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History
Heheheheh...all this talk of Roundups and FÛçkups reminds me of a couple other stories...if you got time, pull up a chair... The way the Dodge City Roundup got started was more happenstance than anything. At the time, we'd just expanded from one group to three. In order to facilitate cooperation between the groups, share a joint birthday night, etc., we'd formed an Intergroup Committee. I was appointed Chair of that committee. We were at a birthday dance one night, and someone asked, "Hey, why couldn't we have one of those things weekend things like AA has? You know, a Round Robin." I asked what NA termed that type of event, and one member said, 'Heh...how about a Square Blackbird?' However, another experienced member who'd moved to Dodge from Louisiana via Hays said, "They're called Roundups.' So the idea was born. The Intergroup Committee members passed the idea around throughout the groups and everyone was in favor, so we decided to give it a try. We had a number of very successful fund-raising events that summer, including a picnic with well over 200 attending, dances, etc. and we got the bucks together. The Roundup Committee members were picked mostly from the Intergroup Committee and after the success of the first Roundup, the Committee voted to disband. Probably the *worst* I can remember is was the 2nd Roundup, when we'd reserved the VFW hall WELL in advance. Well, it got down to less than a month before the Roundup (I seem to recall it was only a couple of weeks before), and we went to check with them on some details. Anyway, the guy managing it says, "Hey, we don't have you booked for that weekend. We're having the state VFW convention here that weekend, so you definitely can't have it." (Thanks for letting us know you arbitrarily cancelled us, you dumbfu...!) Oh-shit! time... The guy that was in charge of the arrangements with the VFW had a few very, very tense days until we could secure the Armory instead. That was me, of course. ;) I still shudder at the memory of that. (Mike's note) It was Freeezzzing cold in the Armory, as they did not have time to get the heat turned on. Probably the most poignant memory, was what happened after I printed the schedule of events for the 1st Roundup. Since I was doing the printing, I took a little poetic license and printed a story on the schedule that had been told to me by a Kansas City lawyer-member about the first NA group in Dodge. The story goes, that the group voted that marijuana was NOT a drug, so they took the group funds and went out a bought a bag. Shortly thereafter the group folded. Everyone got a very good chuckle out of that. Between that first Roundup and either the second or third, a member came to me in private and mentioned that story about the first Dodge City NA group. Seems she had not only been a member of that first group, but had actually helped start it. And yes, they did vote that pot was not a drug. And yes, they did buy a bag (I think she told me it was a whole nickel- bag ;) ). And yes, the group did fold. But what really got me where I lived, was that her brother had also been a member of that group. And subsequent to the group folding, he died of the disease. And every time I told that story at a meeting, or every time someone repeated that story, it about killed her emotionally. So we had a good cry and hugged each other, and I think she forgave me. And she's still around. :) Ken Ken, (my brother) made Slug Man back in the days, when a 386/16 was hot stuff. We used our old thermal paper FAX to send Slug's head to the pooter. The body was downloaded from some site, perhaps on AOL. Ken got the Logo on Slug's chest by painting it pixel by pixel. Ken actually got permission from the Head Honcho's at World to use Slug, right when Slug was in the middle of controversy. Seems some members thought that Slug presented a Negative View of Members. Truth is, Most members are actually Worse than Slug.
Any Crusty Old Timers with Service or Recovery WAR Stories may submit them to...
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