Wendie Brown is a mother of six and recovering addict. She now shares her story of drug addiction and the path of recovery she took to better herself as a mother.
Brown grew up around alcoholism and abuse, which she says, contributed to her addiction.
“I had walked in on my ex husband using and asked him, ‘since that's so important, do you think I can try that,” Brown says. According to her, curiosity was a significant aspect of her addiction.
Throughout her addiction, Brown watched other addicts overdose or go so far into their addiction they never come back. Despite the heartache she was experiencing, she says losing her kids to her addiction was much worse.
“You got these little people that you've created and you're responsible for them and protecting them, but yet you're in this spiral, and you can't even protect yourself,” Brown says.
Even after being sober for four years, Brown's addiction still has an impact on her and her children's lives.
”I'm still experiencing the effects of my addiction,” Brown says. “My kids still have resentments towards me. Just the other day one of my kids told me they wished I would have never come back and got them because I should've never left to begin with.”
Brown, despite everything, is grateful for her addiction. “I learned a lot about who I am as a person--my strength and my ability,” she says.
Others struggling with addiction and substance abuse don’t get the luxury of being grateful. Studies from The American Addiction Centers found in 2017 that 20.7 million people ages 12 and older struggled with a substance use disorder. Only 19% of those who needed it received treatment.
Brown's recovery was not “cupcakes and rainbows.”
“I stayed in many different homes, I moved around a lot. To get away from it, is to heal from it. You can go anywhere in the world and you’re still going to be an addict,” said Brown.
She now strives to continue to be a support for others struggling with drug addiction. “I truthfully think it takes trying and trying and trying. You have to keep trying. If you mess up, it's really okay.” Brown says.
Although Cody Carver has won several matches since his first one, it was that first match with his father that was the most important.
Carver’s match with his father is one that he will never forget. They set up on the kitchen countertop, and within a second, Carver had won. That win began a journey in competitive armwrestling that continues today.
In his first World Armwrestling League (WAL) event, Carver took third place in both the left and right arm heavyweight divisions. Since then, Carver has continued to train for the sport in hopes of one day going back and performing even better.
Carver began to train for the sport more seriously by watching professional matches and working out more. He continued to compete in small events and take critiques from veteran arm wrestlers. Carver explained his passion for the journey and for the sport saying, “I like to think of the movie Jurassic World where that new dinosaur or whatever is coming out, and everyone is wondering what it is and why it is doing what it is. And they say, ‘Well it’s trying to figure out where it’s at on the food chain.’ And so that’s what I use it for, and I think that’s what a lot of people do,” said Carver. “We want to see where we are and what we can do. We want to see how good we really are at something, and this is something that really pushes me to do that.”
Carver’s home is currently undergoing renovations, so his practice space and equipment is limited. Once renovations are complete, he hopes to install a small, home gym in his basement. Once the home gym is complete, Carver and other members of his team are going to begin to seriously train for their next WAL event.
For those looking to get into armwrestling or are trying to find a team, Carver has one big piece of advice: find a team that cares.
“There are teams out there, but find a team that fits you,” Carver said. “You want everyone to grow, and so just find your community. It’s almost like finding a home.”
The Meeks family did not have a normal family vacation in 2021. They spent their summer on the road traveling to different colleges. After an extensive search for his perfect school, their son Camden finally chose Duke University.
Since Duke has a D1 wrestling team and one of the best law schools in America, it is not hard to imagine why he has chosen this as his school.
Camden works out at 4 a.m. every day along with going to wrestling practice to get stronger and better at wrestling.
“It’s pretty much the motive as just that every hour I’m in the gym and someone else isn’t, then that’s one hour that I’m getting better than them,” said Meeks.
With the amount of training Camden has done, he still makes time to study for the other aspect of college, academics.
“I’m going to college for law school, and Duke has the number one law school in the world,” said Meeks.
With his coach always behind him to support and push him to become a better wrestler, he was able to flourish.
“He’s made me grow not necessarily just as a wrestler, but as a person and just mature and helping me get to where I am,” said Meeks.
Meeks’ plans after high school show a reflection of the determination that he has.
“My goal right now for college is to be an All-American, then hopefully when I accomplish that, I will become a national champion,” said Meeks
Camden’s future is looking bright; all he must do now is to continue working his hardest and keep his grades up.
Operation Bugle Boy is a civilian organization that supports and honors veterans and first responders through service projects. The organization was founded in 2001 by Chris Jarboe.
After talking to Coach Pete Adkins at JCHS, the two decided that they needed to do something. They organized their first project, Operation Leaf Relief. Getting about 500 volunteers to help rake leaves in various locations around Jefferson City, they raised money to give back to the military community.
Since then, Operation Leaf Relief has grown into many other service projects like Operation Merry Christmas, Adopt a Hero, and others. Now the organization goes by the name of Operation Bugle Boy and carries out those same projects.
