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ChowchillaBy Sara Jane Olson

What makes a mother legitimate? Who has the right to be amother in the United States?Are women who are incarcer-ated fallen women, prime ex-amples of the patriarchal ver-sion of the Garden of Eden storyand, thus, ineligible for legiti-mate motherhood? Do we feellove for our children? Do wemiss them like women who havenever been in prison? Yes, wedo.

Central California Women’s Fa-cility (CCWF) is located about20 miles North of Fresno, be-tween Madera and Chowchillaand right across the road fromValley State Prison for Women(VSPW). Together, they formthe largest women’s prison com-plex in the world with an incar-cerated population of approxi-mately 7,500.

Most of the prisoners at CCWFare mothers. On Friday, May 12,CCWF hosted the annual Geton the Bus (GOTB) event, unit-ing women prisoners with ourchildren and loved ones, tohonor Mother’s Day. GOTB day is organized and financiallysupported by various Catholic dioceses and a large number ofother churches and organizations throughout the state. Themain organizing work within the prison is spearheaded by Ms.Hansen of Friends Outside, a self-help group operating withinand without California’s CDCR institutions. Staff from theprison allow the event to occur once a year.

This year, 189 women applied to take part in the festivitiesheld in the prison’s Visiting Center. Only 46 weren’t approved.Denial of approval typically centers on parental custody ordocumentation issues.

California’s Southern dioceses handled the logistics for CCWFmothers because its prisoners come from all points South ofBakersfield. They bring the women’s children and other rela-tives and friends - sisters, mothers, aunts and uncles. Forinstance, Shirelle C.’s son lives in Elsinore. The Catholic Dio-cese of San Bernardino sponsored him.

The churches raise money pri-vately to pay for the buses,breakfast, and dinner meals enroute both ways, food in the Vis-iting Center for inmates andguests, a gift tote bag of art ma-terials for each child and twoPolaroid photos. They provideoutreach services to help thekids come by assembling andpaying for identification, birthcertificates and notary services.

On the big day, inmates come tothe gym on the main yard. Thenight before, we receive ducats(an in-prison appointment pass)on the three facility yards for 9AM. As the buses come in fromSouthern California, women arecalled to the Visiting Center tomeet with the children and otherloved ones. This year, only three women in the gym were nevercalled.

Usually the buses arrivebetween 10 and 11 AM.Barbara T.’s mother andchildren came at 12:30 PMafter a six and one-halfhour trip. The visits lastuntil 3:30 PM. Last year,Shirelle C.’s family camelate because the busdriver, who apologized,had overslept two hours.

The celebrants share aprepared meal of hot dogs,chips, a soda pop and icecream. Besides the arttotebag, this year the kidswere able to choose a bookor two and a Pound Puppyprovided by members ofthe Inmate Family Coun-cil.

The week before the event,the mothers write a lettertelling our children howmuch we enjoyed the visit.The letters are distributedon the bus ride home. The

children tell mom how thrilledthey were to read them.

After the visit, inmate mothers,like all who get a visit, arestripped and searched. We caneach bring back a Polaroid photofrom the visit. It’s a magic timeeven though moms can’t bringback the cards made by our chil-dren during the visit or, if the kidshave drawn a creative handprinton mom’s shirt, mom may bethreatened with a write up for “de-stroying state property.” No mat-ter. It’s worth it.

Get on the Bus Friday is the onlytime most mothers see our chil-

All of the photos on this page are from the 2005 Get On The Bus event.All of the photos on this page are from the 2005 Get On The Bus event.All of the photos on this page are from the 2005 Get On The Bus event.All of the photos on this page are from the 2005 Get On The Bus event.All of the photos on this page are from the 2005 Get On The Bus event.

dren each year. It’s a precious gift but it’s hardly adequate foreither party. Many mothers are lifers of very long termers. Whenone considers the impact incarceration has on a mother andchild, one finds: prison destroys. It attempts to destroy notonly the mother/child bond but, consequently, it strikes hugereverberations throughout our family and community struc-tures.

Furthermore, the majority of GOTB women prisoners can notever have overnight visits with our children. In 1994 Califor-nia outlawed Family (FLV) Visits for lifers. This proscriptionwas extended to all Close A and Close B (Close Custody) in-mates, a designation that limits in-prison movement and pro-grams which creates more special staff positions for guards oneach faculty yard.

Children of prisoners and we, their moms, need to see eachother more often. We would like to have more GOTB Fridays,restoration of Family Visits for lifers, and a reduction in thewholly unnecessary Close Custody designation. After all, inprison or not, for a woman who is a mother, everyday is Mother’sDay.

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Sara Jane Olson is a prisoner, a mother and an activist. She isfrom Minnesota, where her husband and daughters still reside,transplanted to C.C.W.F. for a long – though impermanent –sojourn.

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In 1998, a new state prison dress-code was submitted to theCalifornia Office of Administrative Law (OAL) for approval.The code, which became California Department of Corrections(CDC) policy, has been unnecessary and unfair, a burden thathad no benefit especially for 160,000 male prisoners.

The 1998 dress-code required male prisoners to cut their hair,beards and fingernails. Though men would lose their beardsand be forced into new haircuts, female prisoners would stillbe allowed to wear earrings, nail polish and make-up to “en-hance their looks,” according to (then) CDC Director of Cor-rections, C.A. Terhune.

Corrections officials blurted that the new grooming standardswere for the “safety and security of all institutions,” and for“public safety.” Surely he announced this with a straight face.

