Monthly Archives: March 2012

Narcotics Anonymous Member Arrested For Molesting Child During NA Meeting

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Ray Floyd Johnson Jr, 38 has been arrested for sexually molesting a child during a Georgia Narcotics Anonymous Meeting! This man was a criminal and was on probation for many crimes, which included Family Violence Battery. This is a prime example why children and adolescence should not be attending AA or NA meetings! When are the courts and AA/NA going to stop this barbaric practice of mixing minors and criminal together?

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Alcoholics Anonymous Is Negativity Based Says Addiction Specialist Laura Tompkins

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 Laura Tompkins writes an excellent article spelling out a laundry list of the negative messages sent to members, and how it adversely impacts them. One thing in particular that I was glad to see, as an addiction specialists she strongly discourages the practice of confessing ones sins to another member or sponsor. 

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NCJFCJ Does Not Recommend AA or NA Meetings For Juveniles

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The National Council Of Juvenile and Family Court Judges does not recommend AA or NA meetings for juveniles for a variety of reasons. It is good to see some common sense being used, and to let the Judges know that 12 step programs have proved to not be beneficial for the majority of youths. Most do not fit the criteria for substance use disorder ( SUD).  Feeling safe and being safe is another noted concern. Here are some highlights from the NCJFCJ opinion on the matter of 12 step groups and minors / youths.

Considering sexual predators and violent felons including rapists and murderers are mandated to AA and NA, no wonder their are safety concerns.

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Narcotics Anonymous Members That Killed 80 Year Old Should Not have Been On The Streets

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NA Members Alan Wood and Tonia Watson had been in and out of the judicial system for years. They had several parole violations and should not have been on the loose when they killed 80 year old Nancy Dailey.

They attended Narcotics Anonymous meetings together. But they continued to use drugs, Michigan Department of Corrections records show.

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Neighbors Had Complained To Police Before About George Zimmerman Who Killed Teen Trayvon Martin

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Here is a case where neighbors of George Zimmerman had went to police and complained about his aggressive tactics as Captain of his community watch group. He encouraged others to carry firearms. Yet police did not follow up on those complaints. After the killing of teenager Trayvon Martin, 17 by George Zimmerman, police told the family he had a squeaky clean record. This was not true as he had entered into a differed court program , at this time we do not know if he was mandated to attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings or not. It did involve violence with a police officer over his friend selling alcohol to minors. Time will tell.

Sanford in Seminole County is not far from Holly Hill Florida, where we have a similar situation where Police Chief Barker totally dismisses the complaints from local citizens about aggressive behavior from Daytona Alcoholics Anonymous Meetings and Daytona Narcotics Anonymous members in our Parks. Citizens http://nadaytona.org/rude-awakening/  have been threatened to use a gun against Holly Hill Residents and businesses. Maybe the City of Holly Hill will see the error in their ways, and protect the public that visits our parks. The Sanford Police Chief has stepped down. Good idea!

R.I.P Trayvon Martin

Trayvon

George Zimmerman Neighbors Complained About Aggressive Tactics Before Trayvon Martin Killing

A volunteer community watch captain who shot an unarmed Florida teenager to death last month had been the subject of complaints by neighbors in his gated community for aggressive tactics, a homeowner said.

George Zimmerman has not been charged in the Feb. 26 shooting of Trayvon Martin, 17, who was walking home from a convenience store in Sanford, Fla., near Orlando. Zimmerman, who patrolled the Retreat at Twin Lakes development in his own car, had been called aggressive in earlier complaints to the local police and the homeowner’s association, according to a homeowner who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

At an emergency homeowner’s association meeting on March 1, “one man was escorted out because he openly expressed his frustration because he had previously contacted the Sanford Police Department about Zimmerman approaching him and even coming to his home,” the resident wrote in an email to HuffPost. “It was also made known that there had been several complaints about George Zimmerman and his tactics” in his neighborhood watch captain role.

The meeting was attended by Sanford Police Chief Bill Lee, the detective assigned to the investigation and an unnamed member of the city council, according to the homeowner’s association newsletter. The chief couldn’t immediately be reached for comment about the complaints. A member of the homeowner’s association board, who asked not to be quoted by name, said she “hadn’t heard about any complaints” about Zimmerman. Zimmerman’s phone number is disconnected and efforts to reach him have been unsuccessful.

Talk of prior complaints against Zimmerman comes as pressure mounts on law enforcement. Protesters have gathered outside Sanford police headquarters. The Martin’s family and attorneys have held press conferences calling the killing an outrage and pleading for Zimmerman’s arrest. High school classmates and citizens are granting interviews to reporters asking why no one has been charged. And as the story continues to gain national media attention, civil rights leaders, including members of the NAACP and the Rev. Al Sharpton, said they are preparing to join the family of Martin, who was black. Zimmerman is white.

“This case is disturbing to say the least,” Sharpton told Huffpost. “This is appalling, to think that this guy admitted to initiating the conversation and that there was no crime other than the killing of this young man. Yet, [Zimmerman] is walking around with no threat of an arrest.”

Sharpton said he will travel to Florida this week.

Here is a case where neighbors of Georgr Zimmerman had went to police and complained about his aggressive tactics as Captain. George Zimmerman Arrested 11/18/2013.

Zimmerman called police the evening of the shooting to report Martin as a suspicious person, police have said. A dispatcher told Zimmerman to stand down and an officer was on the way. Zimmerman confronted the youth anyway and Martin was shot in the chest with Zimmerman’s 9 mm pistol, police said. Police questioned Zimmerman, then released him.

According to Martin’s family, police initially told them that Zimmerman said he acted in self-defense and that his record was “squeaky-clean.” Public records show he was arrested in Orange County in 2005 on charges of resisting arrest with violence and battery on a law enforcement officer. Those charges were later dropped.

Benjamin Crump, the Martin family’s attorney, filed a public records lawsuit last week seeking the 911 recordings for the night of the shooting. Crump said people with access to the tapes told him Zimmerman made a comment about Martin’s race during the call and said he had no intention of letting the youth get away because, “they always get away.”

“I don’t think they have any intention on arresting this white man for killing this black boy,” Crump said on Sharpton’s radio show Monday.

Chief Lee said during a Monday afternoon news conference that his department’s investigation should be concluded by Tuesday and delivered to the Seminole County State Attorney’s Office. Lynne Bumpus-Hooper, a spokeswoman for the State Attorney’s Office, said once the case is handed over “it will be thoroughly digested and we will make decisions.”

Protestors jeered Lee during the news conference when he said he does not believe his investigators have enough evidence to charge Zimmerman in the killing, according to local news accounts. Lee said that he believes that “we can get through all the ugly thoughts and all the disagreements and all the ill will and hard feelings and truly come together as a community.”

“It is with that thought that we want to make sure that we due a fair and complete and thorough investigation so that we can reach some form of justice with this event,” Lee said. He added “that there is the right for someone that has a concealed weapons permit to carry that weapon” and that police support the neighborhood watch program.

“In this case Mr. Zimmerman has made the statement of self defense,” Lee said. “Until we can establish probable cause to dispute that, we don’t have the grounds to arrest him.”

One person shouted, “The black community sees your department protecting the shooter,” and “a little black boy is dead.”

HTTP://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/12/george-zimmerman-trayvon-martin_n_1340358.html#s766193

Man Mandated to Alcoholics Anonymous When a Minor- Murders His Grandfather

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When Kenneth Wilkinson, 22 was a minor he was mandated to Alcoholics Anonymous for 60 days. With the court not allowing him to drive until he was 21 also put pressure on the youth. How do you get to 60 AA Meetings when you can’t drive?

