1 10 12 https://streetvibesarchive.net/files/original/45ba055966155fc18500f24583842e0d.pdf 14f28488cc2466dec03e53b9afe002d6 PDF Text Text Cunningham Doctrine ~ page 10 A goal for the homeless ~ page 12 STREETVIBES $1 D e c e m b e r 2 0 0 8 • I s s u e 1 4 9 • C i n c i n n a t i ’s A l t e r n a t i v e N e w s S o u r c e Fighting the H8 Hundreds turn out to support samesex marriage By Alyssa Konermann Staff Writer The Drop Inn Center has been controversial since its founding in 1973 by Buddy Gray, the ardent – some would say strident – founder who was shot and killed there by a mentally ill man in 1996. Bortz continues the work of City Councilman Jim Tarbell, who frequently clashed with Gray over his work on behalf of homeless people in Overthe-Rhine. Clifford’s demeanor is less confrontational and more professional than Gray’s but that doesn’t mean the pressure on the Drop Inn Center is any less intense. Gentrification – the displacement of poor people to make room for the development of upscale condominiums, retail shops and Chants of “What do we want? Equality! When do we want it? Now!” echoed Nov. 15 on the steps of Cincinnati City Hall. More than 500 people — some have estimated the number at closer to 800 — gathered despite the 40-degree weather and relentless rain. The local protest against voters’ approval of Proposition 8, which banned gay marriage in California, was held simultaneously in 300 cities across the country and at U.S. Embassies in 15 foreign countries. The movement, “Fight the H8,” was organized with the goal of creating a national movement against anti-gay legislation. Cameron Tolle, vice president of Alliance, Xavier University’s LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans-identified, queer/questioning) group, took the lead in organizing the protest in Cincinnati, which was brought together in under nine days with the help of others: Jill Benavides, Tina Black, Barry Floore, Chris Gilbert, Lia Hazel, Doug Meredith and Liz Villano. Addressing the rally, Tolle admitted that nine days earlier he was not particularly politically active. This changed, however, when he realized that the LGBTQ community could no longer afford to accept second-class citizenship, but instead needed to unite on a grassroots level and push for change. “For so long our community has not had a voice,” Tolle said. “We have been silent. We have expected that the national organizations and our politicians will protect our rights on a national and a state level. See DROP p.4 See H8 p.11 Mike Pekal (left) and Sam Mischenko (right), lend their voices to the call for equality during a rally at Cincinnati City Hall. Organizers responded to a ban on gay marriage in California. Photo by Andrew Anderson. This Place of Refuge The Drop Inn Center holds fast under growing assault from critics By Gregory Flannery Editor who criticized Bortz for insulting the shelter and the people who work to help homeless people. A mere four blocks from City Hall stands what might be the most unpopular address in Cincinnati – 217 W. 12th St. The building’s official name is the Drop Inn Center. In conversation, social workers often shorten the name to “The Drop.” To the hundreds of homeless people who rely on it for emergency shelter, the building is temporarily known as “home.” But to some, the center is at best an impediment to economic redevelopment of Over-the-Rhine and, at worst, a gathering place for addicts, sex offenders and petty criminals. The Drop Inn Center is a “shame,” according to City Councilman Christopher Bortz, who has spearheaded a legislative attack on the availability of social services in the neighborhood. In an appearance on Lincoln Ware Live on WBQC We shall not be moved Chandra Tully, who has stayed at the Drop Inn Center for a month, has found the Drop to be very helpful. Photo by Andrew Anderson. (Channel 38) in late September, Bortz virtually spat at the Drop Inn Center. “All of us – every single person in this city – should be ashamed of the state of our emergency shelters,” he said. Appearing with Bortz was Pat Clifford, executive director of the Drop Inn Center, �2 The Vibe News Briefs Flu Shots Here’s an easy way to make the season merry – for yourself, your loved ones and complete strangers: Get a flu shot. If you’re one of the millions who can’t afford health insurance, not to worry. The Cincinnati Health Department if offering free flu shots for Ohio residents age 3 and older. If you have Medicare Part B, take your card for billing purposes. Others will be asked to make a small donation. In an average year, influenza and pneumonia result in about 36,000 deaths nationwide. Cincinnati Health Commissioner Noble Maseru reported the first confirmed case of influenza in the city Nov. 12. Here is the schedule. No appointment is necessary. Flu shots are available from 9 a.m. - 4 pm. Monday – Friday Ambrose Clement Health Center 3101 Burnet Ave. 513-357-7300 Monday Braxton Cann Medical Center 5818 Madison Road 513-263-8750 Tuesday Millvale Health Center, 3301 Beekman Ave. 513-352-3192 Wednesday Northside Health Center 3917 Spring Grove Ave. 513-357-7600 Thursday Elm Street Health Center 1525 Elm St. 513-352-3092 Friday Price Hill Health Center 2136 West Eighth St. 513-357-2700 Flu viruses spread from person to person through coughing or sneezing. Sometimes people become infected by touching something with flu viruses on it and then touching their mouths or noses. Most healthy adults might be able to infect others beginning one day before symptoms develop and up to five days after becoming sick. That means that you might be able to pass on the flu to someone else before you know you are sick. Streetwise By Gregory Flannery An arresting response to the housing crisis People are losing their houses. Neighborhoods are blighted by vacant properties. So what does Cincinnati City Councilman John Cranley want to do? Build a new police station for District 3. Last week council’s Finance Committee considered an emergency ordinance authorizing the city manager to apply for $8.36 million from the Neighborhood Stabilization Program, a federal initiative for redevelopment of abandoned and foreclosed homes and residential properties. But Cranley wants to divert $1.5 million of those funds to build a new police station. So far the idea has gone nowhere. Councilwoman Roxanne Qualls moved to have the committee examine each section of the proposed $8.36 million grant item by item, and Cranley’s idea failed in a 4-4 tie. Joining him were council members Jeff Berding, Christopher Bortz and Leslie Ghiz. Cranley, nominally a Democrat, has consistently worked to limit low-income housing in the city, including a devastating “impaction” ordinance in 2000 that prohibits the development of new affordable housing. But this effort is so wide of the mark that, even if council later approves it, it’s unlikely to meet approval from federal officials. Death and stuff is important Great cities have great newspapers. Great newspapers are opinion makers, setting the tone for public dialogue about important issues. We, however, have The Cincinnati Enquirer, which recently weighed in on the subject of capital punishment. The editorial came during a week in which two men were strapped down and poisoned (the polite term is “lethal injection”) by government employees, with the full sanction of law, one in Ohio and one in Kentucky. “There are always vigils and demonstrations by those who oppose the death penalty,” the editorial said. “But what about the rest of us? None of us should allow such a significant application of public power go by without a thought.” Just so – and therein lies the duty of a newspaper. What is the thought that the editorial would have us hold? “Usually the first execution in an individual state draws plenty of local attention,” the editorial says. “After that the significance seems to wane. They become like space shuttle launches – complicated and important events, but of little interest to a general public that seems to find them routine. That should not be.” That’s it? That’s all the paper has to say? Afraid so. Comes the stirring conclusion: “This editorial is not an argument against the death penalty. It is an argument against indifference to a significant public action, for which we all share responsibility.” Let posterity note that The Cincinnati Enquirer opposes indifference, in matters of space travel and the ritualized killing of human beings alike. Media are what you make of them Not all opinions are created equal, of course. Some are just louder and more obnoxious than others. Last month Cincinnati earned mention by Media Matters for America for being home base for a leading hatemonger. Bill Cunningham, talk show host for WLW (700 AM), is well known in these parts as a horse’s ass. But now he’s attracted a national audience. “While Bill Cunningham might not have the notoriety of Sean Hannity, Michael Savage or Glenn Beck, his record of spewing hate and misinformation is just as steady and just as abhorrent,” says J. Jioni Palmer, spokesman for Media Matters for America. The group listed what it calls Cunningham’s “most notable comments,” including. “Obama wants to gas the Jews” and “People are poor in America ... because they lack values, morals and ethics.” (See “Hammered,” page 10.) Blogs are often the playthings of under-utilized gray matter but in this season progressive and conservative bloggers in Cincinnati are raising money to feed hungry people. The Cincinnati Beacon started the Battle of the Blogs, challenging other blogs to see who could raise the most money for the FreeStore FoodBank. The Cincinnati Blog, Hamilton County Commissioner David Pepper’s blog and County Republican Chair Alex Triantafilou’s blog have all joined in, trying to outdo one another in generosity. It’s just in time. The FreeStore has launched the “Hunger is Unacceptable” campaign, a fundraiser for the holiday season. Demand is way up, according to John Young, the agency’s president. In 2005 the FreeStore provided food to an average of 1,387 people per week. In 2007 the average had grown to 2,153 people per week – an increase of 55 percent in two years, Young says. The campaign’s goal is $1.5 million. The FreeStore is open for donations of cash, food or clothes from 8 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. weekdays and 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. Saturdays. The address is 112 E. Liberty St. STREETVIBES December 2008 Streetvibes is a newspaper that provides relevant discussions of homelessness, poverty and other related social justice issues. It is published monthly by the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless. Address: 117 East 12th Street Cincinnati, OH 45202 Phone: 513.421.7803 x 12 Fax: 513.421.7813 Email: streetvibes2@ yahoo.com Website: www. cincihomeless.org Blog: streetvibes. wordpress.com Streetvibes Staff Editor Gregory Flannery Contributing Writers Margo Pierce, Angela Pancella, Michael Henson, Larry Gross, Alyssa Konermann, Lew Moores, Dede Stoops, Alan Attwood, Brittany Middlebrooks, Terrence Williams, Bill Joiner Photography/Artwork Andrew Anderson, Andrew Freeze, Angela Pancella, Richard Blumberg, DeJong family, Alan Attwood, Berta Lambert, Lynne Ausman, Laura Damasceno Advisory Committee Joe Wessels, Steve Novotni, Andrew Freeze, Georgine Getty, Michael Henson, Stephanie Dunlap, Steve Gibbs The Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. Programs include Streetvibes, “Voice of the Homeless” Speaker’s Bureau, Cincinnati Urban Experience (CUE), Homeless Curriculum, and Homeless Civil Rights Organizing Project. All donations support these programs and are taxdeductible to the full extent of the law. We are members of: Urban, meaningful, alternative holiday The FreeStore helps people in Cincinnati. The Intercommunity Justice and Peace Center’s annual St. Nick Day Sale helps people in places with even greater poverty. The sale features Fair Trade arts and crafts from Third World countries and artwork by Death Row inmates, among a broad collection of socially conscious gifts. Homemade candles and ornaments created by Sr. Alice Gerdeman will be for sale. The sale is from 10 am - 2pm. Dec. 6 at Peaslee Neighborhood Center, 215 E. 14th Street. There’s one more thing you can do to make this season meaningful. At dusk, 5:30 p.m. Dec. 21, the first day of winter, the longest night of the year, go to Washington Park for Homeless Memorial Day. Remember the homeless people who have died in our city. The program is a candlelight vigil and the reading of the names of the deceased, a simple but civilized act. �STREETVIBES December 2008 Community News Eight Minutes 3 with an ‘Honorable’ Judge finds the system – and legal language – guilty By Margo Pierce Contributing Writer G etting a fair trial in Hamilton County can be difficult because of a lack of commitment by a whole host of people to make it a priority, according to 1st District Appeals Judge Mark P. Painter. A “scathing” review of the Hamilton County Public Defender’s Office by the National Legal Aid and Defender Association was “totally accurate,” he says. “The (system) we have here certainly needs to be scrapped, and somebody needs to come up with a better system,” Painter says. “What’s happening right now is not very good. Everybody would agree that the public defenders do not have adequate resources to do the job. I don’t think there’s any question about that. But also the organization and the structure and the way they do things needs to change. It’s mainly a question of money, but even if you have money, you still have to use it wisely and give direction to people as to how to do things.” But his criticism doesn’t stop there. He calls to task elected officials at the state level who have under-funded public defenders – the money is about to run out. After serving 13 years on Hamilton County Municipal Court and for the past 14 years on the court of appeals, Painter has a long-term view of the situation and says it’s not all bad. The system in place is better than it used to be, he says. “We talk about (how) the public defender for misdemeanor (cases) doesn’t have the staff or money to do a good job,” he says. “When I started practicing law, you weren’t entitled to a lawyer, which was, of course, wrong; and it was finally fixed but there wasn’t much any public defense at all.” Judges now are better than they were 30 years ago, Painter says. “It’s not everybody goes out “good old boy” network still exists and has sway in the county, Painter believes scrutiny is essential to bring about reforms. A class action lawsuit by attorney Robert Newman in 2003 charged that public defenders in Hamilton County neglected to ask clients if they could afford to pay fines. They also failed to request indigency hearings that would have made it possible for those without money to stay out of jail. “That was a systemic problem,” Painter says. “It just wasn’t the public defender’s office. There are responsibilities on the judges and prosecutors and on everyone else in the system that something like that doesn’t happen.” For his part, Painter is trying to do what he can to bring about change in the system “Our job is to make sure that we look closely at any case that comes before us to see if there’s any problem with it, if there’s anything where the prosecutor’s hidden the ball or bad evidence is introduced.” - Judge Mark Painter after work and has a beer and talks about the cases,” he says. “That doesn’t happen much any more. Is there some of it going on? I can’t say where it is, but I assume it is – but way less than it was. “We do have much better judges than we did 30 years ago. I think almost any lawyer that’s been around a long time will tell you that.” Acknowledging that the that he has control over. It begins with his courtroom and making sure everyone understands what’s happening – not just the lawyers. “The law is about people,” he says. “They should be able to understand what it is. They certainly should understand what’s happening to them. If there’s a court case and there’s a court decision, certainly they shouldn’t have Judge Mark Painter served 13 years on the Hamilton County Municipal Court and for the past 14 years on the court of appeals. Photos by Andrew Anderson. to get somebody else to read it: ‘I don’t know if I’ve won or lost.’ That’s awful. We try to write all of our opinions in plain language. A lot of the legal gobbledygook is unnecessary and comes from things like the Norman Conquest and things that don’t exist any more, but lawyers keep doing them.” The author of The Legal Writer: 30 Rules for the Art of Legal Writing, Painter makes his case in seminars all over the world, most recently in Kuala Lumpur. His views on breaking down some of the elitism surrounding the law don’t always sit well with his colleagues, but Painter is committed to what he believes is his role in the criminal justice system – making sure “justice” isn’t lost in the process. “As far as in the court of appeals, our job is to make sure that we look closely at any case that comes before us to see if there’s any problem with it, if there’s anything where the prosecutor’s hidden the ball or bad evidence is introduced,” he says. “I think we do a pretty good job of reversing cases when we find there’s something wrong with them. “We reversed one case back, oh, 10 years ago. We thought the defendant was railroaded. I don’t think there was any doubt of it. You don’t know if he was not guilty, but he certainly wasn’t given a fair trial. I met somebody many, many years later (who) knew the guy and knew he was not guilty. She was a nurse who went to law school because she wanted to help prevent these things from happening in the future. “Now we are finding DNA and finding people were convicted wrongly. Most people who are convicted are guilty, but certainly some aren’t. It’s very important to make sure innocent people aren’t convicted. That’s really a tragedy.” The title “honorable” is used in conjunction with the title “judge,” a tradition that seems as archaic as the language Painter is trying to eradicate from the law. Being elected seems to be more of a popularity contest than a test of the qualifications of a judge, so few people earn the title “honorable.” Painter, it seems, is one of the few. “It’s never going to be a perfect system,” he says. “You’re going to get it closer.” Many people work hard to make a difference for the less privileged in Greater Cincinnati. “Eight Minutes” is an effort to learn who they are and what motivates them. �4 Community News STREETVIBES December 2008 Drop Inn Center (continued from page 1) nightclubs in Over-the-Rhine – is in full swing, with the Cincinnati Center City Development Corp. (3CDC) acquiring property that once served as low-income housing and championing the redesign of Washington Park, across the street from the homeless shelter. Popular wisdom holds that the city will force the Drop Inn Center to move. But Clifford says it’s not going anywhere. “A lot of people really wish we’d be somewhere else, but there is no other place right now, and there’s no pot of money,” he says. “The myth is we’ve been offered $10 million to move. Some people say, ‘We love the work you’re doing but we wish you’d do it someplace else.’ “Every city that I’ve been to has a downtown shelter. My thing is not how do we move but how do we work to be the best shelter we can be?” Clifford finds himself battling other myths, too – for example, the notion that residents of the Drop Inn Center are responsible for crime in Over-the-Rhine. “Another myth is that we’re responsible for the crime in Over-the-Rhine,” he says. “What we found is our population has gone up in the past two years, but crime has gone down 20 percent in Over-theRhine. We let our residents know that, if they continually “When you’re homeless, they help you to stay off the street. They also help you with drugs and alcohol and domestic violence, whatever problem you have. They have really helped me out.” -Chandra Tully not the place to spend the rest of your life. If you’ve been here three months, we really work with you to get something else.” ‘The ethical core’ The men’s dorm, as seen above, can sleep almost 200 individuals nightly. Photo by Andrew Anderson. get tickets, it’s going to be three strikes and you’re out. Every month the percentage of people who get ticketed, the number who are staying at the Drop Inn Center is 12 percent or 13 percent.” The “three strikes” rule, initiated last summer, was something of a concession to complaints about the behavior of homeless people gathering in Washington Park, which 3CDC and the city want to turn into a kind of promenade for Music Hall patrons and residents of the new upscale condos. “Only one person has tipped the three-strikes rule,” Clifford says. “We have a couple people with two strikes. None of them has been for violence. The vast majority are for open flask (of alcohol). It’s not trying to punish people. But it’s helpful to have the names of people who are interacting with the cops. It can be a counseling opportunity.” More than a flophouse The first goal of the Drop Inn Center is to get homeless people off park benches, out of riverside camps and away from makeshift “shelters” under highway overpasses. “When the Drop Inn Center was founded in the early ’70s, that was the core mission,” Clifford says. That commitment has helped distinguish Cincinnati in its response to homelessness. In many cities, 20 to 30 percent of homeless people live on the streets. But in Cincinnati, it’s 8 percent, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. “Cincinnati is one of the best cities in terms of having people inside, instead of on the streets,” Clifford says. But that is only the start. “Our first priority is, ‘How can we get you inside?’ ” he says. “Then it’s, ‘How can we get you into transitional housing or supportive housing or recovery programs?’ ” Next myth: The Drop Inn Center is a dumping ground for people who have no place to go, offering nothing but a cot and meals. “When I give tours, people don’t realize all that we do,” Clifford says. “If you think we’re running a flophouse, no; there’s a whole system to it.” The Men’s Recovery Program is a certified six-month treatment program with individual and group counseling, education on chemical dependency, community service, job training and acquiring employment and obtaining housing. The Homeless Individuals Partnership Program provides intensive services designed to help chronically homeless people access support services for mental illness and substance abuse and helps them “Our first priority is, ‘How can we get you inside?’ Then it’s, ‘How can we get you into transitional housing or supportive housing or recovery programs?’ ” -Pat Clifford, executive director of the Drop Inn Center find housing and or government benefits to sustain themselves. In addition to the emergency shelter – which sometimes houses up to 285 people a night – the Drop Inn Center operates 24 units of transitional housing with on-site support services designed to help clients enhance their life skills and find permanent housing. The development of new programs doesn’t, however, diminish the agency’s commitment to Gray’s vision. “We have a counseling structure but we try to work with people where they’re at,” Clifford says. “Our priority is to have them inside. We’re the place you can always bounce back to. You can look at the Drop Inn Center as a dead end or as a place to get started.” Unlike some shelters in Cincinnati, the Drop Inn Center places no limit on how long a person can stay. But that’s not to say a client will be left to languish. “We’re the emergency place to go,” Clifford says. “We’re Clifford is well aware that some view the Drop Inn Center as the turd in the punch bowl, the obstacle to dreams of an Over-the-Rhine transformed into the neighborhood and playground of young professionals with upscale dreams of urban living. Some of the animosity is simply illogical. “It’s like having a hospital,” Clifford says. “Nobody likes to know there are sick people. But getting rid of the hospital won’t stop people from being sick. If there were no Drop Inn Center, do you think there won’t be any more homeless people? “Some of the negativity we get – they don’t like the symbol of the Drop Inn Center. You can’t take it personally. They’re against the (mistaken) idea that the homeless are criminals who need to be excluded from society, that the homeless are dangerous and that by helping them, you’re harboring them.” It’s also important to remember that the facility enjoys widespread support, Clifford says. “We’re not in this alone,” he says. “We have 500 volunteers a month. We have tours for groups of people. We have quite a few people who wish us well.” Some of the most vocal critics of the Drop Inn Center are the people who stay there – hardly a surprise. Who would enjoy staying in a homeless shelter? “We’re never going to not have complaints,” Clifford says. “The fact that we hear complaints is good. As long as we have a process to hear them and makes changes, it’s good. We look into each and every one. People feel comfortable coming up to me and letting go.” “One of the biggest complaints we get is the food – not that it isn’t nutritious or that there isn’t enough of it but that it’s too repetitious. Our food budget has been cut two years in a row. Residents ask, ‘What can we do?’ We tell them to reach out to restaurants and grocery stores.” The one luxury at the Drop Inn Center is a big-screen TV in the lobby. Jerry Springer donated it. Next to the TV is a sign list- See DROP p.5 �STREETVIBES December 2008 Community News 5 Drop Inn Center (continued from page 4) ing some of the rules: “Peaceful behavior is necessary. If you feel uptight, please see a staff worker. Respect and brotherly, sisterly cooperation with one another is absolutely needed.” Clifford has worked at The Drop Inn Center for 18 years, the past 11 as executive director. He is a Cleveland native who lives in Fairview Heights with his wife, Katy Heinz – an organizer with the Center for Community Change – and their 12-year-old son. “My first experience of working with the homeless was as a high-school volunteer,” Clifford says. “You couldn’t really look at the world the same way again.” Next month Clifford will visit India, where he plans to visit the center founded by the late Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Mother Theresa. He sees the Drop Inn Center’s work as a continuation of his Catholic upbringing. “We’re about what I feel is the essence of religion, reaching out to help someone when they need it the most,” Clifford says. “That cuts across all faiths and even humanist beliefs – help the homeless, feed the hungry. That’s the common ethical core. “You can’t put too fine a point on it but you know there has to be more than just our individual efforts. “Another spiritual dimen- sion to what we do is to break down barriers, eliminating the segregation and the fear, trying to challenge society on the barriers of class and race.” Chandra Tully, who has stayed at the shelter for a month, articulates the value of the Drop Inn Center in more personal perms. Recovering from a host of problems that forced her into homelessness, she says, “When you’re homeless, they help you to stay off the street. They also help you with drugs and alcohol and domestic violence, whatever problem you have. They have really helped me out.” Pat Clifford, executive director of the Drop Inn Center, says the agency continually works to move people into housing. Photo by Andrew Anderson. Voters Get Feisty in Year of Change A black president elected, Chabot dumped, greed restricted By Gregory Flannery Editor Maybe there’s something to that old canard about the eternal optimism of the American people. The Nov. 4 election of Sen. Barack Obama not only overcame a long history of American racism but also rendered moot other long established political conventions. He won in spite of a comparative lack of experience – a first-term senator running against a veteran senator long known on the national stage. Lacking a military record of any kind, Obama ran in wartime and beat a war hero. After two consecutive presidential elections racked by charges of vote rigging, he won in an indisputable landslide: 365 electoral votes for Obama, 173 for Sen. John McCain – a margin of better than 2-to1. Ohio, blamed for giving George W. Bush a second term in 2004, voted Democratic this year, and it wasn’t all that close. Obama received 2.78 million votes in Ohio, 51.1 percent of the total. McCain received 2.58 million votes, or 47.4 percent. The independent presidential candidate with the most votes in Ohio was Ralph Nader, who received 40,696 votes, or 0.75 percent. Obama even won Hamil- Ohio, blamed for giving George W. Bush a second term in 2004, voted Democratic this year, and it wasn’t all that close. ton County – and by a bigger margin than in the state as a whole, taking 52.1 percent to 50.8 percent for McCain. That wasn’t the only surprise Nov. 4. Voters in the 1st Congressional District also dumped U.S. Rep. Steve Chabot in favor of Steve Driehaus, a Democratic state legislator. Commercials for Driehaus’ campaign highlighted Chabot’s support of Bush, whose unpopularity largely kept him out of sight during the campaign. (Full disclosure: I am on probation for trespassing during a sit-in at Chabot’s office in 2006.) Chabot, who has served 14 years in the U.S. House, was one of a score of Republicans unseated Nov. 4. The next term of Congress will include 256 Democrats and 175 Republicans. Four seats remain undecided. The election means the next session of the Senate will be 58 Democrats, a gain of seven seats; and 40 Republicans, with two races, in Minnesota and Georgia, still undecided. Of 8.29 million registered voters in Ohio, 5.6 million votes actually cast ballots, a 67.5 percent turnout. In Hamilton County, 70.5 percent of registered voters participated. There were no surprises in the two races for county commissioner, with incumbent Todd Portune, a Democrat, easily winning re-election. Clerk of Courts Greg Hartman, a Republican, won an open seat on the county commission. Portune, once the darling of long-suffering Hamilton County Democrats, had alien- ated some of his progressive supporters by imposing a tax for a new jail last year, which was quickly repealed by voters. Then a controversial deal made by party leaders aimed to let him and Hartman run unopposed this year. that was just too sweet for easy digestion. Cincinnati voters opted for change – but not too much. The local chapter of the NAACP led a referendum to repeal a city ordinance setting up automated traffic- ing interest rates charged by payday lenders in Ohio won by a whopping margin of 63.6 percent to 36.4 percent. The Coalition on Housing and Homelessness in Ohio (COHHIO) led the campaign. The referendum restricts pay- Free at last: The grave of abolitionist Frederick Douglass is decorated with news of the election of the first African-American president. Photo by Richard Blumberg. But two upstarts challenged the deal. Chris Dole ran as an un-endorsed Democrat against Hartman, and Ed Rothenberg was the Republican in the race against Portune. They never had a chance, and finished with only about 35 percent of the votes in their respective races. But given the odds, that ain’t bad. Most of the 30,000 voters who backed Dole and Rothenberg likely hadn’t heard of either of them until the party bosses made a sweetheart deal signal enforcement, or “red light cameras.” One might expect voters to enthusiastically come out against traffic tickets made easy, but the outcome was relatively close, with 51.2 percent in favor of banning the cameras. A second NAACP initiative would have changed city council elections to proportional representation. The measure failed by more than 8,000 votes. Usury got its ass kicked Nov. 4. A referendum restrict- day loans to annual interest of 28 percent. The current legal rate is 390 percent. “In a stunning victory for Ohio consumers … voters renounced 13 years of unregulated corporate greed,” COHHIO said after the election. The statement referred to Issue 5. But it might say something about the general mood of the electorate across the country Nov. 4. One can hope. �6 Worse Than Nixon STREETVIBES December 2008 Movie Review W. has left the theater – and soon so will he By Lew Moores Contributing Writer It’s gone. As best I can tell, it’s disappeared from Cincinnati area movie screens. When I went to see the film W. at the Esquire in Clifton at 1:10 p.m. Nov. 19, I was the only one in the theater. By Nov. 19, a full two weeks after an historic presidential election, President Bush had become, at least symbolically, that irrelevant – I watched the film by myself on its next-tolast day of being shown here. It lasted in Cincinnati for a month, its final days at a single neighborhood theater. W. opened in mid-October to mostly mixed reviews across the country. Beyond its artistry, critics postulated that Bush-haters would be disappointed by the film and Bush loyalists slightly surprised it wasn’t a complete hack-job. Full disclosure: I was among those rooting for not so much hack job as caricature – sort of what you might see if you put a camera in the hands of a progressive editorial cartoonist. I didn’t want the provocative filmmaker Oliver Stone’s George W. Bush to be a more sympathetic creature than Stone’s Richard M. Nixon in Stone’s 1995 biopic, Nixon. But he is. George W. is headstrong, yet a ne’er-do-well who bounces from job to job, has a bunch of daddy issues on his journey to outdo George H.W. Bush in the legacy department, and is already long on the road to political infamy even before the start of his second term. His haplessness is kind of endearing, his goofi- W. the film, directed by Oliver Stone was in theaters around Cincinnati for a month, possible showing that President Bush had become, at least symbolically, that irrelevant. Photo courtesy of wthefilm.com. ness likeable. Josh Brolin’s George W. boozes with abandon – lots of Jack Daniels – before he is born-again; his father, the future president of the United States, asks him in 1971: “What are you cut out for, chasing tail?” If one thing becomes something of a running motif, it’s the number of scenes that show W. stuffing food into his mouth and talking at the same time. It’s not pretty. He can’t help himself. A sense of verbal and physical clumsiness comes naturally to him. He announces late in the film that he’s given up sweets, a sacrifice since the start of the war. He spits. He almost chokes on a pretzel. He gets lost temporarily on a road at his Crawford ranch. He is enamored of catch phrases like “axis of evil” and “shock and awe.” In Stone’s Nixon, Anthony Hopkins’s Nixon is culturally clumsy. A hooker (I think she’s a hooker, I’m not sure) tells him that she likes jazz. “Yeah, I like jazz -- Guy Lombardo,” Nixon says. More precisely, Stone’s Nixon is insecure, unloved, dark and, in the end, so very alone. He is a creature of his own insecurities, not so much headstrong as searching for the right combinations and never finding them. He tells his wife, Pat, “They’re out there figuring out how to tear me down. … This is about me, can’t you understand that, Pat?” He doesn’t find the right combinations mostly because of his – and finally his administration’s – siege mentality. It was that, and not so much his policies, that did him in. Remember: His environmental record was good, he effectively ended the Vietnam War and he eased Cold War tensions with both his opening a door to China and détente with the Soviet Union. “We didn’t have to take cheap shots, and we didn’t 1128 Walnut St Pizza by the Slice Tues and Thurs Buffet($7.00)-11AM-2PM Wed-Thur-Fri-Sat 9PM-3AM want to be malicious,” Stone told USA Today in September, before W. opened. “We’re very careful. We didn’t want to go over the line.” Both films are not chronological; they travel back and forth in time, Nixon as a child growing up with a father who talks of taking him to the woodshed, Bush spending his college days as a frat brat, coming home drunk one night and almost getting into a fistfight with “Poppy.” Bush runs unsuccessfully for Congress and vows never again to be out-Texaned and “outChristianed.” Nixon is more verbally crude. Talking about Daniel Ellsberg -- who leaked to the press the Pentagon papers, which chronicled U.S. involvement in Vietnam -- he complains of the “HarvardHebrew boys who leak.” And Bob Haldeman, his chief of staff, refers to New York City, as he apologizes to Henry Kissinger, as “Jew York City.” More to the point, Nixon complains about his failure to win the presidency in 1960 and ultimate failure following Watergate, attributing it to elitism and not going to the “right schools (Harvard).” Both films have their heroes, Colin Powell in W.; John Dean and, to a lesser extent, Henry Kissinger in Nixon. Both have much darker characters – certainly Bob Haldeman and John Ehrlichman in Nixon, Karl Rove and Dick Cheney in W. Poppy, of course, looms large. If anything, he’s a man of some principle. He doesn’t take out Hussein in 1991 because that wasn’t part of the United Nations resolution; he believed in a multi-lateralist approach. So George W. is going to finish the job, show Poppy how it’s done. When Condi Rice, who is nothing more than a sycophant in this film, asks George W. whether his father had ever offered advice on Iraq, he answers, “There’s a higher father I appeal to.” Ultimately, that’s scary. And it’s supposed to be. That’s why I hoped for more caricature in W. The New Yorker’s David Remnick, I believe, was the first media type to point out just before Bush’s re-election in 2004 that Bush is a worse president than Nixon, the most disgraced president ever. And Remnick did it before Katrina in 2005, before full disclosures about Gitmo, the Patriot Act, about torture, the assault on science, trying to scuttle the Bill of Rights, spying on American citizens, the U.S Department of Justice debacle, the environmental assaults, not to mention the latest list of casualties from Iraq. I must be leaving out something. W., the movie, is gone, I think, from area screens. And in another seven weeks so will he be. �STREETVIBES December 2008 Local News Our Radioactive Homeland 7 New book is a guide to the region’s toxic link to nuclear weapons By Gregory Flannery Editor The Ohio River Valley is a victim of nuclear war – and the aggressor is our own government. The area hasn’t suffered bomb blasts, but more than half a century of preparation for a nuclear attack on other countries has poisoned the soil, the water and the air in communities surrounding Greater Cincinnati. That’s the startling conclusion of One Hundred Miles From Home: Nuclear Contamination in the Communities of the Ohio River Valley, a comprehensive study of the region’s role in the development of the U.S. nuclear arsenal. Local author Carol Rainey has meticulously documented the reckless