I can not recall anything as unrealistic and absurd as the rea-sons given for the change of rules regarding grooming stan-dards for California prisoners.

In his initial statement of reasons, the director wrote, “Thisaction is necessary to promote good personal hygiene as wellas to aid in the security of the prisons and to protect the safetyof the public.”

His statement smacked of classic textbook ploy to dupe thepublic into believing that if convicts are forced to trim theirmustaches, the public will be safer. The claim that uniformgrooming standards support legitimate penological interestswas also baseless. Police would find it much more difficult to“identify” and “apprehend” escapees forced into a standardappearance.

The director claimed to “. .set the standards for each genderaccording to needs, physical and psychological differences,behavioral differences and social standards.”

Disregarding the Penal Code, the CDC took it upon itself tomake up particular degrees of punishment according to gen-der.

California’s lawmakers did not enact two sets of punishments -male and female. His double standard for male and femaleprisoners’ grooming criterion violated preferential treatmentlaws.

State Prison “Grooming Standards”Over Turned By The Federal CourtBy: Boston Woodard The Department of Correction’s most egregious lie in its initial

notice of rule change was that the department “determinedthat this action will impose no fiscal impact.”

In 1998, California prisons did not provide adequate hygienesupplies: i.e., soap, razors, tooth powder, etc., to accommodateexisting grooming standards. When the new rules were inacted,the taxpayers had to pay.

Tens of thousands of new prisoner I.D.s and hundreds of thou-sands of copies of the Title #15, California Code of Regula-tions (CCR5), rules governing prisons, had to be reprinted anddistributed to every prisoner and tens of thousands of prisonstaff members as required by law. Courtesy of the taxpayers ofCalifornia.

There were countless, expensive, disciplinary actions sparkedin many cases by prisoners’ legitimate refusal to comply be-cause of personal, religious, and ethical reasons. There werefederal civil rights complaints filed on behalf of those prison-ers with devout religious objections to mandated rules on hairlength and facial-hair styles (Native Americans, Orthodox Jews,Muslims and Rastafarians to name some). There were years ofcourt costs and fees for attorneys defending the state — allbecause of a “grooming standard problem” that never existedwithin California’s prison system. The new rules cost Califor-nians millions it did not have to spend.

As a result of numerous lawsuits regarding the religious rightsof prisoners, i.e. Warsoldier v. Woodford, Case No.: 04- 55879,DC No. CV-04-02233-IRSWL, (July 2005); Mayweathers V.Newland, 314 F.3d 1062, 1070 (9th Cir. 2002); and In ReCorey Williams, Case No.: SC133840A, (Feb. 2004). The CDChas been ordered to comply with the Religious Land Use andInstitutionalized Persons Act (IRLUIPA) which provides thatgovernment may not impose a substantial burden on a prisoner’sexercise of religion unless the regulation in question furthersa compelling state interest in the least restrictive manner. Fur-thermore, the courts have determined that it would also serve acompelling governmental interest by ordering the CDC to ap-ply grooming standards equally to all prisoners, irregardless oftheir religion, race, ethnic background, or sex.

Early on, rank and file guards felt the new grooming standardswere not necessary, uncalled for, and would pose a distractionfrom the legitimate details of their job assignments.

Don Novey, who was president of the California CorrectionalOfficer’s Peace Officers Association (CCPOA), had said beforethe grooming standards were implemented, “Staff have betterthings to do than to check the length of prisoners’ hair. We’vegot a lot of problems in there, and that’s not one of them.”

This was done soon after ex-Gov. Pete Wilson stopped report-ers from interviewing specific prisoners. Because the publicnow only hears the watered-down version of events preparedby prison administrators, the CDC snuck the grooming stan-dards into policy.

The grooming standards emerged in the wake of Wilson veto-ing a bill by (Pet) San Fransisco Senator Quentin Kopp thatwould have reinstated the public’s right to hear the whole storybefore making it policy.

The grooming standards were not, and never will be, progresstoward legitimate penological interests as CDC’s shot callersspewed.

Such as many of the rules, regulations, and policies in theCalifornia prison system, the grooming standards were arbi-trary and unnecessary. The public needs to demand that rulechanges such as these not be implemented until a completeinvestigation can be conducted to assess their merits, and toprevent wasting millions on baseless claims by the CaliforniaDepartment of Corrections.

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Boston Woodard is a prisoner/journalist who has written for theSan Quentin News and the Soledad Star, and edited The Com-municator. The Department of Corrections has pulled the plugon all three publications.

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This page and all its content paid for by WILPF

WILPF DATES:WWWWWednesdayednesdayednesdayednesdayednesday, July 5, Noon: W, July 5, Noon: W, July 5, Noon: W, July 5, Noon: W, July 5, Noon: Women inomen inomen inomen inomen inBlackBlackBlackBlackBlack Fresno County Courthouse Breezeway

ThursdayThursdayThursdayThursdayThursday, July 13 NO WILPF Business, July 13 NO WILPF Business, July 13 NO WILPF Business, July 13 NO WILPF Business, July 13 NO WILPF BusinessMeeting Meeting Meeting Meeting Meeting (Summer break)

July 20-23, 2006: WILPF-WEST GatherJuly 20-23, 2006: WILPF-WEST GatherJuly 20-23, 2006: WILPF-WEST GatherJuly 20-23, 2006: WILPF-WEST GatherJuly 20-23, 2006: WILPF-WEST Gather-----ing - Portland, ORing - Portland, ORing - Portland, ORing - Portland, ORing - Portland, OR

WWWWWednesdayednesdayednesdayednesdayednesday, July 26, 3 PM: WILPF Stir, July 26, 3 PM: WILPF Stir, July 26, 3 PM: WILPF Stir, July 26, 3 PM: WILPF Stir, July 26, 3 PM: WILPF Stir-It--It--It--It--It-Up Up Up Up Up on KFCF 88.1 FM

SAVE THE DATE: Saturday, August 19, 10AM-4PM: WILPF’s Annual Retreat & PotluckLocation to be determined.Location to be determined.Location to be determined.Location to be determined.Location to be determined.

