LOUISVILLE, KY. (WDRB) —  Time is running out for a local drug and alcohol recovery program trying to spread its wings.

The Healing Place needs help to extend its services in Louisville and Southern Indiana.

The Healing Place is what saved Patrick Fogarty in his fight against a powerful drug addiction.

“In the world of addiction I was considered at rock bottom. I needed help,” says Fogarty.

And at the bottom, Fogarty realized he was by himself.

“I completely lost all my family and friends.”

With no family and friends and nowhere else to turn, Fogarty ended up in a 12-step recovery program at the Healing Place. Now he helps others do the same as a recovery specialist.

“The demands for our services have increased so much over the last year in a half,” says The Healing Place’s Jay Davidson.

With so much demand, The Healing Place is in the process of expanding its men’s shelter and paying off the women’s facility. But there’s a problem.

“We need to get pledges in the amount of $1.2 million dollars to get the Kresge $800,000,” says Davidson

The Healing Place has raised $17 million dollars in the last few years, but the goal is $19million, which will lead to grant money to help finish the job.

Davidson adds, “So we have $2 million yet to raise to finish off the women’s facility.”

When The Healing Place gets all of the money, the goal is to expand across the river into southern Indiana.

“We’ve met with all of the three city mayors for each of those communities, and they’ve come to us and said we have a tremendous need,” says Davidson

Fogarty says, “I’d be dead right now if it wasn’t for The Healing Place.”

Fogarty says the healing place saved his life, and he believes the expansion will help it do the same for others.

“We have a waiting list here, and it’s just hard to imagine that there are people out there just dying to get in here. Literally.”

By John Edwards

Last updated at 10:32 PM on 6th October 2011

Andy Morrison was a cult hero, a ferocious competitor whose will to win endeared him to team-mates and supporters.

The burly centre back was proud of the example he set on the pitch. The one he set off it caused him nothing but shame and suffering.

Just over a decade ago, in the days before Manchester City’s billions, he was the club’s most charismatic figure. But the team’s skipper and main inspiration also fought a battle against alcoholism.

He was repeatedly caught up in bar brawls, faced the threat of an eight-year jail term over a malicious wounding charge, frequently heard voices in his head and was so tortured by alcohol he wanted to kill himself.

His autobiography, a forthright and compelling account of the ‘demons’ that drove him to ‘barbaric’ acts of violence, opens with a graphic description of when he was at his lowest.

He recounted the episode for Sportsmail by saying: ‘I asked Joe Royle (his manager) if I could go up to Scotland for a few days, after picking up a suspension for a red card against Wimbledon. I was heading for Kinlochbervie, in the far North West, but stopped off in Inverness, to break the journey and have a few quiet drinks.

‘I should have known better. I woke up the following morning in a prison cell, looked at the four walls and thought, “What have I done this time”. I had no idea, until the custody sergeant started reading the charge sheet. Each offence — there were six in all — jogged my memory and as the haze began to clear, a picture started forming. I’d been in an Irish bar, got into a scrap and been escorted off the premises. One of the doormen had whacked me on the back of the head as they turfed me out and that had done it.

‘I ran back and launched myself through a plate glass door, smashing glass in all directions and cutting my arms and stomach. I didn’t feel a thing. I never did in those situations. I just grabbed the doorman, dragged him into the car park and gave him a pasting.

‘It was carnage, it really was. Eventually I blacked out due to the amount I’d put away. That was it until the following morning. Fortunately, the bar manager had seen the doorman’s initial punch. I paid for the damage and he made sure all charges were dropped.

‘Not that it made any difference. I just carried on with what turned into a four-day bender. On the Sunday, I drank right through to closing time, in a pub in Kinlochbervie, then went up to the bar and ordered a carry-out of eight cans of lager and a half-bottle of vodka.

‘The girl looked concerned and asked if I was sure. It’s an indication of my mindset that I thought she meant would that be enough to see me through the night, so I increased it to 12 cans. I sat in the car and drank the lot, right through to sunrise.

‘That’s when I was at my lowest. Alcoholism was taking over my life. It was making me miserable and it even spoke to me. Whenever I felt sorry for myself, a voice would say: “Stop being such a soft ****”. Then I heard another voice, reminding me my uncle nearby kept a gun and that I knew exactly where he stored it.

‘That voice was so powerful in my head. It was telling me, “Just end it now. Blow it all away. That’s all you’re good for”. I had to face Joe over all the trouble I’d got myself into, I had caused absolute chaos and my head was up my a*** again. Just do it, and you won’t have to face any of it. Easy.

