Wakulla Volunteer Agnes Furey on Restorative Justice

Forgiving a 'terrible thing'

By TaMaryn Waters
Tallahassee Democrat staff writer

An uneasiness swept over Agnes Furey the first time she met the charming 19-year-old man standing next to her daughter, Patricia Reed.

 It was 1996 when they all three stood in a Wal-Mart parking lot in Sarasota.

Reed, an alcoholic, met Leonard Scovens in drug treatment. Furey, a retired nurse who worked with addicts for 30 years, knew instantly this man was still using crack cocaine.

 "I have known too many crack addicts," she said. What she didn't know was that

Scovens would go on to steal Reed's valuables — a VCR, a television and videos of Bambi, the Lion King and the Wizard of Oz — so he could score crack.

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