yet quite deliberate process by which the Tri-state has been ringed by the toxic and radioactive byproducts of the U.S. pursuit of global military superiority. One Hundred Miles From Home examines the history of six nuclear research, production and disposal facilities: the Mound Laboratory in Miamisburg, near Dayton, Ohio; the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant, in Kentucky; the Feed Materials Production Center in Fernald Station, just north of Cincinnati; the Jefferson Proving Ground, in southeast Indiana; the Maxey Flats Low-Level Radiation Waste Disposal, in Kentucky; and The U.S. Department of Energy says, “The new wetlands (in Fernald) are similar to those that naturally occur in southwest Ohio.” It doesn’t point out that uranium won’t be completely removed from the aquifer until 2023. Photo courtesy of www.doe.gov. the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Piketon, Ohio. As early as 1955 – before “For many years the Great Miami River served as a flushing agent for the radioactive and chemical contaminants at Mound.” the term “nuclear” had entered common parlance – a reporter for The New York Times referred to the region as “Atom Valley.” That moniker might once have implied a patriotic pride and trust in a promising new technology, but the legacy 50 years on is one of ecological devastation: * “Officials at Mound in the early years found the easiest way of disposing of liquid radioactive waste was draining it in the river,” Rainey writes. “For many years the Great Miami River served as a flushing agent for the radioactive and chemical contaminants at Mound. As much as 600,000 gallons of wastewater were released into the river every day.” * “In 1990 thorium was found in Silo 3 (at Fernald), leaking radon gas,” Rainey reports. “Radium was also found in Paddy’s Run, which ran through the plant and into the Great Miami River. Thorium has a half-life of 14 billion years.” * Left behind at the Jefferson Proving Ground are 77 tons of depleted uranium and 1.5 million rounds of unexploded ordnance, according to Rainey. “When the Indiana Department of Environmental Management did an analysis … of how much it would cost to clean up the proving ground (to the point where it could be used again), they discovered the environmental contamination was so extensive a complete cleanup was economically impossible,” she writes. The nuclear technology promoted as essential to national defense was developed not only in secrecy but with brute force, with farmers in Fernald and in Madison County, Indiana, given just 30 days to accept government compensation before being forced off their land. Nor did the promise of jobs come without a cost. Illness blossomed among workers subject to exposure to radioactive chemicals, only to be denied by federal agencies. In Paducah, a worker who applied for disability compensation found his claim aggressively fought by the U.S. Department of Energy. “They argued that his illnesses were due to smoking and ‘eating country ham,’ ” Rainey writes. “The court “After his death, his body was exhumed, and uranium was found in his bones 133 times normal levels.” dismissed his claims. He said at the end of his life, ‘It is absolutely futile, like fighting a tiger with a toothpick.’ He died of stomach cancer in 1980 at the age of 58. After his death, his body was exhumed, and uranium was found in his bones 133 times normal levels.” Indeed, the effort to document job-related injuries was sometimes rendered impossible by the very nature of the work. Radioactive contamination was so thoroughgoing that the documents themselves were too hot to handle, as at the Mound facility. “The workers struggling to receive compensation for their illnesses received startling information in 2007, when it was revealed that in 1993 Mound had sent 458 boxes of records to Los Alamos to be ‘de-contaminated,’ ” Rainey writes. Only 40 boxes of documents – less than 10 percent of the total --were eventually de-contaminated. The human cost is one measure of the toll imposed on Atom Valley. Consider, too, the raw fiscal expense. “In the late 1960s Mound officials discovered an extensive amount of plutonium concentration in the special metallurgical building. … To clean up and decontaminate this one building (built in five months for $1 million) eventually took more than $57 million and 29 years,” Rainey reports. The book is not without its flaws. A literature professor, Rainey’s – and her editor’s – inability to master the proper use of “which” versus “that,” a common flaw in freshman composition, is a frequent and annoying distraction: “She was concerned about all the apples which her family ate,” she writes. Then there is the matter of including the Paducah facility at all. The book is, after all, titled, One Hundred Miles From Home – home being Cincinnati. Paducah is, after all, 234 miles southwest of Cincinnati. But as a whole the book is an unsettling and necessary reminder of what we have done and, more important, what remains unfinished, as noted in the preface by Bluegrass poet and environmental advocate Wendell berry. “The history of nuclear technology is now more than half a century old,” he writes. “In condemning it, we are hardly rushing to judgment. Now surely we must ask the question that, on the evidence of this book and much other evidence, we cannot honestly avoid: When great, undisputable quantities of lethal waste are accumulated, at ecological and human and economic costs that are unimaginable, must we not account the whole enterprise a waste and a tragic mistake?” Read the Streetvibes blog for stories between issues at streetvibes.wordpress.com �8 Year in Review 2008 saw struggles new and ongoing. Anti-war protesters lined Clifton Avenue to call for a moratorium in the war on Iraq (top left). Large numbers of voters signed petitions for a referendum to require paid sick days in Ohio (right). Streetvibes vendors were so successful that the paper twice had to increase its monthly print run (top right). The state of Ohio sealed off underpasses to keep homeless people from camping there (center). Students at local high schools and colleges spent the night outside in the annual shantytown experience, experiencing something of homeless life (above). Meanwhile food banks found supplies dwindling as demand for food aid rose (right). STREETVIBES December 2008 �STREETVIBES December 2008 Year in Review 9 An investigation by the Southwest Ohio Workers’ Rights Board found exploitation of Latino workers (top left). A homeless man struck by a hit-andrun driver was charged with jaywalking (top right). A lone city councilman joined advocates for the poor in opposing a proposal to restrict social services (center). College students around the country came to participate in Cincinnati Urban Experience (left). High school students created vibrant murals for the Homeless Coalition (above). �10 STREETVIBES December 2008 Column The Bill Cunningham Doctrine Poor Attitudes Don’t Cause Poverty ill Cunningham of WLW (700 AM), a Great American, unlike you or me, says, “The reason people are poor in America is not because they lack money. It's because poor people in America lack values, character, and the ability to work hard." I don’t know how Cunningham does his research or where he gets his data, but what he says must be true, because Cunningham is a Great American and no Great American would ever say anything false, irresponsible or vicious on the radio for everyone to hear. And he’s not alone. There are lots of others -- Great Americans, I’m sure -- who say the same sort of thing. I don’t know how they do their research or where they get their data, but they speak with great authority; and no Great American would ever use his or her authority to say something false, irresponsible or cutting in the public media. You might not agree with them, but these are Great Americans. Unlike you and me. ***** Suppose what the Great Americans say is true. Suppose it’s all just a poverty of mind. Suppose it’s all just a matter of attitude. Suppose that the problem of poverty could be solved if only the poor could get their act together, get jobs, stay in their jobs, stop complaining the destructive and self-destructive behavior behind in the dust. What difference would it make? What if we declared war on poverty and the poor simply surrendered? We’ll quit our poorish ways, they’ll say. We’ll do everything we’re told. We’ll go to work, no matter what the wages or conditions. We’ll put money into an IRA, cut off our bootleg cable and never again play somebody’s birthday on the Lotto. We’ll eat whole grain organic food By Michael Henson and leave the Pop Tarts on the shelf. If we drink, we’ll about their jobs, stop getting drink pinot noir instead of injured on their jobs, stop fil- some cheap stuff from the ing grievances about injuries corner store, and we’ll never on the job. Suppose the poor let cocaine pass our nostrils or would decide to stop moving our lips. from place to place, move to Oh, and the rap music. a better place, move out of That’s gotta go. We’ll obey all this place. Suppose the poor the laws we can think of and were to get some school- follow all the rules, even the ing, get married, didn’t have ones we don’t know about. sex unless they were Would that solve the probmarried or maybe lem? It would certainly be difdidn’t have sex at all because there is that ferent. For one thing, it would inconvenient result mean mass layoffs of social of producing more -- workers, probation officers and more problematic and deputy sheriffs. (Oh, -- poor people. Sup- wait, that’s already happenpose they were to stop ing.) It would mean life would getting sick. Suppose be easier for supervisors at they were to stop us- Wal-Mart and McDonald’s. It ing alcohol and other would mean Bill Cunningham drugs. Stop gambling. would welcome them as Great Stop hanging out on Americans. But would it mean an end to corners. Stop smoking cigarettes, throw poverty? ***** away the blunts, drop Surely, if we could solve the pipe, the needle, certain behavioral problems, the bottle. Suppose the poor it would mean an end to some Bill Cunningham, radio host on 700 could just get their people’s poverty. The welder WLW is known for his line, “You are a various acts together. turned homeless heroin adGreat American.” Photo courtesy of 700wlw.com Suppose they left all dict, if he gets into treatment B ammered H Michael Henson is author of Ransack, A Small Room with Trouble on My Mind, The Tao of Longing and Crow Call. This column is part of a monthly series on poverty and addiction. and commits to recovery, can pretty well work his way back out of poverty and into the middle class. There are There are a lot of people among the working poor. They live by the Great American values Bill Cunningham says are important, but they just can’t get ahead. plenty of examples of people who got clean and sober, got an education and climbed up the rickety social ladder into something like middle-class life and prosperity. But is getting the poor to clean up their acts, learn middle class values and make a commitment to improve their position enough to end poverty? It might end poverty for certain individuals, but I don’t think it would end poverty itself. For one thing, not everybody who is poor is addicted, mentally ill or otherwise dysfunctional. There are a lot of people among the working poor. They live by the Great American values Bill Cunningham says are important, but they just can’t get ahead. For those who are alcoholic or addicted, just to get sober and get your life straight doesn’t mean you’re going to make it out of poverty. The Big Book’s promises tell us that fear of people and financial security will leave us. They don’t say financial insecurity will leave us. Not every recovering addict or alcoholic is healthy enough or lucky enough or whatever enough to get the kind of job my welder friend is likely to get. And even my welder friend probably won’t get the well-paying, union-scale job he lost at the auto plant that’s moved away. All those social workers, probation officers and deputy sheriffs just laid off by Hamilton County are not likely to find new jobs with the pay and benefits that the county provided. The numbers are against us. There are more of us than there are middle-class slots in society as it is now constructed. It’s been that way for a long time, and it’s not likely to change any time soon. It might even be getting worse. So when we’re asking people to change their poverty of mind, when we ask them to drop their thinking errors and adopt a pro-social lifestyle, let’s recognize that not everyone will get the same benefits from it. Our lives would be better, all of us, if everyone would adopt a life-affirming lifestyle. But that won’t end poverty. Because poverty is bigger than that. The only way to understand poverty is to look hard at the self-sabotaging patterns that the poor get into and which hold them back, but also to look hard at the social patterns that hold them back as well. The only way to understand poverty is to be hardheaded and compassionate at the same time. But I’m not sure that compassion is one of the values of a Great American. Berta’s Art Corner “Standing Tall, reminants of gentrification destroys children’s park” Over-the-Rhine, Cincinnati, Ohio �STREETVIBES December 2008 Local News Fighting the H8 (continued from page 1) Well, guess what? That’s not happening. It is time for us as individuals to realize that we can’t sit by being complacent.” Proposition 8 has an impact beyond California, according to Tolle. “It is something that directly impacts the LGBTQ community on every level, in every state,” he said. “In Ohio, we live in a state that has already declared inequality by banning same-sex marriage and failing to include crimes against LGBTQ individuals under state hate-crime laws. We cannot let this hatred under the law perpetuate any further.” Comedienne Margaret Cho and Dr. Victoria Wulsin, the unsuccessful Democratic candidate in Ohio’s 2nd Congressional District, joined the protest. Cho, performing at Taft Theater that evening, was alerted to the protest and immediately rearranged her schedule in order to attend. Both women expressed their commitment to the cause of fighting the inequality codified by Proposition 8. A few counter-protesters appeared at the event, including one individual —with a record of protesting outside Planned Parenthood clinics — who was found to possess a handgun. There weren’t any conflicts between the opposing sides, but because same-sex marriage is such a controversial issue for many, Cincinnati Police monitored the event on horseback to ensure everyone’s safety. Tolle rejected assertions that gay-rights activists want anything unusual. “Those in favor of Proposition 8 claim that extending equal marriage rights to gay and lesbian couples would be granting special rights that are contrary to the traditional familial structure, which is often rooted in Christian doctrine,” he said. “But (this) protest was not a request for special rights, but rather a demand for equality for all under the law.” As a result of the overwhelming support the organizers encountered in planning the protest, IMPACT Cincinnati, a group created in order to sustain the momentum of conversation and action that began with the Fight 11 the H8, has been formed. The group plans to work with other LGBTQ organization such as Equality Ohio and Human Rights Campaign. The organizers realize that the success of the protest cannot be seen as the end, but rather must be channeled into a greater movement. “This is where it starts,” Tolle said. “This is where we have a voice, and this is where we have power. This is where change starts, and this is where equality starts.” �STREETVIBES December 2008 Sports News 12 A Goal for the Homeless Homeless World Cup is more than a soccer game By Alan Attwood Street News Service Soccer has gone global. Now, at the grassroots level, it is changing lives. The proof will be proudly on show in December in Australia at a unique kind of World Cup. Let’s try a word-association game. Soccer. Names spring to mind at once. Big names: Beckham, Maradona, Pelé, Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Rooney, Zidane. Most of them synonymous with exquisite skills, extraordinary salaries and, in Beck’s case, a recent bizarre stunt involving a double-decker bus in Beijing. The truth is, however, that soccer is bigger than the biggest names. Soccer – ‘football’ in most places outside Australia – really is the world game. It is played on all continents. One reason for this is the simplicity of soccer: all you need for a game, of sorts, is a ball. At a pinch, rolled-up socks or shirts or newspapers bound with twine will suffice. It is a universal language: Players who would otherwise have difficulty communicating can find common ground. And although soccer fans are noted all over the globe for their passion – one theory is that the spectators’ intensity is explained by the scarcity of goals – it is also a unifying force. Soccer brings people together. Not just at the quadrennial World Cup (next up is South Africa in 2010) but also somewhat at the other end of the sporting scale. Every day, every week, in every part of the world, people get together for a kick and a run-around. Perhaps only a couple of people, perhaps many more. The playing surfaces will range from grass to gravel, dirt to dust, mud to matting. Over the past halfdozen years the grassroots side of soccer has grown in size and also become more organized. In Australia, a street soccer program (an initiative of The Big Issue organization) began with a kick-around near a housing estate in inner-Melbourne late in 2004: now it has spread across seven Australian states or territories, with regular sessions held in regional as well as urban areas. Anyone interested is welcome, regardless of age, sex, religion, background or circumstances. In all sorts of ways, everyone has a level playing field – though, to be honest, some of the fields can be more wonky than Wembley. The sessions are social and sporting events, an opportunity for participants to connect with other people. Those who stick with it can aspire to something even bigger, something that will be showcased here in Australia in the first week of December, when the sixth Homeless World Cup is staged (and celebrated in Melbourne – including, for the first time, a women’s tournament. From little things, big things grow. Australian troubadour Paul Kelly was singing about Aboriginal land-rights in the song he wrote with Kev Car- Mid-week street soccer training in Melbourne, adjacent to a public housing estate. Photo by Alan Attwood. Street soccer training in Adelaide, South Australia - Daniel (left) and Matty (cap) compete for the ball. Photo by Alan Attwood. mody, but the words might equally apply to the Homeless World Cup, an event that gives disadvantaged people – individuals who’ve experienced homelessness, substance abuse, unemployment or simply hard times – a chance to be part of a team and to shine on the international sporting stage. Not only will the participants in Australia’s Homeless World Cup be representing their own countries, a great many will also be experiencing their first overseas trip. They will also be boosting the expansion of an event that started, like many a great idea before, with an idea conceived over a drink. The story goes like this. Late in 2001, two men got talking in Cape Town during a conference of the International