Pubdate: Mon, 13 May 2002
Source: State Gazette, The (TN)
Copyright: 2002 State Gazette
Contact:  http://www.dyersburgnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1792
Author: John Leeper

RIDGELY'S ANTI-DRUGS MAYOR: BILLY EARL GRAY

There is little about Billy Earl Gray that lends itself to the Hollywood 
stereotype of the crusading mayor determined to clean up his hometown. He 
is quiet, unassuming and quick to smile. There is a softness about his eyes 
that reminds one more of a kindly grandfather than a charismatic political 
leader. Yet, when Gray assumed the office of Mayor of Ridgely in May of 
2001, he began a campaign against drugs and drug dealers in this small 
farming community. There is a good reason for his devotion to this cause. 
His oldest son, David, began using drugs as a teenager. Gray suffered years 
of heartbreak, helpless anger and despair as he watched a child he loved 
sink deeper and deeper into an abyss of addiction. It was from that 
terrible period of suffering he learned to despise the drug culture in all 
of its many incarnations.

His message to drug dealers is simple and cold: get out of Ridgely. But his 
message to parents in the community who might have a child on drugs is 
radically different. It is one of hope and comfort. Like the prodigal son 
in the Bible, David Gray turned his life around. With the prayers and 
support of his parents, friends and counselors, he kicked the drug habit 
and today, at 45, is a successful local minister with a teenage daughter of 
his own. But while David's story had a happy ending, his father recognizes 
that many others do not.

When his son first began to experiment with drugs in high school, Billy 
Earl Gray was like many fathers in rural America. He had no clue about the 
dreadful grip they could have over a young person.

Gray was born about seven miles from Ridgely in a community known as "Capps 
Pasture." His parents were sharecroppers, and he went to school in Ridgely, 
working alongside his father on the farm. After graduation he married his 
high school sweetheart, Alice Ann, and moved for a short time to 
California. But Gray was a true Son of the South and in 1960 returned, took 
a job with the Corps of Engineers and learned to be a surveyor. "When David 
got on drugs, I didn't even know what they were," he said. "We didn't know 
how to handle it. We thought it was just a kid doing his thing, sowing his 
wild oats."

A lack of understanding of the problem caused him to wait too long before 
addressing the problem, Gray believes, and experimentation blossomed into 
addiction. David had been an excellent athlete, but lost any interest in 
sports. When he left high school he found that he couldn't make it in 
college and tried the Navy. Within 18 months he was discharged. He worked 
at various jobs in the area, never able to overcome his habit and the 
limitations it imposed on his life. Gray and his wife did all of the things 
parents typically do when confronted with a rebellious teen who has taken a 
wrong turn in life. They threatened and railed at him. They wept and 
prayed. They hid the matter from friends and family out of shame. They 
sought advice from the wrong people and what they heard were cold, 
heart-crushing platitudes like, "Once an addict, always an addict." Nothing 
worked. Not for David. Not for the grieving parents.

Finally, a friend of David's died as a direct result of drug use, and the 
young man came to a crossroads in his life. A district attorney in 
Dyersburg gave him an option of jail time or a rehabilitation program for 
drug addiction in Memphis called Teen Challenge. This turned out to be the 
turning point in David's life. Teen Challenge is a drug rehabilitation 
program with a decidedly Christian approach to the problems of addiction. 
It makes no apologies for its view that drug addicts are fighting against 
both their own inner cravings and a supernatural enemy, the devil, as 
described in the Bible. It forces drug users to face the demons within and 
struggle to overcome them. It offers help through peer support, medical 
attention, prayer and professional counseling. Many addicts choose not to 
stay and abandon the year-long, voluntary program. David, however, remained 
for the full term and an additional three months when he worked to help 
other addicts. He enrolled at Rhema Bible College in Tulsa, and after 
completing his studies there, returned to Ridgely and began working with 
youth at the Abundant Life Fellowship. Eventually, he would become pastor 
of that church, a post he holds to this day. His brother, Chris, now works 
with Teen Challenge in Memphis as a counselor.

Billy Earl Gray doesn't believe a community can get a teen off of drugs. 
The young person has to realize the condition he is in and take steps to 
change. But a community can try to limit access to drugs and inform its 
citizens about the signs of drug addiction and the programs that are 
available to help. "Anybody who wants help can get it," Gray said, alluding 
to the many rehabilitation programs offered by the public and private 
sector. "But a kid really has to be ready for help."

As mayor of Ridgely, Gray has asked local police to step up patrols of 
areas where drug transactions are suspected, and he has worked to raise 
citizen awareness of the problem. Often, people who live in small towns are 
blissfully unaware of the extent of drug dealing in rural areas.

"An addict can get anything he wants here - meth, pot, crack," Gray said, 
affirming that drugs are no longer a problem confined to urban areas. Gray 
also makes himself personally available to parents who may find themselves 
in a situation similar to the one he faced with David. The message he 
offers is simple and filled with a confidence based upon first-hand 
experience. "There is a way out. There is deliverance. Americans want an 
instant cure. It doesn't work like that with drugs. But I know this, God 
can deliver a person from addiction."
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MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart