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Forsyth County News—Sunday, June 1,2008 U
HARRIS BLACKWOOD
Columnist
A life
taken far
too soon
W connection hen morning, the phone I had that rang not the made young the other the
man who fell to his death at Turner
of a former co
worker.
A lot of time
had passed, but I
remembered
Justin Hayes as a
tall, skinny kid
a plethora of freckles. I saw him sev¬
eral times with his mom, Cindy, who
worked with me at the old Prestige
Cable in Cumming. She is a doting
mom and there were always pictures
of her boys on her desk.
The youngest, Adam, is now a
sergeant in the Marine Corps. At
Justin’s memorial service on
Tuesday, he wore his dress blues and
carried his brother’s ashes in a cherry
wood box.
1 knew little of Justin, especially
in the years since he graduated from
high school, but for an hour on
his friends
how special he was.
Some of them
wore suits and ties,
others were dressed
more casually, but
each one of them
spoke admirably
and lovingly about
their friend.
Many of them
came along at dif¬
ferent times in
Justin’s
during high school, others after high
school. Some were co-workers.
But almost to a person, they told
of a troublesome time in their lives
and how Justin offered words of sup¬
port that helped them through.
He had completed culinary school
and was working as a chef at a
restaurant in Cumming. There were
numerous pictures of him in a chef's
cap and jacket. He appeared to have
found his calling in life and was just
getting started on the road to a
career.
But it all came to a sudden and
shocking end May 21. He still had
enough of the young buck in him to
want to slide down a stair rail.
Unable to stop, he catapulted over
the railing. He was taken to Grady
Memorial Hospital, where doctors
could do nothing to save him.
His dad, John Hayes, spoke at the
service as he clung to his youngest
son, the Marine, for physical and
emotional support.
He spoke of stroking his son’s
lifeless face as he went to the hospi¬
tal to identify his body. He told his
son that he would join him one day
in Heaven.
Justin Hayes had written a list of
the things he loved. At the top of the
list was God, followed by his family.
The rest of the list included things
that many of us might include, like
the smell of breakfast cooking, hon¬
eysuckle in the spring and a fresh
mowed lawn.
I have written too many times in
this space about the out-of-order
experience of a parent losing a child.
At 25, he was a man, and a fine
young man at that. But in the eyes of
your mama, you're always her baby.
Justin was her firstborn and as we
embraced in the hallway of the funer¬
al home, I could feel a sense of the
pain she was going through.
For me. nothing hits closer to
home than when someone loses a
child that is the same age as one of
your own. We have three that are in
their early to mid-20s. You mean
those words, when you sav “be care¬
ful.”
We often include words, like “I
love you” with that admonishment.
There was a packed house of peo¬
ple on Tuesday who loved Justin
Hayes, There was a lot of worthy liv¬
ing in those 25 years.
Harris Blackwood is the author
of “When Old Mowers Die." His e
mail address is harrish@for.syth
news.com.
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Photos/Emily Saunders
Christian Milner and Blair Kirkpatrick work on a gutter for a print shop on the campus of No Longer Bound in Forsyth County.
Real life ‘Regeneration’
Program helps men
recover from addiction,
find a new path in life
By Frank Reddy
Staff Writer
Staff at Forsyth County’s No
Longer Bound will tell you from
personal experience: rehabilitation
is only the first step to a full
recovery from addiction.
Most of them have been
through the 10-month,
Christian-based i \
“regeneration
program and can
attest to its abil¬
ity to change
lives.
“It’s differ¬
ent than rehab,” ►/\
said program
director Estes
Miree. NLB
“The defini¬
tion of rehabili¬
tation is to return to your former
state. ‘Regeneration’ means to
make new.
The residential facility in
southern Forsyth County has been
helping men whose lives have
been affected by alcohol and drug
addiction since founder Mike
Harden brought the program to
the area in 1990.
“He’s a great guy,” Miree said.
“He’s pretty much laid his life
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Michael Cook sorts trays ot plants in the No Longer Bound greenhouse.
♦ »
down so guys like me could get
some help. n
Harden calls No Longer
Bound a “spiritual boot camp.” He
said the long-term success rate for
those who enroll in the program is
53 percent,
It’s not easy,” Harden said.
.. It’s very difficult. If you
really want to change,
it becomes easier.”
Harden said he
Tv moved the cen¬
ter to Forsyth
County because
ter- a friend who
lived here told
him about two
vacant houses in
southern
Forsyth. “It
just kind of
fell together,
and since we’ve come to Forsyth,
I’ve never considered being any¬
where else.”
Many of the men who come to
No Longer Bound are either from
Forsyth County or have familial
ties to the area.
The center houses 40 men at a
given time. There’s usually a wait¬
ing list to join, but Miree said plans
to expand living quarters are in the
works.
U You really dig deep. You bring out your
deepest, darkest secrets. It's a very intense
eight weeks. >9
■ Estes Miree, No Longer Bound program director
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—
Gregg Curtis works on lamination in a print shop on the No
Longer Bound campus.
Some participants of the pro¬
gram may continue to live at the
center after their 10-month stint,
while others like Miree stay on
even longer and become staff mem¬
bers.
Staff member Edward Bailey
stayed after his recovery from
addiction.
This program works,” Bailey
said, “because of the Christian
aspect. In most rehabilitation pro
grams they give you a Band-Aid.
This program goes beyond the sur
face of the problem by taking it to
the next step. *•
Miree said the problem with
rehabilitation is that “you go back
to where you were before. »* IV
You don’t want to go back to
that,” Miree said. “You started using
or drinking for a reason and usually
drugs and alcohol are a symptom of
another problem that’s going on.
We try to get to those issues.”
The program uses a four-phase v
approach to recovery, which begins
with orientation, a 30-day period of
physical healing.
• t It takes about 30 days for
See PROGRAM, Page 5B
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