DATE: Sunday, May 25, 1997                  TAG: 9705250108

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA 

SOURCE: By MASON PETERS, STAFF WRITER  

DATELINE: ELIZABETH CITY                    LENGTH:  102 lines

BRINGING LIGHT BACK FROM DARKNESS

How far does a crack-cocaine user fall before she hits bottom in the black hole of drug addiction?

``For me, it was when I started stealing my husband's checkbook and writing his name all over town to get money for crack.

``I even stole my children's school money; there was nothing I wouldn't do to get crack cocaine . . .''

That is Linda Tarkenton talking. Today she is a poised, 40-year-old mother with a good name, a good husband, a good family, a good home, and a good job selling upscale cosmetics in a large department store.

And now, seven years after she found herself alone, friendless, wandering and weeping in the darkest night a woman can ever know, Linda Tarkenton is clean again and determined to establish Bethany House, a sanctuary in Elizabeth City for recovering female drug addicts.

She has behind her the strength of the entire congregation of her church, the First Baptist Church on Main Street.

``Bethany is where Lazarus was raised from the dead,'' Linda explains, ``and the symbolism is precise for women who are brought back from the long, slow death of drug addiction.''

The 25th chapter of Matthew brightened the inspiration for Bethany House, Tarkenton said:

For I was hungered and ye gave me meat; I was thirsty and ye gave me drink; I was a stranger and ye took me in . . .

``Do you realize there's no place in northeastern North Carolina where a woman can get help while she's recovering from drug addiction?

``You think you can do it alone? Cold turkey?

``You can't. . . . It takes love and faith and help from your family, your husband, your children, your friends, your church.

``You have to be able to look at yourself in a mirror and see someone worth knowing again.

``You can't do it alone. You have to have help.''

On April 16, Linda Tarkenton went before the First Baptist Church Diaconate, the board of deacons that governs the Main Street church, and spoke so eloquently about the need for a halfway house for addicts that she quickly won the support of the deacons.

``The entire congregation is now behind Bethany House,'' the Rev. David Anderson, pastor of First Baptist Church, said last week.

``There is no question about the need for Bethany House. Within two blocks of this church site, I have seen drug deals being made on the street in broad daylight.''

Plans for Bethany House will be built around the best ideas available from physicians, counselors and families of recovering addicts.

``We hope to find a suitable building that will meet legal requirements for initially housing no more than six recovering female drug patients,'' Tarkenton said.

The First Baptist congregation includes many influential Elizabeth City residents, and Tarkenton is praying she will find the support she needs to make Bethany House a reality, including the blessing of the city.

Anderson mentions $100,000 as an initial Bethany House goal, but Tarkenton thinks it will take more than that.

In the long view, both Tarkenton and Anderson want Bethany House to be a self-governing operation separate from the church.

Tarkenton defends her plans to initially take in women only.

``I speak from experience when I say it's much harder for a female drug user to find help,'' she said. ``A lot of folks can't believe that women addicts exist right here in Elizabeth City.

``Families try to keep women users out of sight, and in a way that makes it worse for recovering drug users. They just get sicker and sicker and more desperate.''

Tarkenton said she finally got help for herself after weeping and praying during a long, long night on a churchyard bench.

``Would you believe I found an 800 number in Texas? They said they'd take me in if I had a good insurance policy.

``Fortunately, my insurance was good, but what happens to a woman who doesn't have a good policy? Few do.''

Tarkenton is working on a tough set of rules for residents of Bethany House, if and when it gets established.

Some of the rules:

Female patients must come to Bethany House directly from a treatment facility.

When possible, they must contribute financially for their residency and/or find a job when they are able to work.

Random urinalyses and blood screening will be conducted.

No child abuse will be permitted if patients bring their children.

Any Bethany House resident found under the influence of drugs will be expelled immediately.

Tarkenton doesn't think the proposed rules are too strict for sick and shaky new patients.

``I know what women will do to get cocaine,'' she said.

Tarkenton tries not to show the emotion she feels as she talks about the torment of her private life.

Her eyes begin to brim with a hint of tears. But she quickly recovers her poise.

``So which would you rather have: a crack house next door or a halfway house?'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

DREW C. WILSON/The Virginian-Pilot

Linda Tarkenton of Elizabeth City wants to open a sanctuary for

women addicts and call it Bethany House, because, she says,

``Bethany is where Lazarus was raised from the dead, and the

symbolism is precise for women who are brought back from the long,

slow death of drug addiction.''

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