WOMEN’S INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE FOR PEACE AND FREEDOMWILPF Fresno, PO Box 5114, Fresno, CA 93755

Vickie Fouts, Editor, (559) 658–8260 or socialjustice@sti.net Graphic by Lincoln Cushing

New WILPF Board Update: New WILPF Board Update: New WILPF Board Update: New WILPF Board Update: New WILPF Board Update: At our last WILPF board meetingof the year on June 8th we again discussed filling a new board.At this time we have maybe one or two who are interested intaking some role such as a committee chair, but no one hasstepped up to take on the important roles of officers: president,vice president, secretary, and treasure. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE consider tak-ing on an active role on the WILPF board for next year. Most ofthe jobs can get by with 1-4 hours a month with an additional2 hour monthly board meeting. I can’t imagine how we canhold our annual retreat on August 19th to plan the new year ifthere are no board members to run the meeting and give andcarry out ideas for the upcoming year. I don’t want Fresno WILPFto disappear after over 40 years and I would hope you don’twant that either. Please let me know if you are interested intaking on any of the positions or want more information aboutthem.

WILPF-WWILPF-WWILPF-WWILPF-WWILPF-West Gathering: est Gathering: est Gathering: est Gathering: est Gathering: WILPF members from the WesternUS will be meeting in Portland, OR at the Portland State Uni-versity on July 20-23. Several Fresno WILPF members attendedthe last one in Asilomar, near Monterey, three years ago. Thecost for attending is: $65 registration fee, $20 per night roomrate, $75 for meals, and a $15 late fee. If you are interested inattending please contact me and I will get you a copy of theregistration form and the details. I think it is very important forat least one Fresno WILPFer to attend. Branch financial assis-tance may be available.

WILPF Peace Camp and Interfaith Alliance of Central Cali-WILPF Peace Camp and Interfaith Alliance of Central Cali-WILPF Peace Camp and Interfaith Alliance of Central Cali-WILPF Peace Camp and Interfaith Alliance of Central Cali-WILPF Peace Camp and Interfaith Alliance of Central Cali-forforforforfornia Ynia Ynia Ynia Ynia Youth Grouth Grouth Grouth Grouth Group: oup: oup: oup: oup: Recently I meet with Kamal Abu-Shamsieh as head of the Interfaith Alliance of CentralCalifornia’s Youth Group. Kamal is also Director of the IslamicCultural Center of Fresno. I learned about the InterfaithAlliance’s Youth Group when an article was sent to me from theFresno Bee on the work the youth did cleaning up areas ofdowntown on Earth Day. They were also featured on Channel30 News. What a wonderful idea it is to bring interfaith youthtogether to teach them understanding and tolerance beforethey are entrenched with stereotypes and negative feelingsabout those who may be different than they are. It has to beeasier to mold young minds towards good than trying to getadults to unlearn negative thoughts and feelings.

When I heard about this wonderful group I thought about howthey could possibly use some of our Peace Camp supplies thathave been sitting in Marilyn Shelton’s and my garages for agesand the WILPF Board agreed. Kamal and I met to discuss do-nating some of our Peace Camp supplies to the youth group,such as paints, paper, etc. that can become useless over time.We have not held our Peace Camp the past two years due tolack of volunteers and it looks like it may be awhile before wehold it again. We also talked about letting them borrow manyof our items for their work. Kamal and the youth group are veryexcited about this partnership, as I am.

Kamal even went one step further and offered to store ourPeace Camp supplies in a mini-storage unit that has beendonated to the Interfaith Alliance’s Youth Group. This way theitems will be readily available to them at any time, WILPF willalso have access when needed and we will have a wonderfulplace to store the items instead of someone’s garage. Thanks sovery much to Kamal and the youth group for helping me cleanmy garage.

During our discussion Kamal also mentioned that he wouldlike to hold a Peace Camp for the Youth Group. How that warmedmy heart. We will be discussing how to go about this, as ourmaterial is for 6-12 years old and their Peace Camp would be

for 12-18 year olds. I am sure it will be easy to pull off and I amso happy that WILPF will be part of it all. Thanks to Kamal andthe Interfaith Alliance Youth Group for making my day. Whatan honor for WILPF to be part of bringing peace and under-stand to the Interfaith youth of Fresno.

WILPF Interns and Graduation: WILPF Interns and Graduation: WILPF Interns and Graduation: WILPF Interns and Graduation: WILPF Interns and Graduation: On May 19th I attended theHooding Ceremony at CSUF for three of our former social workmasters’ student interns, Lupe Orosco and Rick Petinak, ourinterns from last year, and Kris Smith, our intern this year.

CONGRACONGRACONGRACONGRACONGRATULATULATULATULATULATIONS TIONS TIONS TIONS TIONS to the three of them. I know that theirjourney has been hard, but I am sure that it has also been worthit. I am hopeful that all three of them will go forward in theirlives carrying with them the ideas of peace and social justicethat they learned from WILPF, as Catherine Garoupa and RuthObel-Jorgensen have before them.

