Anti-Drug Rally Held In Towanda - The Canton Independent

14- THE CANTON INDEPENDENT-SENTINEL/TROY GAZETTE REGISTER,LLC., CANTON PA 17724 • THURSDAY, MAY 19, 2016 • CLASSIFIED ADS (570) 673-5151
THE DAILY REVIEW, TOWANDA, PA DAY, MONTH DATE, YEAR
On May 5, 2016, several hundred people gathered on Main
Street in front of the Bradford
County Courthouse to observe
the county's "Addiction Awareness Rally."
The event was organized in
response to the spate of deaths
from heroin overdoses in the
county and hoped to remove the
stigma from drug addiction while
encouraging treatment and enforcement of the law.
Main Street in Towanda (Rt.
6) was closed to motor traffic for
the event, and the courthouse
lawn and grounds was filled with
booths from various agencies
who have roles in curing drug
addiction and supporting addicts
and their families.
Local musicians Mitch Bacorn
and Chris Corbett provided music
prior to the event, and then several musicians from the Independent Baptist Church in Towanda
performed as the audience was
gathering.
Bradford County Sheriff C J
Walters was the master of ceremonies and welcomed the crowd
by stating, "Tonight is the night we
stand united and say "No More
Drugs" in Bradford County!"
After the National Anthem, the
Sheriff led in prayer, asking "for
the Lord's help in fighting this
problem."
Sheriff Walters said, "We are
here to help people who need
help,," and noted the connection between opiod addiction and
heroin abuse, and reported some
grim statistics: "Seven die in
Pennsylvania daily to drug overdoses. That's 2,555 people, or the
equivalent of a town the size of
Towanda each year,"
He introduced Towanda Mayor
Garrett Miller, who proclaimed
May 5 as "Bradford County Drug
Addiction Awareness Day" in
Towanda. He related the experience of his stepson, Stephen Percival, who started with alcohol,
but moved on to drugs, bath salts
and, finally, heroin. He was clinically-dead after an overdose, his
life was saved through the administration of Narcan, and he has
made a miraculous recovery, and
after a year in a halfway house
is living, on his own, with a fulltime job. "He made up his mind
that enough was enough," Mayor
Miller said, "No matter what you
are going through, there are people who will help you."
He urged the audience, "We've
got to take a stand…" and shouted, "No More Drugs!" as the audience repeated, each of his admonitions in turn: "No More Drug
Dealers! No More Pain For Families" "No More Burying Our Sons
and Daughters!" :Let's Love One
Another!" "Let's Pray for One Another!" "Let's Heal One Another!"
Next to address the audience
was Keith Kinsman, who was the
prime motivator behind tonight's
rally. He began on a somber
note: "Less then three month's
ago, on what seemed like the
coldest morning of winter, I found
my son's [Ben Kinsman's] frozen
and lifeless body on the front
steps of our home." He went on
the tell of the shock of his death,
and the shock the community felt
when three young men died of
heroin overdoses on the same
weekend in February.
Mr. Kinsman declared that he
could not have been able to deal
with the loss of his son were it not
for God. "Our Heavenly Father
is never more present than when
our children are suffering."
He said that addiction touches us
all. "…the steady stream of young
people in the obituaries,the iconic
rock star found dead in his home,
the elderly person with nagging
hip pain, the high school football
player injured on the field, the
construction worker with back
trouble, the straight-A student that
snorts a pain pill at a party and in
the blink of an eye is using heroin,
the mother who desperately attempts CPR while her daughter's
life slowly but surely slips away…
one family member uses, and
the whole family suffers. "It's not
just "those people" anymore. It's
the story of us and its a modern
American tragedy."
Mr. Kinsman likened heroin to
a deadly reptile: "Heroin is like a
deadly snake, and it is not satisfied until it destroys." He said,
"We've got to do more to stop this
before they take that first pill or
snort that first line."
Mr. Kinsman said, "The link
between opiate pain-killers and
heroin is obvious." He noted that
the United States has 5% of the
world's population but consumers 80% of its pain medicine. His
son, "took his first opiate pain pill
at age 27. Within a year he was
dead. He never used a needle,
He sniffed it up his nose. Pain
pills are the root cause of the heroin epidemic. Why do we permit
this on such a massive scale?"
He continued, "This is the worst
epidemic since the Great Flu of
1918, and the solutions so far are
anemic…we've got to protect our
kids…step up and use new tools,
crack down and sweep the county clean. It's time for us to fight on
the home front. If we stand with
law enforcement we can save
lives." Mr. Kinsman urged the
audience to "Help those who are
struggling, remember who they
were before they got sick; help
them to stay alive."
