A bill signed into law Friday gives juvenile offenders a chance to avoid training schools, said the bill’s author, Rep. George Flaggs of Vicksburg.

&#8220I am highly honored that the Legislature saw fit to pass this, which is based on my 19 years of experience in the juvenile justice system,” said Flaggs, a youth counselor in the Warren County Juvenile Court.

The Juvenile Justice Reform Act of 2006 signed by Gov. Haley Barbour is a continuation of a similar bill in 2005, Flaggs said.

He said both of the measures were in response to a lawsuit filed against the state of Mississippi by the U.S. Justice Department in 2003. The suit followed an 18-month investigation into the Oakley Training School at Raymond and the Columbia Training School at Columbia. The investigation, begun at the request of 2nd District Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., cited numerous civil rights violations at the schools.

Provisions in the law set up programs at the local level to provide juvenile offenders counseling and other help before they enter the Youth Court System.

Flaggs said the local aid groups can be from anywhere, including the faith-based community.

Another requirement, Flaggs said, is that the juvenile have a hearing within 24 hours of being arrested. The purpose is to determine if the youth has an attorney and, if not, to appoint one for him.

Even after the hearing, the youth cannot be held in a secure facility more than 24 hours.

The lawyers who represent more than five youthful offenders in a year’s time must attend continuing education classes dealing in juvenile justice each year. The law also mandates a list of minimum standards for juvenile detention centers, including a policy and procedure manual and a drug-free rule for employees.

Also provided in the law is a study committee to determine who will provide educational services at the center.

One of the side benefits of the law, Flaggs said, &#8220is to help the education system by reducing the rate at which youths drop out of school.”

Many of the provisions of the law are based on what is being done in Warren County. The county built one of the first juvenile detention centers in the state, and Youth Court Judge Johnny Price has instituted many of the provisions, including the one dealing with education opportunities for youths in the detention center and for those who have been released.

&#8220It brings a lot to us,” said Toney, who worked as a Warren County Sheriff’s deputy from 1980 until 1987. &#8220They need to throw the key away, and maybe these other guys that are thinking about doing a burglary will think twice.”

Williams was not charged with two other burglaries in the same shopping complex on Jan. 12 or with the earlier burglary of CDS Home Care, which reported its front window broken and $40 missing on Jan. 25. Williams is accused of taking $240 from CDS on Jan. 31, but none of the other four businesses he was accused of burglarizing reported anything missing.

&#8220When all that was going on, we didn’t have any valuable stuff in the building,” said Toney, who had been planning to add an alarm system when his building was burglarized and has installed one since. &#8220We’ve got everything covered that could be covered.”

Vicksburg Police have sent fingerprints and shoeprints to the Mississippi Crime Lab, said Capt. Mark Culbertson, and are investigating a number of other burglaries that could lead to more charges against Williams.

&#8220There’s no doubt in my mind Darrah Williams did a ton of burglaries,” Moffett said, though he stopped short of assuring future charges.

Nearly half of the seven commercial break-ins in February were reported on North and South Frontage roads on consecutive nights, Feb. 19 and 20, at New Health Chiropractic Center on North Frontage Road and Doc’s Wholesale and Watkins’ Nursery on South Frontage Road. There was one business burglary reported within the city limits in March, at the Relax Inn on Walnut Street on March 19. Octavius Zachery, 28, 109 Freedom Lane, was free on bond after being arrested and charged with that burglary last week. Police reported no business burglaries in April.

A suspect in an armed robbery at Ameristar Shell Station on Washington Street on March 29 also has not been arrested.