Veterans Appreciation Night (VAN) is the organization’s signature event. Veterans from Mid-Missouri are invited to the St. Martin’s Knights of Columbus Hall where they enjoy a meal and presentations by keynote speakers. Veterans and a guest of their choice are invited to the exclusive event, where student volunteers aid and assist the guests all night.
Nearly 100 student volunteers come from area schools all around Mid-Missouri.
“It's wonderful to inspire young people to want to be bigger than themselves and want to do something for others instead of just themselves,” Jarboe stated. “It's been a real privilege to work with them.”
Students aren’t the only volunteers, though. There are also many adult volunteers who help the students. One advisor and adult volunteer, Nathan Holtmeyer, has been volunteering in the organization for nearly 12 years.
“The first responders as well as our veterans make a big difference, and so we want the veterans to know that they’re appreciated, and then we also want the students to truly appreciate it, not just give lip service to it,” Holtmeyer said.
Capital City Court Appointed Special Advocates, CASA, recently hosted their “Raise Your Glass” event to show appreciation to current volunteers and raise awareness of the need for child advocates in Cole County.
Hosted at Capital Bluffs Event Center, the night was emceed by Rod Smith, local sports anchor and Erin Hart, morning show host of 94.3 KAT Country. Hart acknowledged the need for community support for CASA and the work that is being done on behalf of abused and neglected children.
Annually CASA serves about 225 children, but there are still children not represented by an advocate.
“Thirty-five kids right now are still not represented by a CASA, so we really want to bring awareness to that in the community so that others may come forward and be volunteers to represent kids in the courts and really create that mentorship relationship,” said Bob Gilbert, CASA Board Member.
The event began with food and drinks and included a program celebrating CASA’s 10-year anniversary from Gina Clement, CASA executive director, and recognition of veterans from Lieutenant Governor Mike Kehoe.
The keynote speaker of the evening was retired NFL player and inspiration behind the main character of the movie “Blindside” Michael Oher. He spoke on his experience as a child and attributed his success to the mentors who supported him.
“Becoming successful, coming from where I came from, it should've been the norm. We shouldn't be miracles, I shouldn't be a miracle. And if we do what we are supposed to do, we give back, we give our time, it won't happen. We'll start seeing more Michael Ohers,” he said.
“We wanted to make sure people knew there's a need in this community, there's kids who are hungry, there's kids who are homeless, and there are kids who are being abused and neglected. If we can benefit the kids in some way, this event last night was worth it,” said Clement.
After completing training, a CASA advocate regularly checks in with the child and collects information about the family and personal life of the child in order to report it to the court. Judges then use the report to make a more well rounded decision on the child’s behalf.
In addition to their advocacy program, Cole County CASA provides other programs including a courtroom therapy dog, the Angel Fund and the No More Trash Bags Initiative.
For more information about CASA or to become an advocate, you can find more information at https://capitalcitycasa.org/.
In January of 2022, high school juniors and seniors will have the chance to receive a scholarship that covers the cost of tuition and fees for their dual credit or dual enrollment courses.
The academic aid was introduced by the Missouri Department of Higher Education and Workforce Development (MDHEWD).The scholarship can be used at any Missouri postsecondary institution that is participating in the aid. Awards will be based on financial need that is determined by the student's family gross income from the most recent tax year.
"The A+ dual credit/ dual enrollment scholarship is to help high school juniors and seniors take dual credit classes while they are in high school using A+ funding. This scholarship can help them pay for those courses earlier before they actually graduate high school," said Jessica Duren, assistant director of MDHEWD.
The financial aid covers tuition and fees. However, if the student already earned any kind of scholarship for the dual credit classes, the dual credit scholarship would cover what is left. Fees for books will vary according to the high schools and colleges the students attend.
Last year, the legislature appropriated a fixed number of funds for the scholarship; however, the legislature will re-appropriate the funds each year. Funds are limited so MDHEWD will prioritize students with financial needs.
"So, the overall goal of the program is to help students who may not be able to afford taking dual credit or dual enrollment classes in high school. We know there are students whose families cannot afford those classes naturally, so this scholarship would potentially help them take those classes,” said Duren.
Final qualifications are still under review and are expected to be ready by Spring 2022.
"Right now eligibility criteria is loosely based off of the A+ scholarship criteria, so a 2.5 cumulative GPA, being on track to receive that scholarship, so those volunteer hours and that attendance record. We have not finalized the eligibility criteria,” said Duren.
MDHEWD has reached out to counselors to inform schools of this new opportunity. Dr. Marcia Sankey, A+ coordinator at Jefferson City High School, is informing students of the scholarship.
“The whole idea is that they want to encourage more students to take AP and dual enrollment kinds of courses, and they will pay for the dual enrollment credit,” said Sankey.
