My name is Wayne S. and I currently live in the Pocono Mountains of Northeastern Pennsylvania. I have lived here since April of 1996. Live in a private gated community that is "OFF LIMITS" to hunting. Fortunately, I live on the very edge of the thousands of acres of posted land. I constantly see deer, turkey and bear in my back yard. Huntable land is only a few dozen yards from my backdoor.

I am originally from the Muncy, PA area. Was born and raised in a small rural area of Lycoming County, named Huntersville. Both of my parents still live in the home that I grew up in. My only brother lives in Williamsport, PA.

Moved to Hazleton, PA in 1992 because of the employer I had at that time.

Graduated from Hughesville High School in 1972. Was working for Carey McFalls Company, Montoursville, PA at that time. In May of 1973 I started working for Stroehmann Bakeries, Inc. in Williamsport, PA. I quickly was promoted to the position of Shipping Manager for them. In 1992 they were closing their Washington Boulevard production facilities and I was offered a transfer to their newer bakery in Hazleton, PA.

I spent another 3 1/2 years working in that plant as a Shipping Supervisor. In November of 1992, due to downsizing, I was permanently layed off. I now work for International Correspondence Schools in Scranton, PA as a telephone sales representative.

In September of 1979, I married a wonderful girl, Cathy, from the Nisbet, PA area. She is currently employed as the Head Customer Service Manager at Wal-Mart in Honesdale, PA. We have one lovely teenage daughter, Michelle, a student at North Pocono High School. Typical teenager, messy room and always on the phone!!

In addition to being a family man and an outdoorsman, I am also a grateful recovering alcoholic. My date of sobriety is February 17,1995.

As of 1/16/99 a correction needs to be made to the above. On this date, my wife and I sperated after 19 years of marraige and are getting a divorce. No one is to blame for our failed marraige, se just grew apart over the years. I currently reside in Scranton, Pa and my wife and daughter will soon be moving to Shiremanstown, Pa.

I started drinking at about the age of 14, just stealing one of my Dad's bears every now and then. (He was a "social drinker")

As I started to get a little older, whenever I had an opportunity to drink, I did. Not to fit it or be one of the crowd, but to get drunk.I remember one night after work, at the age of 16, I went out drinking with some of the guys from work. Riding around in a guys Jeep, hitting bars. Ended up back at my workplace, drunk. The supervisor on duty called my Dad,who also worked there. He drove in to get me since I was in no shape to drive home. That's the first time I ever saw the look of total discust on his face.

I kept on drinking and getting drunk whenever I had the chance throughout my teen years. Tried pot a few times but I thought "That's a DRUG. It can mess me up for life". Little did I know that alcohol was also a drug and it was definitely going to mess me up.

By the time I hit 18, I was making the occasional trip to NY state to buy beer and wine. The border was about 2 hours away and at that time, 18 was the legal drinking age in NY. PA was always 21.

It was at this time that I got my first DWI. Had been drinking with a buddy from work all evening and decided to drive home. Somehow I made it about halfway home before I hit a guardrail headon in a curve. When I came to, a State Trooper was standing there. He had been following me for a few miles, wondering how I had torn a fender off of my VW Bug.(I had sideswiped a parked car earlier in the night and had taken off.)

I ended up losing my license for a year, paid a hefty fine. My drinking tapered off for about 2 years. I had fallen in love with someone and thought that I was starting to grow up. I still, occasionally, got drunk during this time. Once this romance ended, I hit 21 and really started drinking.

I had my own apartment in town by this time and about 8 bars were within a 2 block radius. I was in heaven!!! I never drank at the apartment, always had plenty of cash to hit the bars and buy the house a drink.

I was getting drunk every night by this time.As soon as I got off work, I was in a bar until closing time, or later.....if the bartender wasn't to concerned about getting arrested. I frequented one particular bar, since the barmaid had a crush on me, I drank for free every night. Boy, was I young and foolish. As long as her husband didn't show up, everything was great.

