BY HAROLD GOODRIDGE© 2013 The Macon Telegraph

MACON, Ga. — Having oncelived in a tent near the OcmulgeeRiver, Don Lance knows a good bitabout lows.

“When you have nothing, it’shard to hit rock bottom,” he said.

After nearly three decades oftaking methamphetamine, or anyother drug he could find, Lancealso knows a good bit abouthighs.

He doesn’t hide that fact. “I’ma junkie,” he said. “I’m an intra-venous-needle-using, metham-phetamine junkie.”

His life has always been one ofextremes.

Just more than a month ago,Lance, 43, purchased one of the6,500 raffle tickets sold for the St.Jude Dream Home Giveaway. Afterwaking up one morning, he saidGod told him to buy that ticket.He told his wife, Hope, to go buyit, but the $100 price was morethan she was willing to spend.

Hope Lance said she blew offher husband’s order to buy theticket until he became more insis-tent.

True to form in his life of ex-tremes, Lance won that 3,250-square-foot house in WarnerRobins, Ga., valued at $350,000.

While buying that ticketchanged his life, an even biggertransformation began two yearsprior, he said, when he finally de-cided to give up drugs and followChrist.

Through all the highs andlows, he said that decision wasthe best choice he’s ever made.

Before things went horriblywrong in his life, Lance’s child-hood growing up in Macon, Ga.,was quite normal.

He was born and raised here.He attended the former CochranField Christian Academy, wherehis mother was a teacher. He methis future wife at the school whenthey were in kindergarten. Heplayed Bloomfield Little Leaguebaseball. “I can’t say anything badabout it,” Lance said of his child-hood.

His upbringing at the Christianschool instilled in him a strongbelief in God and morals, eventhough he didn’t always heed.

Lance dropped out of schoolhis junior year. His parents weregoing through a divorce.

His life began to spiral out ofcontrol, even though for him hislife was one big party.

It would take some time, butreality would crash that party.

Lance loved music. He loved itso much he and a friend startedtraveling around to nearby stateswhenever possible to see con-certs.

“I’d go to Metallica, Poison,

Bon Jovi, it didn’t matter,” hesaid. “Music, the energy, thewords made me feel better. It waslike magic.”

Lance then went to a concertthat exposed him to a whole newworld — the Grateful Dead.

The jam band had a followingof tens of thousands of peoplecalled Deadheads, who formedtheir own community and fol-lowed the group around the coun-try.

“There were 50,000 Deadheadsout there,” Lance recalled. “WhenI first came around the corner, thescents hit you. The oils, the in-cense, patchouli. I was like,‘What’s that smell?’ And someonesaid, ‘That’s the Dead scent.They’re here.’”

Lance took to the Deadheadslike a fish to water.

He dropped three hits of LSDat that show and a life of rampantdrug use began.

“I’m very extreme with every-thing I do. I’m not going to stopwith just three hits. ... That wholeexperience continued to changemy life.”

Lance didn’t think he could af-ford to live the traveling Dead-head life, but his new “family” toldhim it didn’t take money. Theirswas a community where every-body pitched in to help eachother. To earn their keep, somesold tie-dyed shirts, some solddrugs, some even did tie-dye read-ings, similar to tarot card read-ings.

“Everybody in the parking lotcomes up with their own littlehustle,” Lance said. His hustlewas selling beverages. “I’d spend$30-$40 on Cokes, cans of cheapcolas, something cold to drink,ice. ... When they come out of theshow, they’ve been dancing three-four hours out in the sun all day.... They’re totally exhausted.They’re dehydrated. First thingthey want is cold drinks and theydon’t care what it is.”

As exhausted concert-goersflowed out of the arena, they’dbuy drinks from Lance for $1,$1.50, and sometimes $2 a pop.He’d stuff his pockets with themoney as fast as they’d give it tohim. “All you got to do is make itto the next day, the next show,”he said. He always did.

Lance also sold LSD to earn hisway.

Of course, he didn’t only sell it.He took it. A lot of it.

“I loved the hallucinogenics, Iloved the speed. I liked the trip. Ienjoyed the high of it. I’ve done itfor a long time.

