Pubdate: Mon, 11 Jun 2007
Source: Globe-Gazette (IA)
Copyright: 2007 Globe-Gazette
Contact: http://www.globegazette.com/sitepages/modules/editorltr.shtml
Website: http://www.globegazette.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1568
Author: Mary Loden, For The Globe Gazette

DELBERT SANKEY'S MISSION: KEEP KIDS OFF DRUGS

FOREST CITY - As the picture of a pitted, shriveled  brain flashed 
onto the screen, Delbert Sankey looked  out at the Forest City High 
School freshman and asked  them to look at the photo.

He paused for a moment, letting the photo sink into the  students' minds.

"My brain looks worse than that," Sankey said. "A  mashed-up mush brain."

Sankey is a recovering drug addict. In and out of state  prisons for 
18 years, he has been clean for two years,  is going to college, 
writing a book and talking to  young people about the horrors of drug 
use every chance  he can get.

Life sciences and health instructor Kathy Barkema said  she always 
ends the year with a unit on drugs.

"They've talked about substance abuse in class, ways to  resist 
pressure, what gets people into using," Barkema  said. "We had Mr. 
Sankey come in to give a real life  perspective."

Sankey, 47, was born in Britt, went to school in Garner  and now 
works at Winnebago Industries in Forest City.  But his life has taken 
twists and turns many times  because of drug use. And he wants young 
people to  listen to his story so that they can avoid the horrors  of 
his own experiences.

"I've done every drug on this list and probably more,"  Sankey told 
his audience, jerking his thumb up at the  overhead screen which 
displayed more than 20 common  kinds of drugs.

"It ruins bones, leads to mental illness," Sankey said.  Then he 
indicated a long row of prescription and  over-the-counter drugs 
lined up in back of him. "Now I  have to do all these pills every day 
just to function.  Just to try to be a normal person."

Besides vitamins and calcium to rebuild a ravaged body,  Sankey said 
he needs to take pills for brain function,  to calm his panic 
attacks, to help with depression and  to help him focus so he can keep a job.

"You want to end up going to college, getting a career  and being 
somebody," he said as he made eye contact  with several students. 
"Don't be like me!"

Then Sankey launched into his story.

He said he started smoking when he was 8, stealing  cigarettes from 
his dad. At 13, he discovered some of  his father's "trucker's speed" 
and he sampled some.  Then he started selling it to his friends.

Even though his dad quit smoking cold turkey and later  flushed the 
pills down the toilet when he found out  what his son was doing, 
Sankey said that didn't stop  him.

"I liked getting high and making money selling dope to  buy all the 
material things a youngster wants," he  said.

He said he excelled in sports and in school but he quit  competing 
and his grades slipped when he turned to  drugs.

"I just didn't care anymore," he said. "I thought I was  making 
friends but all they wanted was dope."

Things didn't get better in high school as he continued  to use 
alcohol and other drugs. He quit school and his  dad kicked him out 
of the house. He moved into a drug  dealer's house and started using 
and selling drugs.

When he finally got sick of the drug life, he joined  the Marines, 
made it through boot camp and made his  family proud of him. His 
training was in special  infantry. "I was going to be one of the 
elite," he  said.

Then he made another bad life choice. His grandmother  died and his 
request for leave to attend her funeral  was denied. "So I went AWOL," he said.

He ended up staying with a friend in Mason City who ran  a shop for 
drug paraphernalia. Although his friend  eventually talked him into 
going back to the service,  the Marines didn't want him anymore so 
they put him in  a platoon for misfits and gave him an honorable 
discharge a year later.

After entering the workforce, he used his paychecks to  get back into 
drugs and he soon entered into a drug-  related marriage.

"I have two kids and their lives were very  dysfunctional. We moved 
around a lot because I was a  drug dealer and always running from the 
law," Sankey  said. "I thought that was the life to have."

His life revolved around dealing, getting caught and  thrown into 
prison and coming home to the same old drug  scene. His kids were 
also doing drugs.

But they finally wised up.

"They saw a lot of horrible things. The kids got clean  because they 
got sick of seeing their dad go to  prison," Sankey said. "They made 
a decision. Then they  had kids and didn't want them to see what they saw."

During his last stint in prison, Sankey said he turned  to the Bible 
because he had nowhere else to go.

He decided to clean up his act and go through drug  rehabilitation 
with the support of his new church  family.

His church family helped him find a job and a new place  to live. 
"Then God blessed me with a good woman,"  Sankey said as he pointed 
to his wife, Sheri.

But life without drugs hasn't been easy. Something or  someone was 
always waiting to try to reel him back in.

He said he reached the bottom in 2005 when things got  so bad he 
tried to take his own life. He ended up with  a flesh-eating 
infection from shooting anhydrous into  his arm.

"Not because I wanted to do drugs but because I wanted  to die," 
Sankey told the auditorium of freshmen. "But  God has spared me 
'cause he wanted me to share this  message."

He is enrolled part-time in college and maintains a 3.0 
grade-point-average even though he has had to withdraw  often due to 
health reasons. "I struggle hard with a  brain half ate away," he said.

He wanted to go into a field where he could help kids.  "But I can't 
be a parole officer or be in human  services because I'm a felon," he 
stated. "I spent 18  years in prison, 18 years of wasted life."

But Sankey decided to make the best of his bad life  experiences, 
talking to young people and writing a book  about this life titled 
"Trying to Be a Winner On the  Losing Side of Life."

"I gave my life to the Lord and he told me what to do,"  Sankey said. 
"Ninety percent of the law enforcement  officers after me my entire 
life are now my friends.  It's nice to know I don't have to be afraid."
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman