Look at Charles and Deanna Farish today and it’s hard to imagine them homeless. Both are 51 years old. Their eyes sparkle and their faces radiate happiness — but it was only three years ago that they both saw no way out of the park they were living in. Charles and Deanna met in Mellis Park, in Modesto. Both were homeless and single. Except when rousted by the police, they […]
On the Bus with Sue Zwahlen, Vito Chiesa, and Josh Harder
Just after noon on April 6, Modesto Mayor Sue Zwahlen, Stanislaus County Supervisor Vito Chiesa, and Congressman Josh Harder boarded one of Modesto’s zero emission buses at 1010 10th Street for a ride out to one of the city’s unincorporated “islands” near Hanshaw Middle School, just west of Crows Landing Road in Stanislaus County. They were joined by Modesto City Manager Joe Lopez and several Modesto City and Stanislaus County […]
Homeless: The Enduring Madness of Sweeps
Consider the case of a 74 year old woman who stood, sat, and slept in plain sight on the concrete along a busy street just outside Modesto’s city limits for over six weeks, her pants soiled with her own waste, her fingernails and toenails grotesquely untended, and the space around her littered with trash and garbage. Consider also that she is almost certainly developmentally disabled, has an authorized payee, and […]
RIP Edward “White Horse” Mendez
With a profile that could easily have served as the “heads” side of an American coin honoring its native residents, Edward “White Horse” Mendez was a legendary presence among the small circle of homeless people who lived in and frequented Modesto’s Beard Brook Park. He died Wednesday, March 10. He was sixty-eight years old. “White Horse taught me how to survive out here,” said one man several decades his junior. […]
Homeless: The Band-Aid Fallacy
Not long after the public launch of Stanislaus County’s “Focus on Prevention” program in October of 2015, Joseph Dean Dodd knew he had to do something positive for homeless people and do it soon. Dodd’s own experience as a homeless person and his position as President and Pastor of Church in the Park give him an on-the-ground perspective about poverty and homelessness that most people lack, even the best intentioned. […]
Local Agencies Shirk Groundwater Accountability
Local experts on water and water use like Vance Kennedy were apoplectic when farmers planted almonds and walnuts in the foothills of eastern Stanislaus County, where one of the last viable aquifers in the San Joaquin Valley provided enough groundwater for tens of thousands of acres of trees. “That aquifer should be saved for use in an emergency,” said Kennedy, a retired hydrologist formerly with U.S. Geological Survey. Today, obeying […]
Homeless: RIP Alan Davis
Alan Davis, the wheelchair-bound amputee who became a familiar presence in downtown Modesto over the last two years, died February 1. We may never know the cause. It took some accomplished sleuthing by homeless volunteer Frank Ploof just to discover Davis’s whereabouts after he disappeared earlier this year from an assisted living home in Empire. Shortly thereafter, Ploof learned that Davis had passed away at Memorial Hospital. Ploof had first […]
Our New Letters Page: “Let There be Light”
Coincident with launching our new “Letters” page, we’re announcing here key parts of our policy for publication. As with our “Comments” sections, we’re committed to publishing a wide range of viewpoints as long as the focus is on people and issues in the San Joaquin Valley. Like other media platforms, we’ve made a conscious decision to reject the kinds of lies, disinformation, misinformation, falsehoods and conspiracy theories that have characterized […]
Rainbow over Modesto Greets New Mayor Zwahlen
Some said the rainbow that arced over Modesto early Tuesday morning touched down at Sue Zwahlen’s residence in the city’s college district, but they must have been looking from an odd perspective. To most observers, the rainbow looked like it had one end just outside the city to the southwest, with the other end touching down in the northeast. February 2 — Tuesday — was the official Election Day for […]
Homeless: Sacramento picks up Modesto’s Fumble
It wasn’t long ago that Modesto and Stanislaus County had managed to get more than 400 people off the streets, out of the parks, doorways and alleys, away from the banks of our rivers and into a controlled environment where outreach workers, volunteers, and law enforcement officers could provide supervision and services at an estimated cost of $13 per day per person. One of the immediate results of permitting homeless […]