“Once you’ve explored every-thing that’s good in your mind ...then there’s another side to ex-plore. And if everything that’sgood has been explored, then ob-viously you’re going over to thedark side,” he said.

Even with his addiction, Lanceheld a steady job as a stage handwith various production crewssetting up stages for concerts. Heand his wife, at the time his girl-friend, moved to the Atlanta area.He had a three-bedroom home, agarage and a couple of room-mates who paid the lion’s share ofhis rent. He was still using methand intravenous drugs heavily ashe traveled around the countrysetting up stages, sound and light-ing for acts like Aerosmith, Back-street Boys, Destiny’s Child,Grateful Dead and James Brown.

He felt like he was living thelife of a rock star, but that’s whatdrugs led him to believe. “Youmake yourself think you got morethan you really have,” he said.

Lance often did work forBuddy Lovell, owner of Audio Vi-sual Services in Macon.

Lovell said Lance was a greatworker, but the drugs made himnot very dependable. “He’d beclean on and off,” Lovell said. “Itold him every time, you have anopportunity here if you can getaway from the drug activity.”

Lance couldn’t give it up.Everywhere he went, he car-

ried his little bag, “because mydope was in my bag,” said Lance.Even at job sites, his trusty bagwas always on his person.

One day while preparing astage in Nashville, Tenn., Lancewas 120 feet in the air putting uplights when his bag fell, crashingon the stage below. His needlesand dope were strewn about thestage.

He lost that job.He continued to get work with

other production companies, butthe jobs slowed down.

Lance got his biggest dose of

reality when he returned from ashow and his girlfriend told himshe was pregnant.

He knew his life would neverbe the same.

“I flipped completely out,” hesaid. He decided at that momentthat he and Hope were movingback to Macon, a decision he’dcome to regret. His half-bakedplan consisted of packing up all ofhis belongings in a truck, parkingin his brother’s carport and thenfinding work and a place to live.

His drug use continued. Workdried up and he never found aplace to live. He and Hope hadtwo more children and she even-tually left him.

Motels along Riverside Drivebecame home for Lance. He evensquatted in some vacant houses.

Rock bottom came about fouryears ago when he and a buddygot themselves a tent and movedto a spot near the Ocmulgee Riverclose to Dames Ferry.

After about five months of tentliving, Lance grew tired of living.

“I walked across the interstateand walked over to the Coliseum(Hospital) and told them, I’mdone with it.”

The hospital committed himfor the night and he was sent to adetox center in Dublin, Ga., thenext day.

From there, he ended up at theNext Step Program in downtownMacon, a Christian-based grouphome for male recovering addicts.

He’s been clean ever since —about two years.

His girlfriend came back. Theymarried a year and a half ago andhad their fourth child.

“When I first met Don, he wascoming straight out of detox and

he was in a pretty rough way,” re-called Chris Carmichael, who runsthe Next Step Program. “He hadmade up in his mind he wanted toget straight. He voiced to us thathe needed help for his addictionand he needed long-term treat-ment. He stayed with us over ayear and started getting his job inorder, his family in order.”

“He’s a very bright man,”Carmichael added. “He was raisedvery well with a mother and fa-ther who stuck by him through allof this.”

Carmichael even made Lance aleader at the program.

That same influence he usedbefore to turn people on to drugsis now being used to keep themclean.

“We just offer a Bible studyand a church to get to know theLord,” Carmichael said about theNext Step Program. “In the addic-tion process, you’ll try anythinganyway, so why not try God?”

When the time came for Lanceto move out of the Next Stephouse, he didn’t go far. He movedinto an apartment next door. “Ididn’t want to move away fromthe program,” he said. “At thetime, I was scared to leave. Here, Istill have these guys,” he saidstanding in front of the Next Stephouse, a few yards from his apart-

ment.Lovell kept his word with

Lance. Since he cleaned up hisact, Lance has been one of hismost reliable workers.

“To see him where he is nowand where he was has been posi-tive. ... Don gives 150 percent (onthe job),” Lovell said.

It was Lovell who was watch-ing television on April 28 whenthe drawing was taking place forthe St. Jude Dream Home. Heheard Lance’s name. When hecouldn’t reach Lance, he calledhis wife.