‘But a million other thoughts were going through my mind, not least my family. I couldn’t let them down, though I still had a decision to make. It was no good saying I wouldn’t do it again, because I would. I had to say I wouldn’t drink again.

‘I actually got down on my hands and knees and asked for help. I wasn’t exactly sure who I was talking to, but I looked up and said, “Please, please help me. I can’t take any more of this pain”. I am prepared to believe I was addressing something or someone far greater than any of us, because I soon found the strength to do it.

‘I attended 90 Alcoholics Anonymous meetings in the following 90 days and I still go. It’s one day at a time, but I haven’t touched a drop for 13 years. That’s how it has to stay. Most people might think, on a nice day like today, let’s go and have a pint. I can’t. For me, one pint is too many and 100’s not enough.’

Morrison can trace the cause of his alcoholic rages back to an incident in a Plymouth park, when he was dragged into toilets by two men late at night and physically abused.

‘I had no idea that event might have created a monster inside me,’ he said. ‘I just thought I was a nasty, evil b****** who lost it when he had a drink. I did lose it, completely, but it was pointed out to me by therapists that I had tried to hide that awful experience. I’d locked it away. They said we all have a conscious level, a subconscious one and another that’s even deeper. That’s where I had stored it, and it only came to the surface when I was drunk. It was almost as if I was trying to take it out on those two individuals responsible.

‘It made sense, because I was like a wild animal when I’d had a drink and it all kicked off. More than one person on the receiving end has said that. If I was fighting you now, and someone started banging me on the back of the head with a chair, I wouldn’t feel it. I wouldn’t feel a thing. I somehow felt twice my size and three times as strong. It really was like the Incredible Hulk when his buttons start flying.

‘At times, it was just downright vicious, grotesque and barbaric. In fact, I look back and wonder how I didn’t kill someone. Certainly, I would have gouged someone’s eye out without a second thought. The way I was when the rage took me, if I’d got my hands round someone’s windpipe, I’d have ripped it out. It was never exactly Queensberry Rules.

‘It was also insane, because I never gave the repercussions a thought. When I was at Blackpool, under Sam Allardyce, I returned to one of my haunts in Plymouth. Three guys started prodding me and provoking me and finally I exploded. Ninety seconds later, one had a smashed jaw, one a broken nose and the other was missing an eyebrow.

‘I was arrested and charged with malicious wounding, which is only one down from attempted murder. I pleaded not guilty, seeing as they had goaded me and led me on and the verdict went my way. So what did I do? I went out on the lash to celebrate and ended up decking someone in a kebab shop in the early hours.

‘Fortunately, the lad on the receiving end did not press charges, but how idiotic was that? I could just imagine ringing Sam the following morning, after he had appeared as a character witness for me. He’d have called me insane and he’d have been 100 per cent right.’

 

 

WALLA WALLA, Wash. — Walla Walla now has a place for teens who are battling drug and alcohol addiction, The Trilogy Recovery House thanks to the Walla Walla Community.

Trilogy Recovery Community is a grassroots, non-profit collaboration of parents, youth, concerned citizens, and community leaders dedicated to helping young people stay clean and sober.

The CEO of Providence St. Mary Medical Center helped with Wednesday’s ribbon cutting ceremony.  The hospital bought this house and presented it to the Trilogy Recovery Community.  The house will act as a safe haven for kids who want to stay clean.

“When I started at the juvenile justice center I realized these kids don’t have any support. they really want to stay clean and sober but they have no support when they get out or very little support so,” says Kathy Ketcham, the Executive Director of the program.

Trilogy has offers community education programs, family support groups, and recovery support services for youth and families since 2004. Now there is a house on 515 Poplar where they can go for support group meetings and more.

19 Contractors  helped fix up the house, adding up to $25,000 in donations.

 Trilogy is one of the first Recovery Community Organizations to focus specifically on youth and families. It offers the following services : Youth and Family Support Groups Treatment Resources and Referrals Community Education Events Meeting Space Resource Library Recovery Advocacy, Community Education Events.