Network of Street Papers. One was Mel Young, co-founder of The Big Issue in Scotland; the other was Harald Schmied, editor of the Austrian equivalent. Conferences were all very well, they mused, but where were the very people they were trying to help? Talk fests wouldn’t appeal, but what about sport? What about soccer? How about teams from their respective countries, Scotland and Austria, playing a game? A few beers later, the idea had got grander. Why not invite anyone who was interested? And the event could be called the Homeless World Cup. A half later the first one was held – in Schmied’s hometown of Graz, in Austria. Eighteen teams participated; there were around 20,000 spectators. The following year, in Sweden, 26 teams entertained 40,000 people. In 2005, when Australia was first represented, there were 32 teams and more than 50,000 spectators in Edinburgh, Scotland. The growth continued in Cape Town, 2006, and Copenhagen last year. In December, 56 countries will be represented and the spectators – well, pick a number. Melbourne doesn’t pride itself on being Australia’s sporting capital for nothing. Yet even those impressive player statistics don’t do justice to the number of people whose self-confidence has been boosted by street soccer programs here and overseas. Research has shown that, through regular involvement with soccer, participants are much more likely to reconnect with services, find employment, and address their housing or drug issues. The discipline and team-ethos instilled by soccer are positive factors for players beyond the pitches. They are qualities that can help people improve their lives, long after events such as the Homeless World Cup have come and gone. This is apparent in the responses by Australian representatives after the 2006 event in South Africa. They were asked about the impact of soccer on their lives. These are some of their answers: “Sport’s always going to be there for everyone. … When you’re homeless and society turns its back on you, sport’s the only thing that’s there to actually welcome you. “It’s not about being good, it’s not about being bad. Both young and old and those who are talented and those who are not come down and make a team.” “It gave me confidence to look at opportunities and realize I had something I could contribute. … Going to training and working with others gave me a reason to get on with things.” “You’re a family when you’re on the field. You’ve got to share the ball. … You score a goal, you succeed in life. You achieve something.” “I used to be a very outgoing person. As soon as I became homeless it was like I lost all that confidence. I got dragged into sport and all of a sudden my confidence came back because I felt like I was wanted again.” “I used to sit at home and smoke a lot and get wasted. It was getting me nowhere. Being involved with street soccer has given me a reason to get healthy and stay that way.” “I met Desmond Tutu. I played for Australia. I had a free trip to South Africa. Harry Kewell gave us a speech. We got a letter from John Howard that wasn’t a dole form. … Not bad!” Not bad at all. Not everyone, of course, gets to meet Desmond Tutu or represent their country. But – in Sydney or Shepparton, Adelaide or Alice Springs, Bendigo or Bunbury, Port Hedland or Port Augusta – street soccer offers participants goals in addition to those marked out by posts or plastic cones or even a couple of shirts laid down on dirt. No, they’re not big names. Not yet, anyway. But they’re kicking on. Alan Attwood/The Big Issue Australia© Street News Service: www.street-papers.org �STREETVIBES December 2008 Local News Stars in Over-the-Rhine 13 Volunteer leads guests to create holiday greetings By Angela Pancella Contributing Writer ur Daily Bread’s Christmas card this year features stars crafted by our guests using construction paper, markers, gift wrap, stickers and garland. Laura Damasceno volunteered to help our guests with their designs. “I got involved (with Our Daily Bread) through McCauley High School,” she says. “Originally it was for service work to graduate, and then I just kept coming back and bringing people with me. I like the atmosphere and the volunteers who come.” For the Christmas card project, she went into Our Daily Bread’s dining room and asked who would like to help. “First I found the people I was comfortable with, the people I say hello to,” Damasceno says. “And then a lot of people overheard and decided to come and volunteer, too.” She was impressed with the work her volunteers put into O their designs. “They had more artistic ability and creativity than I would have imagined,” Damasceno says. “A lot of them wanted to do more than one. They liked using different materials. They were looking to find markers, paper — they wanted to use it all. They even wanted glitter, but glitter would have been a mess to clean up. They used multiple layers; they ran all their ideas into one.” Damasceno provided guidance based on her own love of art. At one point she reminded everyone, “It doesn’t have to be perfect. That’s the beauty of art.” “On the first day a lot of people were just weren’t very confident in the shape of their star,” she says. “Someone had spoken about making a Star of David. I went on the Internet and … I figured out how to make a Star of David through an origami cutout.” The craft supplies that were available proved inspirational as well. “When we used crazy cutter stickers, the stars became Frances Traver holds up designs she created for Our Daily Bread’s Christmas card. Photo by Laura Damasceno. Our Daily Bread, a food and hospitality ministry at 1730 Race St., Over-theRhine, offers a mid-day meal, serving more than 500 every weekday. To volunteer or to donate food, call Joan or Kathy at 513-621-6364. unique to each person,” Damasceno says. “They got into it — using different sizes, different colored paper.” Te project brought out the best in everyone, according to Damasceno. “(The guests) were grateful to help volunteer to return the favor, to return the help,” she says. By spending time working on the project with a small group of people, Damasceno learned more about their lives. “Really, I got to know a lot of stories; they became an open book,” she says. “They are the ones who have a strong faith in God. They’re trying to find themselves. They were on their way to do other things to better themselves. Everyone was very willing to talk and to be open with me. It was a great experience.” Cigarettes for the Homeless On the streets some things are worse than smoking By Larry Gross Contributing Writer ne night last week I was waiting at a bus stop on Main Street, smoking a cigarette. A well dressed young man approached me. “You got an extra cigarette I could have?” he asked. “Sorry,” I replied, “I bummed this one.” This was, of course, a lie. I had just opened a fresh pack. The truth is I’m getting a bit tired of giving away cigarettes to people who appear to have plenty of money. If you’re employed, nicely dressed and appear to have a roof over your head but don’t want to pay for cigarettes because they’re too expensive, keep walking past me. If you O don’t, I might tell another lie and say I quit smoking – perhaps while blowing smoke in your face. But if you’re homelsss, that’s another story. If a person is down on her luck and needs a cigarette, she’ll usually get one from me. This has even been more the case lately as I’ve changed some of my personal smoking habits. I’m no longer smoking in my place of residence. My little studio apartment has become smoke-free. I’m reporting this now only because I wasn’t sure I could pull it off. For many years in my head, I thought writing and smoking went hand in hand. I couldn’t imagine trying to write anything without having a ciga- rette burning in the ashtray on my desk. For a while, it took longer to get my writing done without smoking. Now, some months later, I’ve found that I can do it – and there’s even a side benefit to this: I’m no longer having to clean off cigarette ashes that fall on or into my computer keyboard. I can’t imagine what it would be like living on the street, sleeping in a shelter or calling a park bench your home. When I want a cigarette these days, just like in office buildings downtown and everywhere else, I go outside If you like what you read, but don’t live in the Cincinnati area, you can subscribe to Streetvibes. Call us at 513-421-7803 x 12 to learn more about subscribing to Streetvibes. – sometimes with a favorite ashtray. I don’t do anything else but smoke. I savor the moment. With this new routine firmly in place, I find that I now smoke fewer cigarettes. I no longer find myself running out of them. I’m basically accumulating smokes – and this is good news for the homeless. I won’t be going around downtown handing cigarettes to homeless people who don’t smoke, but if a homeless smoker wants one from me, I’ll pass it over freely. I want to be of some help to them. I can hear some of you saying this is a ridiculous idea. How does giving a nasty cigarette away to a homeless person help him? I can’t think of anything more stressful than being in that kind of situation. I can’t imagine what it would be like living on the street, sleeping in a shelter or calling a park bench your home. It must be god-awful not knowing where your next meal is coming from. If a smoke helps him or her deal with this kind of stress, I’m going to try and make sure I have one on me when he or she needs one. Some things are worse than smoking. They won’t be getting a health lecture from me. They’ll be getting the cigarette. Are you interested in helping with Streetvibes? Are you a writer, poet, artist or photographer? If so, contact Greg Flannery at 513.421.7803 x 12 or email streetvibes2@yahoo.com �STREETVIBES December 2008 Guest Columns 14 The Elementz of Poverty Hip Hop youth center offers hope, a creative outlet and a way out By Brittany Middlebrooks Contributing Writer Within my community, there are black women who are single parents struggling to take care of their children because their children’s fathers aren’t around to help. There are young black men who choose to sell drugs to make some quick money so that they won’t struggle in the time being. Weed, heroin and crack cocaine are the elements constantly around my community. Young women, older women and women in between can be found selling their bodies for drugs in my community. These are the lifestyles and livelihoods that the children in my neighborhood have to mirror every day. The absence of positive role models and influences cause these children to repeat the same cycles. A lot of these women who sell their bodies for drugs also abandon their children. The abandonment causes their kids to only depend on themselves, which causes them to grow up faster than they are supposed to. It’s so easy for underage teenagers to have access to drugs and guns in my community. A lot of drugs being sold in my community are from underage teens. There is a lot of violence being caused by teens because of money. Everybody needs money, and the absence of money can lead people to do whatever they have to do to get it, whether it’s right or wrong. The majority of the people in my community choose the easy way to get money instead of going to find a job. Some of the people in my community can’t even get good jobs because of things they chose to do in their past which messed up their future because now they have felony records. It’s so sad to see someone who keeps trying fail. Eventually these people lose hope on trying to get a job. A lot of these peoples have mouths to feed so they have to find a way to make money. The need of money is what causes the majority of the crime that’s happening in my community. If there were anything I could do about poverty in my community, I would make sure that everyone has decentpaying jobs. I would also create more youth centers for the youth so that they would have something positive to do with themselves. I serve community service in a hip-hop youth center called Elementz. It’s a place for hip-hop and respect located at 1599 Central Parkway. Elementz is the best youth center that I’ve ever came across. Its mission is to inspire and engage inner-city youth through innovative hiphop arts programs, leadership development and community building from ages 14 to 24. This is the place to be if you love hip-hop. This youth center offers dance classes, dj classes, production classes, recording classes, video classes, graffiti classes and my own poetry class. The reason that the center is called Elementz is because it expresses all the elements of hip-hop. A lot of jobs that I’ve had in the past came from this youth center. The reason why I would open up more youth centers like this one is because of the opportunities I’ve received by going to this youth center. I’ve travelled out of town to conferences and met a lot of important people because of this youth center. The center blessed me with the opportunity to help make a documentary, Just Around the Corner, which was shown at the Freedom Center. If I never came to this hiphop center, I don’t know what I would be doing with my life. It’s a positive atmosphere for youth to be in. I feel very welcomed and appreciated when I’m at the center, and I try to give whatever I can to the center so that it can grow more. I never thought that I would Violence It’s my people doing all these dangerous killings and most black men make their living off of drug dealing and stealing. These are some of the reasons why I barely have any feelings. These things are noticeable but still no one tries to stop the violence I don’t always want to hear gunshots; sometimes I just want to hear silence. The police always get the wrong ones and beat them with their guns, so police brutality is not needed. I want the cops to help the innocent people instead of them being beaten and mistreated Some of these cops are more criminal than the criminals on the street. The ones that try to help it’s too late because us teens can’t even be reached. We used to look up to people who really tried to teach. We all looked up to Martin Luther King but it seems that he wasted his speech. Was it me? But we didn’t even listen. And all violence does is leads us black people to prison. actually teach a poetry class. Now I have that opportunity because of Elementz, and I know that plenty more opportunities will come. Elementz reaches out to the youth who don’t have anything good going on in their lives and tries to turn that around as much as possible. I’ve seen dope boys and gang bangers who came to the center and turned their lives around. The reason is people here believe that we can do whatever we want to do in our lives, because we are the future. I’ve also seen teens who constantly get locked up, and once they started going to Elementz, they stop getting arrested, because they stop being around a negative atmosphere. There are a lot of youth who deal with poverty who go to Elementz to get away from what they’re going through at home. I believe that the youth in my community need more youth centers like this one because it relates to the youth who are struggling. I love the fact that Elementz is a place for me to do everything I have a passion to do. I love music and expressing my talent, and this is the place for me to do those things. Every last Thursday of every month we get to showcase our talent. I would love to leave you all with a poem titled “violence.” Street Kids: The Truth from a Survivor Sometimes the streets are safer than home By Dede Stoops Streetvibes Vendor W hat is a street kid? Well this is a short writing or truth I have seen, as I was one. When you grow up and leave the streets, that part of life remains with you and changes you. This is not a life for anyone, especially for kids or teens. But the reality of them on the streets is all too true. Kids go to the streets to get control of their lives, and it is sometimes safer than where they live. How would you define what a street child is? One way the government defines them is “runaways” or “throw away” children. What are runaways? These are children who leave home without permission or, once gone, choose not to return. “Throw away” children are told to leave by a parent or guardian, and no other care is arranged for them. Many on the streets have been “burned by the system,” so they have little trust for people. They refuse to get help because they will be forced to return to their abusive homes. These kids are sometimes abused by more than one person, including people their parents might be dating. Most street kids are escaping from abusive, neglectful homes and family problems. Other things that bring kids to the street are economic and residential in- Due to their age, street kids often can’t get work so they steal to survive and commit other criminal acts. Been there, done that, too. stability. Street kids have little or no trust for people, especially those in authority. This is because of their abuse and the failure of the justice and social-services systems. Street life doesn’t help that. Gangs, pimps, prostitutes and cops beat and pick on the kids, so it pushes them further from society and wipes their trust levels further down from being able to trust anyone. The good thing about street life is the bond kids build with other street kids. It can be a lifelong bond, even though sometimes the lives are short. What makes a street kid’s life short? That life can lead a kid to drugs and alcohol. Another danger is street gangs attacking street kids. Some kids are killed by other homeless people, fighting for or being robbed of what little they have. Street kids also suffer from malnutrition, depression, AIDS and pimps attacking them if they will not work for them. But the hardest part is these kids sometimes can’t take Missed an Issue? Check out the Streetvibes archive at www.cincihomeless.org/content/streetvibes it and kill themselves. This breaks my heart, but I have been where they have and tried suicide myself. Something I learned, as do many other street kids, is no shelter accepts them without a parent. Due to their age, street kids often can’t get work so they steal to survive and commit other criminal acts. Been there, done that, too. Some kids beg to survive or do little chores to get the necessities of life. When these kids do those things, they have little or no self-esteem. When street kids grow up, they have little trust for people. Whenever you see a street kid, remember they don’t want your pity -- just your help and understanding. �STREETVIBES December 2008 Editorial 15 Sometimes the Library is No Place for Kids Who’s responsible for the children? By Terrence Williams Streetvibes Vendor I spend many days in the Cincinnati Public Library reading, relaxing and taking care of my business. While in the library, I’ve noticed that there are a large number of kids present during school hours. Many of them simply sit at the computers and play games all day long. What I can’t understand is why the library allows these kids to just hang out even though they know that they should be in school. I personally know how difficult it is to get an education because I dropped out of high school, but later got my G.E.D.; it was a hard struggle, but I’m glad I did it. Yet I am so disheartened when I see these kids hanging out in there, not getting a proper education. While I think the library should institute a stricter policy prohibiting kids in the library during school hours, that’s not enough. All of us