Those few Valley citizens who get to know homeless people by name always notice when they’re missing. Rosario Quintana goes missing frequently, but because she’s almost always very visible, word gets around among people who know her whenever she turns up, which could be anywhere from Riverbank to Modesto and points beyond. In the late […]
History
Merced College’s Keith Law Sounds Off on “15 to Finish”
For almost thirty years, Merced College’s Keith Law has been a persistent gadfly, contrarian, and thorn in the side of anyone advancing a proposal that hasn’t been subjected to rigorous academic scrutiny. Law teaches philosophy, and has always been willing to model himself after Socrates and other great philosophers who took their discipline and reasoning […]
David Lambert on Homelessness in the Valley
David Lambert’s popular Facebook page, “Homelessness and Poverty in Stanislaus,” has over 1200 members and is growing every day. Lambert gets lots of on-the-ground experience in the Valley as a Guardian Angel, and he is one of the best listeners anywhere to people experiencing homeless. He realized we’re facing a national crisis long ago, and […]
Condemned Building Burns
In a case of timing that pretty much defines words like convenient, provocative and suspicious, 624 9th Street, downtown Modesto’s condemned and boarded-up monument to civic neglect, went up in flames tonight. The fire must have started around 8:30 last night, because by the time I got there around 9:30, firefighters had knocked down the worst […]
Homeless: Why We Need Casey’s Law
Though still little-publicized, more and more young people are falling victim to the demons of addiction, especially opioids. Law enforcement officials in Oakdale noticed a surge in heroin use among young people in 2013, and attributed it to the availability of cheap “black tar” heroin that has caught a rising number of teen-agers and young […]
Inside 624: The Horror
You follow her inside and the dark spaces become a shroud that makes it harder to see. You have to squint and it’s important now to see and see well, but it’s hard. The floor yields the way living things do, like fungus or moss. So does the hand rail, and your hand jerks away, […]
Exodus at 624 Ninth Street Shows Government at Its Best
“We were ready for them to come in and start pushing people around, but it didn’t happen. People here would have gone to jail if they had come in and tried to force us out, but they didn’t. They just came in and tried to help.” There was genuine wonder in Jeremy Buchelew’s voice and […]
Despite Problems, 624 Is Still Home for Some
Jim “Jimbo” Garrison was fighting back tears as he explained why he didn’t want to leave the 624 Ninth Street apartments where he’s formed a tight band of friends. “These are my friends, these are my family,” he said. “What right do they have to make us leave? What right do they have to move […]
Like it or not, Local Leaders Own Trump
Every Stanislaus County Supervisor supported Donald Trump, as did most local politicians, including Jeff Denham. Lately, many have been hearing complaints about the president’s support for racists and Nazis as well as criticism of his appointees. Just before the Stanislaus County Supervisor’s meeting of August 22, a supervisor was heard telling a friend he was, […]
Caretaker says County Wrong on Homeless and Mentally Ill
After almost fifty years face-to-face experience with the Seriously Mentally Ill (SMI), Lonny Davis estimates he’s encountered around 4,000 patients. Davis’s parents managed homes for SMI people, and when he took over the business he vowed to carry on their tradition of providing, “compassionate custodial care.” Today, he manages seven guest homes, with number eight […]