For reasons unknown, this man dragged his 84 year old grandfather who had Alzheimer’s, behind his truck for 6 miles to his death. One can’t help but feel that maybe sending a minor to AA meetings was NOT what this boy needed. He did not go to all of the AA meetings. Most minors do not feel comfortable with the message of powerlessness, or the fact that most participants are much older. Yet some courts are sending minors to AA and NA meetings, even though they have no meetings specifically for them.

Willits man charged with murder appears in court
By TIFFANY REVELLE The Daily Journal
Updated: 03/21/2012 02:11:59 PM PDT

Kenneth Wilkinson, 22, was in Mendocino County Superior Court today to be arraigned on a murder charge and a special allegation that he tortured his grandfather, Richard Mel Wilkinson, 84. Reliable sources said Tuesday that the younger Wilkinson allegedly killed his grandfather by dragging him behind a truck for nearly six miles Saturday night while left to care for him for a few hours, possibly in a drug-induced psychosis. “He’s not a violent person,” Kenneth Wilkinson’s mother, Kris Pearce, said outside the courtroom Wednesday while waiting for the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Department to transport her son from county jail for his court appearance. “This is completely out of character for him.” Public Defender Linda Thompson took the case and said she needed a week to prepare for the young man’s arraignment, which was rescheduled for 8:30 a.m. March 29 in courtroom A. He remains at the jail under a no-bail hold in the meantime.

Pearce said her son had never been diagnosed with a mental illness but had struggled emotionally throughout his life, having been picked on at school as the “skinny kid.” As an adult, he had a drug and alcohol problem, but said his drinking wasn’t heavy, according to Pearce.

Kenneth had been in court in 2008 for an allegation that he had possessed alcohol as a minor, and had been put on a deferred judgment plan. The arrangement meant the charge would be dropped on the condition that he attend 60 days of Alcoholics Anonymous meetings

in the year’s length of the plan, but according to the Mendocino County Superior Court, he didn’t comply. Pearce said that sent him into a “vicious cycle,” where he could not get a driver’s license until he was 21, making it hard for him to get a job and take care of his court obligations.

http://www.ukiahdailyjournal.com/ci_20223569/man-accused-killing-grandfather-court

Alcoholics Anonymous Member’s Husband Arrested In Her Murder

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AA member Nicole Pietz, was 8 years sober when she was brtually murdered 5 years ago. Her Husband was arrested for 2nd degree

Nicole Pietz Murder Scene

Husband of Nicole Pietz charged with second-degree murder
By KOMO Staff Published: Mar 21, 2012

SEATTLE — Prosecutors have charged the husband of murder victim Nicole Pietz more than five years after her death. Martin “David” Piez has been charged with second-degree murder. He is being held on $1 million bail.

The 33-year-old Lynnwood woman disappeared in Jan. 28, 2006 after leaving home. A week later, a hiker found her body in Burien, dumped in a field of overgrown blackberry bushes. Two weeks later, her car was discovered at a parking lot in Seattle’s University District.An autopsy revealed Nicole Pietz had been strangled, but her killer was never found.

David Pietz, who was the last person to see his wife alive, had said that when he woke up around 8:20 a.m. on Jan. 28, 2006, his wife had already left. But forensic evidence showed Nicole Pietz likely died around midnight the morning of Jan. 28 — a time when David Pietz claimed his wife was asleep in their bed, investigators said.

David Pietz also failed a polygraph test, and when detectives asked him to retake the test, he refused and hired an attorney. A search of Nicole Pietz’s car turned up DNA evidence belonging to both David Pietz and his wife, “but Nicole’s DNA was in very small quantities, while the defendant’s DNA was in much greater quantities,” investigators wrote.

The couple had financial problems and the marriage was “in some degree of turmoil,” the document said, adding David Pietz had extramarital affairs and tried to get other women to join him and his wife in bed.

Detectives added David Pietz had conducted an Internet search on his computer for swinger’s clubs as well as ways to cheat on one’s spouse. And just weeks after his wife’s death, he began looking for phone numbers of women to date.

The victim’s mother, Gael Schneider, said news of the arrest brought her tremendous relief.

“I can’t even tell you, I’m so elated,” she said. “My stomach was just like it has bees in it. And (I was) thanking God over and over, and over for finally granting this prayer to me.”

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Nicole Pietz’s body was found without the wedding ring she always wore, her mother said. There was nothing under her nails indicating a struggle, and she was wearing the night guard she wore to bed. Schneider added her daughter was headed to an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting.

“I don’t think she’d be wearing a night guard going to her 8-year sobriety meeting,” said Schneider. “She would have been dressed to kill.”

“When I heard about all his affairs and just the way he had been treating her in public…and Nicci was going for her 8-year sobriety coin the next year, but he was always suggesting they go to places where there was alcohol, which made her crazy,” she said.

http://www.komonews.com/news/local/Nicole-Pietz-143687986.html

Teens Are Not Life Long Addicts Researchers Says AA Is Not Effective For Youth

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Confirmation of the belief that there is no need to label our teens as addicts for life with a life long disease. It is refreshing to see more research to continue to confirm this. Alcoholics Anonymous is detrimental to teens and sends them a very negative message of powerlessness.They insist they conform to the pagan religion of Alcoholics Anonymous. It is unhealthy, and also Alcoholics Anonymous, including Narcotics Anonymous is a very dangerous place for teenagers as well.

The Judicial system is mandating violent criminals and sexual offenders in droves to AA/NA/CA, this includes Young Peoples Meetings. ICYPPA is for a younger crowd, but people go there into their 40’s. There are no safety regulations like Alateen has, which is a group for teens that are dealing with family with alcohol problems. Alateen is not designed for teens WITH alcohol problems.

Your 16 Year-Old Is Not An Addict For Life: Research Says
PRWeb – Mon, Mar 19, 2012

Teenage Drinking
Contrary to what most Americans in our society think, a teen who loses their way, possibly getting arrested for drinking under-age, or driving under the influence (DUI) is automatically labeled an alcoholic in need of alcohol rehab or treatment for life. Unlike traditional alcohol rehab programs, the Saint Jude Program begs to differ on labeling teens with a “disease” or “addiction.”

Amsterdam, NY (PRWEB) March 19, 2012
Saint Jude Retreats along with other researchers around the country have found Alcohol Anonymous (AA) to be more ineffective than helpful to young adults who have a substance use problem. AA is an alcohol treatment program that a convicted DUI offender normally must complete to regain their license. The courts use AA attendance to prove that the individual in question is no longer a danger to society or to themselves. However, research has determined that Alcohol Anonymous actually hinders a user’s sobriety after AA meeting attendance is completed and increases their chances of continuing substance use. How? By labeling a person with a false “disease” and or “addiction,” it creates a sense of hopelessness, and in a teenager this is detrimental to their personal growth and self-esteem.
Saint Jude Retreats is diligent about increasing awareness about conventional alcohol treatment centers to a parent whose young teen has fallen into some trouble with alcohol or drug use. In the United States, if a teen is convicted of drunk driving the first step they must undergo is an evaluation to determine their amount of alcohol they have consumed₁. According to state laws, drivers must then go through another evaluation to determine if their alcohol consumption is considered alcohol abuse or alcohol dependence₁. Then young adults are most likely enforced to enroll in an alcohol treatment center such as AA attendance or a long term treatment center.
Conventional drug and alcohol treatment centers focus on a negative-based approach to help someone overcome their substance use such as telling a client they are doomed for life, cannot become a normal part of society, are disease-stricken for their rest of their life and unfortunately much more₂. In stark contrast, for over 20 years, the St. Jude Program has taught teens how to turn their lives around and gain control of their actions and become responsible for the consequences of their choices.
Of course the Saint Jude Retreats does not in any way condone drunk driving, but they also do not label someone an addict or alcohol dependent who made one mistake in their life. Dr. Stanton Peele, an endorser of Saint Jude Retreats asserts that, “Many traditional treatment programs follow through with approaches that are really abusive altogether.” Peele adds, “can anyone really say that a 15 year-old (or 18, or 21, or 24-year-old) is an addict for life? If the young person questions such a designation, what happens next? They are assailed for their false beliefs, they are in denial. And all they are really saying is, ‘I have more belief in, and hope for myself, than what your program permits me to have’.” Co-founder and Chairman of St. Jude Retreats, Mark Scheeren adds, “The St. Jude Retreats have always believed in and supported the fact that the individuals can and do overcome substance use problems for good.”
About Saint Jude Retreats: Saint Jude Retreats (http://www.soberforever.net) is a drug and alcohol social education center headquartered in Amsterdam, New York. It is an effective alternative to alcohol rehab and drug treatment centers. Saint Jude Retreats has been helping people overcome alcohol and substance use through Cognitive Behavioral EducationSM (CBE) since opening its doors in 1992. CBE and the Saint Jude Retreats program are endorsed by alcohol and drug program internationally acclaimed professionals, such as Dr. Stanton Peele, PhD, Prof. Emeritus David Hanson, PhD; Prof. David Rudy, PhD; Dr. Joy Browne and the late Joseph Vacca, PhD, among others.

