Alcoholism

Ashley Bryan lies down on the dirty carpet of her dad's bedroom where she usually sleeps. The 10-year-old girl closes her eyes, clasps her hands and raises them to her lips. Firmly, fervently, she prays. She wishes not for a bike or Barbie like most kids her age, or to become a doctor or firefighter some day. Every night, Ashley asks for something she believes only God can deliver. She prays for a new father.

Galaxy goalkeeper Josh Saunders, who left the team a month ago to enroll in Major League Soccer's substance abuse and behavioral health program, was back on the training field Tuesday. But it's unclear how long it will be before he can play again. Saunders, who held the Houston Dynamo scoreless in last November's MLS Cup final, said he was not being treated for drug or alcohol abuse, attributing his absence to personal issues. "I was under some stress," said Saunders, 31, who started this season as a starting keeper for the first time in his eight-year MLS career.

Alcoholism and other substance-use disorders appear strongly linked to a particular gene mutation, researchers reported Tuesday. Substance-use disorders are thought to arise from a combination of environmental or lifestyle factors and genetic characteristics. Identifying certain genes that are known to predispose people to the disease could be helpful in preventing drug addiction. Researchers have been working to identify some of the prominent gene mutations that could serve as markers.

There's an unflashy clarity to the documentary "Bill W. " that suits its subject. William G. Wilson, the "stinking rotten drunk" who had an epiphany and co-founded Alcoholics Anonymous in 1935, was a Vermont Yankee whose life's work was predicated on humility and service. Today's celebrity rehab news cycle would likely displease him; a true believer in the value of anonymity, he turned down an honorary degree from Yale and a cover story in Time (which later placed him in the top 20 "Heroes and Icons" of the 20th century)

Three former Northwest Airlines pilots convicted of flying a passenger plane while intoxicated were sentenced to prison Friday, two of them for a year and the other for 16 months. U.S. District Judge James Rosenbaum also imposed three years of probation on each, telling them: "Gentlemen, you are good men who have done a bad thing." The judge said that the pilots' actions amounted to a breach of faith between the traveling public and the pilots. "It is a crime against our sense of security.

I'm drunk. My cheeks are flushed. My heart is beating fast. I'm not sure what time it is. As I look around the room, I find myself transfixed by insignificancies--a beam of light etching a tiny rainbow onto one side of an Evian bottle protruding from an ice bucket; a thin, translucent rim of molten wax ringing the flame of the milk-white taper on my table; a scribble of blue thread on the back of a waiter's short black jacket.

I find it rather amusing--as a recovering alcoholic myself--that people are all in a tizzy over Joseph Hazelwood being in command of the Exxon Valdez when he had a history of alcoholism, yet John Tower was approved by all the Republican members of the Senate committee. A person with a history of drinking problems can run the whole Defense Department yet President Bush lets no photo op go by to rail against a more trendy "cause," the drug problem in the United States. If half the attention paid to the drug problem was paid to the problem of alcoholism in this country, we might cut down on the tragedies that result from the abuse of alcohol.

Of the many things that long-term alcohol addiction can steal -- careers, lives, health, memory -- one of its most heartbreaking tolls is on relationships. Alcoholics, researchers have long known, have a tendency to misread emotional cues, sometimes taking offense when none was intended or failing to pick up on a loved one's sadness, joy, anger or disappointment. The misunderstandings can result in more drinking, and more deterioration of relationships and lives. How does alcohol do all that?

I applaud Money's letter, saying alcoholism is the ultimate effect of a series of purposive decisions, not a disease. To say alcoholism is a disease is like saying overeating is a disease that the individual is powerless to control. What happened to the idea that people ought to control their impulses? It's time we return to self-discipline. FRANK P. BURTON Santa Monica

Greg Oden, the former No. 1 overall pick whose career was derailed by injuries, says he basically became an alcoholic by his second season in the NBA, during an interview with Mark Titus , Oden's former teammate at Ohio State. Oden, who was drafted by Portland with the first overall pick of the 2007 draft, puts some of the blame for his alcoholism on one of his cousins, who came to live with him during his second season with the Trail Blazers. His cousin was in the Air Force.

Six teenagers have shown up in two San Fernando Valley emergency rooms in the last few months with alcohol poisoning after drinking hand sanitizer, worrying public health officials who say the cases could signal a dangerous trend. Some of the teenagers used salt to separate the alcohol from the sanitizer, making a potent drink that is similar to a shot of hard liquor. "All it takes is just a few swallows and you have a drunk teenager," said Cyrus Rangan, director of the toxicology bureau for the county public health department and a medical toxicology consultant for Children's Hospital Los Angeles.

Is it possible that frat boys could be so vile and disgusting, so drunk and disorderly, so utterly contemptuous of civility and good taste -- so egregiously out of control -- that their fraternity big brothers would shut down their frat house? For the rowdy lads at Miami University's Sigma Chi International chapter, thumbing their noses at society has finally had consequences. They got the ax this week from the fraternity's national executive committee, which ordered the Miami chapter shut down.

Dennis Rodman is in desperate need of a rebound. An Orange County court commissioner Tuesday told the NBA Hall of Famer he faces a possible 20-day jail stint for contempt of court unless he comes up with $860,376 in child and spousal support he owes his ex-wife by May 29, though it's likely he could get community service time instead. Either way, Rodman's attorney and his financial advisor say, their client's broke. "In all honesty, Dennis, although a very sweet person, is an alcoholic," said Peggy Williams, his financial advisor.

As Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales was charged Friday with the murder of 17 Afghan civilians, one of the key questions in the case will be whether Bales -   as reported by a U.S. official familiar with the case - was drinking before the middle-of-the-night rampage. Scrutiny is also likely to be focused on Bales' past brushes with the law, which show that he more than once had been drinking when ran into trouble with the police. Court records show a citation in Florida for having alcohol on a beach in 1998, a charge involving a drunken assault at a casino in 2002, a reported drunk driving arrest in 2005, an alcohol-infused brawl outside a bowling alley in 2008 and another case that same year - not specifically charged as drunk driving -- in which Bales rolled his car and was seen fleeing into the woods.

Late nights in Silver Lake belong to Los Globos. Once a rough-and-tumble haunt of gangs and local toughs, the beat-up-looking spot on Sunset Boulevard has been under new management for eight months that hopes to transform the space into a concert venue on par with the Echo and some of the area's other taste-making music joints. Since late 2011, however, it's been pulling in crowds for a different reason: Friday through Sunday, the dancing goes on until the break of dawn. There's no alcohol served between 2 and 6 a.m., but that hasn't stopped throngs from hanging out all night, as masses of people mostly in their 20s have adopted the club's downstairs room as their domain.

The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim are on the brink of a season to remember. This summer should be a game-changer, a franchise-maker, a preview of rosy things to come. All things considered, the Big A should become the Huge A. The second-fiddle role, the little-brother-to-the-Dodgers stuff that has plagued the Angels for so long, should begin to change with this springboard season. Years ago, in his TV commercials for a camera, a long-haired tennis star, Andre Agassi, confirmed a societal axiom: Image is everything.

Chris Carpenter pitches for a team once owned by America's largest brewery in a stadium that shares its name with a brand of beer. But should Carpenter wish to toast any of his victories this season he'll have to wait until he leaves the ballpark. That's because the St. Louis Cardinals don't allow beer or other alcoholic beverages in their clubhouse. Same for the Colorado Rockies, who play at Coors Field, and the Milwaukee Brewers, who are not only named after beer makers but play in a stadium (Miller Park)