Wharf Rats Newsletter - Online Edition

ONLINE EDITION Summer 1998
Volume I, Number III

Who We Are

The Wharf Rats are a group of concert-goers who have chosen to live drug and alcohol free.
Our primary purpose at the shows is to make ourselves available to anyone who feels we
may have something they want. We offer support, strength, fellowship and hope. Look for
the yellow balloons, signs and the Wharf Rats information table.

We are not affiliated with Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous nor any other
twelve-step group. We are a group of friends sharing a common bond, providing support,
information and some traction in an otherwise slippery environment.

Greetings, Wharf Rats!

Well, here it is, the third edition of the post-Grateful Dead Wharf Rat Newsletter.
As usual, it was assembled in a last minute, stress-filled, teeth-grinding frenzy that
resulted in massive hair loss — and what hair didn't fall out quickly turned to grey.
Regardless of the circumstances, I am extremely grateful, honored, and proud to
be of service to the Wharf Rats and to be a part of a fantastically diverse community
of friends seeking recovery.

Although we have been able to put out a newsletter just once a year, there are many
people all across the country who have been busy exchanging ideas, thoughts, hopes,
dreams and concerns that directly relate to the Wharf Rats. For instance, Steve E. has
been ferociously at work maintaining The Official Wharf Rat Web Site, (http://www.wharfrat.org),
and he has also been tremendously inspiring — especially when others have felt totally
uninspired. The list of those who have contributed time, money, energy, and love is endless.
Thank you.

Additionally, we soon hope to have a list server set up for those Wharf Rats on line.
To the uninitiated (lucky you!), a list server automatically distributes an electronic mail
message from one member of a list to all other members on that list. We see this as an
important and valuable tool that will bring not only an increased frequency of communication,
but it will also provide a format which will allow us to address issues that directly affect
the unity and the primary purpose of the Wharf Rats.

As for the newsletter, it is our hope that the increased communication permitted by the
electronic mailing list will allow us to print more than one newsletter a year. As it now
stands, we're hoping to issue a newsletter every six months. Ultimately , we'd like to put
out a quarterly newsletter and make it available to everyone via the U.S. Mail — in addition
to having it available at the web site.

Since there are just a few people involved in producing this newsletter, we are constantly
looking for ideas, suggestions, and ways to maintain continuity amongst ALL Wharf Rats.
Please feel free to submit any thoughts that you might have — and we are ALWAYS
seeking submissions, stories, artwork, links, pix, meeting schedules,
announcements and poetry for the newsletter.

You can send those submissions to our webmaster.

Thanks for letting me be of service. — Randy C.

Thank you and stay in touch!

…grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage

to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.