Decatur Daily Democrat, Volume 61, Number 232, Decatur, Adams County, 2 October 1963 — Page 11

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 1, W ?

Torn Between Peaceful Cave, Indiana Wiles By RICHARD OLIVER United Press International Mill springs, Tenn. (UPD—Old Ben Ballinger went back to his cave on the banks of the Holston River last week and dreamed of honky-tonking in Wabash, Ind. It was the first time the»grizzled romantic called the “Tennessee Caveman” has left is cave in 24 years, and it set him to thinking. That cave In the Great Smokies gets mighty cold during the long Tennessee winters, but Ben figures it would still be a fine place for a summer vacation. He went to nurse a bad back at a friend’s home in Indiana this summer. “I was out honkytonkin’ around up there in Wabash, and now I’m thinking of going back,” Ben said. The 59-year-old caveman is torn between the peace and tranquility of his pre-historic cavesite on the Holston River and the wiles of 20th Century civilization. Twenty-four years ago Ballinger did away with gas and electricity, telephones and radios, rent and taxes. Evicting a family of four red foxes, he moved into a natural cave that long ago was used as shelter by hunting parties of the Cherokee Indian nation. He smoothed out the lumpy dirt floor, built a wooden frame and door at the cave’s entrance, installed an old rusted stove, and threw down a creaky army cot. He fished and hunted and gathered wood for his fire. A dingy kerosene lantern cost him 20 cents to run all winter. When the temperatures dipped, sometimes to 10 below zero, Ben would stay in the cave, keeping warm by frying his catch from the frozen river, or boiling up a batch of “cave stew”—a hearty soup-like concoction of herbs and vegetables, and anything else lying around. With the coming of spring, when the heavy rains flow down the mountains to meet the rivers and streams, the cave became flooded, sometimes with up to 18 inches of water. But even this had its compensations. For a few weeks every year the caveman enjoyed the convenience of a steady, pencilthick trickle of water running down into J* drinking and shaving taw' at the entrance of toe cate. The caveman is a romantic. He lives the existence that nature has given him. “Most people ask me about my bathroom facilities,” he says. ’ “You see that river out there? Why I have a bathtub that stretches all the way from Cherokee to New Orleans. That’s right, a 3,000-mile bathtub.” Despite his love for the cave ? n ® OLD HAT — Sp/4 Edward Dodrill models the Army fatigue cap going out of style at Ft. Sill, Okla. A snappier number is soon to take its place. I 1 yk \ I J > * “To be sure that your bullet makes the riiht connection always point your gun in a safe direction." Be A Safe Shooter ’’ THE NATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION

and the raw nature around him, the caveman is lonely. He longs to be with people. His eyes light up when he talks about the friends he has and the places he’s been to. Ben thinks he’ll go back to Indiana. He knows he’ll miss his cave and his wide-eyed Sunday visitors. But most of all, he says, he’ll miss the mountains of Tennessee and the beautiful river that flows past his home. “Why that Indiana is flat country ” he said. “That Wabash is just an old mud puddle. I can’t see why they write songs about “I’ll have to come bacK to the cave for my summer vacations.”

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How To Become A Real Alcoholic

By HARRY FERGUSON United Press International WASHINGTON (UPD — There are about five million alcoholics in the United States. Contrary to common belief, only three per cent of them are found lying in the gutters of big cities. There are alcoholics in all echelons of the economy and all categories of society. You may be unaware of it, but there can be two or three persons living on

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your block who are fighting a silent, .desperate battle against alcohol. Women are less inclined to become alcoholics than men. For every woman alcoholic there are 5.8 men. But scientists are becoming increasingly concerned about women who spend their days in solitary drinking. As comedienne Phyllis Diller says: “Around 5 o’clock every afternoon they put a dab of O’Cedar

wax polish behind their ears so they will smell busy when the husband comes home." The rest of their day is devoted to drinking. Takes 8% Years Some persons are born alcoholics, meaning they are doomed from the time they take their first drink. They never stop drinking. But such people are in the small minority, and the alcoholic Rehabilitation Center says it takes an average of eight and onehalf years for a drinker to step up his consumption to the point where he can be medically classified as an alcoholic. The National Council on Alcoholism says there are 13 steps down the ladder to trouble: the social drink, and here is where most people stop and remain for

the rest of their lives. The blackout: you can’t | remember what happened the night before. You drink more than your friends do and the liquor means more to you.t You continue to drink more than you mean to’- the intended two drinks after work turns into six. You begin inventing excuses for drinking (a cold, fatigue etc). You start taking eye openers befor breakfast. You begin to drink alone. You become anti-social when you drink (pick fights with strahgers). You start going on benders or prolonged drinking bouts. You are tortured by remorse in you sober moments but only briefly any then resume drinking heavier than ever. You develop anxiety over your ability to obtain liquor and begin hiding bottles around the house. You fin-

ally realize you the an alcoholic, perhaps because of a traffic accident or a bad fall on the stairs. You decide whether to fight it or succumb: either you turn yourself over to a doctor for treatment or give up and drink yourself to death. “Alibi Stage” Cruelal The Alcoholic Information Center here believes the “alibi stage” may be the most crucial sign post on the road to alcoholism, and describes it this wayi "h “Mr. X refuses to admit it, but he begins shaping his entire life toward the maximum amount of' drinking. To do this he erects a system of alibis add lives behind it. He tells his wife he is not interested in. playing bridge with the neighbors any more. (He feels they have him under surveillance and he can’t drink as

PAGE THREE-A

much m he wants to). “He joins a weekly poker game where drinking is unlimited. He invents crises in his business and tells his wife he needs four drinks before dinner to help him forget them. He says he has developed a tendency to hay fever and quits playing week-end golf so hp can stay home and drink. Saving a man who has become an alcoholic is discouraging work. The Washington Rehabiliation Clinic says almost half of the persons who seek assistance nev* er return after the first visit. The following results are obtained from those who do return for a I minimum of 25 visits: Marked improvement (they stay sober for six months,) 24 per cent: Moderate improvement (not totally sober6l.s; Unimproved 14.5.