BRAZOS COUNTY, Texas — This morning, during the Brazos County Commissioners Court meeting, project coordinators and their advisory committee presented research findings about the advantages of creating a veterans court in the area.
With hopes of having a concrete vote today, the veteran’s treatment court project was met with yet another delay.
“It is a treatment court. Its in the name. So these veterans that might have PTSD or anxiety or some service-related disability--if they get in trouble with the law instead of just going to jail, they go through this treatment court and it helps them fix their issues," explained Lonny Masterson, Project Coordinator for the Veterans Treatment Project. "It helps them become a productive member of society again.”
The program has been established in other counties and advocates need the court’s approval to bring it to Brazos County. Furthermore, experts that deliberated whether or not it should even be presented to the Commissioner's Court were in agreeance that it should be established.
However, despite the research presented, the commissioners court has still not given veterans the answers they're looking for, and ended up delaying a decision on the matter.
Masterson described the group's frustration, saying “They didn’t even vote to have a follow up so that’s one of the next steps we’re gonna have to say, 'Hey when are y'all gonna vote on this officially', because we want an official vote. They’ve had the paper work from the advisory committee for well over a week before today so they’ve already had time to look over it. They’ve already had time to consider it. The judges have had time to look over and consider it. I don’t understand what this delay is about.”