Ira Bevins shot his mom, then set her house on fire. He was out on bond, awaiting trial for rape:
The shootings came one month after Washtenaw Circuit Judge David Swartz discontinued required alcohol testing of Bevins at the request of Bevins’ public defense attorney, who argued that he had passed all the tests in the months after his arrest on the rape charge.
Bevins was charged with first-degree criminal sexual conduct, stemming from an incident that occurred on the late night and early morning of Aug. 4 and 5, 2008.
According to testimony from the victim, she and Bevins had become reacquainted at Alcoholics Anonymous events. On Aug. 4, she and her 4-year-old daughter visited her deceased mother’s house, located around the corner from Bevins’ house.
The victim testified that over the course of the evening she and Bevins drank. She said she doesn’t remember much more about the night, other than that she woke up without her shorts or underwear on. She went to the hospital and had a rape examination.
Stinkin' Thinkin' 
July 1, 2009 at 5:25 pm
WHAT? WHAT?
You mean there are people who go to AA meetings who still lead screwed up lives – who do not follow the AA prescription which is to have a spirutal awakening in order to solve theirproblems – and so naturally do not recover — and STILL they ‘keep coming back?
CAN’T BE!! Is anyone THAT stupid? What is this world coming to? AA must be a horrible thing! Oh woe to us. Woe to us ALL!
The people who DO follow the program and who DO recover and DO solve their problems must give it all up – for this disgrace that it is – and this organization must be revealed and uncovered for what it is and dissolved!
Peace,
Danny S – RLRA
http://recoveredalcoholic.blogspot.com
July 1, 2009 at 5:28 pm
I shall l inform my children and wife of my redemption conversion from AA doctrine and cultism to Anti-AA doctrine and cultism immediately.
July 1, 2009 at 5:31 pm
How do you know he wasn’t following the program to the letter, Danny?
July 1, 2009 at 5:58 pm
Following ‘the program to the letter” results in a spiritual awakening and includes leading a spiritual life that is being directed by God.
This kind of behavior never seems to occur in folks aligned with God. Not that have ever seen.
Does Bevin seem to you to be leading a spiritually inspired and God directed life?
If you were a betting man, which would you put money on:
a) “he follows the program to the letter” or
b) “he hasn’t got a program but goes to AA ‘events” – whatever that means.
July 1, 2009 at 6:40 pm
I am a betting man, and my guess is as good as yours. It doesn’t matter, because I have seen people who follow the program to the letter who are some of the biggest scoundrels that I know. I also know church going Bible thumpers who as big of assholes. You are an old school big book thumper, and others are more liberal. There is no difference in the efficacy of either approach.
Still, your instinct is to dismiss this guy as someone who did not follow program, the logic being he could not have committed these acts if he had. In other words this program cannot fail.
While I have you in this dialog, I have a question:
What happens to ones higher power before or after they leave AA? Does sit around waiting for a person to come back in the AA rooms or work the steps? Does your higher power care less about you when are not doing the steps? Thanx
July 1, 2009 at 6:47 pm
>>Following ‘the program to the letter” results in a spiritual awakening and includes leading a spiritual life that is being directed by God.<<
That is, if you're a real alcoholic.
Could be this guy wasn't an alcoholic, but just debilitatingly addicted to alcohol.
OK, I don't want to pick apart your belief system, Danny, just because that's what it is. I don't find that to be fair game. But I do believe that you'd agree with my point in highlighting these articles.
AA is not treatment, and there needs to be more options. Conventional wisdom about what to do about addiction, alcohol abuse/dependence/addiction — whatever you want to call it — is that AA and 12 step are the gold standard in TREATMENT. And this is just not the case.
July 1, 2009 at 6:01 pm
excuses, excuses, excuses
does it ever end?
July 1, 2009 at 6:37 pm
I know I’ve said it before, but… you know, the point of posting these articles (aside from the fact that it drives AAs a little crazy — which is an end in itself 🙂 ) is not to point out that AA doesn’t work because it didn’t instantly transform the one person in the article, right?