For more information contact Kathy Ketcham 509-876-4525

[ [ [[‘amanda knox’, 15]], ‘http://news.yahoo.com/photos/amanda-knox-1309358621-slideshow/’, ‘Click image to see more photos’, ‘http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/r3TksBVwTFWkrYaROarvCw–/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9aW5zZXQ7aD00NzE7cT04NTt3PTYzMA–/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ap_webfeeds/84dea2d038558516fa0e6a706700ff32.jpg’, ‘630’, ‘ ‘, ‘AP’, ], [ [[‘Conrad Murray’, 15]], ‘http://news.yahoo.com/photos/dr-conrad-murray-on-trial-in-jackson-death-1317135792-slideshow/’, ‘Click image to see more photos’, ‘http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/OcnZ1oL8b35HJTX7lYEc_g–/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9aW5zZXQ7aD00MDI7cT04NTt3PTYzMA–/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ap_webfeeds/fa85fed941f16915f90e6a706700f31e.jpg’, ‘630’, ”, ‘AP’, ], [ [[‘ralph steinman’, 12]], ‘http://news.yahoo.com/photos/nobel-prize-winner-ralph-steinman-dies-1317648781-slideshow/’, ‘Click image to see more photos’, ‘http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/6SIHluTeqosOBRTu37LgdQ–/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9aW5zZXQ7aD00ODk7cT04NTt3PTYzMA–/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ap_webfeeds/d0147b7437cf8316fa0e6a706700c233.jpg’, ‘630’, ”, ‘AP’, ], [ [[‘diana nyad’, 13]], ‘http://news.yahoo.com/photos/u-s-swimmer-nyad-begins-swim-across-florida-1312776343-slideshow/’, ‘Click image to see more photos’, ‘http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/prkREWxb4pKoOEJPbofPGA–/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9aW5zZXQ7aD0zODQ7cT04NTt3PTYzMA–/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ap_webfeeds/b662d816a5dfd315f90e6a70670000e6.jpg’, ‘630’, ”, ‘AP’, ], [ [[‘Joshua Komisarjevsky’, 10]], ‘/photos/connecticut-home-invasion-trial-1316719606-slideshow/’, ‘Click image to see more photos’, ‘http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/A1N8mGB5Dh811ytFRPmjhA–/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9aW5zZXQ7aD00NTk7cT04NTt3PTYzMA–/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ap_webfeeds/ec21b03eeea50514f90e6a70670007ca.jpg’, ‘630’, ”, ‘AP’, ], [ [[‘CASCO Signal’, 13], [‘Yu Yuan station’, 13]], ‘http://news.yahoo.com/photos/shanghai-subway-trains-crash-1317124688-slideshow/’, ‘Click image to see more photos’, ‘http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/hPUVHzepCJiFHzudiNhNVw–/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9aW5zZXQ7aD00NTk7cT04NTt3PTYzMA–/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/afp.com/TRHkg5396284.jpg’, ‘630’, ”, ‘AFP’, ], [ [[‘It is difficult to assess how many birds are affected’, 7]], ‘http://news.yahoo.com/photos/sweden-hit-by-substantial-oil-spill-1316444749-slideshow/’, ‘Click image to see more photos of the oil spill’, ‘http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/Ii9HcyoayObiPRmw7Ik4PQ–/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9aW5zZXQ7aD00MjA7cT04NTt3PTYzMA–/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/Reuters/2011-09-18T165741Z_01_STO04_RTRIDSP_3_SWEDEN.jpg’, ‘460’, ‘341’, ‘Reuters/Erik Abel/Scanpix Sweden’, ], [ [[‘Andy Rooney’, 9]], ‘http://news.yahoo.com/photos/andy-rooney-leaving-60-minutes–1317174717-slideshow/’, ‘Click image to see more photos’, ‘http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/pMvL4lFxAn54rFTcZ0xwcA–/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9aW5zZXQ7aD00MjA7cT04NTt3PTYzMA–/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ap_webfeeds/b4cf0a91be6cfd15f90e6a706700f8ed.jpg’, ‘630’, ”, ‘AP’, ], [ [[‘villages where people are trapped under collapsed houses’, 8]], ‘http://news.yahoo.com/photos/6-9-quake-strikes-india-nepal-1316432147-slideshow/’, ‘Click image to see more photos of the quake aftermath’, ‘http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/ArZHT7_ugJNvdNZr7rXg7A–/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9aW5zZXQ7aD0zNDA7cT04NTt3PTUxMg–/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/AFP/photo_1316422839782-8-0.jpg’, ‘512’, ‘340’, ‘AFP’, ], [ [[‘The absence of Borders is going to be felt across the industry’, 6]], ‘http://news.yahoo.com/photos/last-borders-bookstores-close-1316449248-slideshow/’, ‘Click image to see more photos of the closing of the last Borders’, ‘http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/B__uksKyx_HwEP3gUum2qA–/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9aW5zZXQ7aD00MzM7cT04NTt3PTYzMA–/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ap_webfeeds/aed64c8a04652215f90e6a706700965e.jpg’, ‘460’, ‘313’, ‘AP/Amy Sancetta’, ], [ [[‘Anders Behring Breivik’, 8]], ‘http://news.yahoo.com/photos/norway-attacker-anders-behring-breivik-1311602377-slideshow/’, ‘Click image to see more photos of the confessed mass killer’, ‘http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/_E5OB1E6rdgShUt41KVZaw–/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9aW5zZXQ7aD00ODk7cT04NTt3PTYzMA–/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/Reuters/2011-07-25T141034Z_01_SIN725_RTRIDSP_3_NORWAY.jpg’, ‘460’, ‘357’, ‘Reuters/Jon-Are Berg-Jacobsen/Aftenposten via Scanpix’, ], [ [[‘like there is no way out’, 9]], ‘http://news.yahoo.com/photos/the-faces-of-poverty-real-lives-real-pain-1316453315-slideshow/’, ‘Click image to see more photos’, ‘http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/OlSRGp1pKLgvYSpy6XCRkw–/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9aW5zZXQ7aD0zOTM7cT04NTt3PTYzMA–/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ap_webfeeds/45d7db4304d12415f90e6a706700ca26.jpg’, ‘460’, ‘ ‘, ‘AP/Robert F. Bukaty’, ], [ [[‘including snipers picking off protesters from rooftops’, 5], [‘Violence has flared anew in Yemen in frustration’, 6]], ‘http://news.yahoo.com/photos/yemen-slideshow/’, ‘Click image to see more photos of unrest in Yemen’, ‘http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/UUZ_CmgwS6mLf75U4D9flA–/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9aW5zZXQ7aD00MjA7cT04NTt3PTYzMA–/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ap_webfeeds/ea314f80041a2115f90e6a706700681f.jpg’, ‘460’, ‘ ‘, ‘AP/Hani Mohammed’, ], [ [[‘Dolores Hope’, 7]], ‘http://news.yahoo.com/photos/dolores-hope-dies-at-age-102-1316466341-slideshow/’, ‘Click image to see more photos of Dolores’, ‘http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/PVmQlI81830Gw1RqCrESFA–/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9aW5zZXQ7aD02MzA7cT04NTt3PTUxNg–/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ap_webfeeds/4ca0b51519923d15f90e6a70670063b1.jpg’, ‘460’, ‘ ‘, ‘AP’, ] ]

