Back to life, back from meth

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Despite a short relapse after problems with her teenage daughter, Dawn Jackson is back on the road to recovery from methamphetamine. She baby-sits and cleans houses for a living but hopes to someday drive semi trucks.Mail Tribune / Jim Craven

May 06, 2007

By Sarah Lemon

Mail Tribune

EDITOR'S NOTE: The Mail Tribune profiled 12 former methamphetamine users in a monthly series focusing on recovery from drug addiction. Of those profiled, 10 remained drug-free when contacted for this final story. One had relapsed, and one had moved without any forwarding information.

The Mail Tribune has followed Dawn Jackson, 34, through her efforts to stay clean, beginning with a June 12, 2005, story that depicted methamphetamine's ravaging effects on Jackson's physical health.

Amid conflict with her 13-year-old daughter, Angelique, Jackson used meth in October after almost three years free from the drug. When her daughter "punched her like she was nobody," Jackson said she relived the anguish of past physical abuse.

"She's angry; she's upset," Jackson said.

Reeling under the crushing blow to her sense of self-worth, Jackson went looking for meth in her "old stomping grounds." The monthlong relapse caused Jackson to lose her Eagle Point home before she realized she needed to come clean and continue advocating for her daughter, now in Jackson County's Juvenile Detention Center.

"The reality is my child is in a lot of trouble," Jackson said.

Still confined, Angelique faces assault charges for attacking a detention center officer and criminal mischief charges for damaging a vehicle belonging to a Eugene mental-health facility, where she went for treatment about a month ago, Jackson said. The girl suffers mental and behavioral disorders likely caused by exposure to meth in the womb. For four years, Angelique was a ward of the state, living in foster care and treatment centers for children diagnosed with acute mental illness.

"I'm not giving up on her," Jackson said.

And despite the relapse, Jackson hasn't given up on herself, either. She finds serenity at a new rental home near McKee Bridge, where she can drink her coffee listening to the Applegate River. Married since June, Jackson now goes by the last name of her husband, John Prentice. She cleans houses and baby-sits but hopes to train to drive semi trucks.

Manny Pacheco, June 2006

Once a "non-traditional" student in Rogue Community College's Bright Futures Program, Manny Pacheco was recently hired by the program to advise other students who face barriers to education.

Pacheco, 45, plans to graduate from Southern Oregon University next June and pursue a master's degree. A recent recipient of a scholarship sponsored by Sherm and Wanda Olsrud of Medford, Pacheco publicly advocates for restoring state funding to higher education.

"I think that building more prisons and spending less on colleges is not the way to go," he said.

Pacheco should know. He spent 25 years in and out of jail while addicted to drugs. The Ashland resident now mentors offenders at the county's Talent Transitional Center, where he served time for numerous drug-related crimes. He's lived the past five years and four months drug-free.

"I've come way too far to go back to that lifestyle," he said.

Although meth is "still a big problem," Pacheco said, the community is starting to view addicts as people with a disease rather than a "moral deficiency."

Cynthia Kloosterman, July 2006

After serving prison time for drug-related identity-theft schemes, Cynthia Kloosterman, 36, was attempting to clear the wreckage left when someone stole her own identity. A Medford native with almost two and a half years of sobriety, Kloosterman spoke in June last year of leaving the Rogue Valley. She had been living with family in Gold Hill. Attempts to locate her at her former residence, by phone and via the Internet, were unsuccessful.

Louie Soto, August 2006

Orphaned as an infant and bereft of any family tree, Louie Soto endured years of abuse, homelessness and pain that he masked with drugs. Losing his two children to child welfare gave him the incentive to get help.

Now clean for more than four years, Soto, 39, has welcomed a third child to his fledgling family, 4-month-old son Trace.

"It's a lot better this time around because I'm actually present," said Soto, who has reunited with his other two children.

A Medford resident, Soto works in heating and air conditioning and, when contacted by phone, was visiting the home of another recovering addict, one of three that he sponsors in Narcotics Anonymous.

Nick and Nichole Dial, September 2006

The Dials, married since August, will add another member to their family in October. The couple hope to purchase their own home by the time Nichole Dial, 23, gives birth to their third child.

"This one, we actually planned this baby," she said.

After regaining custody of their two daughters — 5 and 2 — and staying clean for nearly two years, Dial said she's proud of the life she can offer the new baby. Her 24-year-old husband, Nick, who works in construction, has been drug-free for two and a half years.

"I have a chance to do something different," Nichole Dial said. "Hopefully, this child will never have to see us loaded, and that's something I can give to this baby."