Last month Kris shared with us information about her Master’sThesis so I thought this month we would hear from Rick andLupe. Rick plans on continuing his job at PG&E for the nextyear and then the family plans to move to Texas, where Rickhopes to start working in the social work field. They will bemissed and we wish them the best of luck in their new venture.

Rick’Rick’Rick’Rick’Rick’s Thesiss Thesiss Thesiss Thesiss Thesis - My Project was titled “Cultural ReceptivityAmong Foster Parents”. It was in essence a survey of a samplegroup of foster parents in Tulare County who currently or maypossibly in the future care for a foster child of a cultural, eth-nic and/or religious background different than their own.

The survey explored parental attitudes and value placed onthe importance of “cultural receptivity”, which defines theparents’ efforts to do two things 1)familiarize with, appreciate,recognize and celebrate their foster child’s cultural traditions,customs and histories, and 2) take steps to keep the childconnected with positive aspects of the same traditions, cus-toms and histories.

I found that as a whole, foster parents did not place, on aver-age, a high priority on these activities, but a moderate priority.Looking at responses by race, age group, gender and level ofeducation revealed patterns that showed more favorable re-sponses, typically, by respondents who were one of the follow-

ing: African-American, age 20-39, college graduates, and/orfemale. I personally found both the study and results informa-tive and interesting.

From Lupe: From Lupe: From Lupe: From Lupe: From Lupe: My project title was “Latino Immigrants’ Experi-ences in Obtaining Legal Status.” This study explored Latinoimmigrants’ perspectives about their experiences during theprocess of obtaining permanent residency prior to and follow-ing September 11, 2001. I am currently working full time atKids Kasa Foster Agency as a social worker.

WILPF & CongressWILPF & CongressWILPF & CongressWILPF & CongressWILPF & Congress: Did you know that the WILPF website<www.wilpf.org> now has a page under “Get Involved” thathas a WILPF Toolkit to help you send letters directly to yourmembers of Congress and to the media. It also has a couple oflinks with additional information about keeping informedabout your Congress members. Check it out.

WILPF’WILPF’WILPF’WILPF’WILPF’s Stirs Stirs Stirs Stirs Stir-It-Up: -It-Up: -It-Up: -It-Up: -It-Up: Hopefully many of you listen to themonthly WILPF Stir-It-Up radio show on KFCF 88.1 FM on thefourth Wednesday of the month at 3 PM. WILPFer WendyRussell has been the host of the show for the past severalmonths. Wendy is doing an excellent job and I want to thankher for all she has done. Her show in May was based on re-corded interviews with people attending the May 1st Immi-grant Event at City Hall. I was overwhelmed with the passionand empowerment expressed in the interviews. It has to be myfavorite Stir-It-Up show of all time. Thanks Wendy and keepup the good work.

We need to also thank Mike Rhodes who has been the show’sengineer for years now. Mike is always there and does a greatjob. Since Mike has been doing it for so long it might be timewe gave him a break. If anyone is interested in learning toengineer the radio show to take over from Mike or even be hisback-up please let him or me know. We don’t want to takeadvantage of our volunteers who make things happen forWILPF.

WILPF’WILPF’WILPF’WILPF’WILPF’s Prs Prs Prs Prs President’esident’esident’esident’esident’s Good-by & New Dirs Good-by & New Dirs Good-by & New Dirs Good-by & New Dirs Good-by & New Directionectionectionectionection: June 8thwas my last WILPF board meeting as president after four years.I wish to thank all of you for your support and for helping melearn and grow. It has been a major challenge but I know I am abetter person because of it. I will still be active on the newboard as past president, if we can come up with a new board.

I now plan on putting most of my WILPF energy into being anactive member of the National WILPF’s Building the BelovedCommunity (BBC) issues committee, which works mainlyaround racism issues. Recently I became the BBC representa-tive on our National Program Committee. The Program Commit-tee consists for representatives from the two campaigns, Savethe Water and Women Challenge US Policy: Building Peaceon Justice in the Middle East (WCUSP), the several issuescommittees, plus our UN reps and the new rapid response com-mittee, along with the National Program Committee Chair, Pro-gram Coordinator, Executive Director and Co-President. Wewill work on what we can do to help each other and figure outhow we are all tied together for peace and social justice. Mostof our work will be through an email list-serve but we also hopeto have monthly conference calls. I must say it is a challenge tobe on a phone call with 12-14 women. If you have anythingyou would like to share with the program committee please feelfree to contact me.

Quote of theMonth:

“Revolution is a seriousthing, the most serious thingabout a revolutionary’s life.When one commits oneself tothe struggle, it must be for alifetime.”

- Angela Davis

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Another GreatPride!By Dan Waterhouse, TheWaterhouse Report,Courtesy of News Link

Well, Fresno Rainbow Pride 2006 is a wrap!

And, this year’s rendition was probably the best one sinceCommunity Link was asked to assume the responsibility oforganizing the event four years ago.

In 2003, Community Link stepped in and pulled a very suc-cessful parade and festival together in just six weeks after theprevious organizing group collapsed.

In 2006, an organizing committee of just seven, headed up byCommunity Link’s Chief Executive Officer Jeffery Robinson,put together “Out In The Valley.” This year’s theme was chosento mark the evolution of Fresno’s event into the premier Prideevent between the Los Angeles area and Sacramento.

There were a lot of “firsts” this time. There were roughly 60groups in the parade—the largest according to Robinson since

the event began. There were 40-some exhibitors at the Festivalthis time—again the largest number ever.

