1. health and fitness
2. addiction

Book Notes, Page 2 • Manannah News, Page 5 • Hockey, Page 9
Rusty Nails Design
- Page 2
Bret Mattice
- Page 10
Wednesday, January 7, 2015
QUICK HITS
Library to host
story hour
Children’s story hour will
be held on Friday, Jan. 9,
from 9:30 to 11 a.m. at the
Eden Valley Area Library.
Children (ages preschool
to sixth grade) are welcome
to participate. Registration
is required. Contact Judy
Thielen at jjthielen@meltel.
net to register.
Relay For Life
event needs
volunteers
The Paynesville Relay For
Life will hold an committee/
team meeting on Monday,
Jan. 12, at the Paynesville
Area Center at 7 p.m. Individuals are needed to help
plan the June 2015 event
in Paynesville. Anyone interested can get involved
in this event, a fundraiser
for the American Cancer
Society. Contact Gina
George (243-7206) with
questions or comments.
Book club
to meet
The book club will meet
at the Eden Valley Area Library on Tuesday, Jan. 13,
at 5:30 p.m. All are welcome. They will discuss
the book The #1 Ladies’
Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith.
Red Cross to
hold blood
drive at EV-W
High School
The American Red
Cross will hold a blood
drive in Eden Valley on
Wednesday, Jan. 28,
from 1:30 to 7:30 p.m. at
the high school cafeteria.
Donations count toward
scholarship money that
will be awarded to select
graduating seniors from
Eden Valley-Watkins High
School. Donors should
bring identification, as it is
required to give blood.
75¢
Eden Valley Watkins
VOICE
103 Stearns Ave. E.,
P.O. Box 7,
Eden Valley, MN 55329
Phone: 320-453-8642
Fax: 320-243-4492
www.evwvoice.com
• Copyright 2015 •
Index
Rusty Nails
2
Blotter
2
Book Notes
2
Getting In Touch
2
This Week in History
3
Manannah News
5
School Menus
5
What’s Cookin’
5
Obituaries
6
Bulletin Board
6
Classifieds
7
Entertainment
8
Boys Hockey
9
Girls Hockey
9
Voice Sports in Review 2014 9
Brett Mattice
10
www.evwvoice.com
Volume 4, No. 1
DRUG ADDICTION
Drugs…A Lifetime Struggle
By Laurie Schultz
(Editor’s Note: The names
have been changed to protect
the identity of these people who
spoke with the Voice about their
drug addictions and the impact
drug addiction has had on
their lives. This story describes
drug use, addiction, and other
mature subjects.)
The day her children were
taken away, Kristin sat home
alone, terrified, and absolutely
heartbroken. She wasn’t able
to contact her children in any
way. The only information she
was allowed to know was that
her children were in an emergency foster home with the
possibility of being placed
with a family permanently.
Unfortunately, she understood the reason for her loneliness…drugs.
Kristin began her addiction
when she was 13 years old. At
the time, her father was an
active addict. Within two
years, Kristin would get her
first line of oxycontin from
her father.
She watched him shoot oxycontin into his veins daily. As
Kristin’s addiction overcame
her, she wanted to feel what
her father was feeling when he
shot up. She begged him to let
her shoot up. If he didn’t, she
threatened to find the desired
drugs elsewhere.
Her father handed Kristin a
needle for the first time at the
age of 15. By the time she was
21, she stopped using painkillers and turned to using meth
every day. “I have never in all
my life experienced anything
like the grip that meth had on
me,” said Kristin.
“Oh, sure, I could clean up
for short periods of time…two
weeks here, two weeks there…
but I always ended up right
back where I began,” she said.
The prevalence of addiction extends into small communities, including Eden Valley-Watkins.
Four days after her children
were taken into custody by
child protective services, she
decided she was done using
drugs. “Of course, being an
addict, I did slip and use one
last time, but after doing that
last shot, I literally bawled my
eyes out until I came down. I
felt so guilty,” said Kristin. “I
checked into an inpatient
treatment center two weeks
later, voluntarily, and never
looked back,” she added.
Active Addiction
Justin hung his head low
and focused his eyes on the
floor, as if he were ashamed,
After a few moments of
silence, he raised his head. “I
don’t know how to stop,” he
explained. “I grew up with
parents who were both addicts.
It has now become my lifestyle,” he added.
It had been four days since
he last used meth, he said with
sunken eyes and pale, yellowish skin. His raspy voice
explained his addiction, how
it began, and how he struggles
to become sober. “I often wonder if I had parents who talked
to me and discouraged me
from using drugs how different my life might be.”
His shaky hands reached
for the pack of cigarettes on
the table. The incapability to
hold his hands steady made
the simple task of removing a
cigarette from the pack and
lighting it appear almost
impossible.
Recently, he spent time in
jail and made himself the
promise to quit while there.