The couple was in their cardriving when Lovell told them hethought Don won.

Lance looked at his phone andsaw he missed a call from a num-ber he didn’t recognize. He calledit and the person on the otherend told him he won a house.They pulled over to the side ofthe road and sat there for 30 min-utes, Hope Lance said.

A Telegraph story aboutLance’s big prize was picked upby national media outlets. Itturned out a lot of people aroundthe country were interested in thestory about the man who oncelived in a tent winning a housevalued at $350,000. “There were alot of negative comments (postedonline),” Lance said. “People say-ing, ‘He can’t afford it.’ It botheredme at first.”

He’s not moving into thehouse.

“I kinda figured that day I was-n’t going to move into it,” Lancesaid. “It’s more than what I needand more far away than where I’dlike to be. ... I have to stay withinmy limits.”

Lance needs to pay a $109,200withholding tax to take ownershipof the property title. That’s not in-cluding federal and state taxes.

Lovell is helping him take careof that obligation so Lance cansell the house.

“I’ll take the money and buysomething that’s more reason-able, pay (Lovell) back, and hope-fully have something in the bank,”Lance said. “The fact I can sell itand buy something I can afford ...it’s still like winning a lottery.”

Lance regularly attends FreshFire Community Church in Macon.They asked him to give a testi-mony about his story in front ofthe congregation, but he declined,saying, “The story isn’t over yet.”

Saturday, 6.22.13ON THE WEB: www.yankton.net

NEWS DEPARTMENT: news@yankton.net 5PRESS DAKOTANlife

BY TOM AND RAY MAGLIOZZIKing Features Syndicate

Dear Tom and Ray: I have a 5-gallon gas can that has an old-

style spout, which used to have a bright-yel-low cap. The cap got lost, so I got a rubberstopper to put in the end, to prevent vaporsfrom escaping when not in use. Well, lastnight I put some gas in the car from this can,and not thinking, I forgot to take off the rub-ber stopper. You guessed it, the gas did notpour, but with a little shake, it started to flow,and a lightning bolt hit me: “Oh *#!! — thestopper fell in the gas tank!” My question is,What to do now? Will the stopper dissolveand mess up the fuel injection? How longwould that take? Could the stopper rollaround and block off fuel to the pump?

— Bob TOM: You can go back to sleeping at night,

Bob. I doubt the stopper’s going to hurt any-thing.

RAY: One of two things will happen. Eitherthat stopper will just sit at the bottom of thegas tank forever, never bothering anybody, orit will slowly disintegrate.

TOM: Some types of rubber, like neoprene,can stand up to petroleum products. Somecan’t. I have no idea what the chemicalmakeup of your stopper is. If it was a stopper

designed for a gas can, I’m sure it’ll just be aninnocuous, permanent resident of your tank.Whereas if you pulled it out of a bottle of Ba-boon Thigh Pinot Grigio, it might break downover time. But I still doubt it’s going to causeany problems further upstream.

RAY: Even if the stopper disintegratesslowly and gradually dissolves in the gaso-line, the small number of dissolved rubbermolecules in any given tankful of gas proba-bly will just combust in the engine, alongwith the gasoline, and never be noticed.

TOM: And if the stopper dissolves intosmall rubber bits (which probably is morelikely), and those pieces sink to the bottom ofthe tank, they’ll be prevented from enteringthe fuel line by the “sock” filter on the bot-tom of the fuel pump.

RAY: And if, by chance, some very, verytiny bits get through that sock filter some-how, most cars have a second, multi-micron-level filter further upstream to catch thoseeven-smaller impurities and protect the fuelinjectors.

TOM: So the car companies obviouslyhave dealt with people like you before, Bob.And they were ready for you this time. I thinkyou can sleep easy.

———You want to buy a used car, but how do

you find a good one? Tom and Ray can help!Order “How to Buy a Great Used Car: SecretsOnly Your Mechanic Knows.” Send $4.75(check or money order) to Used Car, P.O. Box536475, Orlando, FL 32853-6475.

———Get more Click and Clack in their new book,

“Ask Click and Clack: Answers from Car Talk.”Got a question about cars? Write to Click andClack in care of this newspaper, or email themby visiting the Car Talk website atwww.cartalk.com.