At about the age of 22, I had my second DWI. Had been out bar hopping and went for a ride. Slid my car into a ditch, walked up to a nearby house to get them to call a towtruck. Well, they called alright.......the State Police.

Lost my license for another year, a bigger fine, and had to attend a "Drunk Driving Class". Wasn't in anyway connected to AA, just basic driving class for about 10 weeks. The ironic part is that as soon as class let out, EVERYBODY went around the corner tothe nearest bar.

My drinking started to go in spurts now. Drink hard one day, not at all for a couple days. I never drank to be socialable, I drank because I wanted to get drunk. I loved the feeling that alcohol gave me. I was invinceable.

At the age of 24, I fell in love and got married to my current wife. She knew that I drank, Hell, she saw me drunk lots of times while we were dating.( She is also a "social drinker". A couple drinks a year and never a problem when she drinks.)

I continued with my binge drinking over the years. "Drink hard for a day or two the lay off the booze for a couple days."As the years went on, the "days off" got fewer and fewer while the "drinking days" got more numerous and frequent.

I used to love the holidays. Most of the year, all I drank was beer. At the holidays, I always had to stock up on wine and whiskey for the "company". I would buy 10 to 12 bottles and end up drinking all of it myself. The "company" never showed up !!! My wife used to complain about it and I always told her that I only drank the hard stuff at the holidays.

Our beautiful daughter was born in 1989. As my drinking got worse, so did my temper. I was constantly yelling at or belittleing our daughter. Pushing her, slapping her for no reason at all, other than I was drunk and I was mad.

My wife would complain about my drinking. I replied that I loved the taste of it and I drank 99% of the time at home, rarely went out to bars. I didn't need another DWI. I told her that I could stop any time I wanted, but I didn't want to, not yet.

When we moved from the Williamsport area to Hazleton, PA, my drinking got even worse, I was either at work, or at home drinking or passed out. I had moved up from beer to whiskey and vodka. Hell, took to much beer to get drunk!!! I had made it a habit to stop at the liquor store on a DAILY basis to get a fifth of whatever they had on sale. I'd nip on the bottle as I drove home. By this time, I didn't care about getting a DWI. I had driven hundreds of times drunk and not gotten caught. Money was getting tight and I would scrouge around the house to get enough money for my daily bottle. I used to set one on the counter for my family to see and hide another bottle in the gun cabinet that I drank from. Didn't want them to know how much I really drank.

This went on for about 3 years, the marriage was started to go down hill. I finally went to a therapist through my company's insurance. She actually had the nerve to say that I had a drinking problem and should go to an AA meeting to check it out.

After listening to her harp about it for a couple weeks, I finally went to my first meeting. I sat way off to the side, keeping to myself. I thought the people were nuts. One old woman actually looked like she was praying, for ME.

I didn't go back to another meeting and kept on drinking. After about a month, I started to give the idea of sobering up some serious thought. I don't know how, but I finally realized that I was not a normal person. I was out of control and going down fast. How my family stayed together and how I managed to keep my job through all of this is beyond me.

I contacted a rehab that a coworker had went to and set up an interview for admission. Typical of me, I showed up drunk for the appointment. At the end of the appointment, I was instructed to return in about a week for admission.

I didn't drink during that week, quit coldturkey. They had told me that if I drank during that week, I would have to go to detox first and the thought scared me. I spent 21 enlightening and eye opening days at that rehab, attending an AA meeting nightly. When I was discharged, I drove directly to a meeting in my town. When I entered the church, I noticed a celebration going on. It was the 25th anniversary for that crazy old woman that had prayed for me at my first meeting about 2 months earlier. She saw me and walked over to me. I'll never forget her words,"I knew you'd be back". And I've "been back" ever since.

In July of 1999, my wife and I deceided to end our marriage of almost 20 years. Ended it as friends before we ended up as enemies. My ex wife and daughter now live near Harrisburg PA. I currently live near New Paltz NY and am working in retail management for a large chain of sporting goods stores