PAGE A2, KEIZERTIMES, OCTOBER 23, 2015
LIES,
continued from Page A1
presented by
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Lights,
Comedy,
Laughs!
Saturday,
November 7,
at 11:00 am
MOVIE:
M INIONS [ PG ]
Sensory
Sensitive
Show ONLY $3
Special showing for kids and adults with
Autism or other sensory sensitivities.
LIVE STAND-UP COMEDY!
UFC193 - Sat, Nov 14
SATURDAY, NOV. 7
Rousey vs. Holm
Quinn Dahle & Ed Hill
7 pm & 9 pm (21 & Over)
Admission only $10.
Reserved Seating for this show.
9 FIGHTS IN ALL ON THE HUGE SCREEN
Live Fights at 5:00 (21 & Over) - Tickets $12
Reserved Seating Available Now Online.
WOMEN’S BANTAMWEIGHT TITLE
Today in History
A suicide bomber drives a truck packed with explosives
into the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, killing 241 U.S.
military personnel. The U.S. Marines were part of a
multinational force sent to Lebanon in August 1982 to
oversee the Palestinian withdrawal from Lebanon.
— October 23, 1983
Food 4 Thought
“In the information society, nobody thinks. We expect to
banish paper, but we actually banish thought.”
— Michael Crichton, (author of Jurassic Park and
The Andromeda Strain, born Oct. 23, 1942)
The Month Ahead
Saturday, October 24
Bowser’s Boo Bash, the Willamette Humane Society’s
annual costume party, dinner and auction benefi ting
animals, will be held at Salem Convention Center from 5
to 9 p.m. Advance tickets are $60, $75 after Oct. 16. info@
whs4pets.org.
In My Life: a musical theatre tribute to The Beatles, 7:30
p.m. at the Elsinore Theatre. Tickets begin at $35. www.
elsinoretheatre.com
Saturday, October 24 – Sunday, October 25
Clackamette’s 51st Annual Gem & Mineral Show Saturday
9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the
Clackamas County Fairgrounds in Canby. Free admission.
503-631-3128.
Tuesday, October 27
Keizer Public Arts Commission meeting, 6 p.m. in council
chambers at Keizer Civic Center, 930 Chemawa Road NE.
Thursday, October 29
Black, White and Gray art show opens at the Keizer
Art Association’s Enid Joy Mount Gallery in the Keizer
Heritage Center, 980 Chemawa Rd. N.E. The show runs
through Nov. 28. keizerarts.com
Saturday, October 31
Community Harvest Party—Safe Zone for Kids, 1-3 p.m.,
Village at Keizer Ridge, 1184 McGee Court NE behind
Emerald Pointe Retirement Community. Oregon Dream
Ponies, food, music, candy. Free admission. 503-390-1300.
Halloween Costume Dance, 7 to 10 p.m., at Keizer/Salem
Area Seniors Center, corner of Cherry Ave. N.E. and
Plymouth Drive. Potluck is encouraged, $4 admission.
503-390-7441.
Monday, November 2
Keizer City Council meeting, 7 p.m. in council chambers at
Keizer Civic Center, 930 Chemawa Road NE.
Tuesday, November 3
Community Build Task Force meeting, 6 p.m. in council
chambers at Keizer Civic Center, 930 Chemawa Road NE.
Friday, November 6
Holiday craft bazaar sponsored by Salem Hospital Auxiliary
in Building D on Oak Street. Free parking in hospital
garage. Twenty-fi ve vendors. 9 a.m.-4 p.m. 503-364-7785.
Saturday, November 7
Artist reception and awards ceremony for Black, White
and Gray art show, one of the most popular exhibits of the
Keizer Art Association in the Enid Joy Mount Gallery at the
Keizer Heritage Center, 980 Chemawa Road NE. Open to
the public, free. 6-8 p.m. keizerarts.com
Sunday, November 8
Thomas Lauderdale plays Gershwin with the Salem
Concert Band, 3 p.m. at the Elsinore Theatre. Tickets range
from $25 - $35. www.elsinoretheatre.com
Monday, November 9
Golden Dragon Acrobats, 7:30 p.m. at the Elsinore Theatre.
Tickets range from $20-$35. www.elsinoretheatre.com
Friday, November 27 – Sunday, December 13
The 1940s Radio Hour at the Historic Grand Theatre,
downtown Salem. Presented by Enlightened Theatrics.
Performances 7:30 p.m. Wed-Sat. and 2:30 p.m.
matinees on Sundays. Tickets range from $15-$20.
enlightenedtheatrics.org. 503-585-3427.
Friday, December 4
The Trail Band performs traditional music at their
annual Salem Holiday performance, 7:30 p.m. at the
Elsinore Theatre. Tickets range from $25.50 - $40. www.
elsinoretheatre.com
Add your event by e-mailing news@keizertimes.com.