are responsible for this as a community and need to work Terrence Williams, a Streetvibes vendor, is consistently in the top three for sales each month. Photo by Andrew Freeze. together as one to make sure kids get their education. The library is a big part of our community, and with that comes a certain responsibility. For one, the library is there for learning and studying and even entertainment purposes, but it shouldn’t be that for kids who are skipping school to hang out there. At one point I asked a librarian why these kids weren’t in school and she replied, “Some of them are home-schooled.” However, I have never seen any of their parents in there teaching them anything. To me, the library symbolizes education, but it seems it’s turned into a playground for kids who would rather cut school to play games. But as I said before, the library isn’t the only one responsible for this. When I was a kid, if we cut school, and a truant officer spotted us, he would chase us until we couldn’t run another step. Now Cincinnati Public Schools rely on an already busy Cincinnati Police Department to help deal with truancy, so it’s even more surprising to me when I see a police officer sitting at a desk right inside the library not doing anything about these kids hanging out during school hours. I have to wonder how much the schools even care about the high rates of absenteeism and dropout rates in our schools. Yet even if we had the cooperation of the library, schools and police department to get these kids back in the classroom, it’s not going to work until parents start taking more responsibility for their children’s whereabouts. There’s no question things have changed today -- parents working two full-time jobs while still struggling to keep food on the table, leaving little time to be able to give their children’s education the proper attention it needs. But no matter how hard it is, parents must still bear the brunt of raising their children properly. It’s a parent’s job to know where their kids are at all times. If they know that their son or daughter is cutting school to hang out in the library, they should be held accountable. The library is a place where parents and children should learn together, taking advantage of all the resources offered, but not as a babysitter for kids who refuse to go to school. A policy that allows kids to cut school and play games in the library has to change. However, the library can’t do it alone, they are just one part of the larger community that includes schools and parents. If we don’t start working together as a community by ignoring the fact that our kids aren’t in school getting the education they so desperately need, then we will continue down a destructive path of producing kids who lead lives of crime; and we’ll all pay for that in the end. Again, we must work together as a community. This means the librarian, the school attendance monitor, the teacher, the police officer, parents and regular people like me must share the responsibility to make sure kids get the education they deserve. Justice Worker and Friend of Peacemakers Activist Kees DeJong’s journey comes to a graceful end By Bill Joiner Contributing Writer When Kees DeJong died Nov. 6, humanity lost one of its finest and most engaging practitioners. Many readers of Streetvibes will remember Rev. Maurice McCrackin and his many quests for social justice. Some of them will remember DeJong as the person who, when McCrackin was confined to a wheelchair in his last years, wheeled him to many events in the West End and Over-theRhine. DeJong was a close friend of McCrackin’s. They shared common values and a common worldview, and they worked on many common endeavors. Unlike Mac, DeJong thought of himself as a follower, rather than a leader. But DeJong was not a typical follower. When he saw a need, he usually would, on his own initiative, simply step in and fill it. For example, one of McCrackin’s last great causes was the reform of the criminal-justice system and the needs of prisoners. McCrackin realized that men coming out of prison needed a place to live while they got their life straightened out, got a job and became able to live independently. Thus was born Justice Watch and the idea of a transition house. But no resources were available for the house. DeJong became aware of federal funding for a certain kind of academic project, wrote a grant and obtained funds to acquire and renovate a house on Garden Street, making possible the subsequent rehabilitation of hundreds of former prisoners. DeJong similarly filled needs as he saw them in many ways for many people. DeJong was Dutch. He earned a Ph.D. in geology and immigrated to the United States in 1970 to accept an assistant professorship in geology at the University of Cincinnati, where he remained a valued member of the department for 38 years. He was always available and helpful to students. It was perhaps the well known tolerance of the Dutch, or his extensive traveling with his wife Else, that made him a person who didn’t define people by their national boundaries or national origins. He saw all people as part of humanity and of equal worth. And he believed fervently in peace. He never obtained citizenship, but cared a great deal about the United States, and he suffered when its military excesses caused suffering in others. He especially worried about the direction the United States was taking in his last years and realized that our recent election was about the direction the world would take for the foreseeable future. On my last visit, five days before his death, as I left, he raised himself up from what was to be his deathbed, shook my hand and promised to live until Obama was elected. On Election Night he watched Obama’s acceptance speech and said simply, “Good speech.” The next day slipped into unconsciousness and died. DeJong traveled extensive- ly not only for education and pleasure, but professionally as well. He spent time studying geology and doing geological surveys in Europe, Mexico and especially in Pakistan. He was an avid photographer, and digital photography allowed him to take thousands of pictures, which he assiduously catalogued. On my last visit he showed me pictures he had taken at a geological conference in Czechoslovakia, during which the Russians had come in to put down the Czech uprising. DeJong was on the streets with the Czech protesters, and his pictures were of the destruction and devastation that existed. DeJong battled prostate cancer for well over 10 years, but his dealing with it was typical of his character. He gathered others with the disease at the university and in the community so that they could share experiences and concerns. He created Web sites where others could obtain information and where he maintained a diary of his own experiences so that Kees DeJong will be remembered for his quests for social justice. Photo courtesy of DeJong family. others might understand how another person was handling it and perhaps gain strength from how he dealt with it and was able to describe it. DeJong didn’t have the visibility of a McCrackin or a Buddy Gray. Nevertheless, he did much good’ and more important, he touched many lives, affected many attitudes, generated admiration and emulation and made people reexamine their values and priorities. He leaves behind his wife, four sons and several grandchildren, all of whom he loved deeply. He will be missed by them and the many who knew him. �16 Vendors Resource Guide STREETVIBES December 2008 Streetvibes vendors buy the paper for 25 cents and sell the paper for $1, keeping the money they have earned. The vendors can be identified with a white badge and can be found selling the paper in downtown Cincinnati, Clifton, Northern Kentucky and area churches. The money they earn helps them meet basic housing, food and health care needs. Not all vendors pictured. Josephine Baskerville Doris Binion Terry Ranson Anthony Williams Nell Williams Grady Cook Cleo Wombles James Davis Jon Darby Dede Stoops Julie Walker Kenneth Stonitsch Antonio Hodge Leonard Jackson Samuel Jackson Riccardo Taylor Berta Lambert Mary Mueller Brandon Nelson Mark Shears Charles Cole Alfred Woolfolk Terrence Williams Raynard Jones Richard Tyree Michael Holley Need Help or Want to Help? Shelter: Women and Children Central Access Point...381-SAFE Cincinnati Union Bethel...768-6907 Bethany House...557-2873 Grace Place Catholic Worker House...681-2365 Salvation Army...762-5660 YWCA Battered Women’s Shelter...872-9259 Talbert House...684-7965 PATH Outreach...977-4489 Treatment: Women Resources First Step Home ...961-4663 Treatment: Both City Gospel Mission...241-5525 Justice Watch...241-0490 St. Fran/St. Joe Catholic Worker House...381-4941 Mt. Airy Shelter...661-4620 AA Hotline...351-0422 CCAT ...381-6672 Joseph House ...241-2965 Hamilton County ADAS Board ...946-4888 Recovery Health Access Center ...281-7422 Sober Living ...681-0324 Talbert House...641-4300 Shelter: Both Advocacy Shelter: Men Anthony House (Youth)...961-4080 Caracole (HIV/AIDS)...761-1480 Drop Inn Center...721-0643 Interfaith Hospitality Network...471-1100 Lighthouse Youth Center...221-3350 St. John’s Housing...651-6446 Housing: CMHA...721-4580 Excel Development...632-7149 OTR Community Housing...381-1171 Tender Mercies...721-8666 Tom Geiger House...961-4555 Dana Transitional Bridge Services Inc. ...751-0643 Volunteers of America...381-1954 Food Lord’s Pantry...621-5300 OTR/Walnut Hills Soup Kitchen & Pantry..961-1983 Our Daily Bread...621-6364 St. Francis Soup Kitchen...535-2719 Treatment: Men Charlie’s 3/4 House...784-1853 DIC Live In Program...721-0643 Prospect House...921-1613 Starting Over...961-2256 Appalachian Identity Center ...621-5991 Catholic Social Action ...421-3131 Community Action Agency ...569-1840 Contact Center...381-4242 Franciscan JPIC ...721-4700 Greater Cinci Coalition for the Homeless..421-7803 Intercommunity Justice and Peace Center...5798547 Legal Aid Society ...241-9400 Ohio Justice & Policy Center ...421-1108 Peaslee Neighborhood Center ...621-5514 Project Connect Homeless Kids ...363-3300 Stop AIDS...421-2437 Health Center for Respite Care ...621-1868 Cincinnati Health Network ...961-0600 Crossroad Health Center ...381-2247 Hamilton county Mental Health Board...946-8600 Hamilton County TB Control ...946-7628 Health Resource Center ...357-4602 Homeless Mobile Health Van...352-2902 McMicken Dental Clinic...352-6363 Mental Health Access Point...558-8888 Mercy Franciscan at St. John...981-5800 NAMI of Hamilton County..458-6670 Oral Health Council...621-0248 Catholic Social Services...241-7745 Center for Independent Living Options...241-2600 Churches Active in Northside...591-2246 Emmanuel Community Center...241-2563 FreeStore/FoodBank...241-1064 Franciscan Haircuts from the Heart...381-0111 Goodwill industries...771-4800 Healing Connections...751-0600 Madisonville Education & Assistance Center...2715501 Mary Magdalen House...721-4811 People Working Cooperatively...351-7921 St. Vincent de Paul...562-8841 The Caring Place...631-1114 United Way...721-7900 Women Helping Women...977-5541 Northern Kentucky Brighton Center...859-491-8303 ECHO/Hosea House...859-261-5857 Fairhaven Resuce Mission...859-491-1027 Homeward Bound Youth...859-581-1111 Mathews House...859-261-8009 NKY Homeless & Housing Coalition...859-727-0926 Parish Kitchen...859-581-7745 Pike St. Clinic...859-291-9321 Transitions, Inc...859-491-4435 Welcome House of NKY...859-431-8717 Women’s Crisis Center...859-491-3335 VA Domiciliary...859-559-5011 VA Homeless...859-572-6226 Hamilton/Middletown St. Raephaels...863-3184 Salvation Army...863-1445 Serenity House Day Center...422-8555 Open Door Pantry...868-3276 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 2008 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Newspaper Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource December 2008 Subject The topic of the resource Homelessness Description An account of the resource Pg 1: Fighting the H8 The Place of Refuge Pg 2: The Vibe Pg 3: Eight Minutes with an ‘Honorable’ Pg 4: Drop Inn Center Continued Pg 5: Drop Inn Center Continued Voters Get Feisty in Year of Change Pg 6: Worse Than Nixon Pg 7: Our Radioactive Homeland Pg 8: Year in Review Pg 9: Year in Review Pg 10: The Bill Cunningham Doctrine Pg 11: Fighting the H8 Pg 12: A Goal for the Homeless Pg 13: Stars in Over-the-Rhine Pg 14: The Elementz of Poverty Pg 15: Sometimes the Library is No Place for Kids Pg 16: Resource Guide Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Streetvibes Archive Project Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Streetvibes Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource December 2008 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Gregory Flannery Margo Pierce Angela Pancella Michael Henson Larry Gross Alyssa Konermann Lew Moores Dede Stoops Alan Attwood Brittany Middlebrooks Terrence Williams Bill Joiner Andrew Anderson Andrew Freeze Richard Blumberg DeJong Family Berta Lambert Laura Damasceno Georgine Getty Lynne Ausman Joe Wessels Steve Novotni Steve Gibbs Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource PDF Alan Attwood Alyssa Konermann Andrew Anderson Andrew Freeze Angela Pancella Berta Lambert Bill Cunningham Doctrine Bill Joiner Brittany Middlebrooks Bush Cigarettes City Hall Dede Stoops DeJong Family Drop Inn Center Georgine Getty Gregory Flannery Joe Wessels Justice Worker Larry Gross Laura Damasceno Lew Moores Library Lynne Ausman Margo Pierce Memorial Day Michael Henson Nixon Nuclear Weapons Over-the-Rhine poverty Refuge Richard Blumberg Sex Marriage Steve Gibbs Steve Novotni Street Kids Terrence Williams Voters https://streetvibesarchive.net/files/original/0bc96324e4bd7779ae1cc665871404ab.pdf 81bffc9c214787afbbf914bb5bff8ce5 PDF Text Text NAACP Renaissance ~ p.12 Respecting one another ~ p.5 Interview with Peter Block ~ p.9 STREETVIBES $1 N o v e m b e r 2 0 0 8 • I s s u e 1 4 8 • C i n c i n n a t i ’s A l t e r n a t i v e N e w s S o u r c e Tarnished Grandeur The life and times of an SRO By Larry Gross Contributing Writer he sign on the side of the Dennison Hotel at 716 Main St. advertises “105 rooms, 60 baths.” Directly below the sign, a man and a woman sit in the alley. Dewayne and Irene appear to be middle-aged. She’s white, he’s black. They didn’t give their last names. Dewayne has lived at the Dennison for almost a year. Irene used to, but moved to a place in English Woods. She still visits her friend. “I got $70 behind on my rent and they put me out,” Irene says. “The owner got aggressive with me and we got into an altercation.” That altercation led to her being charged with disorderly conduct. That’s why she and Dewayne have to meet in the alley. But even if your not barred, visiting tenants at the Dennison can be tricky. “You can get only one guest, and they only have two hours that they can sit with you,” Dewayne says. “If you got three kids that you need to see – like you ain’t seen them in five months – you want all three of your kids to come, but T you can’t do that.” If tenants want visitors after 6 p.m., it’s going to cost them. “After 6 o’clock, you can’t have no visitors,” Dewayne says, “unless you want to pay $9.40.” Dewayne pays $85 a week for his room with no bathroom. He gets a bed, sheets, a sink and toilet paper. He shares a bathroom with other tenants. He knows it’s risky to get behind in his rent. The management, he says, doesn’t understand what poor people have to go through. “I would have got put out this week if I didn’t come up with $170,” Dewayne says. “I couldn’t find work last week, so I was a week behind, so I found a job and worked three days. I made more money than I thought I would and she (Irene) helped me out. That made me able to stay here. That $170 made be beautiful.” On the third floor of the Dennison, overnight guests are welcome. On this floor, the Dennison is what one would expect from a hotel – a bed, a See DENNISON p.6 Council Orders Plan for Single Homeless People Sudden action, but will council pay to make it work? By Andrew Freeze Staff Writer C incinnati City Council unanimously passed an ordinance Oct. 8 directing the Cincinnati/ Hamilton County Continuum of Care for the Homeless to “immediately address the inadequacies of the current provision of services for single homeless individuals” in the city and develop a comprehensive plan for services. The ordinance wasn’t on the published agenda for the Oct. 8 meeting, and council passed it without taking public comment. But private conversations about the ordinance had taken place for months, according to a source who spoke on condition of anonymity. “The draft ordinance read that someone would be hired to come in and completely redo the way our services are in Cincinnati/Hamilton County,” the source says. “If that version of the ordinance had passed, it would have completely thrown out the current Continuum of Care and dangerously risk all Housing and Urban Development (HUD) funding.” The Continuum of Care has partnered with the City of Cincinnati and Hamilton County since 1996 to plan and implement services and shelter for the homeless. This year the organization received a HUD grant for services to homeless individuals totaling $12.4 million. The Continuum of Care (CoC) must present its plan to the city by March 31, 2009. The ordinance makes no mention of increased funding in return but the subject has been discussed. “The city has said, not in the ordinance, that if the CoC comes up with a plan, they (the city) are willing to bring other resources to the table,” the source says. ‘Highest standards’ The goal is a major overhaul, according to Councilwoman Roxanne Qualls. “The recommended plan must not For a copy of look like the City Council the current ordinance, shelter and check out the service de- Streetvibes blog livery sysat streetvibes. tem,” she wordpress.com says. “We are not seeking to achieve minor reform. Rather, the Continuum of Care should use this opportunity to plan for homeless individuals by starting with a ‘blank slate’ and designing from the ground up See PLAN p.4 �2 News Briefs Man Sentenced to Life in Prison for Killing Homeless Man Fort Lauderdale, Fla. — Thomas Daugherty, a 19year-old Floridian, has been sentenced to life in prison for using a baseball bat to beat to death Norris Gaynor, a homeless man sleeping on a park bench in 2006. Daugherty and 21-year-old Brian Hooks, after drinking vodka and smoking marijuana, hid the baseball bats in their pants before sneaking up on a group of homeless men. They broke Gaynor’s nose, five ribs, and crushed his skull. Daugherty apologized to Gaynor’s family, saying, “I wasted a human life. I treated him as less than a human, and I’m sorry.” The attack was one of three the pair committed that night; the first was caught on video, and homeless advocates have expressed shock at the ferocity of the assaults. (Associated Press, Oct. 23, 2008) Middle School Students Charged with Killing Homeless Man Pontiac, Mich. — Thomas McCloud Jr. and Dontez Tillman, both 14 years old, have been charged as adults with first-degree murder for beating 61-year-old Wilford Hamilton to death. McCloud and Tillman are also suspected in the beating and killing of another homeless man, 65-year-old Lee Hoffman, with the help of a 15year-old classmate. If they are convicted as adults, the sentence will be life in prison without parole. (Associated Press, Oct. 16, 2008) Number of Homeless Families Rising at Alarming Rate With increasing economic pressures and extensive mortgage foreclosures, more