May - Wingspan

38WingspanfeaturesMay 2, 2011wingspan.lccc.wy.eduLeaving Las VegasWWhile in Las Vegas, Bonnema andKaren, already three years into a heroinaddiction, were in trouble. Stealing anddealing with the wrong kind of people ona daily basis, Bonnema was a full-blownjunkie. Spending every minute of everydayfinding and getting “fixes” for himand his wife, Bonnema had lost control,and the drugs had fully taken over hislife. He couldn’t live without them.“One time in the parking lot wherewe were picking the heroin up from,the people didn’t show up in time,”Bonnema said.“By the time therunner did finallyshow up, Iwas on all fourspuking becauseI was so sickand neededit. Karen hadto shoot meup while I waspuking so thatI could pukeagain just to bewell. Every timeyou shoot up,you would get Rick Bonnemasick.”Bonnema, who is originally fromMinnesota, was on his way back home tocheck himself into rehab for his roughly$200-a-day heroin addiction that eventuallyled him through Wyoming.Bonnema’s wild, life-consuming, outof control habit, which he said cameabout after suffering from back problems,was destroying his life, and onSept. 26, 1992, his lifestyle of consumptionand reckless abandon spiraled outof control.hen Rick Bonnema decided to leave Las Vegas in the fallof 1992, he knew his life would change one way or another.Along with his wife, Karen, and 7-year-old daughter, Megan,Bonnema was hitting the road to a better life that hewasn’t finding beneath the lights of Sin City.“While making the trek to Minnesota,Bonnema and Karen, dope sick onheroin, made a decision that will haunthim the rest of his life.To kill the agonizing pain of beingsick on heroin, Bonnema walked intoa drugstore in Rawlins, Wyo., seekingprescription narcotics. When thepharmacist declined, Bonnema pulledout a black, pistol-shaped BB gun anddemanded pills. Bonnema left $17 on thecounter and hit the road heading east onInterstate 80.Just 46 miles down the road in ElkMountain, Wyo., the Wyoming HighwayPatrol had set up a roadblock, andBonnema’s life would never be thesame.“I left $17 for a class A narcotic to helpme and Karen quit being sick,” Bonnemasaid. “They said that I needed a prescription.Well, here’s my prescription, and Ipulled a BB gun out. It was either that orKaren was going to take Megan and leave.She would’ve just wandered the streetsand eventually found something. Wewere both sick.”I was on all fours puking because I was so sick and needed it.Karen had to shoot me up while I was puking so thatI could puke again just to be well. Every time you shoot up, youwould get sick.~Rick BonnemaCody TuckerLiving right:Rick Bonnema, who is in his 14th year as senior architectual maintenence technician at Laramie CountyCommunity College, has been living a new, normal life and is enjoying every minute of it, drug-free.