Los Angeles

October 5, 2011

By Ryan Torok

During the conclusion of the annual High Holy Days Seminar, sponsored by the Board of Rabbis of Southern California, Rabbi Irving “Yitz” Greenberg discussed “Covenant as a Method of Perfecting the World.”

Greenberg, a Modern Orthodox rabbi with cross-denominational appeal who is also founding president of CLAL — The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership, outlined 12 steps for keeping the covenant, including finding someone to love, committing to that person and devoting yourself to your community.

“Only one thing is stronger than love — it’s committed love,” Greenberg said.

Held at Stephen S. Wise Temple on Aug. 16, Greenberg addressed a group of approximately 165, including rabbis and rabbinical students, during his keynote address.

Greenberg compared the religious and secular worlds’ competing views of how to achieve a perfect world. Some religions argue that it’s God’s will if the world will be perfect or not; secular movements place all the responsibility in the hands of humans, and Judaism emphasizes humans’ work with God in improving the world, Greenberg said.

The all-day Board of Rabbis seminar featured study sessions led by Rabbis Sharon Brous, Noah Farkas, Zoë Klein and Shmuly Yanklowitz. The Rev. Cecil Murray, former head of L.A.’s First African Methodist Episcopal Church, lectured. And Hollywood screenwriters worked with local rabbis on writing their High Holy Days sermons.

“We bring rabbis across the denominational spectrum,” said Rabbi Mark Diamond, the Board of Rabbis’ executive vice president, explaining that the annual seminar is the organization’s largest program.

After Greenberg’s lecture, Hollywood screenwriter Alex Litvak (“The Three Musketeers”) politely but eagerly approached the rabbi to ask for his autograph.

Greenberg, of course, obliged.

A version of this article appeared in print.

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An interview with the author of the Jack Taylor series, whose latest book comes out this week

Dr. Ken Bruen—he is surely the first master of crime fiction to have a doctorate in metaphysics—was born in Galway in 1951 and educated at Gormanston College and Trinity College, Dublin (where he earned his PhD). Since then he has traveled the world, holding jobs from English teacher in South America (where he did time in a Brazilian jail) to a security guard at the World Trade Center. His first novel, Shades of Grace, was published in 1993; he has subsequently written nearly 30 novels with titles like Rilke on Black (1996), The McDead (2000), and Dispatching Baudelaire (2004). Bruen’s books are known for their dark, brutal humor laced with a crisp dialogue far more akin to the works of classic American crime writers than those of the more genteel Irish tradition.

