As of this writing, fewer than 50% of Stanislaus County residents have been fully vaccinated. Statewide, 56% of California residents are fully vaccinated. In Stanislaus County, the number drops to 43.1%. Nearby Bay Area counties are all over 60%, with Marin County leading the way at 74.5%. The county has large groups of folks with different reasons for avoiding Covid inoculation. The reasons are varied and the unvaccinated are difficult […]
History
Homeless: One City, One County
By October 1, 2015, homelessness in Modesto and Stanislaus County had become the region’s most urgent social and political issue. That’s when Stanislaus County Supervisors hosted their “Focus on Prevention” symposium to announce, “a ten-year journey of Stanislaus County toward community transformation and prosperity. A primary focus….is to reduce homelessness.” At the time, a few observers noted that “prevention” wasn’t possible for the hundreds of people already in the region […]
Homeless: Taking Back the Parks
Little Sherry Lopez can’t go to the park. Everyone calls her “Little Sherry” because she’s the smallest Sherry they know. Little Sherry is well short of five feet tall. She’s closer to four feet tall. She’s a few years past forty years old. Little Sherry is developmentally and physically disabled. She walks haltingly and often has difficulty with simple concepts. Other than “little,” the most common word people use to […]
Like Lightning: “In the Struggle,” a book for our time & place
In late 1975, while at UC Berkeley, I was guided into the path of a prophet, Paul Schuster Taylor. Retired Professor of Economics at UC, widower of the renown documentary photographer Dorothea Lange, longstanding critic of California’s large-scale agricultural structure and its historic political power over the state’s water resources and farm labor conditions – Paul was a force even at 80, when hindered by Parkinson’s and glaucoma. I was […]
Stanislaus Sheriff’s Office Sued on Shooting of Teenager
The Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Office has been sued in federal court because one of its deputies shot and killed someone. Again. This action, filed Monday, July 19, in US Court in Fresno, stems from the shooting of 16-year-old Xander Mann. That lawsuit follows by eight days the filing of a similar action based upon the fatal shooting of Eloy Gonzalez, 41, last September. The teenager and the homeless man were […]
Reconnecting the Formerly Incarcerated: We Already Have a Viable Model
Michael Baldwin Senior is a Modesto Community Advocate and Paralegal. This is the final installment in a three-part series on the challenges faced by current and former incarcerated individuals in their quest to successfully reenter society. It was written in collaboration with Tom Portwood. Just over a year ago, I had the honor of speaking at a candlelight vigil for George Floyd at the 10th Street Plaza in downtown Modesto. […]
How Many Free Shovels on Turlock’s Amazon Gift Card?
While Turlock officials and Amazon flacks were still unwilling to confirm that a huge warehouse was going to be a fulfillment center for the internet giant, a burning question remained unanswered: Just how many shiny, commemorative shovels was Amazon going to provide for the groundbreaking ceremony? Several examples of those shovels were presented to City of Turlock managers so elected council members could be photographed “digging” into the earth at […]
Reconnecting: First Steps for Released Prisoners
Michael Baldwin Senior is a Modesto Community Advocate and Paralegal. This article is the second in a series on the challenges faced by current and former convicts in their quest to successfully reenter society. It was written in collaboration with Tom Portwood. April 7, 2021 is a day I’ll never forget, because just as I was getting out of bed, one of my former parole agents called me and gave […]
Frank Carson Podcast: Damning Indictment of Stanislaus DA
Christopher Goffard is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist who works for the Los Angeles Times. Most famous for his book and podcast about,“Dirty John,” a con man of bottomless moral depravity, Goffard’s most recent work covers the investigation and subsequent trial of Modesto attorney Frank Carson, a larger-than-life character whose public contempt for local authorities was the apparent motive for a charge of murder based on the testimony of a […]
Homeless: The Punishing Effects of Market Forces
For years, the dominant explanations for homelessness have been drugs and choice. Whenever the topic of homelessness arose, people were quick to say, “It’s the drugs.” And if they didn’t rant about drugs and needles, the alternative was to argue that homelessness was a “choice” people made to avoid the responsibilities of self-sufficiency. Occasionally, someone would point out that doing away with mental institutions and social services might have had […]