{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://susanwbrooks.house.gov/media-center/in-the-news/tully-mayor-fights-his-city-s-heroin-epidemic", "Tully: Mayor fights his citys heroin epidemic", "2016-09-24", "2016", "2016-09", "Republican", "House", "IN", "Susan Brooks", "B001284", "susanwbrooks.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Shon Byrum got into his car early on a recent morning and began the 90-minute drive to Downtown Indianapolis. The 33-year-old mayor of Winchester hoped the trip would bring a bit of good news for his east central Indiana town, which faces a painful heroin epidemic.\n\u201cThe one word that comes to my mind is desperate,\u201d the first-year mayor said. \u201cWe are desperately in need of help, and so many people are desperate to get their loved ones the help that they need. People are searching for answers. I hear it every day.\u201d\nHe hears it in questions about the plague of heroin abuse that has grabbed hold of many Indiana communities, large and small. In Randolph County, where Winchester serves as the county seat, officials have recorded 49 deaths since 2012, including five in one recent week, and many more overdoses. That, in a county of only 26,000 people.\n\u201cOur health services are overwhelmed and people don\u2019t have access to the inpatient rehabilitation services that they need,\u201d Byrum said. \u201cThat\u2019s the reality we have in this part of the state.\u201d\nByrum is a father and former teacher who ran for mayor in 2015 for the same reason a lot of people first decide to get involved in politics: to help a community address its challenges. When his campaign began, he expected to spend his days talking about road repairs, drainage issues, economic development and public safety.\n\u201cI want to make a difference in people\u2019s lives,\u201d he said. \u201cI want my community to be better.\u201d\nAs he knocked on voters\u2019 doors night after night last year, he soon realized that if he won the race he would have to put a different issue at the top of his agenda. That\u2019s because so many voters told him about how their lives had been touched by the heroin and opioid addictions of relatives and friends. He heard about the cost, to families and the community, of the epidemic. He saw the fear in the faces of parents and grandparents, friends and neighbors. He listened to tales of hopelessness.\nHe knew about the problem before the election. But all those conversations, all those nights spent talking to his future constituents on their doorsteps, underscored the scope of the crisis.\n\u201cEverybody knows somebody that has been involved in this,\u201d Byrum said. And, so, when he won his election in November he told his constituents that, \u201cWe are going to address this issue. It is not going to be ignored. We are going to do what we can to bring to our community the help that it needs.\u201d\nThat\u2019s a mighty task for the mayor of a city of fewer than 5,000 people. A mayor who still has to deal with road and drainage issues, and who manages a community that, like many other parts of rural Indiana, has seen investment and resources wane in recent decades. No matter. Byrum insists more can and must be done, and his words should echo at the Statehouse on behalf of Indiana\u2019s rural communities.\nOn that recent morning, Byrum drove to Indianapolis to tour a Volunteers of America program that serves young mothers facing heroin and opioid addiction. He told his community\u2019s story to U.S. Rep. Susan Brooks and state officials, hoping to draw attention and support his community\u2019s way. His goal, and VOA officials said they would work with him, is to bring the treatment program he toured that day to Randolph County. He also is working to bring a much-needed detox facility closer to his community.\nBack home, grass-roots groups have begun raising money for the cause, and a new support group has been flooded with participants. The mayor told me about a relative of his who died of a heroin overdose last winter, and about a local woman, a recovering heroin addict, who has dedicated her life to counseling others. He said his public safety agencies are working to better tackle drug crimes, but are also working with local schools and helping people find the support they need. \u201cThis is not a problem that we can just arrest our way out of,\u201d he warned.\nAs we talked, Byrum insisted that his community\u2019s story is not the heroin crisis it faces, but rather the way so many have stepped up to address it.\n\u201cWe have people here in rural Indiana who care so much about their fellow citizens,\u201d he said. \u201cThey are giving of themselves to help. That\u2019s what we need more of at the state and federal level.\u201d\nEarlier this week, Byrum walked into his office shortly after sunrise and was met by a woman who has organized support meetings for families ripped apart by heroin. Her son, whom Byrum has known since childhood, has been fighting a fierce addiction for years. That morning, he told his family he was ready to try rehab.\nThere are many others just like him, the mayor said. Many others who are desperate for help. Unfortunately, adequate services are not in place to address the scope of the problem. Reversing that, he said, should be the cause of leaders across Indiana, in communities big and small.\n\u201cIf I get nothing else accomplished as mayor, but I\u2019m able to get more programs started to help with this crisis,\u201d he said, \u201cI\u2019ll be good with that.\u201d\nThank you for reading. You can reach me atmatthew.tully@indystar.com\u00a0or on Twitter: @matthewltully.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["http://susanwbrooks.house.gov/media-center/in-the-news/tully-mayor-fights-his-city-s-heroin-epidemic"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.8154759891331196, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}