It is 11 p.m. on a Saturday and the back alleyway behind Main St. in Ashland comes to life.

College students accumulate, creating a crowd outside of the door, some hesitating to enter as they compare their fake IDs, while others make their way through to greet the bouncer. Upon entering, the smell of perfume, alcohol and sweat fill the air, as bodies crowd in attempting to make their way to the bar.

Linder’s is a destination; a meeting place where groups of friends all shared the intention of coming back together by the end of the night. Girls hug one another and the guys slap hands, seeming so ecstatic to see each another, despite just being together hours before.

The ticking sound of the wheel cuts through the noise on the first floor as a group of friends throw ten dollars down to “spin the wheel” and land on a shot they all must take.

This is a typical Saturday night at Linder’s, without exception. And also on every Saturday without exception, owner Jodi Pry is there, glasses pushed to the edge of her nose, watching over the students in her crowded bar.

*****

“This is my favorite time of the day,” Pry said.

It was a 2 p.m. on a Monday; the buzz from the neon bar lights and low hum from SportsCenter on one of the televisions were the only sounds that now filled the empty room, although it still carried the same scent of oak and alcohol.

Pry straightened the Miller Lite coasters and wiped the counters before finding a relaxed position, leaning over the bar.

This only lasted for a few minutes before she began to fidget again, pacing between the computer, counter and ice machine, straightening the bottles of vodka and other liquors before filling up a glass of water for herself.

Jodi began to reminisce about the first year her and her husband Sam bought the bar in 2004; this 2 o’clock drink would have been extremely different.

“The first whole year of working here I was drinking,” Pry said. “It was one of the worst experiences I have had here because I was not the same type of person I am now.”

Pry folded her hands and sighed. 

“The best memories I have, have to do with all the people I get to meet and all of the friends that I have made,” Pry said. “I have met a lot of good people owning this place.”

From behind her glasses, she sees more than a crowded bar on a Saturday night. Her glasses allow her to see a student needing guidance or someone to care about them. 

“I like to be a motherly figure,” Pry said. “I have a daughter, and I like to develop a relationship and keep kids on the right path because I was not able to do that with Brittany.” 

Jodi’s daughter, 27-year-old, Brittany Pry was in prison at the time.

In 2010, Brittany began to undergo multiple health problems and althought she was undiagnosed by her doctors, she was given numerous prescriptions of pain medications. 

Doctors later discovered she had stage-four endometriosis and prescribed her over 92 different prescriptions throughout the course of a year and a half before abruptly refusing to prescribe them any longer.

Hesitating, tears began to fill Jodi’s eyes, although none ever fell.

“All those pills led her to be a heroin addict,” Pry said. “She in prison right now. My only daughter, and I blame myself.”

Taking a sip of her water rather than the alcohol she used to sip at that hour, she revisits the memories her daughter had witnessed more than ten years ago.

“I drank all the time,” Pry said. “Pretty much from 1 o’clock on. I only did that for a couple of years but my daughter saw that, so I always blame myself to an extent that she got her addiction gene from me.”

Feeling guilt ridden for the past three years, Jodi watches the students from behind the bar, feeling responsible for keeping them safe, and making up for the places she feels she fell short with her daughter.

Brittany began working at Linder’s when she was 15-years-old and began bartending when she turned 21. 

“When she worked here, she was awesome,” Pry said. “Brittany was able to put herself through college and became a registered nurse while working here. It was in our plan to leave the bar to her when my husband and I keel.”

In 2013, Jodi discovered Brittany’s pain pill addiction and found her with heroin for the first time in 2014.

At the time, Pry said Brittany had her own apartment, although would frequently go to her parents house to watch TV, but she would always fall asleep ten minutes into the shows. Pry remembers one specific afternoon when Brittany fell asleep and she decided to go through her purse.

“I found a needle and a baggy of heroin in her wallet,” Pry said. “I took her wallet and started slapping her with it to wake her up.”

Upon waking up her daughter she demanded, “I want you to tell me what the hell this is in your wallet.”

Pry recalls Brittany responding, telling her that it was the first time she ever tried heroin and will never do it again.

“We flushed it and broke up the needle,” Pry said. “But I mean, she had more. That was just the first time I caught her.”

Following this first time, Jodi noticed money missing from the shoebox where she keeps all her tips from Linder’s and would constantly make visits to Brittany’s apartment when she would find drugs to flush.

“It has been a battle ever since,” Pry said. “She has been in jail, she lost everything she had including her nursing license and apartment.”

Brittany spent six months in jail in 2015 followed by four months of rehab before she was released. 

“Her last time out of jail, she lived with us and she was clean and was doing really well,” Pry said.

After being clean for almost one year, Brittany posted a letter to her heroin addiction on her Facebook wall on March 9, 2016.

“I am formally writing you this letter to tell you goodbye. I was more loyal, dedicated, faithful, and infatuated with you more than I have ever been with anyone in my life … I pick up another piece of myself off the ground every day. Nothing will ever take over my life again like you did. Thank you for giving me a chance to get my life and family back- you don’t give everyone that choice. I never need you in my life again heroin. Your former companion, 

Brittany Pry. 

Clean since 3/22/15”

Brittany overdosed again March 19, 2016. 

It was that incident that led her to prison but is also the reason why Jodi creates relationships and connect with the students who come into Linder’s 

“I want to have an impact on them,” Jodi said. “That is a big reason why I really try to make kids aware of the dangers of messing with pain pills because I know first hand that pills are what lead to heroin.” 

Jodi touches the section on the wheel behind the bar that is labeled “Brit Bomb.”  She is reminded of her daughter every night when someone spins the wheel and lands on that shot.

“This is the drink she invented while she worked here,” Pry said.

Leaning back over the bar tears, once again, fill the bottom of her eyes, although this time, with a sense of anger rather than sadness. 

“I told her if she went to prison I would not go to see her, and I haven’t ” Pry said. “I have been an enabling parent all this time and I can’t do that anymore.”

Brittany was released from prison on December, but prior to her release, Jodi expressed her fears of Brittany’s homecoming.  

“I am not looking forward to her coming home,” Pry said. “I will be in constant worry now for the rest of my life. It will always be in the back of my head and I will always wonder if she is lying. She was my best friend. I hope we are able to get back to that, but it will take a while.”

This is Part 1 of a two part series

Look for Part 2 in the next editon on Feb. 17