He is best known, though, for the nine novels featuring Jack Taylor, a hard-drinking former policeman scraping out a living as a private eye in Galway. Already a favorite in Ireland and the U.K., Bruen is threatening to become a mass cult figure in the U.S. as well as a critical favorite. “Bruen,” wrote Patrick Anderson in the Washington Post of the first Jack Taylor novel, The Guards, “is original, grimly hilarious, and gloriously Irish. I await the further adventures of the incorrigible Jack Taylor.”

The latest Taylor novel, Headstone, is out today from Mysterious Press/Grove Atlantic. Bruen answered these questions from his home in Galway.

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I’m seeing you called “the Pope of Galway” and “the Godfather of Irish crime fiction.” Who pinned these on you?

I have no idea, but what it does is make me feel old, very. But you know, I’m also being called “Bukowski on crystal meth,” the Prince of Darkness, and my favorite, an “intellectual guttersnipe”—a sideswipe at my PhD in metaphysics.

Your detective, Jack Taylor, must be the best-read detective in the history of fiction. I think yours are the first crime novels I’ve ever read that quote Yeats, Nietzsche, and Ruskin—among numerous others. But is it true that there were no books in your house when you were growing up and your father said he didn’t want you to be a writer?

The only book in our home was the Bible. My parents forbade books. They thought I needed help because I wanted to be a writer! My father believed a real man didn’t read, and my parents hoped I’d get some sense and find a job in insurance.

Much of what Jack reads is crime fiction. What crime fiction did you read when you were young? Were there any specific influences?

I got the gift of a library card when I was ten and found a discarded box in the library. They let me keep it and, oh, phew, what a treasure! All the Black Mask editions, Gold Medal books, all the pulps. So my influences then and now are American. They formed me as a writer and still do. Heresy in Ireland—where I’m supposed to worship Joyce, Beckett, and the other suspects.

When you say American pulp writers do you mean Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, James M. Cain?

Yes, James M. Cain is my favorite, with David Goodis riding point.

Who are the modern crime writers that you most admire?

James Sallis, Daniel Woodrell, Tom Piccirilli, C.J. Box.

May I ask if you have read the works of a Dublin crime writer named Benjamin Black and what you thought of them?

A.k.a. John Banville, the Booker Prize winner. Great to see the literary icons turning to mystery.

I think readers who have a sentimental view of Ireland are a bit shocked to find out how corrupt the clergy in your novels are. Are you exaggerating there?

When I began The Guards, around 2000, the clergy were still bullet-proof, but as I wrote The Magdalen Martyrs (2003), scandals were becoming known. More and more horrors emerged. I know personally many who suffered from them. Even now—even now!—they still cover up, lie, obstruct, and their arrogance is truly appalling. I know some great priests, and they suffer due to the sheer grandiosity of the leaders of the church. (But) the scum of the earth, the child molesters, still remain largely unpunished and unnamed. There are people who refuse to believe the horrendous truth, and when Priest (2006) came out, a women spat on me in the main street.

One can’t go far in any of the Jack Taylor novels without it being obvious that Jack is a hopeless alcoholic. Does alcoholism run in your family?

Alcoholism doesn’t run in my family, it bloody gallops, and my beloved brother, brilliant in every way, was found dead, a derelict in the Australian outback. Jack was formed from thus. I wanted to shatter the myth that Irish boys, like Italians, always love their mommas, and so Jack says, “My mother is a walking bitch.”

Most Irish literature shows booze as a jolly caper. I wanted to show the truth: no one can ever say Jack has a good time drinking.

Even for a fictional private eye, Jack has a pretty rough life. He gets jumped by thugs, beaten by the cops, loses fingers, has teeth knocked out, his wife leaves him, another woman he loves walks out on him. He battles addictions with drugs and alcohol. Are you ever going to give him a break and let him live a peaceful—or at least a safer—life?

My own life has had so many twists that I keep thinking I’ll have one blessing that is not in disguise. With Jack, I wanted to see how much grief one person could endure without breaking. In the new book, Headstone, Jack is happy … but at least a quarter of the book.

I confess that before I read your books all I knew about Galway was from hearing my mother play Bing Crosby’s version of Galway Bay: “You can sit and watch the moon rise over Claddagh, And see the sun go down on Galway Bay …”

In your books, Galway isn’t quite so serene, what with devil worship, neo-Nazis, even psychos who murder swans. Has the tourist board expressed any dissatisfaction in how you make the town appear to outsiders?

