The Columbian from Vancouver, Washington • 20

jO The COLUMBIAN Sunday Awg 5 If 73 Center a beacon light leading addicts out of world of drugs as possible We put them in nice surroundings We don't want to shuttle them from one slum to another" explains Mr Weiss also an ex-drug addict and former Synanon associate (Synanon is one of the pioneer self-help drug-rehabilitation communities) CEDU's grants have flowed from both private and public sources Most recently it was awarded $29000 from the California School Lunch Program for additional kitchen facilities And the Irvine Foundation has funded $35000 for more classroom and living quarters CEDU's future? The foundation recently acquired 53 additional acres to supplement its present four-acres building complex here It hopes to eventually accommodate 200 or more youngsters Also it is looking for a livestock ranch tliat could be worked by residents Most of the present facilities have been built by the youngsters themselves But the original lodge an attractive rustic two-story building with spacious rooms and wall-to-wall carpeting was once owned by movie actor Walter Huston The atmosphere is similar to that of a summer camp But throughout the complex the work ethic is reinforced For instance on the blackboard in the boy's dormitory below a list of daily assignments is this plaque: "You work that you may keep pace with the earth and the soul of the earth" again" she says Mary came from a broken home "I was using drugs since age 12" she con-fides Through patience and the understanding of staff and fellow residents Mary finally decided to stay even after her six months were served "I've made a lot of irogress Now I'm trying to be more ronesl and trust people No more she says Eventually she wants to train to be a medical assistant Seventeen-year-old Laurie was brought to CEDU nine months ago by her parents from Detroit She had been using drugs since she was 13 Laurie started out on pills She progressed through "speed" psychedelics and finally heroin "I was strung out on heroin And I went to my parents and begged them to send me someplace They could have placed me with the youth authority in Michigan as an incorrigible But they found out about CEDU and brought me here" she relates When she arrived at the center Laurie recounts that she was despondent She tried to kill herself "But CEDU helped me find out who I was my strengths and weaknesses For the first time I was happy to be alive and well I can now feel good about myself" Laurie says At CEDU Laurie has worked in the kitchen She says she would like to train to be a professional cook when she leaves CEDU "And definitely I don't want to use dope again I hope I'll be strong enough" she adds Santa Barbara-bred Pete is 20 older than most of his CEDU peers Seventeen months ago he was arrested for possession of hashish and for driving under the influence of dangerous drugs For Pete like many others it was prison or CEDU With reservations he chose the latter Pete started using drugs at age 11 "I took my mother's diet pills" he confides Within a year he was "shooting speed" In and out of trouble with the law Pete left school at age 18 He was in the 10th grade At CEDU he has realized a new life "A lot of things I thought I couldn't do I found I could do" he says "I had never worked before I had never even made my own bed" Pete is now a CEDU graduate student living outside the facility He has been working in construction and is pointing toward a career in carpentry CEDU's annual budget is about $500-000 Its income is from grants donations and "tuition" CEDU charges county probation departments $400 to $500 a month for youths placed with it "But the cost per youngster to us is almost twice that" says Barry Weiss director of the graduate school "Money is of secondary importance Youngsters come here on probation And we want to bring as much to them Seventeen-year-old Laurie an addict in rehabilitation at CEDU appraisal and the goal is turning off drugs and gaining self-respect reports staffer William Sydeman Mr Syde-man a successful New York composer of contemporary music came to CEDU for a visit two years ago And he is still here lie explains that the program is based on a philosophy of rewards and Incentives rather than sanctions and punishments Youngsters who abuse privileges are sometimes put on "dishpan" (kitchen police) And habitual runaways are restricted in their activities "But the main thing is caring compassion" Mr Sydeman says "We teach that you're your brother's keeper If he messes up you have a responsibility to help him If he's bummed out you don't leave him" new residents are isolated from the outside society usually even from their parents and friends Officials here say that it is often these influences that propelled these youngsters into the den of drugs (Critics of CEDU oppose this isolation They hold family and society-oriented rehabilitation is more effective) All youngsters are assigned to jobs: construction landscaping plumbing and kitchen duties Informal grade school and high school classes are held Many residents due to drug addictions dropped out of school at a very early age Evening and weekend rap sessions range from a few hours to day-long marathons during which there is often an emotional spilling out of feelings "We try to get youngsters to face up with their problems and be honest with themselves" Mr Sydeman explains Eventually those making sufficient progress matriculate to the "graduate Here they can hold paid staff jobs live off campus in nearby rooms and hotels and prepare themselves for a return to society Twenty-three-year-old Michael Allgood is a former drug user and CEDU resident who now serves on its board Of directors He recalls scores of graduates who have "made it" on the outside Among them are several who have gone on to work for the federal Job Corps probation department aides drug-rehabilitation workers brick masons secretaries and even one who is pursuing a law career "And the main thing is that they've stayed clean not gone back to drugs" Mr Allgood stresses CEDU residents are for the most part attractive articulate well-groomed youngsters They are willing to talk can-didly about their drug experiences and progress toward rehabilitation Among them is 18-year-old Mary a tall quiet girl with a multiple arrest record for drug use including heroin She was placed at CEDU by the Youth Authority in lieu of a six-month sentence in a juvenile facility "I wanted to leave after the second day And the only reason I didn't was because I knew I would be picked up Many have criminal records usually for theft and burglary to get money to buy drugs For most like Nancy CEDU is likely a last chance Is CEDU successful? Probation officers juvenile court judges and youth-rehabilitation expert say it is One Southern California county