Hundreds of people amassed on Towanda’s Courthouse Square on Thursday evening, all participants in the Bradford County Addiction Awareness Rally, which was focused on a growing opiate epidemic at home and across the nation. In the course of his presentation, County Sheriff C.J. Walters (above) informed the audience that there were three confirmed drug overdose reports in the Sayre/Athens area that day.
Photos and Story by Rick Hiduk
The seat of Bradford County came to a virtual standstill last night as hundreds of people gathered in Towanda to learn from each other what might be the best courses of action to turn around a growing crisis of drug addiction and overdose deaths. For as much as the Bradford County Addiction Awareness Rally at the County Courthouse proved painful for some, as parents of adult children addicted to opiates shared their heart-wrenching stories, it was also a night of hope.
County officials, spiritual leaders, professionals in the field, and a recovering addict promised those in attendance that conquering the epidemic was within their reach if they will band together.
The event kicked off at 5 pm with an acoustical performance by Mitch Bacon and Chris Corbett and later musicians from the Independent Baptist Church (below). The church’s congregation made a great presence at the rally, sporting bright red shirts and numbering well over one hundred. Spirituality played a large role in program, with several prayers offered and numerous confessions by speakers that whatever strength they muster comes directly from their faith.
More than a dozen of 31 “service providers” listed on the back of the program brochure set up information tents on the courthouse lawn. Larger than life portraits of young men and women – one as young as 13 – who have died in recent years of drug overdoses were exhibited. Owing to the common lament that drug users and their families feel they have no where to turn, the number of agencies that offer counseling and other services surprised some in attendance, including Cathy Balfour.
While she and her husband, Brian, reside in Tioga County, NY, her son R.J. Skovira grew up in Bradford County and died there of a heroin overdose in 2014. As a volunteer with the DRIFT program, Cathy regularly tells the story to school students of how she lost her son to drugs. Her assessment of so many similar organizations set up around her on Thursday reverberated among the scheduled speakers for the rest of the night.
“Everybody is working individually with one person at a time,” she stated. “We need to start working together and treating the whole problem. I’d like to get all of the leaders of all of these groups together to spearhead something.”
The Bradford County Addiction Awareness Rally was coordinated by Towanda resident Kieth Kinsman, who awoke on a cold February morning to find his son Ben’s lifeless frozen body on the stairs leading to their home. Ben’s was one of three overdose deaths in the county that weekend. Kinsman challenged the county commissioners at a public meeting to help lead the crusade against opiate addiction, and they immediately embraced the cause and encouraged him to move forward with his plans.
The program was emceed by County Sheriff C.J. Walters, who made the charge up front that prescribed pharmaceuticals like Vicadin were the gateway drug to heroin addiction and an equal part of the problem. He and others questioned out loud the overproduction of a legal opiate that has trapped so many in the downward spiral to heroin – the cheaper, more potent alternative.
Towanda Mayor Garrett Miller (below) told of the hell entire families go through because of one drug user in the household. He noted that his step-son had gone through the vicious cycle of abuse and rehab and a near-death experience before seeming to be on the path to true recovery. Their situation has improved, and they remain guarded but hopeful, due largely to the support they have received.
“No matter what you go through, there are always people to help,” Miller asserted. “Don’t be ashamed. We’ve got to take a stand.”
“Ben was desperately ashamed of what had become,” Kinsman said of his son. “He felt the stigma.”
To one degree or another, Kinsman added, “We are all touched by addiction. It’s not just ‘those’ people anymore. It’s the story of us.”
Kinsman related that he is encouraged by some of the progress and ideas that he has seen put into action at the county level, like a new drug tips hotline and billboards on county highways imploring country residents to anonymously report any drug activity or concerns.
“It is guaranteed 100 percent anonymous,” Walters stated. “We can’t even get your phone number from this system.
Nonetheless, Kinsman vowed, the formation of an organization is underway which will monitor the progress of the county’s initiatives.
