Fornits

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I remember my trek to the Group room on day one nearly 21 years ago. (It will be 21 years on the 28th)  I can still see Lisa, a girl I went to church with looking at me as if she was disappointed to see me there.  I can still see Dave Momper as he snarled at me when I made eye contact with him.  I remember the fake smiles from everyone as they shouted "HI DON, LOVE YA DON."  
I was lost on front row and was scared to death of what was going to happen from then on.  I remember feeling helpless the whole time I was in the St. Pete building.  I always felt like a zombie just trying to conform but never feeling like a part of the group.  That feeling didn't change until we come up to Ohio where I was on familiar turf.

Don

I was fortunate enough to come into the program the day after the Cincinnati group was split from the larger more violent St. Pete Group. November 28, 1981.  
In fact I recently learned that I was the very first Newcomer introduced into the Cincy group since the split.
Initally there were less than 40 people herded together in one end of the Carpet Room.  But the St. Pete Group was just on the other side of the door. I easily clicked with the pretty girls on the front row with me.  
There wasn't really enough room for misbehaviors in the Carpet Room so I didn't see a lot of that kind of thing going on.  But I heard stories of the kind of things that happened in the St. Pete Group.  One Newcomer stabbed his Oldcomer in the head with an ink pen.  
I was terrified that I would be placed in a Foster Home with a violent Newcomer.
My first Oldcomer, Jeff Waldron, was on 5th Phase and was getting ready to go on Staff.  For the most part he and I got along okay.  But he seemed to get a little miffed anytime I said the word "Man" or "Cool" and he didn't like to be called "Dude".
When he made Trainee his whole demenor changed.  Once inside the building he thought I couldn't talk directly to him because now he was a big shot Trainee.  I didn't view him as my Trainee because he was on the St. Pete Staff not Cincinnati.  So to me he was my Oldcomer with a title, nothing more.  
The only contact I had with the St. Pete Group was in the Intake Room, Executive Raps, Open Meetings and Open Meeting Reviews.  Those were relentless.  That's where I saw the strongest confrontations and meanest misbehaviors.  They scared the shit of out me. Miller Newton was almost always lurking nearby to ensure full throttle confrontation.  I think the Staff feared him as much as the phasers did.  
The Cincinnati Group was supposed to be up in Ohio before Christmas, but they kept postponing the departure date.  Christmas came and went.  I was moved out of Jeff's home the next day. I have no recollection of who took me home at night, who went over my MI's or where I slept.  
My next memory was January 5, 1982. I said good-bye to a 15 year kid named Dave who had come in the same day I did.  We promised each other a visit when we were on 5th Phase.  A promise neither one of us kept.
We hopped aboard a Marriot Express Jet and landed at the Lunken Airport in Cincinnati.  Three buses, provided by the Mt. Washington Church of Christ, drove us to another church just down the street on Salem Rd.  I was given another Oldcomer, Fred Barnes.
The next day the Cincinnati Group opened for business.  The group room was larger than what we needed at the time, but plenty of room for hundreds more in the future.  
It seemed for a while that it was going to be okay.  No one tried to run for a door or fight.  But it didn't take long and before I knew it there was someone being sat on by 4 BIG guys. A 15 year old girl was pulling her own hair out of her head forming a perfect bald spot in the center of her scalp.  It made me sick to watch her.    
Wanda Minton was the Executive to fear the most.  As soon as she walked out of the Staff offices in the back of the group room, everyone knew there was a confrontation coming soon.
It would be another 10 ten days before everything finally made sense to me.  I understood the steps, signs, prayer, etc.  and 23 days later I was on 2nd Phase.
There were misbehaviors and cop outs every week.  But they managed to find most of them and bring em back tired and depressed.  
Miller Newton visted the group just once as I recall. I was on 3rd Phase by then.  He never called on me.
I made it out of the program in just under a year and was glad to be out.  
As far as I'm concerned Cincinnati was never as bad as St. Pete.  But let's face it, there were things that happened in Cincinnati that shouldn't happen to a dog.  
It's taken me a long time to finally see that.  

Don

Straight was located on Branch Hill Guniea Pike in Milford, Ohio closer to Cincinnati.  I was one of the original 55 clients that opened Cincinnati.  Straight operated out of that facility from January 6, 1982 to September 22, 1988.  There was one building expansion in 1983-84.
If you have any more questions you can e-mail me at [email protected]

Don

I did not know that Wanda was a Seedling.  She was a brutal woman no doubt.  She made it hard for me to make 2nd Phase.  
When I finally did go home she had a little talk with my parents and told them that although I had said and did all the right things, the Staff wasn't 100% sure I was ready to go home.  
I could've gotten upset about that but instead I set out to prove her wrong.  Less than two months later, I was on 4th Phase and never looked back.
Last time I saw her was at a 7th Step party at Lisa Thompsons house.  Wanda was planning on going into the Marines, not the Army.  
Wanda didn't give me any problems after the incident I just mentioned, but everyone knew that when she came out into the Group room, someone was is big trouble.

Don

I remember being herded into the intake rooms in the morning.  In St. Pete it was really bad.  Way too many people in that small room and stinking to high heaven.  Then the morons started motivating in there so they can talk about the changes they were making.  I remember thinking to myself, save it for the group.

Don