© 2013 by Tom and Ray Magliozzi and Doug Berman

CAR TALKTom and Ray Magliozzi

Piece In Gas Tank Likely HarmlessYSD Summer Food Program

At Webster SchoolMonday — Italian Dunker W/ SauceTuesday — Popcorn ChickenWednesday — Taco BitesThursday — French Toast SticksFriday — BBQ Chicken Sandwich

The Center — YanktonMonday — Pork Chops

Tuesday — Chicken ParmesanWednesday — Salmon LoadThursday — Turkey / DressingFriday — Meatloaf

Tabor Senior Citizens CenterMonday — Tuesday — Potato SoupWednesday — MeatloafThursday — Chicken Fried SteakFriday —

Menus listed below are for the week of June 24. Menus are subject to change without notice.All meals are served with milk.

MENUS

Hotchkin & Robinson Hotchkin & Robinson Melissa “Missy” Hotchkin & Chad Robinson were married October 20th,

2012 at East Side Lutheran Church. Missy is the

daughter of Gary & Val (Jennings) Hotchkin &

granddaughter of Orville & Ione Hotchkin. Chad is the

son of Mike Robinson & Roxann Robinson.

Missy is a graduate of Augustana College with a

degree in business administration & is a

consumer loan underwriter at Wells Fargo Home Mortgage. She holds a broker associates license

with the state of SD. Chad is a detail manager at

Autoland East.

920 Broadway, Yankton 665-3719

Take An Extra 15% Off Select Closeout Mattress

Sets At Already Low Prices!

Mr. & Mrs. Jerry Melick

40th Anniversary Celebration Jerry and Janet (Lien) Melick

will celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary on June 23, 2013.

After meeting at Midway Beach in 1972, they were married the fol - lowing summer at Zion Lutheran Church in Volin, SD. Together they’ve spent almost 40 years together in Yankton and on the Missouri River, where it all began!

The couple has two children Jill (Jay) Swatek, Garretson, SD and Beth (Joe) Stolp, Omaha. They also have three grandchildren Tayson, Bryn, and Aubrey.

Klimisch–Buchholz Ashley Klimisch and Andrew

Buchholz announce their engage - ment & upcoming marriage.

Parents of the couple are Jerome and Nancy Klimisch, of Yankton and Verlin and LaDonn Buchholz of Tripp, SD.

The bride-elect received a BA degree in K-12 Spanish Education from the University of South Dakota in 2011. She is currently a high school Spanish teacher at Zumbrota-Mazeppa High School in Zumbrota, MN.

The groom-elect received a BA degree in Contemporary Media Journalism from the University of South Dakota in 2009. He is currently an Account Executive at KXLT Fox 47 in Rochester, MN.

The couple is planning a July 6, 2013, wedding at Riverview Reformed Church, Yankton, SD.

B IRTHSHUDSON JOHN

Joe and Janelle Sees of Avonannounce the birth of their sonHudson John, born April 10, 2013,at 2:51 a.m. He weighed 7pounds, 6 ounces and was 20.5inches long.

Hudson joins siblings Lauren(11), Alexa (10), Courtney (7),and Easton (4).

Grandparents are George andRenaye Sees and Leland Eide, allof Irene.

MADELYN WITTMEIERShawn Wittmeier and Jenny

Heine of Yankton announce thebirth of their daughter, MadelynWittmeier, born on June 6, 2013,at 8:28 a.m. She weighed 7pounds, 7 ounces and was 19 1/2inches long,

Madelyn joins siblings:Malaya, age 12, Lexie, age 11, andBrayden, age 6.

Grandparents are Shery andBob Budihas and Peg and GregWittmeier all of Yankton.

Great-grandparents are Mari-lyn and Clarence Voudry of Ver-million.

Man Who Won House Says Giving Life To God, Getting Off Drugs Best Decisions

BEAU CABELL/MACON TELEGRAPH/MCT

“I got a smile that kills,” said Don Lance of his three decades using meth and other drugs. After getting offdrugs two years ago and winning a dream home in a contest, his life is looking up.