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Thursday, October 29, 2026Oct 29

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From the streets to computer instructor, tax advisor: LaFayette’s Gregory is a local inspiration

Georgia Northwestern Technical College adjunct computer instructor/Liberty Tax advisor Phil Gregory, of LaFayette, lets locals know that he survived addiction and they can too.
Georgia Northwestern Technical College adjunct computer instructor/Liberty Tax advisor Phil Gregory, of LaFayette, lets locals know that he survived addiction and they can too. Georgia Northwestern Technical College adjunct computer instructor/Liberty Tax advisor Phil Gregory, of LaFayette, lets locals know that he survived addiction and they can too.
photo Georgia Northwestern Technical College adjunct computer instructor/Liberty Tax advisor Phil Gregory, of LaFayette, is a success story. He battled a long-term addiction problem but has been clean for a decade.

In the 1990s, Phil Gregory’s life was different than it is now.

The 57-year-old LaFayette resident, who’s lived in Walker County for 20 years, is now an adjunct computer instructor at Georgia Northwestern Technical College and a Liberty Tax management team member. But that wasn’t always the case.

At age 40, he said, he decided to give up the life of addiction that had been holding him back.

“I lived on the streets. I was mostly drinking, but I would buy cocaine when I had money,” he said, looking back.

Gregory remembers hanging out at a place called the Alpine in LaFayette where he would meet people suffering from the same issues. Sometimes he slept in a warehouse behind the ShopRite in LaFayette when it was raining.