He said, "Addiction is not a moral deficiency or a character flaw.
There is room for both God and
science in combatting addiction."
He said, "we have assembled every kind of help we can" and he
urged people to talk to them.
He had keyboardist Mike Shanks
play the final line of "Silent Night"
("sleep in heavenly peace"] without the final note, and then said,
"Ben's life was missing that last
note - the graduate degree he
never received, the career he
never attained, the girl he never
married, the first child he never
held. I hold onto the hope that
Ben's death was not in vain. God
had a plan; that's why we all are
here tonight. [Ben] is in heaven,
resting in peace." Mr. Shanks
then played the tune, including
the last note.
Lisa Bailey of Waverly, NY,
founder of Valley ADE (Addiction
and Drug Education), also spoke
at the rally. She said that theirs
was "a good family, we had it all,
and believed 'if you just stay involved, take them to church, they
will be OK.' But her son Brad had
"a concussion, which led to pain
and medication, and it spiraled
out of control." He was no longer
able to play basketball, and "he
had no idea who he was without
a basketball in his hand." Brad
turned to street drugs and suffered a heroin overdose. Mrs. Bailey said 350 people began praying, and if you don't believe in the
power of prayer, a few hours later,
he walked out - a miracle." But he
was still hooked, and stole family
heirlooms and the family drained
its bank accounts, "Drugs own
you," she warned, but through all
the tragedy, "God kept sending
that kid back to us." Eventually,
it reached the stage where they
kicked him out, "to save him and
to stop enabling him."
"No one wants to grow up and be
an addict. Trust your gut. If you
think something is wrong, it is. I
can't beat my son's addiction for
him. We all have choices, but after they choose drugs, they lose
their choice." She said, "I don't
want to bury another child in our
community."
The next speaker was Marlene
Rohe, who founded the Bradford County Chapter of Narcotics
Overdose and Prevention Education (NOPE). She said that five
years ago she lost her son, Brandon Schuchardt at age 29 to a
fentanyl overdose. "I'm here to rip
off the scab, to expose the desperation and isolation and unending agony" she experienced as
a result of her son's death. She
said, "I was an enabler, I didn't
know where to turn. My daily
life was Hell." She said that she
found her son dead, and asked,
is this real? What could I have
done differently?"
Other speakers included all three
Bradford County Commissioners,
Doug McLinko, Daryl Miller and
Ed Bustin.
Commissioner McLinko also noted that so many stories of addiction begin with use of legally prescribed medications. He noted
that the New Beginnings GodHab
near LeRoy has a successful,
faith-based program of recovery
and regeneration for addicts. The
Commissioner said his friend Jason had graduated from New Beginnings and will mark two years
sober in July. "Through Christ, we
saw a miracle happen right before our eyes," Mr. McLinko said.
Commissioner Ed Bustin announced that the former Mosherville School in Wells Township
will open this summer as the
County's first full-licensed recovery and detoxiifcation center.
Pastor Don Hauser of the Independent Baptist Church said that
recovery had a spiritual aspect
and urged people to seek help
through God."
The rally was closed with a candlelight vigil, and music, including
Amazing Grace by the Independent Baptist Church singers.
Anti-Drug Rally Held In Towanda
A large crowd gathered in the Courthouse Square in Towanda
for the Anti-Addiction Rally.
Keith Kinsman, organizer of the
rally, was one of the speakers.
County Sheriff C J Walters
was Master of Ceremonies
There are many organizations to support those trying to overcome drug dependence
There were large posters in
remembrance of those who
have perished from drug overdoses.
April Swain carried a poster of
her son Mitchell Norton, who
lost his life to a drug overdose.
Marlene Rohe spoke about her
son Brandon Schuhardt
The Elks Of Pennsylvania have a
major anti-drug program
Debra Sharp is Director of the
Single County Authority for Bradford County Human Services.
Melissa Sentiff of "Communities that Care", with Partners in Family
and Community Development
Bradford County Commissioners Doug McLinko, Daryl Miller
and Ed Bustin are committed to using as many resources as
possible to combat the drug problem in Bradford County
Bradford County is urging everyone to "See Something, and Two large American flags were displayed at the ends of the
Main Square in Towanda.
Say Something to Save Someone."
There were over twenty booths representing organizations that provide support for families and people trying to overcome addiction to drugs
and alcohol. Many speakers, including the Sheriff and the County Commissioners, urged users to take advantage of the many people who
are working hard to help users turn their lives around. There are all sorts of groups and churches and agencies willing to help them.