State: Governor's daughter allowed to attend ceremony

The 25-year-old daughter of Gov. Jeb Bush traveled to the state capital from an Orlando drug treatment center where she is in a court-supervised program she entered after being arrested trying to obtain the antianxiety drug Xanax with a phony prescription last year.

Tuesday morning, Ms. Bush stood between her two brothers and just down the row from her famous grandparents, former President George Bush and his wife, Barbara.

"I'm really excited about it," the governor said as he awaited her arrival after a prayer breakfast that began his inaugural day. "She gets to be here for a few hours."

Ms. Bush was living at a Tallahassee apartment when she was arrested. She lived sporadically at the Governor's Mansion before that, and moved back there briefly before entering rehab.

Although the governor has visited her in Orlando, it was his daughter's first out of town trip since she entered rehab. Orlando Circuit Judge Reginald Whitehead, who last week told her she was doing well in the program, approved the trip. She was accompanied by a counselor from the Center for Drug Free Living, where she is living with other women undergoing drug treatment.

Her presence on the inaugural platform brought tears to some eyes.

"It's Noelle, she's here," said Dolores Maddox, a Tallahassee woman who wiped away tears as she conveyed the news to others. Maddox's sister and brother-in-law, Margarita and Adrian Brown of Treasure Island, brought two nuns from St. Johns Catholic Church at St. Pete Beach.

Noelle Bush

Brown said Sister Helen Conway and Sister Elizabeth Moran of the Order of St. Clare have been praying for Noelle and met last year with her mother, Columba, to pray. Brown, who is retired, was a volunteer in the Bush re-election campaign.

They were among hundreds of well wishers who traveled to Tallahassee from across Florida to watch the inaugural ceremonies.

The governor didn't single Noelle out, but concluded his speech by saying his most ambitious goal is to bring families closer together.

"I for one, intend to begin with my own family," Bush said. "Although it is an intensely private -- and at times painful -- matter, you should know I have rededicated myself to being a better father and husband.

"Looking today at the faces of my wife and children, all three of them, I realize that any sense of fulfillment I have from this event is meaningless unless they, too, can find fulfillment in their lives. They have sacrificed greatly for me, and I love them dearly."

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Lucy Morgan

From the Times state desk