Are You Afraid of a Rehab Center by Becahi?

Imagine you're a little child, and that you've decided to go down a big sliding board with your eyes closed. As you come to the bottom, you open your eyes, and standing right in front of you is

... an alcoholic!

What do you see? To most of us, it would be a grimy old man, maybe wearing a tattered raincoat and carrying a brown paper bag, leering at us. It's an unpleasant image.

And that's the image that Attorney Blake Marles, representing Abe Atiyeh, had to contend with during a five hour long hearing before Bethlehem's Zoning Hearing Board over a residential treatment facility for alcohol and drug additions, at Dewberry Avenue, right by Bethlehem Catholic High School.

The place was packed with at least at least 90 people, including City Council members J. Willie Reynolds, Eric Evans and Dave DiGiacinto. But they were in the peanut gallery with the rest of us. Zoners Gus Loupos, Ron Lutes and Bill Fitzpatrick have the unenviable job of deciding whether to grant a special exception for a treatment center to be run by the Malvern Institute, perhaps the most prominent drug rehab center in the state.

There's no question that the location of this facility, which actually is next to a baseball diamond at Becahi, is very unpopular with mothers and students. Hope Cotturo, whose daughter attends Beca, came all the way down from Pen Argyl to make her concerns known. Nearby neighbors are very upset, too.

After all, the place will be full of ... alcoholics. Addicts, too! Someone in a drug-crazed frenzy might attack a cheerleader.

I'm going to have to put off writing about the testimony until later on Thursday because the hour is late, even for me.

I listened to an airline pilot whose wife mentioned she was an attorney about forty times. He was tired, having been up since 4 AM, but nevertheless suggested that "those people" might lurk outside the facilities, just waiting for an opportunity to sell drugs to kids or ravish one of them.

I had almost forgotten, but it suddenly hit me. I am one of "those people." In 1985, when I first quit drinking, I did a 28-day stint at St. Joe's. I am one of those dangerous alcoholics. In fact, the sliding board story at the beginning of this little essay was presented to me when I was there.

We couldn't picture ourselves as alcoholics or addicts because we were pretty much the same as everyone else, at least on the outside. Nobody there was wearing a wrinkled, old raincoat, or carrying a brown paper bag. But every single one of us is an alcoholic.

Alcoholism affects nearly every family, and there are really no local treatment centers for this disease. When people object to it right by a high school, what they are really doing is evoking that sliding board stereotype.

I understand the fear. I realize how a mother, especially, might feel threatened. But I think it's misplaced. Greg Zebrowksi told me that I don't care because I don't live there. I do care, but I am one of "those people" who terrifies everyone. I can't handle booze, but that doesn't mean I'm likely to go streaking across a high school campus or that I'd sell kids drugs.

Before I go into details with a factual narrative, I'll ask you - what do you think? If you were a zoner for a day, how would you rule?

Livin' the Dream

On Friday, I bumped into a Deputy Sheriff in the men's room and asked how he was doing.

"Livin' the dream, Bernie. Livin' the dream."

I think he even meant it.

Last night, I attended my cousin's viewing. I'm sorry to say I had not seen him for years. He was livin' a nightmare, and ended up taking his own life last week.

My cousin Eddie was an alcoholic. He did it all, including sniffing glue as a kid, but his drug of choice was always booze. Just like his Dad. And my Dad. And his brother. And me.

It cost me my license to practice law, but it cost Eddie his education. He started earlier, and it ruined any chance he had of getting any kind of degree.

It cost him a half-decent income. He was smart, and had a gift for taking things apart and putting them back together again. He found work in the HVAC biz, but lost job after job because of booze or because his DUIs prevented him from driving vans. Who's going to take a chance on a 50 year-old guy with multiple DUIs? Those that did take him on took advantage of him.

It cost him meaningful relationships. He never married. To my knowledge, he never even dated much. He was a loner.

Finally, it cost him his life. At his viewing last night, the two pictures his mom selected were of his cat. It was a small crowd.

At one point, the Jehovah's Witnesses did help him. Say what you will about this group, he did stop drinking and drugging for extended periods when he was with them. But the demons were always there.

He was recently arrested and charged with DUI again, and was facing a five-year sentence. He did not want to disappoint his Mom again. So he hung himself on his porch. I think that might be a worse sentence than five years in jail. The world had become too painful for him.

His Mom blames herself for being too judgmental. His brother blames himself for failing to reach out to him. Neither is at fault.

Of course, the real culprit is alcohol. Our family is one of many ravaged by that disease.

If you have a chance to put in a good word for Eddie today, it would be appreciated.

The Drug That Worries DA John Morganelli Most

When I spoke with DA John Morganelli yesterday about the de facto decriminalization of possession of small amounts of marijuana, he told me that another, completely legal, drug bothers him a lot more. Booze. According to the DA, "Our biggest problem is DUI offenses, which makes up over 40% of our court list. We will be meeting with Judges Rosciola and Baratta soon to discuss this issue."

He added that it creates problems at the jail, which simply lacks the capacity to handle convicted Defendants as fast as they can be processed. As a result, they actually have to wait until there's room.