Waseca Drug Court honors 118th Graduate

A small gathering of around 20 friends and family members of David Schlaak, 34, were present to mark his graduation and release from Steele-Waseca County Drug Court on Thursday, Oct. 30. Also attending were numerous members of the drug task force and Waseca County Law Enforcement to congratulate and share good wishes. The proceedings were overseen by the Honorable Judge, Carol Hanks.

 

Schlaak was confident and steady-handed standing in the third floor courtroom of the Waseca courthouse in his black hoodie with a white cross on the front. His wife, Jillian, 36, was in the other room, since this was a court proceeding, females had to be separated from the males. Said Schlaak, “There was a lot I had to do, 19 months of sobriety, (18 months minimum), I got my GED, and had to pay a lot of fines to maintain my driver’s license. Avoid any jail time with heavy penalties for any violations when you’re in the program.” A woman appeared walking up the stairs and Schlaak introduced her, “This is Mrs. Raetz, her husband is Gerald Raetz, he does masonry out of Waseca, that’s who I work for.” Mrs. Raetz said, “Gerald is coming, he’s a little behind today but he will be here, even if he’s a few minutes late.” She patted Schlaak on the back and said, “We’re so proud of you.” Schlaak said, “I have five kids, Colton, 16, Nolan, 14, Wyatt, 10, Braxton, 4 and little Brooklyn is 1. We live in Owatonna right now, but we were living in Waseca before that.”  He attended high school in New Richland.

 

Once inside the courtroom, there were five people on the stand, including Schlaak, some of the others had difficulty meeting the requirements of the court to graduate. “But” said Judge Hanks, “It isn’t all bad news.” She went on to say how surprised she was Schlaak had, “Not only gotten married in the program, he and his wife had a child. David will be the one-hundred-eighteenth person to graduate from us; he’s had 470 days of sobriety.” Also present was Waseca commissioner De Malterer, who had this to say, “It’s been a pleasure and celebration to be here and to watch you grow. As a former educator and teacher, I assure you this is a blessing to see.” Gerald Raetz was a few minutes late, but he was allowed to add, “I promised to never hire him again, then I did, and I’m glad I did.”

 

Judge Hanks also had a plaque which stated Schlaak’s accomplishments and put dates on them. There was also a letter from Senator Amy Klobuchar, Judge Hanks asked, “Do you want me to open and read it to everyone, or do you want to take it home and open it in private?” Schlaak opted to take it home. He also had a two-page written statement to read to the room, filled with things he had learned and hoped to pass on, a few notable quotes, “Addiction doesn’t care about promises. I was enslaved in something I couldn’t control; my life was chaos. What changed everything was the day of the raid, when I saw the look on my 2-year-old son’s face while I was being arrested and I knew I couldn’t be there for him. My life fell apart because of my own choices. But that day of the raid ended up being the best day of my life, because it changed it for the better, I just didn’t know it then.”