we honor the drug court graduates, their families and friends. They have done something remarkable: they have changed the course of their lives. They have taken their addictions head on and won. This is not the time to commiserate. This is the time to celebrate."

Appropriately enough, the Pahrump Valley High School band followed with James Brown's classic, "I Feel Good."

Program organizers scored a coup this year by attracting Ortiz, the former light-heavyweight mixed martial arts champion nicknamed, "the Huntington Beach Bad Boy," as the keynote speaker. Ortiz recalled growing up in Santa Ana, Calif. at age 5 with parents addicted to heroin.

"I started seeing this and it was a dead-end street. My father lost his job, my mother would do whatever she could to help their habit, and so forth," Ortiz said.

Eventually, after 16 years together, his parents split up and he stayed with his stepfather and mother.

"I was hanging out with some of my friends when a rival gang pulled up. They said, 'Where are you from?' All of a sudden, bang, bang, bang, gunshots go off," Ortiz said. "You hear the bullets hit the cement. It's a very scary moment at the age of 12."

Ortiz said his stepfather gave him $800 at the age of 18 and pushed him out of the house. He used methamphetamine until he was 20.

"All of a sudden I found myself doing the same thing," Ortiz said. "It seems like every summer came around, when wrestling was over, I did catch myself doing the same thing."

But Ortiz ran into a wrestling coach who helped him see the light.

"I had an out-of-body experience. I was 6-foot-2, 180 pounds, sucked up, bags in my eyes. I looked in the mirror and I didn't know who I was," Ortiz said.

Ortiz got his life together. During his freshman year in college he was state junior college champion in his weight class. Ortiz had dreams about being a high school wrestling coach.

In 1997, Ortiz entered the exciting new world of ultimate fighting. At the time he had to fight for free, since he was still an amateur. Ortiz defeated his opponent in 22 seconds.

Soon, Ortiz said, he was a celebrity when he returned home.

"All of a sudden, all the attention I was dying for as a kid, I was getting in wrestling," Ortiz said.

Eventually Ortiz received his associate degree and didn't use drugs again. His fighting career progressed (his next bout will be Nov. 17 in Newark, N.J.). The clothing line he began with $500 is now a million-dollar business.

"There's other people who can lead you to water, but they can't make you drink," he told the drug court grads. "If you can't be honest with yourself, you can't be honest with anyone else."

A couple of drug court graduates drew applause as they addressed the audience, A.A. style.

David Anderson said: "I spent 20 years of running and gunning and doing myself harm until I was caught by the law, and that was probably one of the best days of my life, now that I reflect on it. After I got busted, I got put on probation, and I still did the same stuff over and over and over again, trying to get different results, and it didn't work.

"Thank God I did drug court," Anderson said. "Now my life has done a 180. I go to work every day, too many days in a row lately. Who knows how many years I hadn't worked at all, unless it was working to steal something in order to get drugs or alcohol, whatever the case may be? I've spent 13-1/2 months clean now. I'm truly grateful for this program."

Rusty Cooper said he has been clean and sober for a year and a half, the longest he's been out of jail. Cooper said he received his commercial driver's license and is now a truck driver.

Fifth District Court Judge Robert Lane, recited his own tale of having a drug-addicted younger brother, who started experimenting with drugs and alcohol in Henderson at age 14. He's 44 today.

Lane said he could never understand his brother's addiction. As a prosecutor for the Nye County district attorney's office in Tonopah for seven years, Lane said he'd argue to send drug offenders to prison, while defense attorneys tried to get them counseling and drug court in Las Vegas.

However, there was no way to enforce the counseling. He recalled the case of a very attractive woman abusing drugs in Beatty, who came before the court every year for probation violations. While she turned heads in court the first time, Lane observed how her appearance deteriorated, and she became skinnier with her teeth falling out.

Lane heard about drug court while attending the judicial college.

"The judge can hold a hammer over their heads, make them go to counseling, and they taught us about addiction," Lane said. "I was taught about how successful the programs are across the nation, and I thought of my little brother and other people I know, friends and family who are addicted to drugs and alcohol."

At 3 p.m. every Monday, the judge, district attorney, sheriff and public defender gather in the jury room to discuss the pending cases. Drug users in the program have to attend court weekly, abide by a 10 p.m. curfew, go to counseling and Alcoholics Anonymous three times per week, submit to drug testing and possible search warrants on their house and their car.

"It's real hard for me to do drug court. I'm not real good at it because I don't understand. There are times when it's a lot of work and a lot of stress, and I get mad at my little brother sometimes, because he manipulates and lies and cheats, and I've got 30 little brothers in drug court," Lane said. But he added, "The people that we help in the program are good people and deserve that help."