Muncie Times, Muncie, Delaware County, 20 March 1997 — Page 10

The Muncie Times, March 20, 1997, Page 10

who lived here. “I though Muncie was a good place to move to,’' he said. By that time, his grandfather had died from alcoholism. Lipscomb's father, a steel worker who had an alcohol problem, had moved to Pittsburgh, Penn. His mother is a recovering alcoholic. Lipscomb attended Garfield and Wilson Schools, before his 1970 graduation from Muncie Southside High School, where he was an athlete. A basketball scholarship took him to Florida A & M University for 1 year. "Alcohol has always been my main drug. I had my first drink at 1 5. At 16, 1 was into speed, codeine, alcohol, other drugs, you name it. 1 was diagnosed as having a substance abuse problem. Every day available I tried something,” Lipscomb said. That dependency was his undoing at Florida A & M. During basketball season he did try to go to class. He also had tutors to help him with his class work. "But after the basketball season was over, I didn't go to class. It was normal for me to spend my time drinking and using drugs. That continued until I decided I had a problem. That was in 1982. after I had lost one of my better jobs. By that time, 1 had lost numerous other jobs,” he said. In 1972 he got married. By the time he was divorced in 1980, Lipscomb has seven children, four from his wife and three outside the marital bed. Today his children range in age from 1 7 to 27. "I have a good relationship with my children. We communicate well, even though we are going through some changes. It’s a lot better relationship with my children than when I was doing drugs and alcohol. I didn't accept, until 1982, that I had children that I was responsible for them. Until then, I couldn’t accept that I had a problem or that I needed help. It took several incidents before I could accept that and be rescued,” he said. “That happened in 1995, when I was sitting in Delaware Countyjail. It happened through what I would like to call divine intervention. A probation officer and family members helped me. I had been to prison twice. I had been shot, hospitalized and I almost died. “Then in 1995, a probation officer asked me if 1 wanted to attend AA. Another probation officer wanted to know if I wanted to attend anger control classes. That’s when I finally accepted that I was a drug and alcohol addict and I needed help. “I decided to do something about it. God blessed me with the program to control my anger and my addiction problems. I stayed in jail 7 months. By

then, I knew I had to change. I have been sober now 1 8 months. “By then, I had lost my family, my marriage, had lost a nice job, had lost my scholarship. I couldn't go back to school. I had lost my self-esteem, had lost my nuclear family. I was stealing. My own mother got a restraining order against me.

“I was stealing, lying and doing whatever I could to get a drink or cocaine. Whatever you needed-sex, drugs, women--come to me. I would get it for you. Whatever it took to get my drugs and alcohol, I would do it. 1 had to support my habit. 1 had lost track of myself and I had lost control. Sometimes I wouldn’t eat for 2, 3, or 4 days, as long as I had my drink and my drugs. I had no morals, no values. I cared about nothing accept the drugs. The drugs and alcohol were the controlling force in my life.” By that time, Lipscomb says his habit was costing him at least $300 a day. “ft feels good to be clean. I don't have the anxiety of always looking over my shoulder, wondering who was following me or looking at me,” he said. “Now I can sleep in peace. lean relax. I like it.” Lipscomb has also found God. He attends Mt. Zion Baptist Church. He is also working for J & M Masonry, where he is learning to lay bricks. Debbie Hall was born in Muncie but raised in Chicago. She is 37, but could pass for someone much older, thanks to the hard life she has endured. She dropped out in the 11 th grade. Today she has five children, ages 22, 18. 17, 13 and 10. “I started using drugs at 1 2. just to be part of the scene. I also started drinking at 12. By the 13,1 was into marijuana. I smoked marijuana for 25 years. I drank on and off. Drinking made me sick,” she said. “So I stuck more to drugs. I have tried all kinds of drugs, cocaine, pills, heroin. Cocaine brought me to my knees. It was my drug of choice. “It got really bad. It came between me and my family. 1 started doing things I didn’t want to. To support my habit, I was involved in prostitution, robbery, gangs, stealing. “So I came back to Muncie to

change my lifestyle, to show that there is a better way of living. My sons had become gang members. In the part of Chicago where we lived, you had no choice but to belong to gangs. So I brought my children to Muncie in 1990. The lifestyle we had in Chicago was very dangerous and very destructive. People had no idea of

right from wrong.” Hall said she had tried to stop several times, before succeeding. In November 1991, she went to a treatment center. “I stayed clean for 56 months. Then I had a personal tragedy. I found out I had cancer and went back to drugs,” she said. “As the cancer progressed, I used more drugs.” In 1993. she sought'treatment again. This time she was clean for 90 days. In 1994, she sought more treatment. But she had another relapse. “My addiction got worse and worse,” she said. Her last treatment was in June, 1996. “I have been clean since I went in for treatment the last time because I had lost respect for myself, my children and my family. I had started stealing. I even stole from my mother on her dying bed,” she said. “I was lying. I was cunning. “But to steal from my own mother on Dec. 13 was like the Grinch that stole Christmas. That’s when I

decided that my addiction had gotten so unmanageable that I had to get help.” Hall said that her addiction was costing $300 to $400 daily. Now she thinks she is regaining control of her life. She is not a member but she attends Bethel Tabernacle Church in New Castle. She has been a beautician for 16 years. This month she wants to get her license. Operation Clean Sweep was founded last October. Its members are trying to raise money so they can send a delegation to a Cocaine Anonymous convention being held May 23 to 26 this year in Denver, Colo. Wells said her group would like to take a 1 5-member delegation to the convention. Part of its fund-raising efforts included a March 8 fashion extravaganza at Muncie Central High School. The group has also elicited the support of Muncie Mayor Dan Canan. In a November 1996 letter, the mayor said he supported Operation Clean Sweep’s “efforts to aid the community in the fight against crime, violence and substance abuse...I fully support Operation Clean Sweep’s latest endeavor to aid the community in the fight against substance abuse. “My administration is committed to improving Muncie and I ask the citizens of Muncie to join with me to support this organization.” Wells said other fund-raising ventures planned include ticket raffles, bake and rummage sales and seeking community donations. Wells is the group's chair. Simpson is the treasurer. Caldwell, Hall, Lipscomb and Young-El are Operation Clean Sweep committee members.

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Then I had a personal tragedy. I was diagnosed with cancer.