A.A's Country-wide News Circuit

Firmly convinced "A.A. has come to stay" at Stillwater, Minn., Prison, our reporter there says the first meeting of eight members was held recently under the sponsorship of Warden L. F. Utrecht and the guidance of members of the Midwest Council on Alcoholism, Inc. By the time the third meeting was held there were 17 members and several more applications on file. Meetings are every Saturday afternoon from 1.30 to 3:30 with A.A.s from Minneapolis, St. Paul and Stillwater in charge. The fourth Saturday meeting will be conducted by inmates. "We are not proud of our status as a prison group," the reporter writes, "but we are extremely grateful to the warden and the outside groups who have made and will continue to make these meetings possible. Physically and mentally there is little to distinguish between the alcoholic who occupies a cell and the one in a penthouse. Each is a sick man, each must meet and master the same tragic reality--he can't take that first drink. Of course, the alcoholic in prison can't get his first drink but that doesn't eliminate his craving, nor his desire to get drunk and shut out the reality he must face each day, nor the fear that is constantly with him--'Can I leave it alone once I get out?' We sincerely believe that A.A. philosophy is the answer to his problem." The group hopes to publish its own paper soon. Its first printed matter is an attractively gotten-up commemoration of the first meeting.