Melissa Kluska
Saint Jude Retreats
518-842-3052 122
Email Information

http://news.yahoo.com/16-old-not-addict-life-research-says-172817589.html

Ex-Con Alcoholics Anonymous Member Arrested During Drug Raid That Uncovered Drugs And Handgun

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AA member Leslie Mitchell who was an ex-con had his home raided and he had eight small marijuana plants, cocaine, steroid pills, liquid steroids, drug paraphernalia, $3,590 in cash, a .22 caliber handgun and a magazine containing seven rounds of ammunition. He had been on probation for having 16 ounces of heroin! He only served 9 months in jail.

AA Member Busted

VINELAND — An ex-con enrolled in the state’s intensive supervision program (ISP) who was arrested March 7 on drug and weapons charges had been visited just four days earlier by an ISP officer, a state judiciary spokeswoman said.

Leslie H. Mitchell, 43, was charged with multiple counts of drug possession and distribution offenses, as well as violation of parole after police made the discovery March 7. He is accused of growing marijuana, possessing a handgun and selling cocaine and two types of steroids.

“The last visit was March 3,” said Tamara Kendig, spokeswoman for the New Jersey State Judiciary, which runs the intensive supervision program.

“This person had reported to the ISP office on March 5, two days before the arrest. An officer was scheduled to visit the home later in the evening on March 7. He had already observed the arrest though and so did not go through with the visit.” Mitchell was allowed into the ISP on Jan. 27, 2011. He had originally been imprisoned on May 11, 2010, after he was convicted of possession of more than five ounces of heroin. Captain Thomas Ulrich of the Vineland Police Department said he had been caught with 16-ounces of the substance.

He could have received a maximum sentence of eight years, but was released after less than nine months in prison.
ISP is a program in which convicts are released early from prison and are allowed to stay out so long as they follow a set of guidelines.

“Generally speaking, the guidelines are the same,” said Kendig. “You’re required to maintain employment, and he was employed. Curfews are imposed, although the curfew can change. Depending on whether someone’s compliant, as you move along they may change your curfew a little bit. You’re required to pay outstanding fines.”

She added that Mitchell did have one violation during his release for possession of alcohol in April 2011.

“He was required to attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and had been in attendance,” she said.

He also had paid $4,380 out of $4,630 in fines that he owed.

When police executed a warrant and raided Mitchell’s apartment, he had eight small marijuana plants, cocaine, steroid pills, liquid steroids, drug paraphernalia, $3,590 in cash, a .22 caliber handgun and a magazine containing seven rounds of ammunition.

The ATF is tracing the weapon.

Mitchell was lodged in the Cumberland County Jail in lieu of $50,000 bail as well as a no-bail warrant for violating his parole.

http://www.nj.com/cumberland/index.ssf/2012/03/officer_visited_vineland_ex-co.html

Hershey Man High On Drugs And Naked Jumps On Moving Vehicle

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What’s a man to do when under the influence of methamphetamine, cocaine, PCP and marijuana and feeling hot and naked? Jump on a woman’s moving vehicle doing 1700.00 worth of damage, then after all is said and done – go to Alcoholics Anonymous meetings!

Hershey man chooses probation
by Dillon Daigger (The North Platte Bulletin) – 3/15/2012

A Hershey man who jumped on a moving car while naked and high on drugs in June was sentenced Thursday to six months probation. Joshua Weir, 23, of Hershey pleaded guilty to disturbing the peace and criminal mischief.

Lincoln County prosecutor Tanya Roberts-Connick told the court she didn’t think Weir would succeed at probation. She requested Weir be sentenced to jail and ordered to pay restitution to the car owner. Judge Kent Turnbull gave Weir a choice – 30 days in jail or six months probation. Weir chose probation. He said he’s attended Alcoholics Anonymous meetings since he was arrested March 2 and is looking for employment. “Roofing season is just around the corner,” he said.

Turnbull also ordered Weir to pay $1,700 to the car owner and told him he will be subject to random alcohol and drug testing. Turnbull said Weir’s criminal history is “not unknown” to the court. “I don’t think you wanna come back in front of me,” Turnbull said. “If you get any violations, I’ll credit you for time served, but I’ll still hammer you.”

The crime occurred on June 27. Weir went to a friend’s house under the influence of methamphetamine, cocaine, PCP and marijuana, police said. Weir said he felt hot and broke out the friend’s window, “jumped on a car and started running down the street taking his clothes off,” according to a court affidavit.

Weir’s friends tried to get him into a truck to take him to the hospital, but he broke out the truck’s window and ran away, police said.

Soon after, the naked Weir jumped on the hood of a woman’s moving car and banged on the windshield and top of the car. The terrified woman accelerated, causing him to fall off the back, police said.

Weir eluded police for over eight months until he was arrested, according to sheriff’s records.

http://www.northplattebulletin.com/index.asp?show=news&action=readStory&storyID=22637&pageID=3

12 Stepper Employed At Project 90 Rehab Found Guilty Of Murder

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The retrial of Mohammed Haroon Ali found him guily of first degree murder. He was once known for his sponsoring of young people when he worked at Project 90 San Mateo CA, a 12 step based facility. It named after the suggestion of ‘ 90 meetings in ninety days. Ali murdered his girlfriend Tracy Biltnikoffs at the substance abuse rehab with a Narcotics Anonymous meetings going on at the time.

Biletnikoff re-trial: killer takes stand
By John Servatius

Already in prison for first-degree murder and a 64 year-to-life sentence, former CSM student Mohammed Haroon Ali took the witness stand Feb. 29 in a bid for a voluntary manslaughter conviction and time served. This comes during his second trial in the strangling death of Tracey Biletnikoff on Feb. 15, 1999. She was the daughter of Fred Biletnikoff, the Oakland Raiders’ wide-receiver and Hall-of-Famer.
In 2009, the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco overturned Ali’s conviction, citing racial discrimination as the reason that at least one African-American was left off the jury. The U.S. Supreme Court affirmed the appellate decision in 2010. Ali’s retrial began Jan. 25 in Redwood City.

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The buzz around Friendship Hall, the P-90 facility in downtown San Mateo that Monday evening was that Ali had relapsed, and that he wanted Biletnikoff’s car keys.

