A.A.'s Country-wide News Circuit

What is probably the first police raid on an A.A. group was the distinction received by the Tidewater Group at Norfolk, Va., recently. A few members of the group were sitting around the still unopened new quarters one evening discussing improvements to be made when the police vice squad received information that the "joint" (the quarters had been illegally used by preceding tenants), recently padlocked, was open again. The police burst in on the preoccupied alkies, proclaiming a raid. They were considerably more embarrassed than the A.A.s. . . The move to these new quarters at 505 and 517 Colley Avenue, Norfolk, is the second in 17 months as the result of the growth of the group. Ironically both the first quarters and the new ones were lavishly equipped with the most adequate facilities for dispensing alcoholic beverages. The bars left by previous tenants provided quite a familiar atmosphere for the incoming group and serve well as coffee bars.