LARRY GATLIN RECALLS LIFE OF SUBSTANCE ABUSE

Famous Singersongwriter Tells Mobile Audience Of His Recovery After Hitting
Rock Bottom 17 Years Ago

Recovering substance abuser Larry Gatlin -- better known as a singing and
song-writing member of the Gatlin Brothers -- first succumbed to alcohol in
one of the usual ways.

He bowed to peer pressure, he told some 850 attendees of the sixth annual
Drug Education Council luncheon in Mobile Wednesday.

Gatlin, famous for a resume that includes hit recordings such as "All the
Gold in California" and "Houston," asked everyone in the large dining room
at the Adams Mark Hotel if they could remember the first time they tasted beer.

"It's awful," he declared. "It tastes like horse tingle with the foam blown
off."

But he was a high school student in Texas, and fellow members of his
football team were determined to get him drunk. Trouble was, he couldn't
find anything that tasted good.

Finally, he said, they settled on a mixture of gin and Dr Pepper. Of
course, he got terribly sick.

"That was my first drunk," said Gatlin. "I should have known then, but I
was hard-headed."

What followed were years of highs and lows as Gatlin went on to fame,
fortune and drunkenness. Speed and marijuana were his drugs of choice
during college at the University of Houston. When he moved to Nashville,
cocaine was added to the mix as he worked among some of America's
best-known country music stars and songwriters.

"I went to Nashville, and I started hanging out with those people," he
said. "I was introduced to some more chemical refreshment."

Gatlin recalled how snorting cocaine during that phase of his life made him
feel 14 feet tall.

"If we have young people here today, don't let anybody tell you it won't
make you feel good," Gatlin advised. "It feels great -- the first time."
Later, he warned, drugs and alcohol turned his life into "a living hell."

In his 1998 book, "All the Gold in California and Other People, Places &
Things," the oldest member of the Gatlin Brothers trio tells about how he
hit rock bottom in a Dallas hotel room 17 years ago. He also told the
Mobile audience about that occasion.

He ended up in a California treatment center for drug and alcohol abuse.
Two months later, he went public with his recovery effort in a "Good
Morning America" interview with Kathie Lee Gifford.

"On my fourth day of treatment, God took from me the desire to drink and
use drugs," Gatlin said. "It has not returned in 17 years."

Gatlin's friend, fellow singersongwriter Paul Williams, returned this year
for another Drug Education Council luncheon. He was a speaker at the event
several years ago, and he has helped the luncheon secure additional
speakers during subsequent years.

For his support, organizers Priscilla "Prissy" Wilson and husband John
Wilson presented him with the Watson Guy Award.

"I am more grateful than you can possibly know to once a year be a part of
life in Mobile," said Williams, who also spoke of his own battles with
alcoholism.

Also honored, with the Joseph Treadwell Award, were John S. Davis and the
Mobile Gas Service Corp. Davis, who is president and CEO of Mobile Gas, was
honored because of the company's drug-free policies and efforts on behalf
of substance abuse programs.

WALA-TV10 anchor Bob Grip was master of ceremonies for the event. In his
opening remarks, Grip told attendees the luncheon had raised $85,000 that
"will go back into the community for vital counseling services."