The local people are all delighted, as they are all in the movies. The tourist board have put a bounty on me head, but they like the biz from tourists. By the way, the photography in the Jack Taylor movies is by John Conroy, who worked as the focus-puller [first assistant cameraman] in The Bourne Ultimatum. He makes Galway look beautiful and unique.

We haven’t seen the Jack Taylor movies on this side of the Atlantic. How many of them have been filmed?

Five so far have been shown on TV in the UK and Ireland.

Those of us who have become hooked on your books have cast everyone from Russell Crowe to Colin Farrell to play Jack, but I understand the Scottish actor Iain Glen is terrific.

He is superb as Jack. He’s also been in Game of Thrones and a PBS series, Downton Abbey.

I understand you also have something of a career as an actor. What have you played?

To date I’ve played a psycho sheriff in Alabama—that film was a rush job and Alabama was transferred to Galway. I’ve also played a shrink, a college professor, and a dead husband, twice. I was a priest in Blitz [from a different crime series novel published in 2002; the film starring Jason Statham is available on DVD]. Ah, the clergy will crucify me.

DANVILLE, Ky. – As a self-described alcoholic bully who likes to fight, Jared Thomas knows one when he sees one.

And Thomas saw one when William Northington entered the Substance Abuse Program at the Boyle County Detention Center.

“He’s big and aggressive. He’s got scars on his face. I knew the other guys would be listening to him,” explained Thomas, director of the SAP. “I knew if we couldn’t get him on our side, we’d have to take the power away from him.”

Northington turned out to be a team player of the first order. He came into the program April 6, his fourth stab at rehab during a life spent in and out of prison on alcohol- and drug-fueled charges, including assault on a police officer. After taking on leadership roles within the Boyle jail, he’s leaving this week a free man, his parole earned by completing the SAP.

A construction worker all of his life, Northington, 45, now plans to go to college. He wants to be a substance abuse counselor.

“I grew more as a person these last six months than I have in the past 20 years,” Northington said.

Thomas himself is not far removed from Worthington’s shoes. Sober just 3 1/2 years, Thomas, 43, finally got serious about his own rehabilitation after he squandered a life of privilege as a football star and came out on the other side a man motivated to help steer other men out of the ditch and back on the right road.

“I’ve been drinking my whole life. I was always the wildest kid,” Thomas said. “In high school, I probably drank three or four times a week. By the time I got to college, I was pretty much out of control. I was a bully, drinking and fighting all the time. Nobody would arrest me because I was a ballplayer. They just took me home or told me to leave. There were no consequences for my behavior.”

A West Virginia native, Thomas went to Marshall University, where he played free safety on the football team for three years before finishing out his college career at Morehead State.

“I was known as a ‘hitter’ and I did alcohol like I played the game — wide open,” he said.

Thomas said he was good enough that his former coach, Rex Ryan — now head coach of the NFL’s New York Jets — invited him to try out for the Arizona Cardinals. That was about the time his father died of alcoholism in 1992, and Thomas said his father’s death took him further down the path of addiction.

“I tried cocaine for the first time then, and I was instantly addicted. I went from sniffing coke to smoking crack just like that. It happened so fast.”

All of that “drinking and drugging” put an end to any hope Thomas had of making an NFL roster. “Instead of 6′ 2,” 220, I came in at 6′ 2,” 185,” he said.

Thus began a downward spiral that cost Thomas jobs, homes, cars, a marriage, time with his son and all of his friends. It led to four felony drug convictions, the last of which came in Lexington. Prepared to spend a year in prison, Thomas was granted a reprieve by Fayette Circuit Judge Sheila Isaac, who sentenced him instead to rehab. It was his fourth try at recovery.

“She got me into rehab at a time when I couldn’t talk my way out of it anymore,” Thomas said.

After completing the rehab regimen in Ash Camp in eastern Kentucky, Thomas stayed sober for a year before returning there as a counselor and became director at the Boyle County Detention Center about seven months ago. He works for West Care, which operates rehab centers across the country, including the one at Ash Camp.

Jailer Barry Harmon said the Boyle jail began operating an SAP in March.

“We tried hiring our own individuals (to run the program), and that didn’t work out too well,” Harmon said.

West Care came in August last year and struggled until Thomas was brought in with a new staff, Harmon said. Now, the program is hitting its stride. It scored well on a Department of Corrections audit conducted in September and is awaiting certification, which will make it only the second accredited SAP in a county jail in the state, Harmon said.