The witnesses were recovering substance abusers waiting for a Narcotics Anonymous meeting to begin. Jean San Genito-Martin, R.N. and Paula Panizzi, a contract manager with county alcohol and drug recovery services, testified that many of those present outside the building were against Biletnikoff giving Ali the keys. Biletnikoff was also in the crowd.

Ali was in his office in the back of the facility playing computer games. Biletnikoff went to see him at the urging of Paul Galindo. At one point, according to witnesses, she was sitting on Ali’s lap, consoling him.
According to detectives and the defendant’s own statements, Ali grabbed Biletnikoff’s keys out of her hands when she wouldn’t give them up or give him a ride to relatives.

She was standing in front of the office door, which was closed, blocking the defendant’s escape. He put his hands on her shoulders “to move her,” he said, because of the difficulty in getting past her. She slapped him several times, calling him various expletives and a loser. His hands went from her shoulders to her neck.
After that, the defendant said, he drew a blank.

http://www.sanmatean.com/biletnikoff-re-trial-killer-takes-stand-1.2813473?MMode=true#.T2Pc_BHOxOE

Another Article

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/03/15/BAAK1NLC68.DTL&tsp=1

Father Charged With Murder of Daughter Had Been Mandated To Anger Management Classes

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Murder charges are brought against father of his 2 year old daughter. He had previously been mandated to anger management classes. What safety measures do these meetings have?

MARCH 14, 2012 AT 2:52 PM
Bianca Jones’ father charged with murder in disappearance of toddler
BY MIKE MARTINDALE AND GEORGE HUNTER THE DETROIT NEWS
Bianca Jones

Detroit— Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy announced murder charges for D’Andre Louis Lane, the father of missing 2-year-old Bianca Jones, Wednesday in the Detroit toddler’s disappearance case.

Worthy announced her decision to charge Lane Wednesday with first-degree felony murder and first-degree child abuse several months after Bianca was last seen in December even though her body was never recovered.

“The human body is sometimes the best piece of evidence we have,” said Worthy, who noted even though investigators haven’t found Bianca, she feels the case against Lane is a strong one.

Worthy also said Bianca was subjected to child abuse on the day Bianca went missing.

Lane will be arraigned in 36th District Court at 1 p.m. Thursday. He has been in Oakland County’s jail since Monday, according to jail officials. Lane is being held on a violation of a personal protection order unrelated to his daughter’s disappearance. He’ll be transferred to Detroit custody later Wednesday, Worthy said.

Bianca was reported missing around 10 a.m. Dec. 2, when Lane told police that carjackers forced him out of his 2004 Mercury Grand Marquis at gunpoint at Brush and Carter streets, just north of East Grand Boulevard, before driving off with his daughter in the backseat. The car was recovered a few minutes after police responded to the call, but Bianca was gone.

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Lane’s jailing occurs as a former wife, Rakiba Lanise Mitchell of Farmington Hills, said she fears “now more than ever” for the safety of a son from their brief relationship that ended in 2010.

Last March, the personal protection order was obtained against Lane by Mitchell, who divorced Lane in 2010. In December, Lane was ordered to attend an anger management class by Oakland Circuit Judge Cheryl Matthews.

Lane was back in court on Monday for failing to meet the court’s order and sentenced to 14 days in the Oakland County Jail.

Mitchell and Lane were married about 18 months, and she filed for divorce in June 2010. They had a son, now 3 years old. She initially sought a personal protection order against him, saying he had shown up unannounced at her home demanding to see the boy.

Mitchell said Lane sent her repeated “threatening” emails and made unwanted telephone calls to her and relatives, according to Oakland Circuit Court records.

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20120314/METRO01/203140375/Bianca-Jones%E2%80%99-father-charged-with-murder-in-disappearance-of-toddler

Peeping Tom, Now A Convicted Felon Mandated To Alcoholics Anonymous Meetings

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Peeping Tom Richard Allen Paul, convicted of a felony for peeping in the windows of a minor girl. Guess where the sex offender is being sent to? Yep, AA meetings 3 times a week where minors are allowed and encouraged! What is wrong with this picture people?!


Cloquet man sentenced to 120 days for window-peeping
Richard Allen Paul, 57, was sentenced in State District Court in Carlton County on a felony charge of “interference with privacy” Wednesday in front of his victims, other neighbors and his own family.
By: Jana Peterson, Pine Journal

Peeping Tom

Richard Allen Paul, 57, of Cloquet, was charged Friday in Carlton County District Court with “interference with privacy.”

Sixth District Judge Robert Macaulay quadrupled the recommended jail time Wednesday when he sentenced a Cloquet man who was caught peeping at his neighbor’s juvenile daughters through her bedroom window.

Richard Allen Paul, 57, of Cloquet had pleaded guilty to “interference with privacy” and was sentenced Wednesday in State District Court in Carlton County in front of his victims, other neighbors and his own family.

The charge is a felony because the person whose privacy was violated was a minor.

B.J. Berg discovered Paul outside Berg’s home at 11:30 p.m. on June 14, 2011, wearing a black ski mask, tan shirt and jeans peering into a bedroom window. When Berg confronted him, Paul said something about trying to find his dogs. Berg told him, “Not at my daughter’s window, you’re not’’ and told him to get off his property.

Berg followed Paul to his home and called the police, who searched Paul’s home and found night vision goggles, a ski mask, clothing and a loaded handgun. Paul admitted to police that he had a firearm on his hip when he was outside Berg’s home.

That was nine months ago. Since then, Paul has completed a residential addiction treatment program at Hazelden and is undergoing follow-up treatment, counseling and attending Alcoholics Anonymous.

In his victim impact statement, Berg talked about the close-knit nature of their rural Cloquet neighborhood, and how Paul had built trust with his neighbors and their children over the last 12 years.

Rest of Story-

http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/event/article/id/225696/group/homepage/

Man Endangered Family With Gun and Sword is Mandated to Anger Management and Alcoholics Anonymous

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This man went ballistic on his family shooting his gun and using a sword. In sentencing he was mandated to anger management meetings, Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and a mental health evaluation.

Shepherd man admits endangering family with gun, sword

Gazette Staff | Posted: Monday, March 12, 2012 2:38 pm

Anger Management

A 45-year-old Shepherd man pleaded guilty Monday in District Court to a felony charge for shooting a gun and swinging a sword in his home where children were present.

Robert Douglas Herring appeared before Judge G. Todd Baugh and admitted to a single charge of felony criminal endangerment. Herring was allowed to remain free on a posted $30,000 bond while awaiting a sentencing hearing on May 8.
A plea agreement calls for Herring to receive a three-year deferred sentence. Prosecutors will also ask a judge to order Herring to undergo mental health and chemical dependency evaluations and follow all treatment recommendations.
The agreement also seeks an order requiring Herring to participate in Alcoholics Anonymous, complete anger management and parenting classes, write a sincere letter of apology to the victims and seek full-time employment.
Herring was charged for an incident on Jan. 25 at a residence on Bea’s Lane in Shepherd. During a 911 call, dispatchers heard gunshots and the caller said his father, Herring, had fired several times and might have hit his brother.
Seven other people, including four children, were inside the house at the time of the incident.
No one was injured in the gunfire, but witnesses said Herring fired at least four times and grabbed a sword when he ran out of bullets. Herring slashed two walls, a ceiling, a window, drapes and a light fixture with the sword before his wife was able to take the weapon from him.

http://billingsgazette.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/shepherd-man-admits-endangering-family-with-gun-sword/article_cba2477c-2644-55e9-9eaf-b2f079c1cfc6.html

Alcoholics Anonymous Member Pulls Gun On AA Member At Church Meeting

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Police: Man pulled gun at church AA meeting, charged with assault
Published On: Dec 29 2011 12:25:45 PM EST

Drug Dealing

The stories just keep coming! Here an AA member at St John’s Church pulled a gun on another Alcoholics Anonymous member accusing him of selling drugs to AA members in the church bathroom. I hope the church and the AA group have a good insurance policy.