families with children are becoming homeless. In cities across the country, there has been an increase in the number of families seeking aid, especially for housing. The main causes of this rise are job losses and foreclosures — as well as higher food and fuel prices, which are quite problematic for families with no financial cushion. Foreclosures are expected to continue to cause a large increase in the number of homeless families. (Wendy Koch, USA Today, Oct. 21, 2008) The Vibe Streetwise By Gregory Flannery Just One Candle The bad news is the 21st annual vigil, “She Screams Without Sound,” was necessary. The good news is that this time only one candle was needed to represent the year’s death toll from domestic violence. In some years, more than two dozen candles were lit, one for each dead victim. This year the candle was for Tawyna Barnes of Springfield Township, who died of injuries sustained when her husband allegedly ran over her with a car in July. But the Oct. 15 vigil at the Hamilton County Courthouse also remembered the many victims, known and unknown, of years past. Sponsored by Women Helping Women and the YWCA of Greater Cincinnati, the vigil included remarks by surviving family members and a march around the courthouse and jail. “It is also important that all of us gathered tonight lend our support to women and families caught in the cycle of domestic violence -- today, tomorrow and always,” said Margo Pierce, CityBeat staff writer who served as MC at the vigil. “Victims and survivors must know that they can count on our unconditional support and our steadfast belief that no one deserves, asks for or should endure any form of domestic violence. They should never have accept responsibility and blame for the abuser's behavior.” Top 10 Reasons Living in a Pickup Truck Sucks Homeless Awareness Week is Nov. 16-22. Posited here for your consideration during that week are these observations: * A homeless man who works several part-time jobs says he’s going to go to jail rather than try to pay a $200 fine for pissing in an alley in Over-the-Rhine one night. The library was closed. Bars don’t want homeless people using their bathrooms. What is a person forced to live on the street supposed to do? In what way does fining him constitute justice? * A woman who lives in Over-the-Rhine recently left her house one morning and saw, across the street, a man sitting on a stoop, hands covering his face, crying. Above him was a sign from a political campaign, saying, “Hope.” * An oft-quoted Web page called “Famous People Who Have Been Homeless” lists the bouts of homeless struggle endured by three dozen celebrities, from Charlie Chaplin to David Letterman. Also worth noting is Jesus of Nazareth, itinerant preacher in the early first century. Ron English is a celebrity to those who know him. Formerly homeless, he sometimes sells Streetvibes. He likes to draw hyper-colorful, complex self-portraits on cardboard and other found media. Thanks to Angela Pancella’s generosity and appreciation for art, you now have the opportunity to obtain one of English’s works. Pancella, director of development at Our Daily Bread, purchased the drawing, which will go up for auction Dec. 4 at the annual dinner of the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless. Close Call: Illegal Kindness Averted STREETVIBES November 2008 Streetvibes is a newspaper that provides relevant discussions of homelessness, poverty and other related social justice issues. It is published monthly by the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless. Address: 117 East 12th Street Cincinnati, OH 45202 Phone: 513.421.7803 x 12 Fax: 513.421.7813 Email: streetvibes2@ yahoo.com Website: www. cincihomeless.org Blog: streetvibes. wordpress.com Streetvibes Staff Editor Gregory Flannery Contributing Writers Margo Pierce, Angela Pancella, Michael Henson, Stephanie Dunlap, Larry Gross, Steve Sunderland, Georgine Getty, Alyssa Konermann, Lew Moores, Elizabeth Scheper, Dede Stoops, Meera Basu Photography/Artwork Andrew Anderson, Andrew Freeze, Anthony Williams, Angela Pancella, Legal Aid Society, Ben L. Kaufman, Peter Block, Wyoming HS, St. Ursula HS Advisory Committee Joe Wessels, Steve Novotni, Andrew Freeze, Georgine Getty, Michael Henson, Stephanie Dunlap, Steve Gibbs Students from Xavier University and the University of Cincinnati had a generous impulse. They were going to go to Washington Park, where poor and homeless people often gather, and give them food. The two schools’ student governments planned College Cookout for a Cause for Oct. 18. “A goal for both student government organizations is to help serve those in need in Overthe-Rhine,” said Laurel Bauer, spokeswoman for XU. “Student government officials from the University of Cincinnati contacted executives at Xavier to partner in this event to make it most effective.” The students and the universities overlooked one salient point, however. The city of Cincinnati has enacted a rule forbidding certain kinds of generosity, in particular the distribution of free food to hungry persons in Washington Park. It has been deemed untidy. The students didn’t give up, however. They held College Cookout for a Cause in the parking lot of Lord’s Pantry. So far, that appears to be legal; city council’s broad attack on social-service agencies in Over-the-Rhine is still tied up in court. “The location was changed because there is a law I was not aware of that you are not allowed to hand out food for free in Cincinnati parks,” Bauer says. “It would have been a little bit of a downer if they had been asked to move.” Yes, a downer. That’s the kind of country we’ve become: We officially discourage kindness and human decency. And God help you if you nature calls when you’re stuck outside. The Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. Programs include Streetvibes, “Voice of the Homeless” Speaker’s Bureau, Cincinnati Urban Experience (CUE), Homeless Curriculum, and Homeless Civil Rights Organizing Project. All donations support these programs and are taxdeductible to the full extent of the law. U.S. House Approves Housing Bill We are members of: The U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly voted Oct. 6 to approve the HEARTH Act, which reauthorizes the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Grant program. The measure won by a vote of 355-61. The National Alliance to End Homelessness says the measure provides new resources for rapid re-housing programs, funding to permanently house families and funding for homeless prevention of at-risk individuals and individuals living in insecure housing situations. The bill also expands the definition of homelessness to include people who will be losing their housing within 14 days and also lack the resources to find housing immediately. The expanded definition will also include families and youth who regularly do not have access to stable housing. �STREETVIBES November 2008 Community News Eight Minutes 3 with Myself “Objectivity” keeps people uniformed and stupid By Margo Pierce Contributing Writer bjectivity is a myth, a bedtime story people want to believe long after the harsh reality of life enters their worldview. This is something I’ve known for a long time, but it wasn’t until I started working as a reporter that whatever lingering shreds of belief I had in that particular story were obliterated. The issue of word-count could explain it: how does anyone present a complicated issue in an “objective” way in the space of 250–500 words? A longer piece, 2,500-5,000 words, would seem plenty, but it’s not enough to touch on all the competing arguments about the industrial prison complex, death penalty, war on poverty or any of the biggest social issues of our time. After interviewing dozens of people, reading an obscene number of scientific studies and reviewing more legislation than a politician reads before casting a vote, I have enough information for a novella. But who wants to read, let alone publish, over 100 pages on the issues related to the war on poverty? For the general public, it’s just too depressing. The challenge is how to inform and educate readers in an age of short attention spans and info-tainment presented in colorful snippets on television “news.” Setting aside the discussion about what people want to consume, what advertisers want to be associated with and what media outlets deliver, there are people who want to learn and understand more about the challenges we face. Those people are where I begin. Making some assumptions about their willingness to sit and read a newspaper – they did have the motivation to pick it up -- and their willingness to be thoughtful about a topic, I want to cram as much information into the available word count as I can. So I’m O on the lookout for the interesting and engaging parts of any story. Objectivity is lost right there – boring elements are important, too. Anyone believing objectivity survives that test must give up any hope of that possibility surviving once the research begins. Talking to people about their life experiences, from the dramatic through the mundane, inspires responses ranging from total disbelief and possibly disdain to surprise and happiness. Human beings respond emotionally. Don’t believe me? Think about what happens when the garbage isn’t taken out or a cop wants to talk for a moment. Not even the most cynical human being can avoid emotional responses. Then there’s the challenge of not making judgments based on personal beliefs. How can someone who believes it is possible to have a “drug-free America” objectively consider the actions of the cops I can, given the constraints arresting physicians who dis- of deadlines and my ability pense powerful medication to comprehend. Taking a position only comes when the for chronic pain? She can’t. But she can be fair if she argument for doing so is comis willing to be open-minded. pelling. Popular opinion supports It’s possible to suspend perthe death sonal emotions and beliefs The standard version penalty, and the reasons long enough to of “objectivity” given for evaluate inforkeeps people state execumation in a fair manner. Con- mollified and under- tions are a mile deep. sider the faminformed. If that isn’t ily of a murder compelling, victim who forgives the killer. There can’t what is? For me, it’s a powerbe a much stronger emotional ful combination of an unfair reaction than the death of a criminal justice system comparent, daughter or son. What bined with what it means to it takes to move past that and truly value life – it’s imposconsider a murder against the sible to walk that talk when value of all human life means picking and choosing those a human being is capable of who are “worthy” of living making a fair evaluation to get based on arbitrary criteria. to forgiveness. That’s the most The most persuasive argureasonable thing to expect of ment and the one that rings most true doesn’t have to be anyone, even reporters. Even though I take posi- the one with the most scientions on some of the topics I tific studies. There are so many people address – that’s called advocacy journalism – I only get writing in support of executo the point after considering tions, sex-offender registraas many sides of an issue as tion and the drug war that the unfair nature of all these efforts is lost in the avalanche of support. Important information about the failures of these efforts and their horrible consequences never reaches the general public because popular sentiment and hype, not fairness, rule a lot of news coverage. The myth of objectivity allows writers and readers to view three or four sentences of the “opposing” viewpoint in a 200-line article to serve as “objective” reporting. Objectivity is presented as two sides of an argument, usually the extremes of each. But very few issues involve only two sides. The standard version of “objectivity” keeps people mollified and under-informed. The idea that a single perspective can be fair seems to be at odds with the notion of fairness itself. But consider this: There are hundreds of articles written on a specific aspect of a topic presenting a specific viewpoint. Consider those that focus on the death penalty and include statements from people supporting execu- tions, feature the loss experienced by victims’ families and how prosecutors avidly pursue death penalty cases with little to no effort made to give equal time to opposing views. When a handful of articles focus only on the opposition to the death penalty without giving time to the supporters, the test of “fairness” is met by balancing the sheer volume of one against the other. There is an equally complicated answer that I can’t provide in my given word count; it has to do with my experience of being the exception to just about every rule I’ve ever encountered. Being lumped into categories that didn’t fit me, by people unwilling to take time to consider anything beyond “either/or,” left an indelible impression. It’s a driving force in why and what I write. Many people work hard to make a difference for the less privileged in Greater Cincinnati. “Eight Minutes” is an effort to learn who they are and what motivates them. Check for more stories between issues at streetvibes.wordpress.com �4 STREETVIBES November 2008 Community News Council Orders Plan, continued from p.1 a new system that would substantially decrease the number of homeless persons requiring shelter services each night.” Nineteen community leaders are to create the plan. There will be slots for two city representatives, two county representatives, four executive directors of social-service agencies, four business leaders picked by the Cincinnati Business Committee, four seats for funders of services and three area religious leaders. A facilitator will lead the group. The source - who is not one of the 19 picked to create the plan - believes the plan could include “a safe haven, more shelter for single women, additional substance-abuse services including housing, “Obviously, we do not have enough resources to handle (the current homeless situation). We have to do the plan, and it is refreshing to hear that they are willing to bring more resources to the table, but we will have to wait and see if they will follow through with the promised resources.” housing that would target specific sub-populations, a de-concentration of the Drop Inn Center and a statement of need for more permanent supportive housing.” The goals are ambitious, at least so far as Qualls envision the plan. “The plan should result in a national model that guarantees the highest standards of care for the homeless … so that the homeless can successfully move from homeless to homes and become productive members of society once again,” she says. But what about the money? “Obviously, we do not have enough resources to handle (the current homeless situation),” the source says. “We have to do the plan, and it is refreshing to hear that they are willing to bring more resources to the table, but we will have to wait and see if they will follow through with the promised resources.” The need to plan Since 2000 the National Alliance to End Homelessness has advocated for the creation of 10-year plans to end homelessness, and more than 390 cities and counties across the country have completed or are developing plans. Nan Roman, president of the National Alliance to End Homelessness, says 10-year plans are valuable for several reasons. “We realized there were more programs but the numbers (of homeless individuals) was still going up,” she says. “We needed improved data about sub-populations, and there was a merging connection between homelessness and jail, welfare and foster care.” The approach seems to work. “Many communities have been very successful in reducing homelessness,” Roman says. “Portland has reduced chronic homelessness by 70 percent. Columbus has reduced family homelessness by 48 percent, and both have 10 year plans to end homelessness. “It is very reasonable to end homelessness. I’m old enough to remember when there was not widespread homelessness. It is very possible, and many communities are well on their way. It is very important to look at strategies around the country that are successful and to implement those in other communities.” Welcome House of Northern Kentucky has been working on a plan in response to a statewide initiative. “We are focusing on four areas -- the unbanked or those that cannot get a bank account; employment and the gap between wages and what is needed for housing; housing and the costs associated; and finally education, looking at the difficulties of learning when basic needs are not being met,” says Linda Young executive director of Welcome House. “It is very reasonable to end homelessness. I’m old enough to remember when there was not widespread homelessness. It is very possible, and many communities are well on their way.” “We are working to present the ideas as community issues and not just homelessness, because then it becomes someone else’s problem. The city’s job is to work on economic development, and that is how we are addressing our plan in order to get city leaders’ buy-in.” Cincinnati doesn’t have a plan to specifically end homelessness in 10 years but rather the section on homeless services in the city’s consolidated plan already works to address homelessness. Creating a 10 year plan would be creating another plan to end homelessness when there already is one. The city’s consolidated plan refers to all levels or services and shelter, including emergency shelter, transitional shelter and permanent shelter. “Homelessness is a big problem but not so big we can’t solve it,” Roman says. “Remember: Homelessness is a housing problem.” Cincinnati/Hamilton County Continuum of Care The Continuum of Care is: *a single, coordinated and inclusive process for the planning and management of the local (City of Cincinnati and Hamilton County) Continuum. The CoC works with all programs which serve homeless persons including: *outreach programs, *emergency shelter programs for singles and families *transitional housing programs *service-enriched permanent supportive housing programs including Shelter Plus Care *specialized services-only programs The Continuum of Care process: *involves all agencies and programs that receive funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) *facilitates the allocation of funding to these agencies *serves as an inclusive ve- hicle to promote best practices *facilitates access to mainstream resources and services for the homeless *works to develop policies and procedures to assist homeless persons directly *aims to ultimately end homelessness. National Alliance to End Homelessness There are four elements that are key to to creating a 10-year plan according to the National Alliance to End Homelessness’s Web site. Plan for Outcomes Localities can begin to develop plans to end, rather than to manage, homelessness. There are two components. Every jurisdiction can collect data that allows it to identify the most effective strategy for each sub-group of the homeless population. Second, jurisdictions can bring to the planning table those responsible for mainstream as well as homelesstargeted resources. Close the Front Door Homelessness can be prevented by making mainstream poverty programs more accountable for the outcomes of their most vulnerable clients and wards. Open the Back Door Where homeless people are already accommodating the shortage of affordable housing, this should be facilitated and accelerated. Where there