A contingent of LGBT veterans marched in the parade for thefirst time ever. Note to Fresno mayor Alan “Bubba” Autry: twoyears ago you said that, if there were veterans in the parade,you would make sure a Proclamation in honor of Pride wasapproved by the full City Council and that all city fees wouldbe waived.

Veterans—gay and lesbian veterans—marched, Mayor. Now,it’s time for you to fulfill what you promised two years ago.Thank you.

And, the first-ever celebrity grand marshal—Matthew Fash-ion.

The youthful “Fashionality”—he just turned 21—was warmlyreceived by the crowd at the parade and at the festival.

Speaking of youth—the future of the queer community—itsyoung people—was well represented in this year’s event. FresnoCity College’s Diversity Club turned out. Visalia’s College ofthe Sequoias’ Pride Club was there. The Youth Alliance walkeddown Olive along with the Gay Straight Alliance Network andOUTLOUD.

Over 100 young people participated.

A contingent from Bakersfield marched. We would have hadother groups from the north end of the Valley if not for conflict-ing events in the Bay Area.

Ellos Latinos, Carmen Miranda Maraca Cha Cha Band andDeja Vu had the most colorful groups or floats.

All in all, another successful event.

But, then some reality set in.

This is not an easy event to put together. In the past few years,planning has become a year-round endeavor!

Individual community members need to step up to the plateand help keep this prize alive and well. It takes more thanseven people to plan Fresno Pride! People to serve on nextyear’s organizing committee are urgently needed.

If you’re curious about helping, please email clinkinc@aol.comor call (559) 486-3464.

The date for next year’s Fresno Rainbow Pride has been set.Pride will be on Saturday, June 2, 2007.

See you there!

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200613

When the Fresno County Board of Supervisors refused on May23rd to authorize a legal needle exchange in the county, threeboard members made several things crystal clear.

Supervisor Bobby Waterston said, “Most of the problems we[the county] see come from a city that’s the fifth-largest in thestate.” He went on to say the county is broke from providingservices to Fresno city residents. He feels a needle exchangeprogram serving mostly Fresno residents should be paid for bythe City.

Supe Henry Perea wants any needle exchange program oper-ated by county employees, so clients can be forced into drugand alcohol treatment. Perea also hinted he is uncomfortablewith HIV/AIDS outreach and testing by the county being any-where near to the present needle exchange program.

And, Judy Case wondered whether the now-illegal needle ex-change program is essentially an attractive nuisance, bringingout-of-county drug users to Fresno because it is the only pro-gram in the Central Valley.

The current controversy whether to authorize needle exchangein Fresno County was triggered when the 2004/05 Grand Juryrecommended that a legal program be established. The Boardof Supervisors then directed Dr. Edward Moreno, the countyhealth officer, to determine whether a health crisis did exist inthe county. A status report concluded that a public healthcrisis does exist “with respect to Hepatitis C virus and HIV inthe Fresno County injection drug using community.”

Dr. Moreno recommended that a needle exchange program beauthorized, to be part of the coordinated outreach, education,testing, counseling, early medical intervention and treatmentprograms now offered by the county.

The status report stated that 75-81% of injection drug users inthe county have Hepatitis C, as compared with 1.8% of thegeneral population. The study also revealed that 34% of HIVpatients (men and women) in the county are injection drugusers. Among women with HIV in the county, 60% reportedinjection drug use. Just 0.2% of the general U.S. population isHIV positive.

Supervisor Case questioned why Fresno County has the high-est numbers of injection drug users in the country. Dr. Morenoreplied that the high rates are a Central Valley wide phenom-ena. The majority of the counties report HIV infection rates of29 to 35 percent among injection drug users.

According to Dr. Moreno, babies born to HIV and Hepatitis Cinfected women often end up infected themselves. Six percentof infants born to women with Hepatitis C wind up with thevirus. And 17% of babies of Hepatitis C/HIV positive womenalso have Hepatitis C. Depending on the severity of the mother’sillness, between 5.5 and 39 percent of babies born to HIVpositive women are themselves HIV positive at birth.

Perea asked Dr. Moreno if needle exchange clients could bemandated into treatment as a condition of receiving cleanneedles from the program. Moreno replied there is no statute

QUEER EYEWaterston Says City Bankrupting CountyCity Should Pay for Needle Exchange ProgramBy Dan Waterhouse

allowing a county to do that. He added that 70% of injectiondrug users typically are not ready to enter substance abusetreatment. Moreno said those users would then not approachthe program and would continue to use “dirty needles” and beat risk.

Jim Kirby, principal analyst for county Substance Abuse Ser-vices, told the supervisors that the rates of injection drug usersper 10,000 people vary from 100 in the Sacramento area to173 in Fresno. He noted that the Bakersfield area rate is 128per 10,000, and in the Stockton/Lodi area, the rate is 149 per10,000. He said the entire Central Valley has extremely highrates of injection drug use.

Kirby added a recent study commissioned by Fresno Countyaffirmed that drug and alcohol treatment does work. A total of3,000 clients were studied. People who spent more days intreatment (especially intensive in-patient or out-patient) weremore likely to stay clean and sober.

The primary drug of choice among clients was methamphet-amine (29%) followed by cocaine or crack and heroin (all at15%). All three are commonly injected by users.

The queer community has been hard hit by the use of meth—or crank. The drug has reportedly led to higher numbers of HIVcases, particularly among gay men, in recent years.