Police: Man pulled gun at church AA meeting

POTTSTOWN, Pa. –
A man was arrested Wednesday after police said he pulled a gun at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting.

Robert Ortgiesen was taken into custody at his home on Annette Dr. in Limerick Twp., Montgomery Co., and charged with assault, police said.

A man told police Ortgiesen, 47, pulled the gun after an argument outside St. John’s Church on Church St. in Pottstown, according to court documents. He said Ortgiesen then followed him inside the church.

Ortgiesen allegedly made a threat and then left in his car.

Ortgiesen told police he confronted the man because he was selling drugs to AA members in the church bathroom, according to court documents.

http://www.wfmz.com/news/news-regional-southeasternpa/Police-Man-pulled-gun-at-church-AA-meeting-charged-with-assault/-/121434/7227936/-/tmyk15/-/

Loudoun County Virginia Drug Court Funding Dropped Because Of High Failure Rate

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Loudoun County Virginia Drug Court nixed funding for the program because supervisors opposing the funding said they were concerned the program was not cost effective, serving a maximum of 20 participants at a time and reporting a graduation rate of 24 percent. Close to the nations Capital we are seeing evidence of the high failure rate of Drug Court. As the judge said, it is like boot camp, so many participants fail. Why have a program so strict and hard to comply with that so many people fail in Drug Court? Your average person would have a hard time completing Drug Court, yet they expect people without a drivers licence, a drug addiction and possibly mental health issues, to complete extremely hard requirements. Many pro Drug Court advocates are out there pushing hard for funding to increase Drug Courts and the cousins to them like Veterans Court and Family Court. They give out skewed statistics on their success rate.

Drug Courts also need to stop the forcing of Alcoholics Anonymous meetings on them which is unconstitutional, yet judges are doing it anyway.

Loudoun County Drug Court

Budget Update: Drug Court Funding Nixed

Posted on March 9, 2012
by Norman Styer
The Loudoun Board of Supervisors continued its budget mark up Thursday night, with straw votes to restore $756,563 to County Administrator Tim Hemstreet’s recommended FY13 plan. Supervisors last week voted to begin their budget work at a spending level that would result in a 5 percent real estate tax bill decrease for the average homeowner, about $50 million below Hemstreet’s recommendation. That action put in play a list of cuts proposed by Hemstreet that would have to be made unless a majority of supervisors voted to reinstate the funds.

It appears that among the first casualties of that approach is the Loudoun County Drug Court. County Chairman Scott K. York’s (R-At Large) motion to restore $284,408 to continue the 9-year-old program next year failed. Supervisors opposing the funding said they were concerned the program was not cost effective, serving a maximum of 20 participants at a time and reporting a graduation rate of 24 percent.

The program allows select serious drug offenders to enter an intensive rehabilitation program, supervised by Loudoun County Circuit Court judges, as an alternative to trial. Participants are subject to frequent drug testing and are required to have jobs, manage their finances and appear in court weekly over a period of at least one year. Judge Burke F. McCahill described the program as the most intensive form of supervision in the state’s criminal justice system.

Judge Thomas D. Horne, now the most senior Circuit Court judge in Virginia, compared the program with his toughest life experience: U.S. Marine Corps boot camp. “We are not easy. We do not mollycoddle,” Horne said, explaining why so few participants successfully complete the program. However, even those who don’t complete the program often experience important life-changing impacts and stay out of trouble, he said. Both judges noted that the program was geared to address serious repeat offenders likely to make frequent appearance in the jail and in the courthouse. “We are not rehabilitating people, we are habilitating them,” McCahill said.

Supervisor Ralph Buona (R-Ashburn) said the low graduation rate indicated the program was not successful. Supervisor Shaun Williams (R-Broad Run) said it wasn’t a core government service that justified funding. He suggested private support groups—not the court system—should help these type of addicts. “If they want to get sober and have the support structure to do it, they will do it,” Williams said.Supervisor Eugene Delgaudio (R-Sterling), a longtime Drug Court opponent, said drug offenders should not be provided an alternative to facing trial and criminal punishment for their violations. York cited a staff analysis that showed the program, even with its limited participation, saved the county money compared with the cost of incarceration. “This is chump change to help individuals become successful,” York said. York’s motion to restore funding failed on a 3-4-2 vote. Supervisor Matt Letourneau (R-Dulles) and Janet Clarke (R-Blue Ridge) supported the motion. Buona, Delgaudio, Williams and Supervisor Ken Reid (R-Leesburg) voted against it. Supervisors Geary Higgins (R-Catoctin) and Susanne Volpe (R-Algonkian) were absent from Thursday’s meeting.

A similar program in juvenile court survived the evening.

http://www.leesburg2day.com/news/article_1554b48e-6a01-11e1-9ab4-001871e3ce6c.html

Park Employees Intimidated By Narcotics Anonymous And Alcoholics Anonymous Groups

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Even though there has been a smoking ban at Newport Beach for over 7 years, park employees were too intimidated to tell the AA/NA Groups to not smoke. Commissioners said that the AA/NA groups were just too confrontational for park employees, and need police to enforce the ban. First citizens asked the 12 steppers not to smoke and obey the law, but was brushed off. Typical behavior of 12 steppers acting like they are unique and special, and that they do not have to follow the law. The citizens of Holly Hill Florida certainly can relate towards this attitude of ‘Recovery Groups’. We have been dealing with The Sunrise Group, which is part of the Volusia County Intergroup Alcoholics Anonymous, as well as the Daytona Narcotics Anonymous meetings in Holly Land Park, Centennial Park and Sunrise Park. We have to deal with parking issues, litter , vulgarity, cigarette butts, assaults, death threats and the list goes on.

Maybe the Holly Hill City Commission will listen to the all the complaints from our locals and take action!

Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous groups can’t smoke at Newport beaches

City Council
By JON CASSIDY / THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

NEWPORT BEACH – Recovery groups that smoke during meetings on the beach are facing a crackdown, after the City Council rejected a plan to give them smoking permits for their weekly meetings.Smoking on the beach has been banned in Newport Beach for more than seven years, but the City Council took up the issue Tuesday as part of a revision to its rules on parks and beach use.

Those new rules included a ban on smoking in parks, as well as broader language covering permits for park use.
Two groups, one from Alcoholics Anonymous and another from Narcotics Anonymous, have been gathering at the beach near 15th Street for years, City Manager Dave Kiff said.Many of the group members smoke, he said.

“A law is only as good as our ability to enforce it,” Kiff said, adding that parks employees were too intimidated to give tickets to the large recovery groups. His proposal was to allow the groups to apply for smoking permits that cover just their meeting time, but the idea was rejected.”There’s other people that (would) see them smoking there and think now it’s OK to smoke here,” Councilman Steve Rosansky said. Councilman Mike Henn said police would be needed to enforce the law.

“Clearly what we are left with is increased enforcement and we need to figure out a way to make that happen,” he said. “I don’t think it can realistically happen with park patrol people because the people that are smoking, I know, are just too confrontational when they’re asked to stop. So we’re going to have to figure out a way to get the proper police enforcement there.”

Two residents spoke against Kiff’s exception. Resident Denys Oberman said that she had been asking group members not to smoke for years, but that they usually ignored her or told her, “Get off of it” or “Go about your life.”

