Sometimes the Valley’s science-deniers get to be too much for Dr. Richard Anderson, a retired Professor of Biology formerly at Modesto Junior College. With a […]
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Homeless: The (almost) Unbearable Burden of Shelters
“Almost all emergency shelters of today are over their heads,” said Major Harold Laubach at Modesto’s Salvation Army Shelter on November 19. “But for people with mental health issues, we are probably the best alternative. Forty percent of our residents deal with mental health challenges and another 40 percent deal with substance abuse challenges.” Laubach was responding to a growing litany of complaints from residents of Stanislaus County’s low barrier shelter that rules […]
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Democracy Threatened in California Congressional District 10
All across this nation, GOP-led states are carving up and contorting congressional districts to dilute and suppress the votes of “socialist” Democrats, and, more specifically, people of color. Officially known as “redistricting,” their aim is clear — to take back control of the House of Representatives in 2022 by any means possible, even if illegal, immoral, or unethical. That’s no surprise to those following politics; the surprise is that our […]
Death Among the Homeless
When death takes a homeless person, there are cold facts. If they die walking home from a store alone, the coroner will eventually pick them up and take the remains to the morgue. The deceased may have friends, but they often do not have any next of kin to claim them. They usually have a tent and possessions somewhere, even friends, or a spouse. No one in an official capacity […]
RIP Edward “Popeye” Peacock
“You don’t retire from the Angels,” said Edward “Popeye” Peacock, “you just go inactive.” Popeye’s tales of riding with the Hells Angels may have been his way of warning people not to underestimate the prowess of a man just a bit over five feet tall and a few degrees north of one-hundred pounds. The stories may or may not have been true; he did appear to know quite a bit […]
Homeless: The Wonderful Alchemy of Work
In the end, it wasn’t the beatings, the sexual abuse, the hunger or the ugly words that broke Carrie Turnquist; it was the indifference of others. After she was badly beaten when a passenger in a passing car jumped out, pulled her hair back and began punching her in the face and head, she lay on the sidewalk while people watched and did nothing. “I felt like a dog that […]