Kinsman noted that he lost Ben to heroin addiction within a year of his son being prescribed pain killers for the first time. Other speakers told of years of struggles, either eventually ending in death or still ongoing.
Marlene Rohe’s son was suffering from depression. She was unaware until she took note of his drug use, watching him drift from pot to heroin to Fentanyl. “I did the best I could while knowing nothing about it,” she offered.
Rohe, who also speaks for DRIFT, and other parents who shared their stories, explained that relentless intervention attempts often turns the user against the parent. No parent wants to lose the love of a child, and many of them unwittingly become enablers.
The three county commissioners, Doug McLinko, Daryl Miller, and Ed Bustin stood unified in their goal to rid the county of heroin and provide adequate help for drug users through continued open dialogue and the open of a treatment center. Sheriff Walters made it clear that sales of drugs will not be tolerated and that dealers will be convicted to the extent of the law. But he struck a conciliatory tone on the side of those addicted. “We can’t arrest our way out of it,” he stated.
“Addiction lives and thrives in darkness,” Commissioner Ed Bustin suggested. “Hope will wipe out the darkness that keeps us from action.”
Perhaps the most inspiring speaker of the evening, however, was a recovering addict and recovery specialist with Harbor Counseling. The beginning of Lisa Applebee’s story echoed those of the others before her in that she was living a good life and came from a loving family. The Honor student graduated at the top of her class in both high school and college while pursuing a nursing degree.
An addiction to Vicodin led to requests for stronger prescriptions then spending up to $500 per day on the black market after doctors turned her away. She silently turned to heroin and gave birth to a son already addicted who spent the first eight days of his life in detox. When Applebee tested positive for drugs at work, she lost her nursing license, then her children.
“I’ll never use a needle,” she used to tell herself, “until I did.”
After six more failed rehab attempts and several overdoses, she looked at herself in the bathroom mirror and did not recognize her own reflection. She had to reach rock bottom, she related, to realize just how bad things were. With help from her family, drug counselors and a renewed faith in God, Applebee slowly climbed back up the ladder of life. She was happy to conclude her presentation with the news that she was just shy of 1,500 days clean.
Pastor Don Houser of Independent Baptist Church concluded the program by tying together the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of recovering addicts as those in the audience lit candles. His words and the refrains of the hymn “Amazing Grace” floated up the hillside away from the courthouse and could be heard clearly from as far away as Third Street.
Bradford County Addiction Awareness Rally was deemed a huge success by participating officials and speakers and hundreds of people in attendance. The sight of so many concerned citizens holding candles in the middle of Main Street (below), which was closed to vehicles from 6 to 9 pm, was truly something to behold.
“My family has been blessed by an amazing and loving God through the entire painful trial of Ben’s death. The rally was no exception,” Kinsman stated afterward. “He hushed the audience and riveted their attention on the powerful speakers. He calmed the wind for over 1,500 lit candles. He gave us hope for our kids future. And he brought us together in awareness, firm resolve, and sincere desire to overcome this modern day epidemic of addiction.”
“You could have heard a pin drop when the speakers were addressing those in attendance,” Kinsman said of the silence during the individual presentations. “That inspired me and was a telling sign of the crowd’s concern for those lost and suffering. The entire community came together…not in harsh judgment or condemnation but with a sincere desire to better understand the true nature of addiction.”
As to what the future holds for Kinsman and other concerned Bradford County citizens, “There is a plan. There is a vision. A meeting will be held in the very near future to chart our course. We will explore the possibility of unification among the many groups and agencies with similar goals. These people all promote prevention and offer help, hope, and direction for those suffering from addiction. It is possible that we may combine forces to more effectively serve.”
Read Kinsman’s speech in its entirety here: http://www.endlessmtnlifestyles.com/?p=5514
Carli Vaughn (above) sang the national anthem to open the program.
Prior to the speeches, Audience of One, comprised of (above, from left) Thomas Roberts of Wysox, Kamri Hoffman of Towanda, and Samuel Ripa of Rome, entertained rally attendees on the north side of the courthouse.
