A SOBER NEW YEAR'S EVE

Recovering Alcoholics Find Alternative Ways To Celebrate

WASHINGTON -- As partygoers make plans for the New Year's Eve bash of the
century, recovering alcoholics are bracing to keep sober amidst the hoopla
celebrating the new millennium.

New York Yankees outfielder Darryl Strawberry, one of baseball's most feared
hitters and known for his public struggles with drug and alcohol abuse, said
Monday that he intends to ring in the New Year with his family in a Baptist
church in Tampa, Fla., near his home.

"I don't even entertain the thought of going to a party," said Strawberry.
"I used to think that's the greatest feeling in life. You wear the hats, you
blow the horns and you drink until you can't feel anymore. But, it turns
out, that's an escape from what life really is."

Strawberry said he has been sober for nine months after twice falling off
the wagon. Avoiding the millennium revelry is the best way to avoid a
relapse, he said.

"There's nothing there for me," said Strawberry, spokesman for the National
Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, a nonprofit private educational
group. "To me it's a false thing anyway -- a big charade. I should have been
dead from all the drinking I have done. I am better off sober."

For an estimated 1.5 million recovering alcoholics nationwide, this New
Year's Eve will be especially tough because there has been so much hoopla
surrounding the rollover into the new century and the new millennium, said
Stacia Murphy, president of the New York-based group.

"It's the anticipation of Y2K that has heightened anxiety and made people
more prone to drink," Murphy said. "It's the uncertainty of it all. There
probably will be more celebration than we've ever seen. People just get
caught up in the hype of it all. If you have a drinking problem or are in
recovery, it's really important to stay away."

Murphy said the holidays are always tough for people trying to avoid
drinking because Americans have a habit of popping corks to mark special
occasions. "We use alcohol in this country for celebration," she said.

However, some experts say staying home isn't always the key to staying
sober, because some people may feel left out and depressed and may take a
nip in private.

Jim Dukes, a 43-year-old owner of an advertising business in Knoxville,
Tenn., said he plans to go out and celebrate by attending a liquor-free New
Year's Eve scavenger hunt where the only refreshments will be coffee and
dessert.

"New Year's Eve is the mother of cocktail parties," said Dukes, who boasts
he has been sober since 1996. "I don't choose to be around that atmosphere."

Another recovering alcoholic, a 40-year-old Rochester, N.Y., secretary who
gives only her first name as Ceil, said she plans to usher in 2000 at home
serving root-beer floats to her family, including her 87-year-old
grandmother.

"I'll be there with my computer and make sure it doesn't blow up," she
added.

Lyle Prouse, a retired airline pilot from Conyers, Ga., who is celebrating
his 10th year of sobriety, said he has learned to avoid parties during the
holidays and has no New Year's Eve plans.

"It's not the champagne that makes the occasion, it's the event that makes
the occasion," Prouse said. "For me, the booze is toxic. I might just as
well pick up a glass of Drano and drink it."

Nicholas Paparella, 52, a Yuba, City, Calif., electrician, said the partying
mania that always accompanies New Year's Eve is overrated.

"Been there, done that and there's nothing special about the year 2000,"
Paparella said.