Riverside which has placed more than 70 youngsters here reports 75 per cent success And a Santa Barbara-based research group estimates 63 per cent success among CEDU placements who remained at least six weeks This is based on records that indicate no further arrests and evidence of staying from drugs According to experts in the field traditional success rates range from 2 per cent to 30 per cent At the National Institute of Mental Health Clinical Research Center at Lexington Ky a primary federal drug rehabilitation center so-called success rates run from 8 per cent to 40 per cent These figures however are qualified and should be evaluated within similar limitations CEDU's main problem is getting newly assigned residents to stay long enough to get immersed in the program and the CEDU style of life "Their tendency is to split right away We don't have bars or walls or cells And actually it's not difficult to get away" says one resident counselor For those who do stay the odds of rehabilitation seem extremely good "A kid motivated to change usually makes it here" explains Los Angeles County probation officer Richard Miyake "CEDU's program keeps them busy every moment" Mr Miyake makes monthly visits to the Running Springs facility to check his placements who have been here for a while are happy and want to he reports resident fare is a combination of hard work social adjustment and sessions to help youngsters gain respect for themselves The ethic is personal and mutual responsibility the route is hard work and honest self By CURTIS SITOMER Christian Science Monitor New Service RUNNING SPRINGS Calif Nancy a well-groomed attractive teenager approaches a shopper in front of a large San Bernardino Calif department store from CEDU" she says was a junkie And CEDU helped me Would you help us help others?" This young lady is soliciting funds for one of the nation's most unusual drug-rehabilitation centers She is one of its products more importantly one of its successes For Nancy it could have been the end of the line two years ago when she was arrested for selling and using dangerous drugs At 16 that was not her first arrest Since the age of 11 she had been a truant a runaway and a pill-popper She eventually became a user of heroin Now it was the Youth Authority and probably later the women's prison or CEDU Nancy chose the latter And for her like scores of others it has been the beacon light leading her out of the world of drugs CEDU's name is its philosophy: "See" yourself as you are and "do" something about it It started almost accidentally as a "Good Samaritan" gesture by a well-to-do Palm Springs Calif businessman Mel Wasserman who befriended youthful drug addicts and brought them into his home Mr Wasser outreach in 1967 blossomed into the CEDU foundation which today houses 56 youngsters in its rustic lodge at Running Springs high among the majestic pines in the San Bernardino mountains 'CEDU's residents live and work together to hurdle their drug problems Most are remanded here by the courts a an alternative to the Youth Authority or to jail Some are private placements sfent by parents or other responsible adults Most come from California some hail from other states They are predominantly male ami white youths here have one common 'denominator They have all been hard dj-ug users Most have been addicts The main lounge at 'drug rehabilitation center Black actress a big hit in play on Broadway ing things like that happened People give it a second look now" Frances Foster has charm balance and a serene manner She was born in Yonkers NY grew up in Queen became act I saw With the Wind' I saw that Hattie McDaniel could really act I've seen that picture 14 times I love the scope of it the color the story I saw my first play just exploitation All black women are not prostitutes and all black men are not pimps We are being inundated fay that kind of thing Of course it' does give- work to black ao- tors "I'm glad they're going to do River Niger' as a film though I know whether) I'll be in it We started the play off-Broadway and it was so successful it was brought to Broadway 1 FASHION LOTES early a movie addict persever- when I was 20 years old It ing and untiring was Ruth My favorite lived in movies The1 worst punishment I got was for seeing Boat' three times and getting home at most at midnight My punishment was I couldn't go to the movies for six months It almost killed me I liked the dramas Bette David Joan Crawford and Charles Boyer were favorities "I wanted to be an actress even then But I didn't tell anyone because I didn't want to be laughed at Hattie McDan-ield and Louise Beavers were about the only black actresses on the screen then and they didn't have a chance to really Tool By REBECCA MOREHOUSE successful ones Many times a 'NEW YORK (WNS) "To black man has been married to bfe black and do nothing but black woman but when he 'act in this country is really becomes successful he marries says Frances Fos- a white woman More black ac-tgr "The opportunities are al- tors marry white women be-most nil But I've been lucky cause in the theater you meet There have been few times in as equals 21 years that I had to fill in at was married to a white Bloomingdale's" man who died in 1969 He pro- -5he is 49 and in Joseph A duced documentaries It work- -Walker's hit River ed beautifully for us race she convincingly acts a tippl- was never a problem We met ing 82 year old grandmother: we liked each other and we "it's done by the way I walk started dating We never dishy makeup and cussed whether we shouldn't TTie play has a steam ham- because he was white impact adriotly mixes we married we drama comedy and melo- thought we might have a prodrama throws many a barb at blem because of his mother The setting is a who was a nice southern lady Harlem home She never quite adjusted to it think white people find It used to upset people more the play educational as well as than it upset us Once we were she said walking together holding gives them a dunce to peek hands A white woman saw us into a black home and they and she started backing right find it's not so different The into the traffic A lot of amus-producers the Negro Ensemble Company lowered the 'price of tickets in order to draw lot of people black and vyhite particularly those in the Wednesday matinee audiences object to the cursing-' A couple of elderly black ladies have come up to me to say you stop them from using that Nowadays there is so much bad language id theater and movies We are using too much bad language iii this country I apprei-cate it because I like good language' the audience is pre- dominantly black a roof-snaking howl follows a line spoken by the heroic mother of the family: "If our men are no good why are all these white girls trying to 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