is no housing, particularly for those who are chronically homeless, an adequate supply of appropriate housing should be developed and subsidized. Build the Infrastructure Ending homelessness can be a first step in addressing the systemic problems that lead to crisis poverty: • shortage of affordable housing • incomes that do not pay for basic needs • lack of appropriate services for those who need them. Only purchase Streetvibes from BADGED vendors. Vendors wear their WHITE badges while they sell the paper. �STREETVIBES November 2008 News Briefs Neighbors Hold Vigil for Homeless Man Intentionally Burned to Death Los Angeles, Cal. ¬ A well known homeless man from a mid-Wilshire neighborhood was doused with gasoline and burned to death on a local sidewalk. One witness said he saw several young men cover the victim with the contents of a red plastic gasoline container. The victim, John, had lived in the area for 20 years. After the attack, neighbors responded with flowers, candles and letters and held a vigil in his memory. Many neighbors described John as thoughtful, kind, and friendly and are vocal about the need for the crime to be solved. (Bob Pool, Los Angeles Times, Oct. 12, 2008) Violence Against the Homeless a Hate Crime? Los Angeles, Cal. — Last year Florida and California were ranked the states with the most lethal and non-lethal attacks against homeless people. California was cited as having 22, but Maria Foscarinis, the executive director of the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty, believes the number is actually much higher because most incidents are never reported. She attributes this to the fact that homeless people are outside and can be attacked by anyone, for any reason, as well as the increasingly punitive action of cities against the homeless. In classes protected by hate-crime legislation, 0.1 percent of attacks result in death, while over 25 percent of attacks against the homeless result in death. Because of this, there is a movement to have the homeless covered by hate-crime legislation; two bills are being considered by the House of Representatives. Advocates are meanwhile working for other solutions, but believe hate crime legislation will send the message that the lives of the homeless are as valuable as the lives of anyone else. (Alison Stateman, Time with CNN, Oct. 22, 2008) News briefs compiled by Alyssa Konermann. Local News 5 Buddha Walks into a Bar The difficult matter of respecting one another By Gregory Flannery Editor Racism isn’t always black and white. Sometimes it is, of course, as in the neo-Nazi flier posted on car windshields downtown last month. Bearing the name of the National Socialist Movement, the flier contains a racial slur and a photo of an African warrior in tribal regalia. Then there’s the flier distributed in a Sharonville campaign for a seat in the Ohio House of Representatives, featuring a chihuahua in a sombrero asking, “Can you speak Spanish? Ay Caramba!’ ” The flier dehumanizes Latinos, according to Rosa Rosales, national president of the League of United Latin American Citizens. “What’s worse, the advertisement blatantly distorts the truth by implying that Ohio voters will have to learn Spanish if they don't pass an English-only bill in their state,” she says. In Fairfield last month, a resident hanged a ghost made of a sheet bearing the name of Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, unapologetically telling a reporter he didn’t want an African-American in the White House. Crudity makes racism easier to recognize. A Christian conspiracy? Whether blatant or masked as humor or political warning flag, racism is both a product and a perpetrator of fear. So are cultural and religious hatred. But these can be harder to identify, because they involve matters of belief -- and therefore choice -- rather than physical characteristics alone. Some bigotry contains just enough fact that it can pass for information. Consider Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West, sent in a mass mailing to voters in Ohio and other swing states in the presidential campaign last month. The film warns that a complacent West is under imminent threat from a global Muslim jihad, or holy war. The film incites hatred against Muslims, according to Karen Dabdoub, executive director of the Cincinnati chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. “There’s been a lot of talk about it in the Muslim community,” she says. “People are indicating they are afraid of backlash. One of the things that the movie tries to convey is that there is a worldwide conspiracy among Muslims to take over the world, and Muslims know that is not the case.” Other groups joined in condemning Obsession. The Cincinnati Human Relations Commission (CHRC) organized a rally CHRC rally Oct. 8 at City Hall. “We understand and sympathize with their concern that the impact of this video will be to spread fear and hatred within our community and to further marginalize the Muslim community, which is already victimized by false characterizations and misunderstanding,” a CHRC statement said. The Metropolitan Area Religious Council of Cincinnati likewise criticized the video. “The distribution of the DVD Obsession in Ohio and other swing states in the upcoming presidential election is spreading miscommunication, innuendo and fear among residents in metropolitan Cincinnati and beyond,” a statement by MARCC said. Obsession includes a lengthy comparison of what it calls “radical Islam” to Nazi Germany. One wag even helpfully points out that “jihad” means “struggle.” “So does Mein Kampf (the title of Hitler’s autobiography),” he says. That just about proves the case, doesn’t it? Left unsaid in Obsession is that nearly all of the Nazi murderers were Christians. So was Timothy McVeigh, who blew up the federal building in Oklahoma City. So was Lee Harvey Oswald, who assassinated President Kennedy. Does it follow that a radical Christian attack on humanity is underway? Yet that is the central message of Obsession: “There is a particular strand of Islam that has challenged what is the central pillar of civilization itself, and that is the sacredness of life.” Spare the goat Substitute the word “Christianity” for “Islam” in that sentence, and the absurdity might be easier to see. Or try this exercise: If someone opened the Jesus Christ Saloon, what kind of outrage would follow? Saturdays could include the Resurrection Happy Hour – guaran- teed to raise the dead. Hatred isn’t the only force that can separate people by race, religion or culture. So can an innocent lack of consideration. Thus downtown is home to Buddakhan, a restaurant and bar that calls itself “Home of the Big Fat Buddha Burger” and “Burger Nirvana.” Buddakhan is graced by beautiful statues of Buddha – including one behind the bar. What’s the problem? Even people who train others in cultural sensitivity can have who had taken vows of nonviolence and celibacy. One day a beautiful woman came to his cave leading a goat. She said she would kill the goat unless the hermit either slept with her or had a drink. “The hermit reviewed his vows. According to the vow of nonviolence, he could not do anything that would lead to the death of the goat, and according to the vow of celibacy, he couldn’t sleep with the woman. So he agreed to have a drink. One drink led to What if this were an image of Jesus at the Jesus Christ Tavern? Photo by Gregory Flannery. to think twice. “I’ve been there before, and I can’t say it jumped out at me,” says George Ellis, president, Equality Cincinnati. “But it’s an interesting question. The first thought that came to me is the necessity of trying to get to the source before we go about making value judgments. I would be interested in what Buddhists think.” One Cincinnati Buddhist found the presence of Buddha in a bar a matter requiring more than a snap judgment. “I have never been to Buddhakhan and I have not met the owners, but I seriously doubt that they intend to offend Buddhists,” she says. “I don’t think most Americans know that one of the five basic ethical rules of Buddhism is to avoid drinking and intoxication. As a beginning Buddhist, I knew about the rule, but in my world, social drinking was considered quite acceptable, so I asked a monk for an explanation. What’s the big deal about drinking? His reply was a story: “Once there was a hermit another, and pretty soon the hermit found himself sleeping with the beautiful woman. Early the next morning, while he was trying to sleep it off, the goat began bleating so loudly that the hermit woke up. His head was pounding, his stomach was upset, and he became so angry that he killed the goat. “The moral of the story is not that drinkers are inherently bad people or can never be Buddhists. It’s that even exceptionally upstanding people can find it difficult to behave ethically when they are intoxicated. “The Buddha made the rule against intoxication himself, so, yes, it looks a bit jarring to a practicing Buddhist to see statues of the Buddha in a bar. Out of compassion for the owners, I have to say that it might be better to put the statue somewhere more appropriate. But as long as the statue is there, then as a Buddhist, I hope that it will inspire all who see it to understand the dangers of intoxication and to behave ethically.” �STREETVIBES November 2008 Cover Story 6 Dennison continued, from page 1 ‘Trash unmerciful’ Larry Gross attempts to get an interview with the owners of the Dennison Hotel. He and Andrew Anderson were not allowed up to take photos of any of the rooms. Photo by Andrew Anderson. private bathroom and a television set. On the rest of the floors, with the exception of a few private rooms, the Dennison has turned into an SRO – single room occupancy. It’s a boarding house for the poor. You can pay by the month or by the week. ‘A price on everything’ Beginning in June 1994 when the Milner Hotel was leveled to make room for Greenwich on the Park, lowcost housing for the poor has been in short supply downtown. The Dennison on Main Street and Metropole Apartments on Walnut Street are the only two buildings left for low income housing downtown. Shan Pierce, a Vietnam War veteran and a former P.O.W., has been staying at the Dennison Hotel on and off since 1971. It’s the first place he stayed after getting out of the service. He pays $320 a month for his room, along with a $50 security deposit. On his off days from working for a food manufacturer in Dry Ridge, Ky., Pierce likes to sit on the sidewalk, drink coffee and say hello to women walking by. His mostly white hair almost matches his sleeveless white T-shirt that shows off the tattoos on his arms. “I’ve seen various owners through the years,” Pierce says. “Actually I’ve seen the place change over five or six times.” He doesn’t understand the current management. “I’ve never seen any hotel run like this one,” he says. “Basically they set the rules as they go. Everything you do, whether it’s eating in your room, cooking in your room or whatever – it’s all gonna cost you something. They got a price on everything in here now.” Pierce’s favorite entertainment at the Dennison Hotel is the “trained roaches.” “When you turn on the light, they scatter,” he says. This is the story of the life and times of the Dennison Hotel – of its past and current tenants and of its history. Built in 1887, that advertisement on the side of the building – 105 rooms, 60 baths “These guys have to live somewhere. They’re good people that slipped. They can’t live on the street.” -Fred Cianciolo, business owner – was once a point of pride. More than 120 years ago, according to records found at the Cincinnati Historical Society, the hotel was known for its excellent accommodations and service. Now, over a century later, the residents at the Dennison Hotel are poor. For many, it’s a slippery one step away from being homeless. In warmer weather, you’ll find some of the tenants, mostly men, sitting or standing outside the Dennison, smoking and talking. The men are a mixture – young and old, black and white. When you pass, some will make small talk with you before asking for a little change or a cigarette. Most simply leave you alone. When you walk into the hotel, the first thing you notice is the smell. It’s a stale smell – a dirty one, similar to the odor of urine. The reservation desk is behind glass windows. It’s not very inviting. Before you reach it, there are a couple of old benches where some of the tenants sit and talk. You still see elements of grandeur, such as the craftsmanship of the woodwork as you enter the lobby and the beautiful antique hall tree where some visitors hang their coats to the left of the entryway. A homemade sign lists visiting hours as 9 a.m.-6 p.m. After that, visitors or tenants must pay a fee. Sometimes that rule isn’t enforced. One night some months ago after 8 p.m. I wandered in and started asking questions. An elevator man was more than happy to give me a quick tour. The elevator is to the right as you walk into the building. It’s an old hand elevator painted white. A blowing fan sits on a small ledge next to the shaft handle. “I’ll take you to the second floor first,” the elevator man said. “That’s where the nicer rooms are.” “We have to have control. If they don’t like it, they don’t have to rent here. This isn’t a government property.” -Art Tatel, owner of Dennision hotel While the carpet in the hallway was worn, it was clean. The paint on the walls was decent and the hallways were wide. Every door was closed. That wasn’t the case on the fifth floor. There the hallways were wide but dirty. The floor was tile instead of carpet. It had that same stale smell of the lobby. Many doors were open. To the right was a room with a heavyset man with a long beard. He was standing naked with a large box fan blowing on him. He didn’t look my way. As we turned to walk back to the elevator, I saw a woman sitting on a bed, wearing a nightgown, looking at me. Her hair was brown and long and she looked hard and rough. She was skinny. She was smiling at me. As she started to part her legs with no panties on, I hurried my pace to the elevator. The elevator man laughed. “You see a little bit of everything in here,” he said. Records at the Cincinnati Historical Society show there once were two Dennison Hotels downtown, both owned by the same party. The older building, which opened in 1822, was at Fifth and Main streets. It had a bar, the Old Dennison Saloon. The first Dennison Hotel was owned by William Dennison and named after his son. William Dennison Jr. was the 24th governor of Ohio (18601862) as well as the U.S. Postmaster General and was in the cabinet of President Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War. The older Dennison was famous for its fireplaces, marble mantelpieces and hand-decorated washstands. Rooms went from $2 to $2.50 a night. Both the saloon and hotel were considered successful businesses in downtown Cincinnati. William Dennison continued to operate the hotel until 1840, after which, it had a series of different owners. In 1887, a New Yorker by the name of John Frey took control of the operation. It was Frey’s decision to build a more “ornamental” Dennison. That’s the one still standing at 716 Main St. Frey operated both Dennisons for several years. After he retired, the hotels changed ownership again several times. By May 1932, only one the hotels was left. The first hotel was torn down to make way for the widening of Fifth Street. The bar in the saloon was auctioned for $16. The contents of the hotel rooms were also brought $1 to $15 per room. This included antique mirrors, old-fashioned water pitchers and washbowls. While the first hotel was torn down, the newer building continued to be a first-class hotel. Fred Cianciolo, who owns Cianciolo’s Grocery at 720 Main St., right next door to the Dennison, has been a downtown business man since 1948. He remembers the 1970s and the splendor of the hotel. “It used to be a really nice place,” he says. “I remember on the second or third floor there were a mother and daughter who lived there for 30 years. They were highclass people – wonderful and nice, always dressed nicely.” Asked what had changed at the Dennison, Cianciolo shakes his head. See Dennison p.7 �STREETVIBES November 2008 Cover Story 7 Dennison continued from p.6 “Money and different owners,” he says. Cianciolo tries to take the good with the bad with his store being so close to the Dennison. “These guys have to live somewhere,” he says. “They’re good people that slipped. They can’t live on the street.” He lets some of the Dennison tenants have an open account in his store. “Some of them are good customers,” he says. “We feel sorry for them. You know, they try. After 6 o’clock, many of them sit on my fruit tables. The police ask me if I want the men off of them. I say if they’re sitting there, no one is going to try and break into my store.” Cianciolo wants to be supportive of the tenants, but he does have some concerns. “We get the postcards,” he says. “I’m not exaggerating. 