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This page and all its content paid for by Fresno Center for Nonviolence

JULY

200615Grassroots Profile

By Richard Stone

A strange scene presents itself when you pass the downtownjail on Monday or Tuesday evenings. There’s a familiar-look-ing soup line, but the patrons are of all sorts. Homeless people,of course, but also bail bondsmen and jail staff, families andfriends of prisoners of all colors and classes, even your occa-sional lawyer grabbing a quick dinner on the run.

This intermingling of social strata and ethnicites is notaccidental:it is an essential part of the project design, and areflection of the philosophy of Leeza and Bryan Apper, the“godparents” of Fresno’s St. Benedict Catholic Worker House.

The Catholic Worker movement was initiated by Dorothy Dayand her associates during the Depression. A CW “commu-nity” is based in a physical domicile where a core family-group can provide hospitality and safety, attention andlovingkindness, to a few of life’s refugees. As the Appers ex-plain, “We’re not interested in creating an institution to “solvesocial problems”; we want simply to enact examples of Chris-tian love”, bringing as it were good deeds as well as the goodword to life.

Bryan and Leeza moved to Fresno 9 years ago, after a longapprenticeship with Catholic Worker communities and politi-cal activism in cities including Los Angeles and Baltimore. (Inthe latter, they were associated with Jonah House, home of theBerrigans when they weren’t in jail.)

The Appers actually met as teenagers through Catholic WorkerActivities. Leeza says, “I heard about it on L.A.’s Pacifica Sta-tion and decided to volunteer for the summer. But,” she adds,“Bryan and I got serious some years later when we met againworking for Bobby Kennedy.”

At first their interests were more political; but dissatisfactionwith the feel of political activity led them back to the spritualwork of Catholic Worker, with its faith in the long-term effectof Good Work. “Our most important job is to listen deeply topeople’s needs and feelings, and respond as fully, and materi-ally, as possible. And our mission is to bring our attentionwhere it’s most needed, among the poor and disspirited.”

So St.Benedict’s Catholic Worker House is the Apper’s resi-dence, where typically two to four visitors co-habit, “thoughsome summers we’ve had to put up tents in the yard to house

IDENTITY BOX

Primary Identity: Catholic Worker/Benedictine Spirituality, “Personalist” philosophy

Political affililation: faith-based justice, with preferential option for the poor (“prophetic, not political”

Most frequentead parts of Fresno: the jailhouse, Poverello House

Inspirations: Dorothy Day & Peter Maurin (founders of Catholic Worker movement); the Berrigans

Mottoes: No act of kindness is ever wasted (Leeza); PAX (Bryan)

Unexpected Pleasures: Composing chamber music (Bryan), movies, People magazine and Oprah(Leeza)

Contact information:www.sbcw.org; 559-977-3648

everyone we took in.” On myvisit, there were visible twoother adults and a few chil-dren—I couldn’t tell whose,and it didn’t seem to matter.(As I interviewed Bryan andLeeza, one of the guests—Dulcie Miller—would inter-rupt her family cooking tocomment on their answers,with testimony as to thepower of their work. “I’veknown them for years, theyfound me on the street andtook me in, and taught meto love the Bible again...Bytheir example, I’ve grown upspiri tually, emotionally,financially...I’m back nowwith my fiance looking foran apartment, but they wel-come me as family, the onlyfamily I have.”)

In addition to maintaining the House, CW communities en-gage in social justice work to protect and dignify “the poor in

spirit.” The Appers selectedserving meals at the jail astheir main project; ;but addi-tionally they are involved inwork opposing the death pen-alty, and protecting thehomeless.Recently (cf June C/A) Leeza personally held offthe razing of a tent pitchednear E St—providentially sav-ing a man who was not knownto be inside. The Appers aregrieved by the attitude they’veseen—especially in New Or-leans, L.A. and Fresno—thatthe City has the right to “cleanitself up” by getting rid of thepoor people as if they weremore trash. The jail project ismeant directly to contravenethat picture by creating a placewhere everyone belongs andadds to the richness of thescene.

The Apper’s time-consuming, labor-intensive project is sup-ported by devoted local volunteers; partnership with the Com-munity Food Bank, Poverello House and Holy Cross Women’sCenter; staunch advocacy from Bishop Steinbock and theFresno Diocese; public legitimazation from Mike Rhodes andthe Community Alliance; and especially the fellowship of “Sis-ter Houses” in California and other states. (“We pray together,have a yearly retreat, send volunteers to each other at crucialtimes.”)

Their short-term goals are to acquire a functioning truck (“Sug-gestions anyone?), to add a Sno-cone night at the jail, and toinitiate counselling services in donated office spaces down-town. Their vision is to serve meals every night, and have aseparate guest house “to accommodate visitors with more dig-nity than a futon on the floor.”

To support the Appers’ work, readers can contact them to vol-unteer, provide food or monetary donations, and/or participatein their periodic roundtable discussions. There’s definitelysomething to learn from people able to produce 10,100 mealsa year almost from thin air.

Help for LocalNon-profit GroupsThe Fresno Regional Foundation recently announced themerging of the Fresno Nonprofit Council and the NonprofitAdvancement Center to create a new entity – the new FresnoNonprofit Advancement Council.

The mission of the new Fresno Nonprofit Advancement Coun-cil is to promote, strengthen and advance the influence, pro-fessionalism, accountability and effectiveness of nonprofitorganizations in a manner that builds their capacity to ac-complish their missions and preserves the idealism and valueof nonprofit organizations in the Central Valley. “The merg-ing of these two organizations has presented such a greatopportunity for Central Valley nonprofit agencies and I amexcited to be a part of it,” said Ms. Kate Henry, ExecutiveDirector. “The new Fresno Nonprofit Advancement Councilprovides nonprofits with the tools and information they need,

as well as gives them a unified voice through advocacy workon issues affecting Central Valley nonprofit organizations.”