The point is this is All We Have for “treatment” in this country, and people like this (who don’t get dead) are going to have to keep going back (either of their own free will or not) till the day they decide to quit on their own, and then they can give AA credit.
Either that, or they end up one of the not-real alcoholic people you see everywhere every day: wandering around, reeking of pee, muttering to themselves, demented and collecting returnables so that they can buy their alcohol.
July 1, 2009 at 6:58 pm
ftg, got it in one.
July 2, 2009 at 4:24 am
danny,
this is god speaking:
mr. bevins was following the original AA program to the letter. i just wasn’t paying attention (frankly, i was having a tanqueray & tonic with the archangel gabriel & was just to caught up in the happy hour buzz).
on behalf of real alcoholics everywhere, please accept my amends. i promise to do better next time.
peace, love, not hat,
god / higher power
July 2, 2009 at 11:46 am
If you read the article, this is a pretty bad real world situation. AA had nothing had nothing to say or do in the matter. The woman, was with her bit of spare, and her husband found her drunk & naked. Bevins was, well, Bevins.
Whatever anyone thinks of those two, AA had nothing to do with it.
July 2, 2009 at 7:10 pm
Oi! Don’t take the piss out of Danny. He’s engaging in discussion without ad hominems and I think he’s a sweet guy. It’s got to be better to have a dialogue than to just trade insults, rigjht?
July 2, 2009 at 8:48 pm
Aw, andymar, Danny’s fambly around here. Don’t we have some good discussion going?
July 2, 2009 at 7:13 pm
Ok, that lost a bit of credibility when I put a “j” in right, but you get the drift?
July 2, 2009 at 9:05 pm
This was posted in another place, but it lays out pretty clearly why people attend aa:
This is the only place their emotional needs (the need to belong, the need to be a part of something larger than them, the need for a “family no matter how sick it was”, fears of being alone and lonely) were met,
They don’t believe or feel they are accepted anywhere else (rejected by greater society): bbeing in AA gave instant conditional “acceptance” and an “insta-family”. Many understood well that their behavior (not necessarily drinking behavior) and life-style was not appropriate and/or not acceptable in society but was seen as normal and within the limits of AA. My clinets came to understand that AA was essentially enabling them to behave irresponsibly and have lifestyles that would result in rejection from their community,
For those with several years of sobriety, it gave them instant power over meetings, groups, and others with less years, especially beginners. This power translated into having the strongest or a strong voice in the group. Many of those with years of sobriety had kept an early sobriety date even tho they had relapsed several times without the AA community knowing. In fact, in one AA lead I sat in on, the speaker had drank a considerable amount of alcohol on the way to the lead. This was discovered weeks later.
It offered a sense of safety- the group offered protection or a safety net from the world, especially from real world demands and expectations,
Opportunities for having fun via group parties and gatherings, also an easy place to pick someone up or get picked up.
July 2, 2009 at 9:11 pm
H, thanks for the quote! Do you have a link or source for that?
July 2, 2009 at 9:08 pm
The above post, which I copied & pasted from elsewhere, is an excellent description of why people attend and stay with aa.
Thses reasons have little to do with drinking. Nor, do they have very much to do with the 12 steps.
July 2, 2009 at 9:34 pm
yes
http://www.mentalhelp.net/poc/view_doc.php?type=doc&id=9527
July 2, 2009 at 10:05 pm
thank you!
July 3, 2009 at 11:32 am
Those five reasons, in my mind, are a key to understanding why people stay in AA. I never had never seen laid out in such clear terms before. I am certain that many others had noticed it; but, I had not seen it described.
Those five reasons are the main reason that I left. I had solved the problem before atttending AA. So, stopping drinking was not why I went. I did not know that I had solved the problem — I thought that I still had one. In AA, I learned different..
The AA train did not stop at my station.
In AA, I saw all those reasons being satisfied.