DECATUR — For William Hirtman, a recovering drug addict, every day is a day to be grateful.
They begin when he wakes up with his wife of nearly 29 years, and most of them end with an eight-hour shift processing meat for Heinkel’s Packing Co.
Thinking about the alternatives brings tears to his eyes and a quiet tremulousness to his voice.
“I’ve seen prison, and that was bad enough,” he said. “I never got to the point where I had to be institutionalized, and I know I don’t …