May 11, 2006 at 3:05 pm ·
Filed under 5 - Amazing Alcoholic Antics
Story from "This is True"by Randy Cassingham, with his "tagline:â€
"THERE'S NOTHIN' LIKE HOME COOKIN': ‘Now THERE'S a couple that knows how to fight!' summarized an enthusiastic Reuters reporter, telling the story of a couple in Mexico who got into a spat in their Oxkutzcab, Yucatan, home. Like a scene from the movie ‘Mr. and Mrs. Smith', the report says, the couple's fight escalated from knives to guns to home-made bombs; their house was destroyed. Juan Espinosa was arrested and Irma Contreras was hospitalized with third-degree burns. Unlike the ‘Smiths' the couple didn't get a happily-ever-after ending: Espinosa said he was glad his wife suffered burns, and Contreras reported she was sorry she had not ‘hacked off his manhood.' (Reuters) ...Coming ...
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May 11, 2006 at 3:04 pm ·
Filed under 4 - Alcoholic Myth of the Month
"The alleged victim may have been drowning her sorrows after her terrible ordeal.â€
So said Paul T. Wall, one of the co-hosts of the Bill Handel radio program on 640am KFI in Los Angeles, explaining why the alleged rape victim in the Duke University case was found passed out in her car after the incident. One of the grand myths that pervade alcoholism is that the alcoholic drinks to drown out sorrows, unhappiness or some tragic loss. The problem is they also drink to celebrate, whether for a resounding success, a dramatic win, or just because it's Friday night. The truth of the matter is they drink addictively because they can.
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May 11, 2006 at 3:00 pm ·
Filed under 3 - Dear Doug...
There were several letters to advice columnists over the last couple months involving the financial abuse of others. The idea that the perpetrator is compelled to wield such power due to biochemistry that processes drugs in a way that causes an inflated sense of self-importance leads to identical cures: stop the enabling and, wherever possible, intervene.
Live off the government
Dear Doug:
My husband's mother, sister and brother-in-law recently moved nearby. I am appalled by their continuous search for better ways to live off the government and find that I am increasingly sickened in their presence. What can I do when there are family events that I have to attend?
Signed,
Morally Indignant
. . . .
Dear Indignant,
Other columnists would ...
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May 11, 2006 at 2:58 pm ·
Filed under 2 - Movie & Book Reviews
Review: "The True Stella Awards,"by Randy Cassingham
Based on his popular website, www.StellaAwards.com, humorist Randy Cassingham brings us this terrific book chronicling one outrageous lawsuit after another. Most would find it unfathomable that the cases discussed and thoroughly lampooned are brought before U.S. courts, but the wonder is diminished when the likelihood of alcoholism in many of the litigants is taken into account. Cassingham performs an admirable service in mocking them and bringing us smiles, even though underneath we know that for every case discussed there may be thousands of others like it that fail to attract the ridicule they deserve.
A classic case comes from the world of sports. Anthony Ercolano, 44, was a big fan of the Seattle Mariners. He ...
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May 11, 2006 at 2:45 pm ·
Filed under 1 - Top Stories
Duke University: Addicts Abound
How can we know who is guilty when addicts are everywhere"
There were many stories over the past two months that qualify for top billing. Zacarias Moussaoui leads the list as a child of an alcoholic who grew up to wage war against the greatest country ever. Rush Limbaugh got off almost scot-free on drug charges, while continuing to verbally attack other addicts and their suppliers. Alex and Rhoda Toth, winners of a $13 million lotto jackpot, were indicted on charges of tax fraud after declaring bankruptcy during the years they are accused of failing to report all their income. U.S. Representative Cynthia McKinney (Democrat) went berserk yet again and former Illinois Governor George H. Ryan (Republican) ...
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May 11, 2006 at 2:35 pm ·
Filed under 1 - Top Stories
Runners-up for top story of the month:
Franklin County, Ohio Common Pleas Judge John Connor, 66, who has been targeted for removal from the bench by Gov. Bob Taft, House Speaker John Husted and Attorney General Jim Petro for failing to imprison an admitted rapist who sexually assaulted two children of Sri Lankan immigrants. The assailant, Andrew Selva, 46, admitted to abusing the boys, ages 5 and 12, repeatedly over a period of three years. Although originally charged with 20 counts of rape, the indictment was found legally defective and, under a plea arrangement with Connor, Selva was labeled a sexual predator and sentenced to treatment and probation. Connor admitted that if prosecutors had gone forward with rape charges, Selva "would ...
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May 11, 2006 at 2:30 pm ·
Filed under 1 - Top Stories
Under watch:
Former Illinois Governor George H. Ryan, 72, convicted of bribery in a sweeping federal corruption case, despite the fact that no one testified to actually seeing the Governor receive money for favors. There are no videotapes, wiretaps or confessions. The fact that his crimes saw the light of day only because an unqualified trucker was involved in an accident that killed six children is testimony to the difficulty in bringing crooked politicians to justice. (Proving that alcoholism is at the root of such misbehaviors can be an even greater challenge.) The accident, which initially focused on bribes paid for drivers' licenses, has led so far to 79 indictments and 75 convictions.
Ryan is the latest in a long line ...
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March 11, 2006 at 1:52 pm ·
Filed under 5 - Amazing Alcoholic Antics
Amazing Antics: Stories of Alcoholism-Driven Behaviorsâ„¢
As mentioned in this month's "runners-up,"Swedish playboy Stefan Eriksson, 44, slammed his $1 million Enzo Ferrari into a power pole on Pacific Coast Highway near Los Angeles. He was doing 162 mph. The car split in two and created a 1200-foot trail of debris. Incredibly, Eriksson survived with only minor injuries. Ferrari enthusiasts point out that the driver-safety system performed exactly as it was designed to, while likening the destruction of the Enzo, one of only 400 ever made, to the burning of a Van Gogh.
