Week in Review : MAJOR EVENTS, IMAGES AND PEOPLE IN ORANGE COUNTY NEWS : MISCELLANY / NEWSMAKERS AND MILESTONES

The shoe seemed to be on the other foot Friday, as Deanna Young advised family members to talk before acting in times of family crises.

The 13-year-old Tustin girl who turned in her parents for alleged drug use spoke after Orange County Municipal Judge C. Robert Jameson permitted Bobby and Judith Young to enroll in a drug diversion program rather than face formal charges. The couple is scheduled to appear in court May 8, when the judge will review their progress.

“I’m glad they don’t get a hard sentence--jail time,” said Deanna, who had stayed home from school Thursday with tonsillitis.

The girl advised other children who find themselves in a similar situation to “talk to their parents and try to solve it with them first.”

Deanna said she didn’t expect her parents to be arrested when she carried a bag containing about an ounce of cocaine and a smaller amount of marijuana into the Tustin police station Aug. 13 and told officers it belonged to her parents.

“I thought the drugs would be taken away and that would be it,” said Deanna, seated next to her mother and father. “I didn’t want them to go to jail.”