Standing on the brink of the intersection of Roosevelt and Asher, a very rough Little Rock neighborhood, Dino Davis surveys with pride the treatment facility he has created on two acres of land to serve recovering addicts.

Davis and his partner, Curtis Keith, fashioned the adobe-style Quality Living Center (QLC) out of an older building on the site, a motorcycle dealership/car restoration shop. There was also a house which the owner, Ronald Colding, donated.

The Center, which was licensed by the state in 2006, offers treatment for substance abuse and mental health problems with a range of residential, outpatient and transitional living recovery programs. It can house 60 men and women and Davis and Keith have plans to expand it to 90.

They opened in 2007 as a “chem-free” transitional facility, which accommodates both men and women, with 20 men on board.

The partners also have plans to buy two more contiguous acres before they are finished.

By Steve Straessle

It happened again.  Devastatingly again.  One of us lost his son.  And not just lost him but lost him in a way that didn’t have to happen.  We’re still grieving the loss.  We’re still wringing our hands and looking to our own kids hoping, wishing, praying that we don’t lose them.  It didn’t have to happen.

The boy was a gentle soul with dark hair and a face that favored his mother’s.  He was kind, and he was clever.  The boy, Patrick Clemmons, had a creative flair that permeated everything about him, from the music he loved to the clothes he wore.  We loved that about him.  We loved that he had a sense of adventure that allowed him to reach into realms that most kids don’t even know exist.

By Andrea Cohen

The silence was deafening … 15 pairs of eyes staring, arms crossed. I smile, no one smiles back. “Can anyone tell me, what makes a good news story?”  Nada.   My 10 minute PowerPoint seemed to last an eternity.  “We are going to divide into two groups and do an exercise. Let's count off and move our chairs into two circles." No movement. Okay, so what else is new? They’re teenagers.

There is nothing elaborate or flashy about Argenta Academy, an alternative school in North Little Rock.  From the outside, this little known school, designed to meet the needs of at-risk students who are not succeeding in the traditional setting, appears institutional and unimpressive. But inside the facility is a group of dedicated, caring professionals and teens who are overcoming daily challenges that are difficult at best. It was the perfect place to kick off The One Day at a Time pilot program, “Teen ‘Zine.”

By David Palmer

When “Stroker” Wiggs, the “Bandido” bike rider who became a Christian minister, died in January in Little Rock, Neal Benschoff lost a dear friend and role model. Benschoff, also a former member of an outlaw biker group that terrorized the countryside was, like “Stroker,” a Vietnam War veteran.

Thanks to inpatient care at Fort Roots, a Veterans Administration (VA) facility, and regular attendance at 12-Step meetings, Benschoff has been clean and sober for 12 years now. He is also being treated at the VA for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).