The pregnancy, however, came with unintended consequences for the Dials' oldest daughter, Sidney. Remembering that her mother was pregnant when she was placed into foster care more than two years ago, Sidney recently started acting out her anxiety, Nichole Dial said. After one tirade, the girl asked Dial if she would have to go back to her foster mom's house.

"That just totally killed me," Dial said, adding she told Sidney she had to leave home for a time because her parents were "doing bad drugs."

Since 2-year-old Alexis was a newborn when removed from her care, Dial said the prospect of changing diapers and bathing her new baby is even more precious.

"I'm really hoping it's a boy."

Miranda Brown, October 2006

Kicking an eight-year drug habit that kept her longtime boyfriend from committing to her culminated in Miranda Brown's January marriage.

Brown — clean for three years — and her husband, Joshua Ward, now can live as a family with their 2-year-old son, Wesley, in an equal-opportunity apartment complex in Ashland.

"My first place ever," the 26-year-old said.

Brown's new job telemarketing for a Talent company gives her more time with Wesley and her 7-year-old daughter, Jordan. Ward returns from a training stint with the National Guard at the end of the month.

Marisa Ball, November 2006

Leaving Salem for Medford two years ago to escape meth's grip, Marisa Ball returned to her hometown in January.

"I knew I was ready to come back," she said.

There, Ball has rented a two-bedroom house with a yard for her two children, 4 and 22 months, and is looking for work in retail and as an American Sign Language interpreter.

"I've learned how to live clean," she said.

Ball, 23, was schooled in Jackson County's Methamphetamine Project, a rigorous yearlong program designed to boost participants over the numerous obstacles toward sobriety and to uncover the best strategies for treatment. With a one-time $200,000 pledge from the county, the Methamphetamine Project combined intensive case management with financial, emotional and practical support for participants.

An eight-year addict, Ball has been drug-free for two years. She said she still calls Meth Project caseworkers in Medford for support.

Cathy Sather, December 2006

Cathy Sather is still trying to serve as a model of drug-free living for her son, imprisoned for a meth-related robbery.

An addict for a decade, Sather, 36, hasn't used meth in 10 years and lives in White City with her husband and four children. She anticipates the release of her 18-year-old son Jacob in September.

Reagan DeShane, January 2007

Reagan DeShane is in the midst of moving into her own Medford apartment since sharing space in the Oxford House with other recovering addicts.

Clean for nearly two years, DeShane, 31, said she recently landed a day shift waitressing because her employer thinks she's "dependable." The new hours allow her to spend more time with her sons, 7 and 14 months.

"I'm doing really well, and I'm pleased with my life," DeShane said.

Guilt over causing a fatal crash on Highway 62 sent DeShane into a tailspin of drug use about three years ago. She served several months in jail after pleading guilty to criminally negligent homicide in connection with the September 2004 deaths of 54-year-old David Tabor and 57-year-old Dennis Wayne Vitacco, both of Rogue River.

Tracy Lawrence, February 2007

Medford's outskirts promise Tracy Lawrence a reprieve from meth's prevalence inside the city.

Drug-free for nearly two years following a decade of daily use, Lawrence said she wants to shield her children from meth.

"The meth epidemic is so bad," she said. "I don't know if they're ever going to get a control on that."

Lawrence, 36, works at Harry and David but recently received her diploma in automotive technology. She said she continues to refer pregnant drug addicts to the county's health department, where she obtains services for her 7-month-old daughter, Tommy.

Lewis Day, March 2007

Lewis Day graduates in June with a degree in human services from Rogue Community College. The 33-year-old Medford resident works for OnTrack Inc., the program that helped him kick meth after his 3-year-old daughter, Ashley, died in a 2002 fire in her mother's Ashland apartment.

Injured in the blaze, Kimberly Day, now 6, is in kindergarten and participates in Brownies. Lewis Day also cares for his 4-year-old daughter, Arianna.

Day, who used meth for 10 years, has been clean for five years.

Cerella Powell, April 2007

Formerly a 20-year meth addict, Cerella Powell continues to work as a family advocate for tenants at Sky Vista, a new Medford apartment complex that houses many OnTrack clients.

Powell — drug-free for three years — helps residents overcome credit difficulties and access services. The 49-year-old Medford resident also has put her own life in order, paying off fines and debt and saving for a new car.

"Life is great," she said.

Reach reporter Sarah Lemon at 776-4487, or e-mail slemon@mailtribune.com.

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