Students across the nation have been stealing and vandalizing school property as part of an online trend encouraged by the app ‘TikTok’, forcing school officials to take action.
According to The New York Times, the trend started when a TikTok user posted a video revealing a box of masks they stole from the school. They started the hashtag called “absolutely devious lick” and the video got more than 239,000 views. When a second video was released, that video received more than 7.2 million views, setting off the trend now known as Devious Lick.
School officials have been dealing with the online trend since the beginning of the school year, costing thousands of dollars in damage.
“Just a single paper towel dispenser might be $150 to $300 each, so by the time you get into six, eight or 10 of those items, you can get into the thousands of dollars with any individual vandalism event,” said Robert James, principal of Jefferson City High School.
Many incidents have started since the beginning of the school year, such as bathroom stalls being taken off the hinges, football helmets being stolen and bathroom supplies being vandalized or taken.
“We had one of the restrooms on the third floor, of the boys restrooms, the doors were taken off its hinges and placed up against the wall. And then slowly thereafter we started to get calls in regards to soap dispensers being damaged, and the soap missing from the dispensers,” said David Mays, resource officer for Jefferson City High School.
Jefferson City High School is not the only school having a problem in the area. Lewis and Clark Middle School has had a couple of students who are participating in the trend. Toilet seats have been cracked, as if jumped on, a motherboard from the LED lights on the ceiling has been pulled down and paper towels have been thrown over the floor.
The consequences of the students actions can vary based on the school.
“We have a student code of conduct that outlines vandalism or destruction of property and so we follow our student code of conduct. In this case though, something that we don't really use too often is our restitution, that's in our student code of conduct, it's nothing new,” said James. According to James, some JCHS students who were responsible for damage or theft have had to pay restitution.
“We were looking at a pretty severe consequence, and our board office suggested something kind of middle ground. So we went to our 5 days OSS or 5 days SSC,” said Deanne Fisher, principal of Lewis and Clark Middle School.
When a student commits an act of vandalism or stealing, it becomes a situation where discipline falls under very specific district guidelines known as the Missouri Safe Schools Act. “Property damage first is a safe schools act violation which could end up, if that student is found to be guilty, or even charged, that student is out of the school until that case is taken care of,” said Mays.
TikTok has recently shut down the hashtag of “devious licks,” putting a stop to it on the app, though the trend has spread to other platforms in some areas. Students continue to participate in the trend, however, and staff members are told to keep a lookout for those participating.
Capital City Productions began 30 years ago as a small, community dinner theatre. Today, it is a well-known, all volunteer operated dinner theatre with the focus of bringing the community together through the arts and entertainment.
Vital to Capital City Productions is the variety of positions available. Rob Crouse, founder of Capital City Productions, offers a space for everyone on and off stage.
“One of the wonderful things about theatre is that it is a collaborative art. There are not only places for actors and actresses, there are scene painters and carpenters and makeup people and costume people and so there is some aspect of involvement, and you will meet wonderful, wonderful people," Crouse said.
Volunteers from all walks of life and all ages are welcome to contribute. Students ranging from elementary to college age also fill the onstage ensembles, makeup teams and even technical crews. Zach Azar, a student at Capital City High School, praises the training he received at Capital City Productions. Beyond aiding Azar in his onstage endeavors, his time at Capital City Productions has promoted his sense of confidence and improved his communication skills.
Community service is another focus of the group. For each monthly theatre performance held, as part of the group’s "Pay It Forward Program," each performance chooses a local non-profit to support. The most recent production, “Young Frankenstein,” supported the local Marine Corps Toys for Tots program.
For Jefferson City, Capital City Productions is doing work for the community and fulfilling their mission of, "putting the community back in community theatre."
Taos Countryside Park hosts its annual Field of Screams fundraiser on Oct. 15 and 16. The event, which began as a small trunk or treat activity, has evolved to much more and is now in its fifth year as a major fundraiser that provides many improvements for the park.
From the beginning, it was a success. The first year they started charging for the event they made $6,000. The event would continue to grow until 2016 when it became a stand-alone event. In 2018 they profited $17,000. In 2019 the event generated $23,000. This year in 2021 3,200 people attended, which generated $31,500.
Field of Screams donations have facilitated improvements to the park such as a walking trail around the lake, a new fence for the baseball field, and a scoreboard for the baseball field. Park Director Tom Weiberg also believes the event brings the community together. Not only is it for the residents of Taos, but for people throughout Central Missouri.
“Field of Screams sponsoring the park has been a blessing for this community. We’ve been able to raise funds that have flourished and brought wonderful things to the area,” said Event Organizer Michelle Gabelsberger.
According to set organizer Jim Cline, “the joy has been getting everything together. Everything we have has either been donated or we found for free.” This has enabled the park to make the majority of the funds go towards projects.
The planning for next year's event will start in January, with set building beginning in July.
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