RHODES — Randy Rosenbalm is quick to acknowledge his past transgressions and the dark path he went down battling an addiction that began with opiates prescribed for a work-related injury in 2008 and eventually led him to drinking “a Texas fifth” of Vodka a day. After he and his ex-wife divorced and she suddenly passed away, Rosenbalm, a mobile DJ who lives in Rhodes and once worked as a route driver for Stone Sanitation, racked up three Operating While Intoxicated (OWI) convictions between 2016 and 2018.

His story has turned in a more positive direction, however, as he got sober in 2018 and hasn’t had a drink since. After a third offense, a driver loses his or her license for six years, which Rosenbalm doesn’t object to or contest. What has been a problem, he told the T-R recently, is trying to get answers from the Iowa Department of Transportation (IDOT) for the last year on the reinstatement process and all of the requirements and expenses that come with it.

“Really, everybody that I talked to at the DOT was absolutely unhelpful because I was hearing different stories of what I need to do, and that led to my frustration of reaching out to Kara Warme, who is our senator. She got me answers like that on what I need to do,” he said. “Basically, just jumping through all these hoops and everything, I can’t go get a full-time normal job. My DJ business is not a full-time job. It could be if I had transportation.”

Warme, a newcomer to the Iowa Senate, found out he needed to complete drunk driving school and a substance evaluation and pay about $1,500, which is a challenge considering the small town he lives in and the struggle to find work without a driver’s license. During a recent interview, she said that helping constituents navigate complex government systems — other examples included a foster care placement and a Medicaid waiver — turned out to be one of her favorite parts of the job.

“The reality is people will answer my questions quickly because the legislature’s in control of their budget, and I know the right people to ask, and I’m right there in the same building where a lot of the folks are,” Warme said. “It actually started with him voicing complaints on social media, kind of airing his frustrations, so I reached out to him and congratulated him on his sobriety… So I reached out to him and said ‘Tell me more of your story and let me see if I can help.'”

Rosenbalm ended up visiting the Iowa Capitol, where the senator expressed her admiration for his willingness to share “the dirty details” of his story, and as she recounted his addiction journey, Warme, who works professionally as the chief development officer at YSS, felt the opioid settlement dollars should be put toward programs to help people in these types of situations.

“It’s heartbreaking to think of all that it’s done to his life, and unfortunately, his story’s not uncommon in that sense,” she said. “When he reached out, my heart hurt for his story, and I was really proud of him for having seven years sober and for wanting to find a path back to steady work. So we reached out to the DOT and we got a very specific list of the steps that we needed to take. And his initial reaction to that was really positive, so that was, for me, it was a highlight of the session that he felt like he’d been looking around for a long time for these details and now he had them all in one place.”

He also found a receptive ear in another new legislator, Rep. David Blom (R-Marshalltown), who technically doesn’t even represent Rosenbalm, but he has thus far been unsuccessful in connecting with Rep. Brett Barker (R-Nevada), who does serve the area where Rosenbalm lives in the southwest part of Marshall County. Rosenbalm said Blom has stuck his neck out “tremendously” and even offered to chauffeur him to DJ shows, and he has also spoken with representatives from the office of Gov. Kim Reynolds.

“It’s difficult when people lose their licenses, and I know a lot of people in our community struggle with addiction and substance abuse. So when people are wanting to turn their lives around, it’s important that the information is clear and straightforward and that people have the opportunity to start living the right way,” Blom said. “Having all of the information up front and right at the beginning so people can see the process in a clear and predictable way, I think that’s really important and would’ve avoided a lot of the discouragement along the way.”

Kasey Lee, the driver’s license compliance officer for the Iowa DOT, said she could not comment specifically on Rosenbalm’s situation but did offer general advice about the reinstatement process for second and subsequent offenders — noting the aforementioned requirements and clarifying that she was only speaking about the driving record aspects, not the criminal side. She suggested that anyone with questions visit their local DOT office, email driver.services@IowaDOT.us or call the general phone line at 515-244-8725.

As he has worked to get his life back and steer it in the right direction, Rosenbalm admits he has sometimes struggled to move beyond the stigma of his past, recalling a recent claim from a Marshalltown Police Department (MPD) officer that he was involved in a fight outside of Primary Health Care when he hasn’t been in the community for at least three weeks. While the legislative session is now over, he did offer his support for changes that would place less of a financial burden on those who are unable to work and attempting to get their driving privileges reinstated.

“Really, it’s taken food off my table. And I know I did the crime and I have no problem paying things, but I think a little bit of grace (would help),” he said. “Now I’m in a rut. I honestly don’t even know (what to do). Start selling DJ equipment. How else do you get out of it?”

With seven years of sobriety now under his belt, Rosenbalm hopes to help others on the same journey, but he doesn’t feel that he should have to continually jump through hoops to prove it when he has plenty of people who can vouch for him.

“God forbid, my parents have been way more than supportive of me, but I just want my life back. I don’t want to have to have them take me to church,” he said. “My dad takes me a lot of times to shows, and they have helped out a lot. I’m very grateful for both of them, but on the flip side, I just want to live my life now. And the system’s set up just around money, and I don’t think it should just be centered around money. I think it should be centered around your actions.”

People who drink and drive should be punished, Rosenbalm added, and ignition interlock requirements make sense, but he questions the effectiveness of taking their licenses when so many continue to drive illegally regardless. He did at one time have a job in Des Moines after the convictions, but his father was driving him back and forth every day he had to work.

He’s still a work in progress as he works to overcome past mistakes and the aforementioned stigma, but Rosenbalm is optimistic about the potential for changes to incentivize recovery and help more people like him get back to work.

“I’m not proud of everything I’ve done. I can honestly say that, and I’ve learned a heck of a lot from it. And I believe addiction needs to be treated as more of a disease than just a choice,” he said. “If somebody has a seizure, do they have to jump through all these hoops? Because it’s a life problem, It really is, addiction is. And I’m not saying I condone drinking and driving. We have to stop that, number one, but it seems like, for the state of Iowa, it’s more of a money game, and I don’t think it should be that way. Because money is the only thing keeping me from getting my license right now.”

Rosenbalm still has work to do before he can finally secure that license, but he’s happy that two of his area legislators have lent him a hand as he digs out of the rut. Warme plans to do more research before the next session on steps the legislature could take to help individuals in recovery while continuing to deter and discourage impaired driving.

“If we’re holding people in poverty, it doesn’t give them the opportunity to recover, so I think it’s worth taking a look and seeing ‘Are there pieces of that that need to be modernized?’ and if you have paid your penalty in another way,” she said. “If those are fees, I’d be curious, you know, are we ever really connecting those dollars? Is that really gonna be a budget impact if some of those policies change? Because if people never get to a place where they can pay them off and just choose not to drive, you’re not actually costing taxpayers anything by waiving the fees. In fact, get those folks back to work, and that helps everybody.”

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Contact Robert Maharry

at 641-753-6611 ext. 255 or

rmaharry@timesrepublican.com.