HEROIN BLAMED IN ANTI-DRUG ACTIVIST'S DEATH

When Eleanor Bronschidle talked to her 24-year-old son, Elliot "Eli"
Lizauckas, on Saturday afternoon, Mr. Lizauckas was full of excitement, full
of plans, full of life.

"He was saying he was going to make me so proud of him, finish school, pay
back everything he owed me," Ms. Bronschidle said. "I thought, 'Oh, we made
it. We finally made it.' "

She was wrong.

Saturday evening, a friend of Mr. Lizauckas' found him dead in his North
Dallas apartment, apparently of a heroin overdose. Syringes and capsules
were found in the apartment, according to a police report.

Mr. Lizauckas' death shocked relatives and friends who had seen him battle
back from a drug problem that began several years ago and start taking his
"don't start" message to young people in his hometown of Allen.

"We had no idea, no sign at all. But that's the nature of that beast
[heroin]," said Mr. Lizauckas' stepfather, David Liles of Allen.

Although Allen hasn't received the same publicity for drug problems as its
neighbor to the south, Plano, residents said Mr. Lizauckas wasn't the only
young person there fighting against the pull of heroin, cocaine and other
drugs.

Eighteen young people with Plano connections have died of heroin overdoses
since September 1994. In July, a 50-page federal indictment for dealing
heroin and cocaine in Plano was issued against 29 people, 16 of them
students in Plano schools.

In Allen, though, "people say, 'That's Plano, that's not our kids,' " said
Vicki Jamieson, a parent who knows many of the affected families. "But it
is. They're having a lot of problems up here, too. A lot of tragedy."

More than a dozen teens gathered at the Jamieson house Monday to grieve for
Mr. Lizauckas, Mrs. Jamieson said.

"They're struggling pretty hard with this," she said. "I think they think
that trying to help other people, dealing with the media, that maybe Eli was
doing that too soon and that's what pushed him over again. They're resentful
of that."

Mrs. Jamieson's son, Jeramy, died three years ago at age 21 of complications
from an enlarged heart. Jeramy, who was Mr. Lizauckas' best friend, had some
minor drug problems, but Mrs. Jamieson said they didn't cause his death.

"I do think that a lot of the kids in the group they [Jeramy and Eli] grew
up with, the ones who turned to heroin and other drugs, did so after
Jeramy's death. They had so much grief and no way of dealing with it."

Mr. Liles said his stepson had minor drug problems, "pot and that kind of
thing," beginning at age 16 or 17.

Mr. Liles said Mr. Lizauckas' problems with more deadly drugs began "when he
started hanging with older kids from Allen and Plano. I think they decided
to just go a little deeper, and before they knew it, they were caught."

>From all outward appearances, though, Mr. Lizauckas seemed to have wriggled
free of the trap. He had finished the Dallas-based Homeward Bound
drug-treatment program last spring, was living in a Dallas apartment and was
enrolled at Richland College, taking classes toward a career in computers.
He was also working part-time at a Blockbuster Video.

He also had started working with parents and teens who were having similar
drug problems.

"He did a Channel 8 town-hall meeting, and he did a eulogy for one of his
friends who died of heroin," Mr. Liles said.

His mom, Ms. Bronschidle, said her son seemed to be doing fine.

"I could tell that he was fighting so hard," she said. "His eyes were
crystal-clear, bright blue and the whites of his eyes were so clear.

"I felt like I'd had a 1,000-pound weight lifted off of me. There was no way
I thought he'd take a wrong turn again. . . . Now all I want is to be with
him, but I can't because I have other children."

Mr. Lizauckas' younger brother and step-siblings are having a tough time
dealing with his death, Mr. Liles said.

"They're kind of mad at him because they know it's preventable," he said.
"We've been very open with them because they need to know this can be the
end result of making a bad decision.

"No matter how hard he tried, it came back and got him in a weak moment.
Once you've started on heroin, every day you wake up, it's a crisis. You're
doing well, and it knocks you back down. It's a battle every day, every
night."

In addition to his mother and stepfather, Mr. Lizauckas is survived by his
brother, Timothy Kent Bronschidle, stepsister, Stephanie Liles, and
stepbrother, Steven Liles, all of Allen; grandmother, Norma Catland of North
Tonawanda, N.Y.; and several other relatives.

The family will receive guests from 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday at Turrentine
Jackson-Morrow Funeral Home, Highway 75 at Exit 37 in McKinney. The funeral
will be at 2 p.m. Wednesday at Turrentine Jackson-Morrow.

Checked-by: Don Beck