Vancouver man turns his life around, with help from DUI Treatment Court
Mack White said he used to drink and drive every day, but he has been sober for years now, and he has the tools to remain sober thanks to a program offered by Clark County District Court
Paul Valencia
ClarkCountyToday.com
He was miserable, and he turned to his vices.
“I drank and drove every single day,” Mack White recalled. “For sure I drank on my way home from work. Chances are decent that at least two or three days a week, I was drinking on the way to work.
“It wasn’t almost every day. It was every day, like my life depended on it.”
He was stopped and charged with a DUI. Later, he received another DUI charge.
That was his first wake-up call. In fact, he checked himself into therapy. Even stopped drinking for a few months.
A cancer diagnosis sent him spiraling in early 2021. He turned to the bottle … again. And, yes, he got behind the wheel of a car again. He received his third DUI charge in five years.
“Thank God,” he said, noting that he was fortunate he never hurt anyone, physically, from his actions as a drunk driver. More than 40 people have graduated from DUI Treatment Court in Clark County since the fall of 2017. Image courtesy Clark County District Court
Today, Mack White, 32, of Vancouver is a recovering alcoholic. He has not had a drink since 2021, and he is a recent graduate of DUI Treatment Court, run through the Clark County District Court and Judge Abigail Bartlett. (See our story here.)
“It was overwhelming,” White said of graduation day from the program in December of 2023.
White is a full-time employee, a carpenter at Sierra Construction, and he works part time at the Washougal MX Park — a perfect side job for a passionate motocross fan.
He is also one of the many triumphant stories coming out of DUI Treatment Court. Yes, Judge Bartlett says, jail is a necessary tool in the judicial system, but jail will never fix addiction.
DUI Treatment Court is a voluntary, intense rehabilitation program designed for people who want to improve themselves.
For White, it was those three DUI charges and his battle with cancer that got him to wake up to the fact that he needed to change his ways.
“Dancing with the devil, man,” White said. “Battling cancer is a weird thing. When I got told ‘You might not make it,’ I thought about what everybody’s opinion of me would be if I died.”
White missed a nephew’s birthday in order to get drunk. White missed his grandmother’s birthday because he wanted to get drunk. When he did show up to important gatherings, he was late, or perhaps he embarrassed himself with his actions.
He asked himself what impact would he leave on the world.
“When you’re a dirtbag, that’s a hard pill to swallow,” he said.
Before he was offered this new opportunity, he was sitting in a jail cell, with no bail, in the middle of cancer treatment. His lawyer got his court date moved up, and White was able to convince a judge to be let out of jail to continue with his cancer treatment.
“I cried, pled, swore to the judge,” White said.
The judge knew White’s history.
“The whole world is telling you, ‘He’s going to drink.’ I swore to him, if you let me out, I’ll never drink alcohol again. I meant it,” White said.
White was released to continue with his medical treatment. Late that summer, he was cancer free. White called it “bittersweet.” Sure, all signs led to recovery from the cancer, but he was still facing consequences from his drunk driving.
He ended up being sentenced to 420 days of home confinement, with an ankle monitor. White also agreed to enter the DUI Treatment Court.
“Even though you’re around a bunch of people who are all there for bad things, they’re all there for the same common goal of turning it around,” White said.
For almost two years, he stayed on target. He worked full time, getting driven to and from the job site by co-workers. His bosses made sure White made every court date.
“I felt like I was a burden to my team at work,” White said.
But, oh how he appreciated the support.
“It truly takes a village to do this. It’s not easy,” he said.
White did not enter DUI Treatment Court just to appease the legal system, though.
“For lack of better words, I was sick of my own …,” White said.
“I’d already had those really uncomfortable, gut-wrenching conversations in the mirror. At a certain point, you get sick of the stigma. You stop lying. You are an alcoholic.”
He knew he was done with alcohol, but it wasn’t until DUI Treatment Court that he found the tools to really get rid of his demons.
Sober since early 2021, White believes he has made amends to those who he offended through the years. He believes now that he is making a positive impact.
A lifelong friend of his just recently made it two years sober.
“He said it was because he saw me getting better,” White said.
Brief one-liners do help White in his recovery.
“You can’t get drunk if you don’t drink.”
“Don’t count the days. Make the days count.”
Last week, he was in Las Vegas for a motocross event. He overheard a friend talking about the new Mack White.
“There’s nothing on earth that will make him drink,” the friend told another.
That hit Mack White. That was special.
“It’s a weird thing. I run into people who haven’t seen me since those days. They realize I look way healthier,” White said. “It’s really cool when people realize it’s not a temporary change. It’s a permanent change.”
One of the goals of DUI Treatment Court is to reduce recidivism. All participants in the program are multiple-time offenders.
“It’s by chance that DUI is a DUI and not a vehicular homicide,” Judge Bartlett said.
Luck is running out on them, the judge added, so this program is designed for those at high risk of reoffending, and giving them the opportunity to become model citizens again.
White is grateful for the program.
“DUI Court provides a second chance or a third chance to people who are willing to do the work and truly want to better themselves,” White said. “It gets alcoholics and drug addicts out of jail and in rooms of like-minded people who also want to get better.”
Bartlett said all graduates of the program deserve some recognition. The program is not easy.
That is why White was so overwhelmed the day of his graduation.
He changed his own legacy.
“No one was ever a champion who didn’t work for it,” White said.
