The Westerner for January 4, 2010
Meeting: chair, Mike Ryan; music, Jerome; grace, Ron
Attendance/Guests: 40 including Al Budlong, Rotary Club of St. Albert; Ivan Docker, Rotary Club of Edmonton Strathcona; Alex Paterson, guest of Lynette; Doug Brady, Rotary Club of Edmonton Northeast and guest speaker; Oliver Weymann, guest speaker; Peter Carroll, guest of Doug Brady
Proposed New Member: Alex Paterson, proposed by Lynette, owner of Two Gallery, classification to be determined
Raffle: Al Budlong circulated tickets for his club's raffle, main prize a trip to New York, $20 per ticket
International Service: Duane gave an update - Ben Doz and Lorne are in Guatemala; 2 micro banks for Guatemala have been approved by Alberta Gaming; Duane and Chris, possibly with Bruce, will be going to Belize to evaluate possible projects - mainly a needs assessment for the high school in Placenia
Rotoract: Al Sanderson circulated a sign-up sheet for members to attend a dinner planned by the Rotoract Club to host parents and students of Parksdale Elementary to try to get parents to attend parent/teacher interview sessions, January 21, more data to come
New Member Induction: Lewis Cardinal was inducted under classification Indigenous Media
50/50: Lewis and Duane did not match cards, $67 carried over
Finemaster: Jerome, to the point, $1 if you travelled at Christmas, $1 if you did not travel; $1 if you are looking for a wonderful year in 2010
Guest Speaker: Rob Dunseith introduced Doug Brady, executive director of Edmonton Drug Treatment & Community Restoration Court who is also a minister in his church and a member of Rotary Club of Edmonton North East. Doug works with people in the court so that they will not be in the revolving door syndrome of repeat court appearances for new transgressions. This court approach will also reduce the prison population. In the drug court, people are held accountable - they must report to a treatment centre for at least a week, then they report to a treatment team once per week and tell the judge of their progress. They are subject to random urine tests but have the opportunity to be honest and own up to drug use during the program but before the test. This may result in more treatment but they are still in the program. The drug court is meant to help addicts stay clean.
There are 30 graduates from the program, including Oliver Weymann. Even the people who did not graduate appreciate the help they get to stay clean for longer periods of time. Oliver is a dry waller and employs 9 people. His background is a normal kid from a normal family with a normal upbringing where everything was provided. But he started using pot at age 14, then alcohol and tried cocaine at age 18. He supported his habit with proceeds from work until age 22 when he was charged with drug trafficking. He did not do jail time but returned to his addiction. His sister, a physician, detoxed him when he was 24 but he continued to relapse. This caused his wife and son to leave. Oliver chose drugs over family.
In the last 5 years of his addiction, he rotated between jail and drugs. He was refered to the drug court program but was denied 4 times. Finally his lawyer lobbied successfully on his behalf and he was accepted. He was forced into treatment but it took 2 weeks to talk him out of trying to run away. He finally admitted to being a drug addict. Now his family relates to him again and he has become a productive member of the community - he earns enough to pay taxes. He also runs a recovery home where 4 addicts live with him during their rehab period. Peter Carroll is one of those addicts. Drug court nurtured Oliver back to life.
Mike Ryan thanked the speakers. Congratulations to Mike for being 21 years drug free.