Going On-Line to Help Others Get Off the Bottle : Technology: Aging former drinker dedicates bulletin board service to memory of his late wife.

DANA POINT —  Inside the guts of Grant Hoel’s computer lie a personal tribute and what could be the genesis of sobriety for anyone else who has a computer, modem and an addiction to alcohol.

The 72-year-old Hoel has written a program for a computer bulletin board that offers information about Alcoholics Anonymous, and a few megabytes more.

“There are so many questions on the mind of a person who needs help but is afraid to do anything,” said Hoel, who lives and works in Capistrano Beach. “I love what AA has given me. I was just a . . . drunk.”

Included in the bulletin board’s menu are AA telephone numbers in Orange County, stories written by teen-agers overcoming the struggles of addiction, answers to commonly asked questions, and excerpts from a book by a Laguna Beach author on 12 steps toward recovery, which were originally designed by AA.

It was AA’s philosophy, which Hoel first heard more than two decades ago in the basement of a skid row church in Phoenix, that plucked his life from the wreckage of a two-quart-a-day vodka habit.

Hoel hasn’t taken a drink since 1968, but it doesn’t mean that things are getting any easier.

In June, his wife, Dori, died of emphysema at age 70. The couple met through AA and had built their new life around helping others beat the bottle.

Dori was one of six women who led an AA meeting for former First Lady Betty Ford when she checked into a Long Beach hospital. Over the years, Dori also assisted several South County women in their quest for sobriety.

“She had a quality about her that gave people hope,” said Muriel Zink of Laguna Beach who wrote “Step by Step,” a book from which Hoel borrowed a few passages for his project.

Before Dori’s death, Hoel said he and his wife had talked about the idea of launching the computer bulletin.

He finished the task in her memory.

“It wasn’t planned this way, I’ll tell you,” Hoel said. “It meant so much to her that I dedicated the service to her with hopes that newcomers might not be terrified by going to an AA meeting. You know, people are worried that there are going to be a bunch of guys in trench coats. And they don’t want to be seen there.”

His face etched by lines created by more than time, Hoel must stop himself from crying when he talks of his spouse. She learned about the ravages of alcoholism through an article in a 1962 Saturday Evening Post, which she kept and Hoel now treasures.

Hoel said he can’t publish a magazine but hopes to reach people in the computer age, when information-seeking can be cloaked in anonymity--something many alcoholics crave as much as a slug of liquor.

“Some of the information on the bulletin board is from a pamphlet that’s printed and available, but you have to go to a meeting to get it,” said Hoel, who would be glad if one person benefited after connecting via computer to the project that may be the only one of its kind in Orange County.

A manager at the main Orange County office of Alcoholics Anonymous in Santa Ana said she has heard of computer bulletin boards where people post messages but nothing as comprehensive as Hoel’s program.

The program is neither endorsed by AA nor does Hoel say that it is. The organization, founded in 1935, does not take a position on similar activities outside of its own program.

And as the group’s title professes, anonymity is a main trait. Meetings are not discussed. Privacy is paramount. Last names are usually withheld.

Roberta, a manager at the Santa Ana office of AA who chose not to give her last name, said anything that may help someone gain sobriety is worth pursuing.

A staff member at the General Service Office of Alcoholics Anonymous in New York City said people with home computers have been swapping comments about AA since about 1986.

“Just as AA members write letters back and forth, it’s another way of corresponding and communicating with each other,” said the staff member, Helen. “If this is something that is occupying his time and giving him something to do, I think it’s good.”

The bulletin board is a free service, although Hoel does have a computer consulting business he runs with a partner, Michael.

Michael, who met Hoel three years ago through AA, said the bulletin board project carries out the goal of AA: stay sober and help others achieve sobriety.

“Interest in that bulletin board will help him not drink today,” Michael said.

For Hoel, the bulletin board is also a way to thank those who have lent emotional support.

The former Phoenix bank vice president said he once had bar tabs spread over seven establishments totaling about $10,000.

He sought help from the wife of a co-worker. She told him about an AA meeting in the church basement on Van Buren Street in Phoenix.

There, by chance, Hoel said he saw 35 friends who were once his drinking partners.

Today most of his friends are men young and old and in AA. Recovering alcoholics do not discriminate by age, he said.

“I didn’t start to learn anything until 1968,” Hoel said, referring to his last drink. “Then I started to learn about loving, caring and sharing.”

The telephone number for Hoel’s computer bulletin board is (714) 496-3930.