Pubdate: Wed, 07 Mar 2012
Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution (GA)
Copyright: 2012 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Website: http://www.ajc.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/28
Author: Bill Rankin

DRUG COURT HELPS MAN DITCH METH, REGAIN FAMILY'S TRUST

This is the fourth in a five-part series about sentencing reform in
Georgia. A special state commission has found that drug courts are
less expensive and work better than prison terms for many offenders.
Today's article focuses on the struggle of a Dawson County man who is
in the last phase of the program.

Seven mornings a week, Gordon Pirkle Jr. arrives at the Pool Room just
off the Dawsonville square to run the NASCAR-themed restaurant founded
by his father 45 years ago.

That would have been unthinkable just two years ago.

Two years ago - and for years and years before that -- Pirkle was a
hard-core methamphetamine addict. He took the drug so often it broke
up his family, landed him in federal prison and cost him most of his
teeth.

During a recent interview, Pirkle recalled when his "meth mouth" tooth
decay got so bad he resorted to applying Super Glue to his bottom
front teeth to keep them from falling out. (It actually seemed to work
for a while, but when he later went to prison, a dentist pulled them
anyway.)

In those days, he'd start thinking about getting high as soon as he
woke up, although he often never went to sleep. He'd sneak off
whenever he could to get high, and he'd stay up for five to six days
straight before finally crashing.

"Back then, my daddy couldn't depend on me, nobody could," Pirkle, 45,
said recently at the restaurant beneath framed photos of local racing
legend Bill Elliott. "My word wasn't worth nothing."

That's changed. Pirkle, drug free since April 2010, is now in the
final phase of Dawson County's accountability court program.

Pirkle started drinking and using drugs as a teenager, so much so he
had dropped out of high school, been arrested for DUI and lost his
driver's license by the time he was 18.

A mechanic, Pirkle let drug dealers fix their cars at his garage in
exchange for dope. Along the way, he met his wife on a blind date and
they had two sons and two daughters.

In 1999, Pirkle was arrested on federal charges of aiding and abetting
the distribution of meth. He pleaded guilty and spent two years at the
U.S. Penitentiary in Atlanta.

Because Pirkle's probation officer would drop by the first of every
month, he'd get high for two weeks, then stay clean until the next
visit.

But one day, he fell off his roof and broke his wrist. He was
prescribed painkillers for six months and during that time, his
probation officer stayed away, knowing Pirkle would could not pass a
drug test. Pirkle got his prescriptions, but did not take them; he
saved them for another day and got high on meth instead.

His scheme worked for a while until he had 10 months left on
probation, when he repeatedly tested positive for meth and was
required to wear an ankle bracelet.

Without being required to take substance abuse programs, such as
Narcotics Anonymous, Pirkle said, "it was like they just threw me back
to the wolves."

In November 2009, Pirkle was arrested again with a longtime friend who
was charged with selling meth and later sentenced to 30 years. Police
found meth in Pirkle's pocket during the search and charged him with
possession.

He pleaded guilty in April 2010 before Superior Court Judge Jason
Deal. "It sounds like you had a decade of using methamphetamine," Deal
told Pirkle at sentencing. "We got to do something about that. I
assume you've tried to set it down before. Sometimes it is not that
easy."

Deal sentenced Pirkle to 90 days' work release, letting him work at
the Pool Room during the day and spending his nights at the jail. That
was to be followed by nine months in a residential substance abuse
treatment center used for state prisoners.

But Pirkle did not want to be away from his father, who was still
working long hours at the Pool Room, and he was determined to break
his addiction once and for all. Instead, Pirkle chose Dawson County's
two-year drug court program.

He's been clean ever since. In February, Pirkle moved into the fifth
and final phase and, if all continues to go well, he'll graduate in
August.

"I'm proud of myself," Pirkle said. "I ain't never been before, until
now. I'm now getting by like a regular human being. It feels good."

He added, "All I've ever wanted to do was to get the trust and love of
my daddy."

When told a few hours later what his son had said about him, Gordon
Pirkle Sr. paused a good while before speaking. Tears formed in his
eyes as he sat at a table in the Georgia Racing Museum Hall of Fame
museum, which he oversees in the morning before heading back up the
street to the Pool Room in the afternoon.

"I wouldn't want nobody to have their son go through what mine has,"
he finally said. "I thought that federal case had taught him a lesson.
But then you started seeing the same behavior again and again and
again. He was in such denial. This last time, I thought he was ruined."

Pirkle said he's proud of his son and glad to give him the
responsibility of overseeing the Pool Room. "It didn't work before,
but it's working this time," he said. "And I think it's because he
wants it. I also know they're real strict in drug court. That's what
makes it work."

His son has not only gotten his dignity back, he's gotten a full set
of teeth as well, thanks to help from Friends of Recovery, a
Dawsonville nonprofit that collects donations for drug court functions
and services. It helps participants pay for dental work for meth-mouth
decay.

Just a few weeks ago, Pirkle had only 13 teeth left. He now has a full
set of teeth.

In early February, he stood before the congregation of New Life
Church, where members had donated money to the recovery program. Some
church members wept when he told them this was the first time his
youngest son, 18-year-old Glen, had seen him with all his teeth.

Pirkle said he has succeeded at drug court because it required him to
go to Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous meetings and attend
group counseling sessions.

"It's given my life structure and made me accountable," he said. "I
know beyond a shadow of a doubt that drug court saved my life."

Pirkle said when he graduates from drug court, he won't be finished
with it.

"I want to go to all the graduations, to help the ones behind me," he
said. "I want to give back whatever I can, to help others as much as
it helped me. This program gave me more back than I could ever ask
for."

A few weeks ago, Pirkle was at the hospital when his youngest daughter
gave birth to his grandson - the first time he had not been on drugs
when one of his children or grandchildren had been born. The next
weekend, he took care of his granddaughter. He got help from Glen, who
lives at Pirkle's house and works alongside his dad at the Pool Room.

"It's the biggest high I've ever had," Pirkle said. "It's something to
stay clean for."
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