RECOVERY GROUP USES PATIENCE, 12-STEP PROGRAM TO STEER ADDICTS TOWARD RECOVERY

FALLBROOK ---- Twice a week, a small group of recovering drug addicts and
alcoholics meets on the first floor of Riverview Church in Bonsall.

They talk about their struggles with rehabilitation ---- everything from
withdrawals from drugs to hunting for jobs ---- and senior members of the
group guide newcomers through 12 steps of recovery.

Jay Lawrence, an original member of the group, said last week that a dozen
to three dozen people show up for the meetings on Tuesday and Friday nights.

"We've been meeting for about 10 years now, and we always have three or
four homeless people who come to the group," Lawrence said.

Led by local residents who have struggled with ---- and overcome ----
substance abuse, the group is used to seeing the worst cases of addiction.

Wendall Doty, who had been living in a riverbed and was hooked on hard
drugs, was definitely one of those "worst cases," Lawrence said.

"He came to the recovery group about seven years ago with another homeless
guy," Lawrence said. "He would get sober for maybe two or three weeks, then
he would start drinking or using drugs again, and I would try to get him
started on the 12 steps, but he couldn't handle it."

That pattern continued until the day Doty was hit by a car in Bonsall.

It was February, and he was drunk.

"I'm laying on the asphalt praying to God, 'Please don't let me go to
jail,' " Doty said in an interview last week. "They whisked me away to
Tri-City Hospital. There was no police report taken ---- I don't know why.
A man gets run over on the street, a bone sticking out of his leg, and
you'd think there would be a police report. God answered my prayer and I
have not spent a day in jail since."

That answered prayer is one of many bright spot in a hopeful tale of
recovery and reconciliation for a 44-year-old man who said he spent most of
the last decade living in the San Luis Rey riverbed and going in and out of
prison on drug violations.

Those who know Doty said his story is a perfect example of the kind of
assistance handed out on a daily basis by the Fallbrook Food Pantry, which
has provided nutritional allotments for Doty for the last six years.

"A few years back, I decided, I'm not a thief or anything and I need to
eat," Doty said. "The food pantry fed me emergency food off and on for
years. I really feel indebted to them, because they actually kept me alive
at times. I was having to eat out of Dumpsters."

Frank Russell, president of the food pantry's board of directors, said that
Christmas is far and away the busiest time of year.

"The holiday spirit gets turned on, and everyone does food drives,
donations are up, and so on," Russell said. "People open up their hearts
and give us larger donations. But our problem is, come February or March,
it's pretty lean."

Doty knows about lean.

"I'm still in a pretty rough situation, but the food pantry is still
helping me out, and some of the guys at the group give me a little
allowance," he said, chuckling at the thought.

Doty said on a rainy afternoon last week that since that fateful day, when
he was struck by a car in Bonsall, he "has not smoked a cigarette, done any
drugs, drank alcohol or nothin'."

"I'm good on parole, I'm good on probation, I'm doing everything I'm
supposed to be doing, and my parole agent is happy as can be with me," he
added. "The earliest I can get off (parole) is next year, and the latest
would be 2010."

He now lives in a motor home at a construction site while awaiting the
outcome of a disability claim with the Social Security Administration.

Doty, who was born in Fallbrook, said he began his near-fatal dive into
substance abuse 2 1/2 decades ago, at the age of 20.

"I've done a lot of time in prison, just over stupid things ---- didn't
hurt no one or nothin' like that," he said. "This will be the second
Christmas I've spent out of prison in the last 15 years."

For local residents like Lawrence, who labored to bring about Doty's
recovery ---- and who stuck with him even when it didn't take ---- seeing
him clean and sober is a dream come true.

"I've worked with Wendall for seven years, but he's always gone back to
prison," said Lawrence. "He's just a miracle. It's pretty amazing what
God's done in his life."

Doty is working through the 12-step program the Riverview Recovery Group
uses, currently tackling step eight, which calls for composing a list of
"people I need to make amends to, people I've hurt."

"And step nine is going out and making the amends," he said. "When I'm
finished with the 12 steps, I have to start all over again, because it's
working for me. I have totally rebuilt my family relationships, and given
up all my old friends."

Doty said he hopes to enter a yearlong program at the Green Oak Ranch
rehabilitation center in Vista, a first step toward re-establishing his life.

"It kind of takes my words away, because it's hard to explain just how
grateful to God I am for my new life and all my new friends," he said,
adding that he felt the need to share his story in case someone else in a
similar situation needs encouragement.

"I'm hoping that somebody reads this and it touches their heart."