Eriksson, whose career as executive director of failed electronic game maker Gizmondo recently ended, claimed that a German whom he knew only by the name of Dietrich was driving ...
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March 11, 2006 at 1:51 pm ·
Filed under 4 - Alcoholic Myth of the Month
"She's acting this way because of cultural differences.â€
So said an old friend and client of mine when dealing with the sole heir who was refusing to cooperate in burying the decedent. While the man lay in the refrigeration section of a mortuary, the heir spent what little cash was left on re-seeding the front yard of the decedent's home, which she had just inherited. After suggesting that no sober person regardless of culture would act this way, my friend recalled that the heir had her two babies taken from her due to drunkenness and methamphetamine use.
Most people habitually think of anything but addiction as the root of problems. We need to retrain ourselves to consider alcohol and other-drug addiction ...
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March 11, 2006 at 1:50 pm ·
Filed under 3 - Dear Doug...
Dear Doug: Pill Thief
Dear Doug:
A family friend, Anita, who has had drug problems and been diagnosed with a "chemical imbalance"she treats with drug therapy, recently stayed at our home. After she returned home to her husband and children, I found several empty bottles of medication, including strong narcotics that my husband used after surgery last year. No one other than Anita could have taken these drugs.
We have no idea what to do. We don't want to tell Anita's husband, who might leave her, but are concerned for the children. Should we tell her husband, confront Anita, or what?
Signed,
Victim of a Pharmaceutical Addict
. . . .
Dear Victim,
Other columnists might suggest that you calmly discuss the missing medications with Anita, ...
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March 11, 2006 at 1:48 pm ·
Filed under 2 - Movie & Book Reviews
Review: Walk the Line
"The darkness was responsible for his work, but also for dragging him down.â€
So said co-writer and Director James Mangold in his commentary on the film biography of country singer legend Johnny Cash. "Walk the Line"is an excellent portrayal of alcoholism and the grand dichotomy largely responsible for the conflicts in the work and lives of Cash, Edgar Allan Poe, Richard Burton, Jim Morrison and countless other remarkable achievers. The portrayal of Cash's father's alcoholism and abusive behaviors is superb as well in this on-screen acknowledgment of the genetic roots of a disease to which he succumbs.
Since the cinema and addicts (the screenplay is based on Cash's autobiography) can't be trusted to accurately report real-life events, there's ...
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March 11, 2006 at 1:46 pm ·
Filed under 1 - Top Stories
Olympian Speed-Skater Chad Hedrick
Immature"or over-achieving alcoholic?
The danger in tentatively identifying early-stage alcoholism is that alcoholic behaviors can easily be confused with immaturity in relatively young people, particularly if they are children of alcoholics. Such non-alcoholic young adults often drink and may even attempt to do so with reckless abandon. They're used to the drinking, as well as the abusive behaviors of those they grew up with. They can easily learn misbehaviors, mimicking parents and, perhaps, alcoholic friends.
Such may be the case with Olympian speed-skater and gold-medalist Chad Hedrick. However, there is no public indication that either of his parents, married 33 years, have the disease of alcoholism. Unfortunately, as is all-too-common with those in the public spotlight, the rest ...
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March 11, 2006 at 1:45 pm ·
Filed under 1 - Top Stories
Runners-up for top story of the month:
Robert Franklin Holcombe, 55, of Atlanta, Georgia, had an infatuation with strippers and whiskey that bled his savings accounts dry. He spent $110,000 from an inheritance and repeatedly refinanced his home, using the proceeds to woo young women. To get his hands on $300,000 in life insurance and retirement funds, he hatched a scheme to murder his wife of 30 years. First, hoping to cause an explosion, he broke a natural gas line to the water heater. His wife found a small fire in the basement and didn't think anything of it. Then he connected a hose between the tail pipe of his car in the garage to the bedroom through a hole he ...
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March 11, 2006 at 1:40 pm ·
Filed under 1 - Top Stories
Under watch:
Grants, New Mexico resident Jennifer Sambarco, 44, who after being forced onto disability retirement by the postal service in 2003 for an "unspecified psychological problem,"returned to her former workplace in Goleta, California with a pistol, snuck in and murdered five employees before killing herself. Co-workers had reported that she "acted oddly, was difficult to deal with and inflexible."Neighbors in New Mexico reported they had similar issues and some went out of their way to avoid her. A newspaper she wanted to start in New Mexico, dubbed The Racist Press, never got off the ground. While her behavior became increasingly erratic and unbalanced, one neighbor said that the possibility of violence never crossed his mind. It is unlikely that she ...
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February 3, 2006 at 8:53 am ·
Filed under 5 - Amazing Alcoholic Antics
Amazing Antics: Stories of Alcoholism-Driven Behaviorsâ„¢
Stories from "This is True"by Randy Cassingham, with his "tagline:â€
"THAT WARM FEELING: Daniel Zeiszler, 22, pleaded no contest to a charge of manufacturing methamphetamine and was sentenced to five months in jail and three years of probation. Zeiszler didn't use typical methods to make the drug. He had just smoked some meth, so he tried to filter the residue out of his urine using solvent. The ‘methodology this guy used would work,' said San Mateo County, Calif., chief deputy district attorney Steve Wagstaffe, ‘but it would take bottles and bottles of urine.' (San Francisco Chronicle) ...Which of course will now have to be tightly regulated by the Drug Enforcement Administration."
When I first researched and wrote ...
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