Springfield SMART program granting new beginnings

SPRINGFIELD – As the clock struck 3 p.m. at the Springfield Justice Center, community members squeezed in and flooded out of the already packed Emergency Operations Center. 

Judge James Tierney initiated the city’s first graduation ceremony of the Springfield Municipal Adult Recovery and Treatment (SMART) Court.

All photos by Bob Williams / The Chronicle

The graduation ceremony follows a  $900,000 grant awarded by the U.S. Department of Justice to operate an adult treatment court in…