A. A.'s Country-wide News Circuit

Open house was held in Kansas City, Mo., to celebrate the sixth A.A. anniversary there. Visitors were present from Missouri, Texas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Colorado, Arkansas, Illinois and many other states. The tenth member of A.A., from New York, and the founder of the Chicago Group were principal speakers. A buffet supper and refreshments at the open house helped to make it a real party. Another sixth anniversary was observed recently at Kent, Ohio, when 160 heard Dr. L. of Dover as leader for the event. In the foreign language department, the Sunset Norwegian Group was organized a year ago last month with the aim of helping Norwegian sailors in New York, many of whom, it was felt, would feel more at home in a closed session of a Norwegian group. First meetings were used to train the charter members to speak A.A. in Norwegian and to translate the 12 Steps into that language. The 12 Steps and an explanation of A.A. have been printed in Norwegian and copies have been sent to the Alcoholic Foundation while others have been mailed to friends in Norway. This group meets Thursdays in the Norwegian Seamen's House, 62 Hansen Place, Brooklyn, N. Y., with the first open meeting held in March. The anniversary was celebrated in the assembly hall of the Seamen's House with an open session in English. Marshalltown, Ia., had plenty of visitors for the third anniversary April 26 with a dinner at the Tall Corn Hotel. Father Dowling of St. Louis was the speaker. Down in Tuscaloosa, Ala., some 40 ex-problem drinkers who used to pride themselves on drinking like Southern gentlemen marked completion of their first six months in A.A. recently. Two of the founders were patients in the Veterans Hospital nearby and talked over the idea of starting a fellowship in town. Members of the Birmingham Group helped and home meetings started, with a later transfer to the courthouse where they are now held Wednesday and Saturday evenings. One of the Tuscaloosa pioneers recently uncovered a paper written in 1936 in which he had drawn a striking similarity to the first seven Steps, but had not talked it over with another alcoholic and went through ten more alcoholic years before he found the complete program.