Two others came to ask that the basketball court at 38th Street Park on Balboa be closed at 7 p.m. rather than sunset; the council agreed. Those were the only two changes to a package of revised regulations approved on a 5-1 vote, with Councilman Ed Selich opposing and Rosansky not voting. The new regulations for parks include a smoking ban, a permit requirement for commercial use by coaches or trainers, and a permit requirement for “any games” played in the city’s 73 parks.
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/smoking-340405-beach-smoke.html

Brevard County Deputy Barbara Pill Shot To Death By Violent Felon Brandon Bradley

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YouTube video, details emerge about two accused in deputy’s shooting death

Killers

In this YouTube video with Brandon Bradley, he is singing about date rape, breaking probation, home invasion, car jacking, and robbery, just the kind of crimes that criminals get sent to Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous meetings for. He was violating his probation. Was he skipping going to NA meetings?

Bradley had been convicted previously of burglary, robbery, possession of cocaine and grand theft.

YouTube Video-

http://www.wftv.com/videos/news/youtube-rap-video-of-suspect-in-deputy-shooting/vGTjg/

BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. — WFTV has discovered new details about a man and woman facing first-degree murder charges for the shooting death of a Brevard County deputy.

On Wednesday, a judge denied bond for 23-year-old Brandon Bradley and 19-year-old Andria Kerchner.

They are both facing first-degree murder charges for the shooting death of Brevard County Deputy Barbara Pill. WFTV found a makeshift memorial on Elena Way and John Rodes Boulevard on Thursday where her colleagues and strangers alike honored her sacrifice.

“You guys didn’t like, um… I didn’t shoot the gun, nor am I going to hop out of a car that’s going 100,” said Kerchner, who tried to proclaim her innocence inside a jail courtroom on Wednesday. But prosecutors said she played a principle role in the shooting. They said because the deputy was killed while Kerchner was allegedly committing another crime, she can be charged with murder. Kerchner’s boyfriend, Bradley, is also accused of murdering 52-year-old Pill.

http://www.wftv.com/news/news/local/youtube-video-and-new-details-emerge-about-shooter/nLNft/

Another article-

http://www.wftv.com/news/news/reports-deputy-involved-shooting-melbourne-leads-c/nLMKg/

‘Mothers With A Purpose’ Fighting Teen Drug Problems Sends Them To AA Meetings

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These two Mom’s met at an AA meeting and ended up starting ‘Mothers With A Purpose’. If you notice all they are offering the teens is to attend AA and NA meetings. They do not point out that AA and NA have no meetings for minors. There are only adult meetings with court mandated felons. It is great to see an effort being put out to reach teens.
They need to offer them something other than the 12 step program. www.smartrecovery.org has teen literature for those that want to start a teen meeting in their area that is non-religious and science based.

Local Moms Fighting That Drug Problem on Our Doorstep
Meet the Pleasanton moms and founders of Mothers with a Purpose, who want to beat the pervasive drug problem through education.
By Autumn Johnson and Tanya Rose Email the authors March 8, 2012

In July of 2010, when Donna and Kelly spearheaded Mothers With a Purpose, a group that provides support and raises awareness for families battling prescription pill addictions, they had no idea they would end up foraging friendships from working through the pain. The duo met when Kelly recognized Donna’s son while attending an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting with her own son. The two mothers connected and realized their children were going through a similar battle of prescription drug addiction.

After meeting for hours and crying over the agony of the opiate addictions their children were fighting, they decided to take action and to start a support group. They have asked that their last names not be used, to protect the privacy of themselves and their families. Donna recruited other families in the community who were suffering from the same problem. The group rapidly grew from the two tenacious mothers to now close to 100 people.

“Forty years ago, addicts were seen as the scum of the earth,” said a former addict, who has spoken before the group about his own struggles in an effort to help Pleasanton kids who are suffering. “Today, it can be a child from a family that makes a million dollars. It’s not someone who lives in alleys; it’s your own neighborhoods.”

Mothers With a Purpose meets on the second and fourth Thursdays of every month at Foothill High School in Pleasanton. They welcome anyone who wants to attend and both say it takes courage to walk through the door of those meetings to face and work through their worst fears.

The former speaker said that before Mothers with a Purpose, there wasn’t really an organization out there solely for support.”The best way to get help was to talk to another parent in the same situation,” he said. “There’s no place to turn — it’s not like you can go to church and ask around. It’s really a hidden thing.”

“Everyone is hurting from something,” says Donna.

According to Donna, the mission statement of the group is to provide total awareness, support and resources to those children and families confronting and struggling with the disease of addiction.

The group, which has recently become a non-profit organization, has had overwhelming support from the Pleasanton Police Department, the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office, the Mayor’s Office in Pleasanton and the Pleasanton Unified School District.

In addition to the bi-monthly meetings and a website that offers many resources, Donna and Kelly attend local drug and alcohol forums. They often bring children to speak who are recovering addicts. After the forums, parents usually thank the pair for their candor. Both agree that the disease of addiction, specifically prescription pill addiction, is a nation-wide problem. Locally, they say the knowledge of this problem in the schools and in the community still shocks residents.

Donna says every parent should have to go through a class before their kids start school. “[This experience] teaches you different areas you need to balance,” says Kelly. “I look at life differently now. When it happens, you are a fish out of water. It is a life-time journey.”

Donna says her biggest challenge in starting the group has been standing up in public forums. For Kelly, the biggest challenge has been getting parents to listen. “Listening is what is going to cause change,” said Kelly. “The only way to beat this is to educate people.”

“It is our recovery too,” added Donna. “If I had had this education growing up, maybe things would have been different,” the forum speaker said. “I didn’t even know what an alcoholic was; I just knew that I did drugs and I did it well and I loved it. Every day, I struggled with addiction but now I have tools so I don’t need to do drugs. I can cope with life.

“It is all about the parents being educated,” he says, noting that he knows of a parent of a drug-addicted teen who wanted to take her own life, because she didn’t know what else to do and felt so desperate.

http://pleasanton.patch.com/articles/prescription-pill-problem-on-your-doorstep

Suicidal Alcoholics Anonymous Member Calls Veterans Crisis Line

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Here is a suicide crisis line for veterans, and this one suicidal veteran states he has people in AA he can talk to. AA is not equipped to deal with suicidal, depressed veterans. Lack of real professional help for veterans and depending on 12 step programs is costing lives.

Veterans Crisis Line Seeks To Help Those Struggling With Civilian Life, Unemployment, Post-Combat Stress
Posted: 03/ 8/2012 12:06 pm
CANANDAIGUA, N.Y. — Hi, this is Tricia. Thank you for calling the Veterans Crisis Line. What’s going on tonight?

Tricia, a crisis line operator, is talking with someone we’ll call Steven. Her long black hair frames her face as she bends over her desk, eyes closed, listening and then replying softly.

Steven, will you take a few deep breaths for me, it’s really important that I understand what you are experiencing.

In a few cramped rooms inside a dark red brick veterans mental institution built here in the 1930s, Tricia Lucchesi, along with some two dozen mental health professionals and veterans, fields the calls that come in every minute through the Veterans Crisis Line.

Tricia is 52 and has years of experience in teaching and mental health care; her son is an enlisted airman in the Air Force. Her headset is decorated with blue sparkles. She listens, oblivious to the bustle and ringing phones around her. When she responds she speaks slowly, pouring warmth down the phone line.

What is it Steven, that is making you so desperate that the only way you can think of is to kill yourself?

Seventeen thousand times a month, at all hours of the day and night, the operators answer the callers, listening intently, absorbing the anger and despair, gently shifting them back toward life.