Such standing will help the detention center maintain a steady flow of state inmates into the future as beds in treatment facilities are in short supply. The county receives $31.75 per state inmate per day, which goes toward covering the operating expenses at the jail. The state pays an additional $9 per inmate per day for SAP inmates, money that goes to West Care for its services.

The 40-bed SAP at the Boyle jail takes up an entire wing, with two dorms holding 20 inmates each, a meeting room and an office for Thomas, counselor Laura Shwarz and manager Jordan Robbins, who graduated from Ash Camp with Thomas as his counselor.

It is set up as a therapeutic community which adheres to the 12 steps of recovery and establishes a hierarchy of leadership roles within each dorm which are assigned by Thomas and the staff to individual inmates. There are seven cardinal rules, including no cussing, no violent behavior and no acting out sexually, that if violated lead to automatic dismissal from the program.

Thomas said

it’s important to remove the “jailhouse mentality” from participants to teach them accountability and respect for themselves and others rather than lying, bragging and generally acting in a self-serving manner. Oftentimes, that involves moving inmates out of their comfort zones.

“If they’re talking all the time, we make them shut up. If they’re shy and don’t participate, we make them get involved,” Thomas explained.

Inmates are called upon to police each other’s behavior and solve disagreements among themselves. As they earn their way up the ranks within their community, they teach classroom lessons or preside over group meetings.

“They’ve got their own government. They take responsibility for everything. They punish each other. They’re responsible for the bulk of their own treatment,” Thomas said.

All addicts, himself included, look at themselves as repeated failures and lose all hope, Thomas said. Earning respect from the staff and fellow participants and working up to leadership roles within the community help to repair that damage and are essential parts of recovery, he said.

“They’ve got to experience some successes in the six months they are here, they’ve got to have some achievements, “he said.

Northington, the inmate who is graduating this week, worked his way up to community coordinator, the second highest position in the program. His eyes shine with pride as he shows off the resume and cover letter he’s prepared for his re-entry. But it’s a piece of green paper with “William” written on top that he seems to hold most dear.

Written on it in the various hands of his fellow SAP participants are phrases like “good teacher,” ”a positive influence,” ”open-minded,” ”speaks well” and “dedicated.”

No one would have written those things about him a year ago, he said.

“They would have said ‘aggressive, hard-headed, disrespectful, selfish, self-centered bully,’ Northington said. “I used to be known for the wrong I’d do. Now I’m known for the wrong I won’t do.”

Hatboro-Horsham School District parents, students and community members are invited to join the conversation about how to combat drug and alcohol abuse during a public event being held Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. in the Horsham Township Community Center, 1025 Horsham Road. Light refreshments will be served.

The event is part of the school district’s “Be a Part of the Conversation” initiative, which launched last May and is meant to get families talking about substance abuse.

The Oct. 11 event will feature a presentation by Dr. Ken Thompson, a doctor who has worked in addiction medicine since going through his own recovery process 22 years ago. His program will be followed by facilitated roundtable discussions on specific topics related to drug and alcohol use in the community.

Dr. Thompson has participated in the interventions, assessment, treatment and/or monitoring of more than 18,000 addiction-related patients in his position as medical director for the Caron Foundation, a nonprofit provider of drug and alcohol addiction treatment headquartered in Wernersville, Berks County.

During his presentation, he will provide clarification on how addiction develops and the differences between people who can and cannot stop on their own. He will address risk factors for addiction, the significance of genetics and the environment, and how a rational brain can be hijacked once it is engaged in active addiction.

“The idea is to take what we learn in these discussion groups and use some of that to drive us toward our goal of helping students to make healthier choices,” said John Nodecker, assistant superintendent for secondary education and a task force member for the program. “The more we talk about these issues and address them openly and honestly, the closer we will come to identifying what leads certain people to abuse drugs or alcohol, and what we can do to prevent that abuse.”