Once he was released, his
addiction overpowered his
desire to remain “clean,” and
he started using meth again.
“I feel nothing but agony,” he
said. “I feel like nothing will
take away my pain the way a
few hits of meth does.”
The interview was cut
short, as Justin received a call,
and the lure of another high,
to ease the pain of withdrawal, took priority.
A Mother’s Story
Nicole understands how
drug addiction not only affects
the user, but it also affects
those who are involved in the
user’s life. Her son also began
to show signs of drug use at an
early age. “My son is now in
prison due to his drug addiction and the choices he made,
and I can’t do anything about
it. I can, however, encourage
other parents to watch for all
the warning signs,” she said.
She strongly urges parents,
if the warning signs become
evident, to act upon them.
“Denial will not help your
child,” she added.
Last winter, as if to set the
mood for the courtroom, gray
clouds invaded the skies,
Nicole explained. Through a
door, her son walked into the
courtroom, handcuffed and
accompanied by an officer of
the court. As tears welled in
her eyes, for a moment she
saw a young boy with a
crooked grin, tousled hair, and
a sweet innocent face again.
The vision quickly changed,
as her son received his sentence. “The waves of emotions
a parent goes through when
seeing your child handcuffed
and standing before a judge as
he receives a minimum of
three years in prison for possession of drugs was never
explained in any How To Raise
A Child book,” said Nicole.
She feels that parents naturally have the instinct to protect their children. “As a mother, the moment your child is
placed within your arms, you
become protective. You hold
their hand when crossing the
street, you pick them up when
they fall, you wipe their tears
away, and you love them
unconditionally,” Nicole said.
Also, parents are the first to
deny that their child may have
a problem with substance
abuse. Her son showed many
signs of drug abuse, and she
was in complete denial. Nicole
felt like she enabled her son to
walk down a path of selfdestruction and not have to
face the consequences he
legally deserved.
Her son has a loving family
and parents who work hard
everyday. Nicole and her husband didn’t smoke, rarely
drank, and attended every
school and sporting event
their children were involved
in. Nicole felt her son had
everything he needed.
“Every week I receive letters from my son. The first
letter he sent was emotional as
I read the return address on
ADDICTION – see page 3
Voice Year in Review 2014 – Part II
July 2014
•Boaters were finally able to
enjoy themselves on area
lakes during the holiday after
the “no wake” zones were lifted throughout Stearns County,
including Rice Lake, when
previously high water levels
went down.
•A 50-year plus class reunion
was held at Dino’s Lakeside
Club for Eden Valley High
School classes from 1929 to
1963 at the end of the month
with over 200 people in attendance from as far as California.
•The Voice featured an article on the addition of Ebenezer
Church at the Paynesville
Area Historical Museum as a
new exhibit. The church had
been closed since 1968 and had
originally been located near
Co. Rd. 180, between Eden
Valley and Paynesville.
•Heather Ripley expressed
an interest in becoming a hobbyist beekeeper to the Eden
Valley City Council and urged
them to consider amending
the nuisance ordinance, pertaining to the limits on beekeeping. The Council also
agreed to keep the city prohibition on tarp-covered structures, allowing residents six
months to remove them before
potentially giving out fines.
•The Voice featured an article on Air Force Chief Master
Sergeant Jeff Gabrelcik, a
Watkins native, who saved the
life of Dutch Marine Sergeant
Major Gijs Ter-Horst after an
accident at NATO school in
Oberammerga, Germany, in
June.
•Janella “Nel” Fuchs, doctor
of nursing practice, started
her medical practice for
CentraCare Clinic at the
CentraCare
Health
Paynesville-Richmond Clinic.
•British
motivational
author Gavin Hill discussed
bullying and racism during a
children’s musical presented
at the Eden Valley Area
Library’s summer reading
program. The musical was
based on Hill’s anti-bullying
book William Gray and the
Family Next Door.
•The Voice featured an article on 2013 EV-W graduate
Karlee Hanson, who traveled
abroad for two weeks to
Scandinavia in May to study
art.
•Members of
EV-W’s
L.E.A.D. (Learn, Engage,
Achieve,
Develop)
21st
Century program visited
Dockendorf Dairy in rural
Watkins and the Oliver Kelley
Homestead near Elk River.
Dockendorf Dairy showed
how a farm of the future with
robotics works while the
Oliver Kelley Homestead, a
working farm operated by the
Minnesota Historical Society,
provided a glimpse of pioneer
farming in the 1860.
YEAR IN REVIEW
– see page 4
File photo
Watkins held their annual Kraut and Wurst celebration in August. Ayla Unterberger (center)
was crowned Little Miss Watkins, along with First Princess Lily Schlangen (left) and Second
Princess Alexis Vossen. The celebration also included a parade and firemans’ water fight.