The
two
started
experimenting with heroin
about the same time.
“It was introduced to me
by someone coming up and
telling me it was the new
weed. They told me it had
about the same effect, but
it lasts a lot longer. It wasn't
introduced to me as the
strongest painkiller. It was
dumbed down to the level
it didn't seem scary,” Spencer
said.
Within a couple of years,
Spencer was shooting up
every day. Realizing how far
he's fallen into the addiction
appears to disappoint
him.
“I remember telling
myself I would never
touch needles and I
would never do heroin,
specifi cally,” he said.
Ironically, Spencer
said he wanted nothing
to do with Crist when
he was chasing the
dragon, a common
slang term for heroin
use.
“I didn't like the
person he was when
he was on heroin. I wouldn't
deal with him and I wouldn't
talk with him. His demeanor
completely changed from
being a nice, caring and
giving person to someone
who complained all the
time and nothing was ever
enough. Selfi shness was all I
saw,” Spencer said.
Spencer said he was
unsurprised to learn of
Crist’s death. On the other
hand, Spencer’s sister, Talia,
was devastated.
“I’d
been
watching
Facebook posts since his
parents told everyone he was
missing and then one came
up saying they’d found him
dead. He was a cool dude
who always had a big goofy
grin on his face. He was
always so nice and he was so
excited to see people,” Talia
said.
A large part of what's
unsettling to Talia is the ever-
present fear that she’ll be the
one to discover her brother
dead.
“It sucks,” she said as she
began to cry while recalling
one incident. “There was
one time specifi cally when I
came home from school and
I couldn't fi nd him anywhere.
I thought he was dead. I
fi nally found him asleep on
the back porch. I get upset
watching these people die
because I don't know when
it is going to be him. “
Talia said she doesn’t
understand how Spencer
cannot see the path unfurling
ahead of him. She’ll detach
from Spencer as much as
possible when he’s high on
the heroin.
“We have a great time
when he's sober. We'll go
and eat sushi until we both
look like we're nine months
pregnant and then go home
and digest our food. I will
latch onto those things as
much as I can. As soon as
it’s gone, I’m done with him
because he becomes mean
and selfi sh,” Talia said.
Spencer calls it getting a
case of the “eff-its.”
“It makes me mean. Meth
makes you bright and happy,
but heroin brings the dark.
They call it ‘dark’ for a reason.
It brings out the darkness and
the evil in people,” he said.
“I honestly enjoy that. It's
almost like being possessed.
You get a case of the eff-its
and you don't care about
anything.”
The even darker side of
the drug is that being high
becomes the new normal
for the addict. Withdrawal
symptoms
include
a
harrowing mix of anxiety,
muscle
ache,
insomnia,
sweating,
diarrhea
and
vomiting. And they can begin
as soon as 12 hours after the
last usage. Faced with going
through that or staving it
off with another high, many
addicts choose the high.
“It brings out the
darkness and evil in
people. I honestly
enjoy that. It’s
almost like being
possessed.”
— Spencer
More
troubling
for
Spencer are the things he’s
done to get that high. “It
will make you do the worst
things in the world to get it
and then rationalize it,” he
said. “My extremes are the
things other people wouldn't
even dream of.”
Spencer said he’s sold
heroin to friends to make
money for his own habit,
but claims that doing so was
more an act of mercy.
“Any addict who sells
to his friends isn’t doing it
because he wants to make
money, they’re doing it
because they want to help
their friends feel better,” he
said.
Spencer has done time in
jail for drug-related offenses
and was headed back to
county for a 60-day stint the
day after being interviewed
for failing to meet the terms
of his probation – he was
found in possession of a
used needle. It will mean
his
second
consecutive
Thanksgiving dinner in
a jailhouse cafeteria. He
even confessed to using
heroin earlier the day of our
interview. He was a ball of
manic energy as he talked,
pulling at his sleeves and
pants legs, scratching at itches
that may or may not have
been present.
He said he wanted to use
the time in county to dry out,
but he knows it’s a mixed bag
of opportunities.
“You think about one of
two things: how am I going
to stay clean or how will I get
away with it the next time?
It’s really just a place to fi nd
better hook-ups,” he said.
Spencer sought treatment
for his addiction twice, once
at the behest of Talia and
another, more successful
time, at his own initiative.
The latter came down to an
option of treatment or jail
and he opted for the former.
“I was clean for 90 days,”
he said with a mixture of
pride and remorse. “The
problem was I was only in for
10 days for an addiction that’s
lasted 10 years. As they were
local
weather
than needing dialysis for a
kidney problem. Addiction
is a disease that needs dialysis
of information and love. You
have to get that,” Talia added.
Spencer suggested only
charging
addicts
with
felonies if they fail to
complete recovery programs
as one possibility.