Okay, Steven, I hear that you want to kill yourself tonight and I want to be able to help you not feel that way.

snip

The VA has made huge strides in providing services to the new and Vietnam-era veterans who are demanding medical and mental health help in record numbers. But its facilities, and especially mental health therapists and consultants, are often overwhelmed by the demand.

“Many of the veterans feel very frustrated when the system doesn’t work for them,” said a crisis line responder. “Our VA system is strained, a lot of times there’s not enough staffing. It’s a big job, and often there aren’t enough people to do it.”

Steven, do you have someone you can- … Okay, AA [Alcoholics Anonymous]? Oh, good, you have people in AA. How long have you been sober? Seven years! Good for you! And with everything that’s been going on with you, you haven’t picked up a drink for seven years? … You have a bottle of wine? … Was that today? … Have you been drinking today? … Okay, okay … All right, so you stayed sober for seven years and today you were in so much pain you felt you had to pick up a drink … Okay …. Sure … Sure … I hear you’re in a lot of pain and you want to die right now … We have ways to help you and make your life easier, but you need to work with me on this …

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/08/veterans-crisis-line_n_1322423.html

Young People Attending Alcoholics Anonymous Puff Piece

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They really sugar coat Alcoholics Anonymous in this puff piece about AA and young people. The article offers no possible options to AA other than the 12 step program. No mention of the fact that courts are mandating criminals in droves to these meetings without warning anyone. Typical media bias.

Young people turn to AA to break the grip of alcohol and drugs
BY ERIC ADLER
The Kansas City Star

 
• 69 percent of college graduates were current drinkers (at least one drink in the past 30 days) in 2010. That compares with 37 percent of adults with less than a high school education.
• Among full-time college students ages 18-22, 63 percent were current drinkers in 2010; 42 percent were binge drinkers; and 16 percent were heavy drinkers. Those numbers are higher than those for other adults ages 18-22 (non-college students and part-time college students): 52 percent were current drinkers, 36 percent were binge drinkers and 12 percent were heavy drinkers.
 
Names in this story
The Kansas City Star does not publish stories quoting anonymous sources unless there is a compelling reason to do so. Some of the subjects in this story were willing to use their full names, but because the guarantee of anonymity is such a bedrock part of Alcoholics Anonymous’ ethos, The Star agreed to abide by AA’s tradition of identifying individuals only by single, but actual, names.

LAWRENCE — Tall and lithe, 23-year-old Suzanne — once known to her University of Kansas sorority sisters as “Boozin’ Susan” — carries a load of folding chairs into a Sixth Street mini-mall storefront and arranges them in a circle.

Ten young people amble in and, over the next hour, tell why they’re here.

“Hi, I’m Claire, and I’m an alcoholic.” Age 23.

“Hi, I’m Matt, and I’m an alcoholic.” Age 25.

“Hi, I’m Jean, and I’m an alcoholic and an addict.” Age 17. She first got drunk on vodka when she was 8.

There is Stephanie, 20, and two seats away a 19-year-old addict fresh to sobriety. There are Mike and Will, both under 26.

Two sorority girls. A couple of athletes. Gen-Y’ers, children of affluence and of poverty. One young man’s abstemious parents never raised a bottle. Others barely remember mom or dad without a drink or drug in hand.

At a time when binge drinking remains at epidemic levels, and as tens of thousands of high school and college students begin packing for spring break destinations where alcohol flows freely, thousands of other young people nationwide will flow into meetings of Alcoholics Anonymous, having concluded that what they once thought was a rite of youth is an addiction.

Young people in their 20s and even late teens have been part of AA from some of its earliest years, not long after Bill Wilson founded the fellowship in 1935 on a 12-step approach.

At the core of AA is a shared belief that, powerless in the face of their addictions, alcoholics and other addicts work to remain sober one day at a time, lean on others for support and rely on what in AA parlance is one’s “H.P.,” or higher power, or God.

Because of AA’s ways — no dues, no fees, no formal membership rosters and only periodic surveys of attendees — it’s impossible to say exactly how many young people are attending the fellowship’s meetings.

What is clear, researchers say, is that although AA does not work for everyone, for young people who stick to its tenets, it can offer a lifeline in a culture where the pressure to drink is often overwhelming.

“Basically, young people benefit from going,” said Harvard University’s John Kelly, an addiction recovery researcher at the Massachusetts General Hospital who in 2008 published a study that followed 16-year-olds from a San Diego rehab clinic for eight years.

“The strongest predictor of recovery was attendance at AA,” Kelly said. “For every single meeting they attended, they gained an extra two days of abstinence.”

There is testament: Shirley, 58, of Kansas City entered 37 years ago at age 21 and has never relapsed. She knows others, at 40 and 50, who came in at age 18.

“It is absolutely doable,” she said. “The simple point of it is whether you no longer want to live that way. We all have to grow up. That’s part of life. In a way it’s an advantage (entering recovery early). I had to grow up anyway. I had help.”

Come September, the 54th annual International Conference of Young People in Alcoholics Anonymous is to be held in St. Louis. Some 3,000 young people are expected to attend.

http://www.kansascity.com/2012/03/03/3467414/young-people-turn-to-aa-to-break.html

Violent Felon Who Led Police On 100-MPH Chase On Christmas Eve Is Sentenced to Alcoholics Anonymous Meetings

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Rickey Lee Lidel broke the nose of a person and threatened to stab him. The victim called police and then there was a high speed chase. Here is another violent felon mandated to the rooms Of Alcoholics Anonymous.

Published March 07, 2012, 12:00 AM
Man who led deputies on high-speed chase on Christmas Eve sentenced
A Bemidji man who led area law enforcement on a 100-mph chase on Christmas Eve was sentenced in Beltrami County District Court on Monday. Pioneer Staff Report, Bemidji Pioneer

A Bemidji man who led area law enforcement on a 100-mph chase on Christmas Eve was sentenced in Beltrami County District Court on Monday.

District Judge Paul T. Benshoof ordered Ricky Lee Lidel, 56, to serve 109 days in jail, stayed for two years, with 73 days credited for time served.

The judge also ordered Lidel to serve two years of supervised probation, attend weekly Alcoholic Anonymous meetings for sixth months and pay $1,300 in fines.

Lidel pleaded guilty Jan. 23 to fleeing a peace officer in a motor vehicle and possessing an assault weapon while having a previous felony conviction.

According to an earlier news release issued by the Beltrami County Sheriff’s Office:

An assault victim suffered a broken nose in a violent encounter with Lidel, who threatened to stab the person with a knife at the victim’s home.

After receiving the call, deputies spotted a silver Grand Am, described by the victim, and attempted to stop Lidel.

However, Lidel drove east on the U.S. Highway 2 bypass from Division Street, leading authorities on a pursuit reaching speeds higher than 100 mph. Lidel stopped the car on Highway 2 and attempted to flee on foot when deputies arrested him.

http://www.bemidjipioneer.com/event/article/id/100037514/

Michigan’s Mental Health Courts Depending On Community Based Programs Like AA Meetings

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More and more mental health courts are popping up. It is wonderful they are trying to help the mentally ill. Yet the courts should not be mandating Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous meetings, where they are often told not to take there meds and make disparaging remarks about the mental health field.AA has no training to deal with paranoid schizophrenics or suicidal people.

Mental Health Court

Michigan’s treatment of mentally ill people has disgraced the state, as hundreds of thousands have gone without treatment and ended up in county jails and state prisons, warehoused at a cost to taxpayers of $35,000 a year each.

It’s a common and tragic story: Mentally ill defendants — often abusing drugs — cycle through the criminal justice system repeatedly for petty offenses until they are slapped with lengthy prison sentences as repeat offenders.

