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Page 3 · column 5 of 6 · from the scan, no model involved
By Ben Jones
Rappahannock News Writer
I am concerned about my friend and neighbor Bill Tieckelmann. It seems that someone has written an idiotic, misguided, misinformed, and generally bubble headed letter to the editor of the Rappahannock News and has signed Bill’s name to it.
This obvious impostor was pretending to respond to my column a few weeks back about the disease of addiction and its devastating effect on our society.
It couldn’t have been Tieckelmann because he is bright and thoughtful and whoever wrote the letter went off in obtuse torrents of opinion that presumed things that were not only not in my column but were clearly contradicted by it. In fact, this Tieckelmann impersonator missed the entire point of the column. So, let me rephrase it as simply as possible so this person pretending to be Tieckelmann can grasp it.
Addiction is not only a disease; it is a terrible, crippling, life wasting disease. It is chronic, progressive, and fatal. There is no cure, only abstinence, which because of the nature of the disease is very difficult to maintain. But treatment can work. And contrary to the letter writer’s belief, quality treatment is available.
What “Tieckelmann” also missed was my own experience with addiction. I would assume that someone reading that particular column would respect that experience and the hard-won knowledge that came with it. But no, he magically knows more than I about my own disease, one I have lectured on nationally for 20 years. He even knows more than the coroner who signed my friends’ death certificate.
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