The new Fresno Area Nonprofit Advancement Council’s fa-cility houses a comprehensive resource library and confer-ence room for board meetings. The library boasts the mostup-to-date database in the area – continually updated ev-ery three months – allowing nonprofit agencies to searchthrough a comprehensive list of all the nonprofit founda-tions in the U.S. and learn how each foundation operates aswell as what grants they have available. The library alsocontains books on a variety of topics important to nonprofitsranging from how to start and manage a nonprofit organiza-tion to raising funds to developing a strong board to tacticsfor gathering resources and volunteers. The Fresno AreaNonprofit Advancement Council is located at 1752 L. Streetin downtown Fresno.

For more information about the New Fresno Nonprofit Ad-For more information about the New Fresno Nonprofit Ad-For more information about the New Fresno Nonprofit Ad-For more information about the New Fresno Nonprofit Ad-For more information about the New Fresno Nonprofit Ad-vancement Council call (559) 264-1513.vancement Council call (559) 264-1513.vancement Council call (559) 264-1513.vancement Council call (559) 264-1513.vancement Council call (559) 264-1513.

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Francesca and Liza were arrested. Photo by Bryan ApperFrancesca and Liza were arrested. Photo by Bryan ApperFrancesca and Liza were arrested. Photo by Bryan ApperFrancesca and Liza were arrested. Photo by Bryan ApperFrancesca and Liza were arrested. Photo by Bryan Apper

JULY

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WESTERN REGIONAL ADVOCACYPROJECT (WRAP)

The WThe WThe WThe WThe Westeresteresteresterestern Regional Advocacy Prn Regional Advocacy Prn Regional Advocacy Prn Regional Advocacy Prn Regional Advocacy Project (WRAPoject (WRAPoject (WRAPoject (WRAPoject (WRAP, a collaboration of six community, a collaboration of six community, a collaboration of six community, a collaboration of six community, a collaboration of six communityorororororganizations in CA, OR, and Wganizations in CA, OR, and Wganizations in CA, OR, and Wganizations in CA, OR, and Wganizations in CA, OR, and WA) and the National Policy and Advocacy CouncilA) and the National Policy and Advocacy CouncilA) and the National Policy and Advocacy CouncilA) and the National Policy and Advocacy CouncilA) and the National Policy and Advocacy Council

on Homelessness (NPon Homelessness (NPon Homelessness (NPon Homelessness (NPon Homelessness (NPACH) plan to have a full rACH) plan to have a full rACH) plan to have a full rACH) plan to have a full rACH) plan to have a full reporeporeporeporeport based upon this and othert based upon this and othert based upon this and othert based upon this and othert based upon this and otherdata by the end of April.data by the end of April.data by the end of April.data by the end of April.data by the end of April.

WRAP can be contacted by email at wrapsf@yahoo.com, or atWRAP can be contacted by email at wrapsf@yahoo.com, or atWRAP can be contacted by email at wrapsf@yahoo.com, or atWRAP can be contacted by email at wrapsf@yahoo.com, or atWRAP can be contacted by email at wrapsf@yahoo.com, or at2940 16th Street, Ste. 200-2, San Francisco, CA, 941032940 16th Street, Ste. 200-2, San Francisco, CA, 941032940 16th Street, Ste. 200-2, San Francisco, CA, 941032940 16th Street, Ste. 200-2, San Francisco, CA, 941032940 16th Street, Ste. 200-2, San Francisco, CA, 94103

THE ROOT OFHOMELESSNESSIf we have learned anything about homelessness over the past25 years, it is that public policy based on assumptions, fear,and paranoia about people forced to live on the streets willnever create a plan that can work.

All the recent federal plans on homelessness - FEMA emer-gency shelter plans, HUD Continuum of Care plans (5 years)and the 10-year plans of the Interagency Council onHomelessness‹are based on the assumption that in the early1980s, homelessness re-emerged in America because some-thing was wrong with the people who were becoming home-less.

The federal government required local commu-nities to submit competitive applications forfederal largesse, and to show that they couldeffectively address the “problems ofhomelessness in America” within the grantamounts allocated. So local governments didjust that: they formed committees; created taskforces; hired tons of consultants (we shouldknow, many of us served as such); and they wrotegrant after grant and plan after plan statinghow they were going to address the problem ifonly the feds would give them the lion¹s shareof the money.

Plans deemed groundbreaking and effectivechanged over the years as the “dysfunctionalhomeless sub-group of the month” changed. Butone thing was always constant: The root of the³problem² was blamed on the homeless people,not on the federal government. After all, it wasthe federal government‹not the homelesspeople‹evaluating the proposals.

The federal government pretended‹andlegions of nonprofits and city agenciesapplying for federal grants were forcedto believe‹that the $54 billion dollarreduction in affordable housing fund-ing over the last 25 years could noweasily be addressed with life-skillstraining for homeless single mothers.The federal government promulgatedthe myth that its tax credits for compa-nies to send blue-collar jobs overseascould be easily offset by having wel-fare recipients sweep streets and pickup garbage in exchange for below-pov-erty-level welfare assistance, so thatthey will value ³giving back² to thecommunity.

Imagine this: suppose it wasn’t the fed-eral government evaluating these pro-posals to address homelessness. Let¹ssay it was your high school scienceteacher. The average high school sci-ence teacher could, in a few hours,shred the flawed assumptions, half-baked hypotheses, and lack of factualevidence that comprise these weightyand endless volumes of governmentalplans.

