RIDGELY'S ANTI-DRUGS MAYOR: BILLY EARL GRAY

There is little about Billy Earl Gray that lends itself to the Hollywood
stereotype of the crusading mayor determined to clean up his hometown. He
is quiet, unassuming and quick to smile. There is a softness about his eyes
that reminds one more of a kindly grandfather than a charismatic political
leader. Yet, when Gray assumed the office of Mayor of Ridgely in May of
2001, he began a campaign against drugs and drug dealers in this small
farming community. There is a good reason for his devotion to this cause.
His oldest son, David, began using drugs as a teenager. Gray suffered years
of heartbreak, helpless anger and despair as he watched a child he loved
sink deeper and deeper into an abyss of addiction. It was from that
terrible period of suffering he learned to despise the drug culture in all
of its many incarnations.

His message to drug dealers is simple and cold: get out of Ridgely. But his
message to parents in the community who might have a child on drugs is
radically different. It is one of hope and comfort. Like the prodigal son
in the Bible, David Gray turned his life around. With the prayers and
support of his parents, friends and counselors, he kicked the drug habit
and today, at 45, is a successful local minister with a teenage daughter of
his own. But while David's story had a happy ending, his father recognizes
that many others do not.

When his son first began to experiment with drugs in high school, Billy
Earl Gray was like many fathers in rural America. He had no clue about the
dreadful grip they could have over a young person.

Gray was born about seven miles from Ridgely in a community known as "Capps
Pasture." His parents were sharecroppers, and he went to school in Ridgely,
working alongside his father on the farm. After graduation he married his
high school sweetheart, Alice Ann, and moved for a short time to
California. But Gray was a true Son of the South and in 1960 returned, took
a job with the Corps of Engineers and learned to be a surveyor. "When David
got on drugs, I didn't even know what they were," he said. "We didn't know
how to handle it. We thought it was just a kid doing his thing, sowing his
wild oats."

A lack of understanding of the problem caused him to wait too long before
addressing the problem, Gray believes, and experimentation blossomed into
addiction. David had been an excellent athlete, but lost any interest in
sports. When he left high school he found that he couldn't make it in
college and tried the Navy. Within 18 months he was discharged. He worked
at various jobs in the area, never able to overcome his habit and the
limitations it imposed on his life. Gray and his wife did all of the things
parents typically do when confronted with a rebellious teen who has taken a
wrong turn in life. They threatened and railed at him. They wept and
prayed. They hid the matter from friends and family out of shame. They
sought advice from the wrong people and what they heard were cold,
heart-crushing platitudes like, "Once an addict, always an addict." Nothing
worked. Not for David. Not for the grieving parents.

Finally, a friend of David's died as a direct result of drug use, and the
young man came to a crossroads in his life. A district attorney in
Dyersburg gave him an option of jail time or a rehabilitation program for
drug addiction in Memphis called Teen Challenge. This turned out to be the
turning point in David's life. Teen Challenge is a drug rehabilitation
program with a decidedly Christian approach to the problems of addiction.
It makes no apologies for its view that drug addicts are fighting against
both their own inner cravings and a supernatural enemy, the devil, as
described in the Bible. It forces drug users to face the demons within and
struggle to overcome them. It offers help through peer support, medical
attention, prayer and professional counseling. Many addicts choose not to
stay and abandon the year-long, voluntary program. David, however, remained
for the full term and an additional three months when he worked to help
other addicts. He enrolled at Rhema Bible College in Tulsa, and after
completing his studies there, returned to Ridgely and began working with
youth at the Abundant Life Fellowship. Eventually, he would become pastor
of that church, a post he holds to this day. His brother, Chris, now works
with Teen Challenge in Memphis as a counselor.

Billy Earl Gray doesn't believe a community can get a teen off of drugs.
The young person has to realize the condition he is in and take steps to
change. But a community can try to limit access to drugs and inform its
citizens about the signs of drug addiction and the programs that are
available to help. "Anybody who wants help can get it," Gray said, alluding
to the many rehabilitation programs offered by the public and private
sector. "But a kid really has to be ready for help."

As mayor of Ridgely, Gray has asked local police to step up patrols of
areas where drug transactions are suspected, and he has worked to raise
citizen awareness of the problem. Often, people who live in small towns are
blissfully unaware of the extent of drug dealing in rural areas.

"An addict can get anything he wants here - meth, pot, crack," Gray said,
affirming that drugs are no longer a problem confined to urban areas. Gray
also makes himself personally available to parents who may find themselves
in a situation similar to the one he faced with David. The message he
offers is simple and filled with a confidence based upon first-hand
experience. "There is a way out. There is deliverance. Americans want an
instant cure. It doesn't work like that with drugs. But I know this, God
can deliver a person from addiction."