Since 2008, however, eight mental health court pilot programs, now serving nearly 700 people a year, have given hope to mentally ill offenders like Angela DeCant, 35; Henry Smith, 47; and Steven Townsend, 52. Wayne County Circuit Judge Timothy Kenny and others who preside over the courts have the option of sentencing them to 18 months of intensely supervised probation and treatment.

Working with community-based nonprofits like Detroit Central City Community Mental Health, participants get medications, attend relapse prevention classes and group therapy, meet with psychiatrists, undergo residential treatment, and talk with job and housing specialists to get their lives on track.

The pilot courts work at a fraction of the cost of incarceration. But they will end Sept. 30, when the annual $1.65-million federal grant expires, unless the governor and state Legislature find another way to pay for them.

For starters, Gov. Rick Snyder has put $1 million for the mental health courts in his 2013 budget, but legislators must do even better. With county jails and state prisons becoming Michigan’s largest mental health institutions, this is no time to end a rare success story.

Salvaging lives
Over the last two decades, mental health care in Michigan has eroded, leaving hundreds of thousands without treatment and pushing many of them into county jails and state prisons.

http://www.freep.com/article/20120304/OPINION02/203040478/SALVAGING-LIVES-SAVING-MONEY-Eight-pilot-courts-that-divert-mentally-ill-offenders-from-prison-to-treatment-are-showing-promising-results-It-s-time-to-expand-the-experiment-?odyssey=tab%7Ctopnews%7Ctext%7CFRONTPAGE

Drug Court Participants Mandated To Narcotics Anonymous Sent To Prison

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Many people do not realize with all the puff pieces on Drug Courts, how many participants actually fail in the program. Drug courts results are only based on the people who completed the entire program. These men who were sent to prison that were in the Drug Court program will not be counted, because they did not complete it in it’s entirety. This is not a proper way to see drug courts success or failure.

This article also points out that many people participating in Drug Court are still committing crimes and using drugs while in the program. They do not need to be mandated to Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous meetings where many vulnerable members of society including minors attend. They end up in our parks and playgrounds in Holly Hill Fl.

Two who failed drug court sent to prison

Brett Ellis/Fremont Tribune | Posted: Tuesday, March 6, 2012 8:33 am

Two people who failed to complete drug court were sentenced to prison on Monday.
Judge Geoffrey Hall sentenced 29-year-old Ricardo Mendez of Fremont to 20 months to 5 years in prison for possession of methamphetamine, a Class IV felony.Mendez admitted to selling bath salts to fellow drug court participants and using synthetic marijuana while he was in the program.

“He turned drug court into a criminal enterprise,” Deputy Dodge County Attorney Mark Boyer said. “I can’t think of a much worse thing to do in drug court than trying to drag other people in the program down the drain.”
Mendez said he accepted responsibility for his actions but said the people he sold bath salts to chose to make those purchases.Hall, though, said Mendez was a “devious leader” who had a bad influence on other drug court participants.

“I believe your conduct in drug court is the worst kind possible because you took other people down with you,” Hall said. Hall also sentenced 20-year-old Zackery Carlstrom of Fremont to 20 months to 5 years in prison for terroristic threats, a Class IV felony. Boyer said Carlstrom reported using methamphetamine, cocaine, alcohol and marijuana while in drug court. Carlstrom also absconded twice from the program. “You had some successes,” Hall said. “However, the failures far outweigh those successes.” Hall also encouraged Carlstrom to use his talents in positive ways in the future. “Grow a backbone,” the judge said. “Do the hard right instead of the easy wrong.” Also on Monday, 26-year-old Anthony Martinez of Fremont was sentenced to 20 months to 5 years for terroristic threats and a year in prison for third-degree domestic assault, a Class I misdemeanor. The sentences will run consecutive to each other.

Martinez also was sentenced to 90 days in jail for criminal mischief, a Class II misdemeanor, and that will run concurrent with the other sentence. Hall also ordered Martinez to pay $400 in restitution.Chief Deputy Dodge County Attorney Stacey Hultquist asked for the maximum sentence based Martinez’s criminal history, which includes multiple arrests every year since 2004.

“This is a person who cannot be a productive person in our society and continues to get in trouble,” Hultquist said.
Martinez apologized to the female victim and her family. “That’s not how I was raised,” he said. “I know better than that.” Hall said probation was not an option for Martinez because of his criminal history.

http://fremonttribune.com/news/local/two-who-failed-drug-court-sent-to-prison/article_7eaca096-6799-11e1-b8d5-001871e3ce6c.html?mode=comments

Drug Court Judge Amanda F. Williams Quits over Judicial Misconduct Charges

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Drug Court participants can breath a sigh of relief now that mean and cruel Judge Amanda F. Williams has quit over numerous allegations. This shows how Drug Courts abuse their power. She was the wicked witch of the Drug Courts.
She drove Lindsey Dills to attempt suicide in jail.

Judge Amanda F. Williams

Linddsey Dills was one of her Drug Court victims. An unbelievable story of abuse.

http://jacksonville.com/news/georgia/2012-03-01/story/new-life-woman-middle-former-glynn-judges-ethics-case

Very Tough Love article goes into great detail about the living hell she created for Lindsey Dills and other Drug Court participants.

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/430/very-tough-love

Judge Amanda Williams quitting before hearing on judicial misconduct charges
January 10, 2012 – 7:51am

Amanda F. Williams is accused of judicial misconduct.

By Terry Dickson
BRUNSWICK – Chief Superior Court Judge Amanda F. Williams, who once sentenced a man to two weeks in jail for challenging a drug test, will leave office Jan. 2 just nine days before a deadline to answer numerous charges of judicial misconduct, including tyrannical behavior.

Williams, 64, advised Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal of her intent to resign after 21 years on the bench.

In return for the Judicial Qualifications Commission dropping charges against her, Williams agreed not seek another judicial office or senior judge status.

That prohibition is immediate and permanent, the consent order says.

By virtue of his seniority, Superior Court Judge E.M. Wilkes III will replace Williams as chief judge of the five-county Brunswick Judicial Circuit.

The charges against Williams included that she lied to investigators, a crime under Georgia law.

If Williams had not resigned, the commission would have conducted a hearing on all 14 counts and could have sought her removal from the bench.

Last week, the commission amended its Nov. 9 complaint in which it accused her of tyrannical behavior, especially in running her drug court, the state’s largest.

Williams had imposed indefinite jail terms on drug court defendants, deprived some of contact with their lawyers and jailed one man 14 days for questioning a positive drug test, which the commission said he had the absolute right to do without fear of reprisal.

The commission also accused her of giving favorable treatment to the family members of friends and those of high social standing by admitting them into drug court although they did not qualify.

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The commission complaint also accused Williams of nepotism for allowing family members to practice before her. In one case, Williams warned parties they would be subject to contempt should they fail to pay a $1,000 fee to her daughter, Frances Dyal, within 30 days. Dyal was acting as a court-appointed guardian in the case and in others that were before Williams.

Other charges include:

– Ordering that drug court defendant Lindsey Dills be held in solitary confinement with no mail, phones calls and no visitors except her drug counselor. While Dills was in jail, she attempted suicide.

– Ordering drug court defendants held indefinitely without a hearing.

– Sending defendant Lisa Branch to Bridges of Hope, a remote residential drug treatment center between Waycross and Homerville, with orders Branch have contact with no one but her drug counselor for a year. The commission said Williams’ action deprived Branch of her right to see her lawyer.

– Approving court motions prepared by her husband and daughter without the court record showing any notice of a conflict of interest.

http://jacksonville.com/news/crime/2011-12-20/story/judge-amanda-williams-quitting-hearing-judicial-misconduct-charges