When “Stroker” Wiggs, the “Bandido” bike rider who became a Christian minister, died in January in Little Rock, Neal Benschoff lost a dear friend and role model. Benschoff, also a former member of an outlaw biker group that terrorized the countryside was, like “Stroker,” a Vietnam War veteran. Thanks to inpatient care at Fort Roots, a Veterans Administration (VA) facility, and regular attendance at 12-Step meetings, Benschoff has been clean and sober for 12 years now. He is also being treated … [Read more...]
Note to the Homeless: Get a Life at Our House
At Our House, it’s the children who get people choked up. It’s the baby blissfully being rocked or a little girl, with tongue stuck out, concentrating on putting a puzzle together with a gentle prompt from a volunteer. Most of these children have been neglected and some abused, but today they are safe with a staff member or with a supervised parent who is trying to get well and learn how to be responsible. Our House, which has space for 110 people, offers separate housing for homeless men and … [Read more...]
Oasis Offers Top Treatment in Rustic Resort Setting
The Oasis Renewal Center, an up-scale treatment facility on 48 wooded acres in west Little Rock, is now accepting applications from up to 24 guests — men and women 18 and over — for its 30 day program and follow up. With its log cabin cottages, main lodge, private dining facilities and scenic walking trails threading through three pristine lakes, it looks more like a rustic resort than a treatment facility. And that’s fine with Carole Baxter, executive director of Recovery Centers of Arkansas … [Read more...]
A Piece of Cake
Cupcake Brown (that's her real name) was 11 in 1976 when her mother died. Custody of Brown and her brother was given to a stranger — their birth father — who only wanted their social security checks. He then left them with an abusive foster mother who encouraged her nephew to rape Brown repeatedly. Brown got better and better at running away. A prostitute taught her to drink, smoke marijuana and charge for sex. Her next foster father traded her LSD and cocaine for oral sex. Eventually she went … [Read more...]
New Court Helps Veterans get a Fresh Start
On a mid-December afternoon, Sixth Circuit Judge Mary S. McGowan convened Little Rock’s new Veteran’s Treatment Court (VTC) on the third floor of the Pulaski County courthouse, the second of its kind in Arkansas and one of about 40 nationwide. The mission of the VTC program is to promote recovery and rehabilitation from substance abuse and mental health issues and when successful, which is most of the time, damaged lives and broken families are restored and society benefits. On the docket in … [Read more...]