Therefore, in honor of high school sci-ence teachers across America, wepresent you with some facts to considerthe next time you¹re wondering,“Where the hell did all these homelesspeople come from?” Look for the com-mon denominator amongst all thesepeople. If we can identify that, we canbegin to make some assumptions andperhaps come up with a hypothesisabout the causes of and potential solu-tions to “the problem” of homelessness.

Our government has formed a flawed hypothesis abouthomelessness because, from the very outset, it has convenientlyturned a blind eye to its own role in drastically cutting federalhousing funds. Instead of looking honestly at the factors thatcreated an enormous shortfall of affordable housing, our gov-ernment has simply jumped to an unscientific prejudgment ofhomeless people themselves and has set out to “fix” homelesspeople with counseling and micromanagement instead of ad-dressing the nation¹s calamitous housing shortage.

Fact one: Compared to 1978, the U.S. government is currentlyspending nearly 65% less on developing and maintaining

affordable housing units for poor people. ($83 billion wasappropriated in 1978, while only $29 billion was allocated in2005.)

Fact two: Compared to 1978, the U.S. government currentlyspends $84 billion more on subsidies for homeownership pro-grams. (It spent $38 billion in 1978 on these subsidies formiddle-class and affluent homeowners versus $122 billion in2005.)

Fact three: In 2004, 61% of all federal housing subsidieswent to households earning over $54,787 per year, while only20% of those subsidies went to households earning less than$18,465 annually. The 2004 federal poverty threshold for ahousehold of four with 2 minor children was $19,157.

Hypothesis: There is a direct correlation between the fact

that, in the late 1970s, the U.S. government made a consciousdecision to redirect expenditures for housing from rental as-sistance for poor people to home ownership and the re-emer-gence of homelessness in America in the early 1980s. WhenPresident Reagan “reinvented government” by drasticallyslashing assistance to the poorest of the poor, he played amajor role in reinventing homelessness so that it re-emergedin modern America.

If our federally mandated housing and homelessness plans(FEMA, HUD and ICH) and our locally politicized campaignshad been focused on addressing “what created this mess,” the

ludicrous current attempts to fill a $54 billion housing holewith a mere $1.37 billion of annual homelessness assistancefunding would have drawn ridicule long ago.

How many life skills training courses would a homeless per-son need to take to compensate for the fact that, in the 20years from 1983 to 2002, the U.S. government built 500,000FEWER units of affordable housing than it did in the 7 yearsfrom 1976-1982? How many money management classes musta rural parent take to compensate for the 35,000 FEWERunits being built in rural America each year?

Are money management classes and life skills training goodthings? Sure, why not? Is a lack of money management classesand life skills training the cause of a re-emergence ofhomelessness? Doubtful. Will money management and lifeskills training‹or case management, or more outreach, or the

repressive policing of homeless people forsleeping and living on our streets‹ever createenough housing to make up for a $54 billioncutback from the federal government? Hell no.

If we want to address homelessness in America,we need to stop looking at “them” and startlooking at us. If we believe our government rep-resents us, it’s we, the people, who must forcethe federal government to create justice. Whatdid we (the U.S.) do to contribute to this prob-lem and what can we (the U.S.) do to addressit? Acting in our name, the U.S. governmenthas chosen to redirect our housing subsidies tohomeownership; the real estate industry re-ceives over $120 billion dollars a year towardsthis goal. Acting in our name, the U.S. govern-ment has chosen to cut $54 billion from hous-ing assistance programs for poor people. We (ascitizens of the U.S.) KNOW that 1.3 millionchildren experienced homelessness in 2003.

Look at the information we present to you. Notonly do the facts invalidate the currenthousing “plan” of the federal govern-ment, they invalidate their underlyinghypothesis. A group of us‹ Western Re-gional Advocacy Project (WRAP) -have gathered documented data fromthe U.S. government about its housingpolicies. We have converted this infor-mation, facts if you will, into easily un-derstandable charts. Charts can givethe same information in a direct visualway that more people can digest andunderstand. They also do a hell of agood job at cutting through the lies andmisinformation of politicians and show-ing the real trends in our nation¹s hous-ing policies.

The chart on this page shows that whenthis nation first abandoned its commit-ment to funding federal housing pro-grams, it abandoned millions of home-less people with the same stroke. Aban-doned federal housing programs leddirectly to millions of abandoned, im-poverished Americans languishingwithout housing in cities across thenation. Something else that is just asprecious to our national identity hasalso been abandoned: the very spirit ofhuman rights has been left by the way-side to die of the same neglect and cal-lous disregard. San Francisco artist ArtHazelwood created an unforgettableimage for WRAP, “From Reagan toBush: For Twenty-Five years, A Spiritof Abandon,” that graphically showshow savage cutbacks in federal hous-ing led to the cruel specter of count-less Americans living on harsh and un-forgiving streets.

Trends tend to reflect priorities and,after three years of studying thesetrends, we at WRAP feel it is the right

time for us to make a hypothesis. Our educated guess, or hy-pothesis, is that an equal distribution of housing subsidiesfrom the federal government will have a dramatic impact onalleviating homelessness in America. We also have a relatedhypothesis: that an honest evaluation of corporate welfare vs.citizen¹s welfare will show that our government urgently needsto balance out who is getting government help before ourgovernment decides who needs life skills training. We, thepeople, must stay focused, not on promoting the corporate“bottom line,” but on promoting “the common welfare,” as itsays in the preamble to the U.S. Constitution.