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In the past, teenagers dealing with drug or alcohol addiction who had gone through different rehabilitation programs in an attempt to get their lives back together were often returned to the same social environment from which they came.  This was mainly because there was no place else to put them.
However, with the opening of the Southeastern Massachusetts Recovery School, recovering teens and their families will now have another option.
“It’s a great victory for us to be able to put this into place,” said Hanover School Committee member Kevin Bradley. “Now kids have someplace to go other than the streets if they’re facing drug addiction and get expelled from school and are coming out of a treatment program.”
Bradley is on the board of directors for the North River Collaborative (NRC), an educational organization which has partnered with the recovery school.  He said he became a member of the Southeastern Massachusetts Recovery School Task Force when the idea for the school was first getting underway because he feels drug use among teenagers is “an epidemic.”
“And I don’t want to see people die,” he said. 
Bradley said the school is trying to “help kids before they get in too deep.”
“The school is not about pointing fingers at students. It’s about pointing these kids in the right direction,” he said.
The school will be located in Brockton but will serve students in all of southeastern Massachusetts from Quincy to the Cape and Islands.  Classes are scheduled to begin in early December with a projected enrollment of about 50 students.
Joanne Haley Sullivan, executive director of the collaborative, said that about two years ago the Brockton Public Schools approached with the idea of an urban/suburban partnership to explore the development of a recovery high school.
“It was discussed with the superintendents of our districts who were in support of the program and formed a task force who worked together for this common cause,” she said.
Bill Carpenter, a Brockton resident and a recovery school task force member, described the school as “a small alternative high school.”
“The school will offer small class sizes, a more flexible curriculum and various supports in place, including a licensed social worker and a licensed substance abuse counselor on staff,” he said.  “Our mission is to get kids back into school, keep them in school, and get them on a career path.”
Carpenter, who also sits on the Brockton School Committee, said the recovery school is specific to targeting students who are facing substance abuse or drug/alcohol addiction and who have successfully gone through some sort of treatment program.
“We’re not expecting them to be perfect,” he said.  “But they will need to have some sobriety and show that they are trying to get their lives back together. One of the requirements we have is that, when they come to the school, students have to have their own individual treatment plan to stay sober and drug-free.  Something the school agrees to.”
Students attending the school would come from a number of different sources, Carpenter said.
“Some will come directly out of a residential treatment program,” he explained.  “We also hope to get referrals from high schools in the area, or law enforcement, or a family might just show up with their kid, having no place else to go, and say ‘help.’  There are many many families out there that are desperate for their children but don’t know what to do or where to go.”
According to Carpenter, the recovery school is only the fourth such school in the state – the others are in Boston, Springfield and Beverly – and the only one geared towards teens on the South Shore.
“We certainly have substance abuse in our cities and towns here,” he said. 
“Addiction doesn’t discriminate,” Bradley said.  “It doesn’t matter if you live in a town like Hanover or in a city like Brockton.  It doesn’t matter what sort of family you come from or what your past is like or what race or religion you are.  Drug addiction can affect anyone.”
He said it is unfortunate that many people, even in this day and age, continue to look the other way rather than admit a family member or loved one may have a substance abuse problem.
“A lot of parents, especially, are in denial,” he said.  “They think, ‘Not my kid.’  But it is their kids.  In a town like Hanover people are quick to say drug addiction is not real problem and I’m saying, yes, it is a real problem.”
Bradley said drugs like heroin and crack are commonly used among area teens, as are prescription medications such as oxycodone.
“Heroin is very easy to get,” he said. 
If a student should relapse, Carpenter said the school “has all sorts of things in place to get them back into treatment.”
“A traditional school would kick them out on the street,” he said.  “That’s really all they can do.  Traditional schools are not equipped or prepared to handle these sorts of students.”
As a preventative measure, Carpenter said there would be random drug testing of all students.
“It’s another tool we’ll use to help them to remain drug-free,” he said, adding that kids at the other such schools have said they prefer the random drug testing because they know it will help keep them off drugs.
“It also gives them an out, for them to say they’re randomly drug tested, if they’re put back in a position where they’re being encouraged to get high.”
He said having these kids go back to their regular high schools and be surrounded by the same influences they had to deal with before would only be setting them up for failure to stay clean.
Having had to deal with his own child’s drug addiction opened Carpenter’s eyes, he said, to the need for a safe, sober place where teenagers with drug or alcohol problems could continue their education among other students who are going through the same process and facing the same challenges.
“At the recovery school there will be additional things to help keep sober,” he said.  “We’re trying to keep the kids engaged as much as we can so we’ll have different after-school programs.”
Small group counseling sessions will be part of the daily school routine.
“We need to recognize that certain kids have this problem and try to help those who want help to beat this early on,” he said. “Getting sober is always a struggle, especially for young people.  At the recovery school teenagers can resume their education at a new school and be surrounded by peers who are trying to do the same thing, unlike going back into their circle of friends who will just drag them back into drug use.” 
He said the recovery school would not cost a family anything to enroll their child.
“It’s treated like a public school,” he said.  “The genesis of where we are today started over a year ago.”
Carpenter said the school has partnered with the Old Colony YMCA, the Plymouth County District Attorney’s office, High Point Treatment Center, and Massasoit Community College.
“All these organizations bring a different expertise to the table,” he said.