While there are many
avenues yet to explore, Talia
said personal choices are still
at play for any addict.
“They have their own
community and their only
friends are people who are
addicted or struggling to
recover. I've always wanted
to ship (Spencer) off to Mars
or something where he can't
be around the same friends,”
Talia said.
Over the course of an
hour with the family, one
thing rises to the fore. At
their core, Spencer’s struggles
are, at least in part, connected
to identity. His best memory
– of being in an apartment
with several naked women,
giant speakers and plates of
drugs – is inherently tied
to the drugs themselves. He
readily admits having trouble
with planning.
“I've never been able to
make plans for more than the
next day. I don't remember
ever
wanting
to
do
something or be something.
I remember wanting to run
my dad's business and my
dad's business went down the
toilet,” he said.
The struggle extends to
Talia and Beth.
“I remember being the
little hockey sister. He taught
me how to hit a puck in the
garage. But I was like
two feet tall then, I
honestly don’t know
if I made it up or who
my brother is now,”
said Talia, now 22.
Beth said she is still
waiting for Spencer
to come out the other
end of his addictions.
“I'm waiting for
when it's all done, for
when he's through
with this crap and
moving on to do other
stuff. I want him to
fi nd a job he likes and
— Talia where he's doing good
things,” she said.
Despite all he’s
There are both national and been through so far, Spencer
statewide Facebook pages for doesn’t have a fi rm grip on
where he’ll be at the end of
TAM members.
Spencer said one of the this 60-day stint in a cell.
“I still don't know who I
issues he struggles with is
judgment of others because really am and that's hard. I
changing hearts and minds don't know what I'll do next
on the issues of addicts and year or if I'll be alive. I didn't
recovering addicts rapidly think I would live to be 18,
becomes politically charged. now I'm 24 and I still don't
“Accept that we're not know who I am or what to
hurting other people, that do. That's why I'm going to
we're killing ourselves and jail tomorrow. Maybe getting
we need help,” Spencer said. locked up for a little while
“Put us in programs that help will clear my head,” he said.
Given his track record, it
us live better lives rather than
jail where we just learn to hardly seems like the ideal
hustle harder and more about space for a journey of self-
discovery, but it’s the best
how to get away with it.”
“People don't realize Spencer feels the system is
that it's not much different offering him right now.
letting me out, the counselor
told me I would have to go
live at the Salvation Army,
which is like telling someone
to go live with the people
they were selling dope to.
Thank God I have good
family that I can call.”
Even then Spencer said he
knew he wasn’t through with
the drugs.
“I started out doing a little
bit of nitrous and that led
to drinking and it led to a
little bit of pot and that led
to coke and on and on,” he
said. Nitrous is nitrous oxide,
an inhalant used to achieve a
high.
Spencer, Talia and Beth
all advocate for more
recovery services instead
of more prison time. More
beds in halfway houses to
avoid referrals to homeless
shelters are just one part of
the puzzle as they see it. An
established needle exchange
would also prevent some of
the tangential complications
that arrive from intravenous
drug use. One of Spencer’s
friends is dealing with
outbreaks of hepatitis C as a
result of using dirty needles.
While Beth has attended
Narcotics
Anonymous
meetings to seek support,
she’s found more solace in a
Facebook group called The
Addict’s Mother (TAM).
“NarcAnon was good, but
always so sad. With TAM,
it’s mothers looking to help
one another even if it means
going out to pick someone
up off the streets who is
ready to come home. It feels
like they are having more
of an impact,” Beth said.
“He taught me
how to hit a puck
in the garage. But
I was like two feet
tall then, I honestly
don’t know if I
made it up or who
my brother is now.”
sudoku
Enter digits
from 1-9 into
the blank
spaces. Every
row must
contain one
of each digit.
So must every
column, as
must every
3x3 square.
3893 COMMERCIAL ST SE
THIS WEEK’S
MOVIE TIMES
Jurassic World (PG-13)
Fri 6:10, 8:35, Sat 2:30, 4:00,
6:30, 9:20, Sun 6:05, 8:25
Mission Impossible:
Rogue Nation (PG-13)
Fri 5:55, Sat 6:55, 8:55,
Sun 5:10, 8:30
Pixels (PG-13) Fri 4:15, Sun 3:00
Ant Man (PG-13)
Sat 12:15, Sun 12:45
No Escape (R)
Fri 8:25, Sun 6:30
Vacation (R) Sat 7:20
Trainwreck (R)
Fri 8:45, Sat 9:15, Sun 7:40
Minions (PG)
Fri 4:10, Sat 1:50, 3:40, 5:30,
Sun 12:25, 2:05, 4:25
Inside Out (PG)
Fri 4:00, 6:30, Sat 12:00, 2:00,
5:00, Sun 12:00, 2:20, 400
FOR ALL SHOWTIMES GO TO
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