15 to 20 percent are sex offenders.” And then there’s the matter of his roof. “Above us here, there’s trash unmerciful,” he says. “Beer cans, rubbers, the trash and the garbage – they just throw it out the window. We have a new landlord here and he’s been trying to fix the roof. The last man who went up there had six bags of garbage – and that’s not over a period of a year or so; it’s maybe a month.” Included in that trash are crack pipes and other drug paraphernalia. “Oh gosh, that’s always up there,” Cianciolo says. “Many living there (the Dennison) are drug addicts.” Cianciolo also says to be careful when walking in the back alley. “Every once in a while you’ll find a plastic bag,” he says. “If you do, please don’t walk on it because inside is human waste. The tenants throw it out the back window. The owners have been trying to stop it.” ‘Nowhere else to go’ Art and Sandy Tatel own the Dennison Hotel. Reaching them wasn’t easy. “They’re hard to get a hold Quintion Williams lives at the Dennison, but isn’t allowed to have visitors. Photo by Andrew Anderson. of,” one of the hotel clerks tells me. “They’re usually somewhere in the building doing maintenance.” On most afternoons I found a Tatel working there, but not one of the owners. Sonny Tatel appears to be the one operating the hotel on most days. He tells me he’s not related to the owners. I inform him I’m writing a story. He’s the first to comment on some of the issues tenants are raising, for example, the roaches that room with some of the tenants. “Right now I can tell you we have people who come here and we have no idea what they do in their rooms,” Tatel says. “It’s the way people live. They make the problem.” Tatel confirmed the $9.40 charge for visitors after 6 p.m. “That’s a law,” he says, “for single-capacity rooms. They aren’t paying for two people.” Quintion Williams gets on the elevator holding copies of Streetvibes. He’s a vendor for the paper. He asks me to buy two copies. I agree on condition he takes photographer Andrew Anderson and me upstairs. Williams agrees. Proper identification is required for visitors. As the three of us start to approach the glassed-in front desk, I reach for my wallet to pull out my license. Tatel starts to become agitated. “No, no, no,” he loudly says, looking at Williams. “You went to jail for fighting. The cops called me.” “I wasn’t fighting nobody, man,” Williams says, looking confused. “My boss told me if you are to stay here, no visitors,” Tatel replies. Records at the Hamilton County Clerk of Courts show Williams was convicted of “obscene gesture or noise” and obstructing official business earlier this year. Tatel wouldn’t let the photographer and me go to Williams’ room. When I got hold of Art Tatel, one of the owners of the Dennison Hotel, by phone, he seemed to be in a hurry. I asked about some of the rules and restrictions that his ten- ants dislike, the fee for visitors being limited to one guest at a time. “We have to have control,” Art Tatel says. “If they don’t like it, they don’t have to rent here. This isn’t a government property.” I ask Tatel if there are restrictions as to the type of people he rents to – i.e. sex offenders. “There are no restrictions,” he says. Tatel’s answers are short and crisp. Are there any frustrations with owning this kind of property? “No frustration,” he says. “Everything’s fine.” “How long have you owned the building?” “25 years.” I start to tell Tatel the grand history of the building and how there used to be two Dennison hotels. He quickly interrupts. “I know nothing about any of that,” he says. “Is the building for sale?” I ask. “Everything’s for sale if the price is right,” he replies. “Do you want to buy it?” Perhaps developers will tear down the Dennison and put up a modern hotel. Perhaps some organization will buy and restore it to its proper grandeur, making it a firstclass hotel again. I can’t help but wonder: If this comes about, will people like Mike Lee be able to stay? He, like others, sits on the sidewalk in front of the Dennison Hotel. He’s lived there for over five years. He’s an older gentleman who doesn’t have any teeth. His hair is gray and his clothes are worn. I wanted to interview him, but he didn’t have much to say. I wanted to know about his background – where he’s from and if he has family here. In a weak voice, he told me instead that he was hungry. He hadn’t eaten in days. I gave him a couple dollars and he thanked me. I sat with him on the sidewalk for awhile in silence. When I get up and said goodbye, I told Lee I’d be back sometime the next day. “I’ll be here,” he says without looking up. “I have nowhere else to go.” Save the date. December 4 at 6:00 pm the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless will hold their Annual Dinner. Tickets are $40 ($30 for social service providers). To reserve your seat call Lynne Ausman at 513-421-7803 x 11. �8 STREETVIBES November 2008 Photographs/Artwork Berta’s Art Corner Street Fantasy, Liberty Street West End, Cincinnati, Ohio Sign of the times? This tattered U.S. flag, flying over Hughes High School, perhaps symbolizes more than is intended. Photo by Ben L. Kaufman. �STREETVIBES November 2008 Interview 9 Changing the Conversation Peter Block on homelessness By Stephanie Dunlap Contributing Writer SD: So you’re the keynote speaker for the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless Annual Dinner on Dec. 4…what are you going to talk about? PB: I’m going to talk about what it means to live without possibility. Bob Moore told me when I asked him to teach me something about homeless, he said they’re no different than we are, they just lack a support system. In some sense, we’ve all sacrificed a sense of home and place on the altar of mobility and consumerism. The financial crisis and obesity confront us with our excesses. I think the homeless in some ways carry that burden for us -- carry the extreme of what’s really a cultural deficit, a cultural addiction. So that’s one theme. The other is “homeless” is not who they are. It doesn’t define them, and every time we use that term we’re speaking to one aspect of who they are, any more than others are defined by their sexuality or defined by their profession. Using the term “homeless” keeps us from knowing who they are. We’re much closer to being homeless because of the mortgage crisis than we ever were before, which is kind of interesting. And if you look middle class, you can kind of pass and get support from the government and culture for your plight. If you don’t look middle class, then what you get is contempt. Our task is to help people be known, be seen. This is what Streetvibes does. It gives face to people who are permanently transient, diaspora, exiles, refugees. If you think around the world of the number of people who can’t return to their own home -- why can’t they return? Because it’s a place of conflict and violence. The people who don’t have a place now are carrying the weight for the rest of us, because we don’t want to look at the violence and unrest of our own culture. What is the violence in our culture? People’s indifference to And that somehow manifest destiny could be used to support gentrification seems wrong to me. I also think there’s a part of developing Over-the-Rhine that has to be done, so I kind of understand what’s driving it. What has been happening in recent years has not been working. It’s just that the conversation is not based on relatedness; it’s a conversation designed for both sides to feel frustrated and angry. 3CDC’s problem is not their goal; it’s their devaluing of relationships with people in the neighborhood. I think the neighborhood has been at an impasse for so long that to leave it as it is makes no sense. But I don’t know of any large, prosperous, vital city that doesn’t have space for mixed income all throughout it. It’s the idea that the two forms of who we are -- are incompatible -- is a form of blindness. Peter Block will be the keynote speaker at the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless’ annual dinner on Dec. 4. Photo provided by Peter Block. each other, their isolation, people’s isolating narcissism, willingness to consume the resources of the earth. The choice is for us to look at the gifts and talents of the homeless. They are not just their vulnerabilities. I will bet that homeless people have a smaller fossil fuel imprint than all the rest of us. Why don’t we celebrate them for that? Maybe they’re a role model for us how to live gently with the earth. They spend more time outdoors than the rest of us. The fact that we blame them for crimes they don’t commit -- it’s on us. They’re not dangerous to us. They’re just discomforting. And maybe when they come to us with a request, all they want is to be seen. they find out who the professionals are and who needs the money. How does your model of civic engagement address homelessness? I guess it would say we need to find out who they are and stop treating them as the other, as if they’re a problem to be solved. They’re a community to be known and to be received. They are the test of the hospitality of our culture. There is a quote from Bible that is on the wall in the Half Day Café in Wyoming: Don’t forget to entertain strangers. For by so doing, some have entertained angels without knowing it. Do you give money to panhandlers? I give money to women panhandlers. Have you gotten close to a homeless person? Only in my family. My sister was homeless. For several years, without me, she would have been homeless. Why not men? I don’t know. I think if I was responsible I would carry food with me. In the Philippines, that’s what they do; they carry fruit and food in the car. Then What’s your opinion of the Drop Inn Center versus 3CDC controversy? I think it would be a crime against the community to move (the Drop Inn Center). How could the city of Cincinnati better address its homeless citizens? One thing we’ve done is we’ve delegated to the private sector the common ground. You mean 3CDC. Yes. I think the city needs a voice in this. There’s got to be some way to be together that’s not always an argument. I think the park commission is right in the center of this, and they should be a convening agent. At some point, peace is going to be declared, so why wait 20 years? My favorite quote is the prime minister of Israel, Rabin. When he made peace with Arafat, people complained to him, and he said, “Who do you want me to make peace with -- my friends?” We need to look for a larger, transcendent way to heal that wounded neighborhood. You just can’t leave it as it is. It’s wounded. Otherwise it becomes a battle between colonialist and anti-colonialist powers, and I don’t have faith in either one knowing what’s best for the whole. What cities have better approaches to working with the homeless? New York has areas. San Francisco. It’s not simple, but there are spaces where, before the move to the suburbs, people of mixed incomes lived next to each other. Why have we segregated that? You go to other countries and they all live in the same neighborhood. Not without their problems. Wealthy people have problems with their neighbors, too. Maybe that’s what’s appealing about their lifestyle … the simplicity. They have not bought consumerism. Maybe that’s what bothers us about them; they’ve indicted our indulgence. The other theme would be to ask the question, what gifts do they have to offer? The gifts are: A low-carbon footprint. Approachability – if you want someone to talk to, they’re not going to run away from you. They create an economy around them. They give us somebody who, in context, makes us feel better about ourselves: There but for the grace of God go I. We can get a different worldview without going on an airplane. What they show us is what freedom looks like -- freedom from the burden of 9 to 5. They don’t’ complain about 9 to 5. I don’t want to romanticize them. What needs to change so that homelessness wouldn’t be such an issue? The context in which we engage the issue. We need to lift the contempt off the conversation and create space for compassion and concern and create space for people to know each other and to know the people who are advocates for the homeless as well as the homeless themselves. The other thing is to stop marketing fear for those neighborhoods. The media is engaged in a large master narrative that where people are congregated are dangerous. That’s not the story of those places. Crime does happen but it happens in lots of places. It should be a human-interest story in the middle section of the paper. There’s such a reporting bias against people on the margin. Peter Block will be the keynote speaker at the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless Annual Dinner on December 4 at Xavier University starting at 6pm. �10 STREETVIBES November 2008 Column Short Goliath Dodges the Deadly Purse Michael Henson is author of Ransack, A Small Room with Trouble on My Mind, The Tao of Longing and Crow Call. This column is part of a monthly series on poverty and addiction. You can’t treat the addiction until you fix the hunger I first met Marie -- that’s not her name, but that’s what I’ll call her-- in the parking lot outside the East End office where I worked at the time. She and her thenhusband were waiting for me under the big maple tree that erupted from the asphalt. I pulled in and introduced myself and within minutes had to settle a fight. He said something and she took offense and around came the purse like David’s sling. She never did connect with the purse, but she did with her curses, which were enough to slay a Goliath or two. The then-husband wasn’t a Goliath. He was even smaller than I am, and he was the one quiet member of an East End family noted for its rowdies and lawbreakers. Marie didn’t have much local family at all. So later, when she had broken off with Short Goliath, she was pretty much on her own, without a soul in the world to stand alongside her. ***** Marie came to me on a referral from Children’s Services. She had a chance to regain custody of her children if she could stay sober long enough and complete all the programs demanded of her. It was pretty overwhelming to her at the start, but we worked on it and made progress. The children were with Short Goliath’s mother down Eastern Avenue, in an arrangement I never understood, for this particular grandmother, a short, feisty woman, was raising the children of two and children on a hill so steep it seemed a wonder that one or more of them didn’t roll off the hill and into the path of one of the big rigs that weren’t allowed on Columbia Parkway. Which leads me to another question - I know I’m meandering fearfully. If the big 18-wheelers were considered unsafe on Columbia Parkway, where there were no children, why did we send them down childintensive Eastern, where, every few years, it seemed, By Michael Henson we’d hear of a semi rolling over one of these exother of her children. The pendable East End kids? ones she wasn’t raising chilBut it’s not for me to quesdren for were in and out of tion either Children’s Services jail on a regular basis, and the or Traffic Engineering. grandchildren she was raising ***** looked pretty much the same. Back to Marie. So my question was: If she I recall one session in parcouldn’t raise her own chil- ticular when she seemed redren right, what made them ally depressed. She had a lot think she could do any better to be depressed about, and with the grandchildren? she often showed it. She was But there the children were, raised in poverty in East Kenin a house on the hillside be- tucky in a home so abusive she tween Eastern Avenue and and her sisters had to nail their Columbia Parkway. It remind- bedroom shut. She and short ed me of Mother Hubbard’s, Goliath broke up. He raped all a tumble with bicycles and her. When he was convicted, Hot Wheels and swing sets she was harassed by his fam- ammered H If she couldn’t raise her own children right, what made them think she could do any better with the grandchildren? ily. And there was the issue of the children. So if anyone had a reason to feel down, it was Marie. But she usually had fight in her and she showed that, too. (That purse should have been registered as a weapon.) But she showed no fight on this particular day. She looked pale; she acted listless. She could barely raise her voice. I later found out she had a wonderful country-style voice. Usually, she could talk her way out of her depressions. We did a lot of work with action plans and such. None of the usual ways worked, but as we talked, I found out what was really going on. She had been sleeping in the woods, out of fear of Short Goliath, and she had not eaten in three days. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual does not list hunger as a symptom. The training for most counselors does not include what to do when someone is sleeping in the woods. Most of what you learn is working further up the scale from basic survival. It would not make sense for me to talk with her about her family-of-origin issues when she was starving in front of me. In this case, the solution was simple enough. We marched down the hall to the social services agency where they gave her food and hooked her up with temporary housing. After that, we worked on very specific objectives. Week after week, she showed up at my office. Bit by bit, she repaired one or another aspect of her life. I don’t remember anyone who worked so hard and methodically to build up a wrecked life. I wish I could tell you this story had a happy ending. I lost track of her for until I was called in to testify in a long, grueling court battle that went on for days before and for days after my appearance. At the end, the county took the children after all. She was pregnant again by then, so maybe she saw some hope. Poetry I, Too Have a Voice by Holly Parker I have the voice of a Native American I have the voice of a white woman I have the voice of a mother of black men and women I, too, have a voice My native ancestors call out from the earth My white woman cries out from the pain My motherhood cries out from the injustice I, too, have a voice As my native ancestors felt the fear, the rapes, the destruction of their homes and their families I feel it, As my white ancestors did horrible crimes I scream of the cries I still hear in the middle of the night As my black men and women that suckled from my breast are still turned down for jobs and housing I feel the pain I, too, have a voice As a Native American white woman, mother of six black men and women I can feel all sides I am turned away from some jobs and housing because though I am qualified I do not have the right skin tone Watching as my children have to struggle for food, clothing, the right to walk down the street I to have a voice As the mother, native and white though I maybe Rise up to make a stand For what you say how can I understand because I, too, have a voice Hatred, greed, prejudice, murder, rape, disease, poverty, division Have all had a voice in our nation Now it is my turn for I, too, have a voice As I Got Up Off the Floor As I got up off the floor Brushed myself off again I thought to myself This cannot happen again To myself I must be true Why do I allow Hit after hit to knock me down Letting it make me look like some clown Whether its with a fist A word or deed Why, why, why Do I allow this to happen to me Trap after trap I seem to fall in Stumbling right into it It's like I'm blind to it Sweet words I hear and then there Bam I find myself doing it all over again Brushing myself off and picking myself up off Picking myself up off the floor again Am I a sucker for every line Or do I just see something deep inside them They don't even see How in the world can I Warn others, but my own I am truly blind Questions I kept asking myself as I just Brushed myself off once again As I got up off the floor �STREETVIBES November 2008 Column 11 The New Powell Doctrine Muslims, homeless people and other real Americans By Steve Sunderland Contributing Writer I was so positively stunned by Colin Powell's recent statements about supporting Sen. Barack Obama that I immediately sent it to my peace network. Here's the part of his comment that grabbed me: “I’m also troubled by not what Sen. McCain says but what members of the party say. And it is permitted to be said such things as, ‘Well, you know that Mr. Obama is a Muslim.’ “Well, the correct answer is, he is not a Muslim; he's a Christian. He's always been a Christian. “But the really right answer is, what if he is? Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer's no, that’s not America.” Powell is the first national leader of either party to take on the ugly aspects of American society since 9/11. He signals to the country that we can no longer consider ourselves good Americans if we lump all Muslims or all Christians and Jews into the same negative frames of reference. The open acknowledgement that an American Muslim can be president strengthens efforts to make our country an inclusive one. By emphasizing the most unfairly demonized group, Powell asks us to wake up to the ways that national opinion can manipulate the hearts of Americans. "Inclusion" has been a dirty word for too long in the American vocabulary. As we have increased our separation from each other based on race, gender, sexual orientation and ability, we have created a foundation for widespread hatred, ignorance and fear. Who knows a Muslim? I was struck by a rabbi writing about interfaith work noting that he has more books about Islam than friends who are Muslim. I was saddened to hear of the lack of attendance at a mosque of one of our leading educators be- cause he “just never thought of going.” And I was continually amazed at the reluctance to engage in religious discussions with Muslims in synagogues, churches and educational institutions. The fear of the "Muslim" is but a temporary replacement for the fear of the Hispanic or the poor or the black family, or the disabled or the person with a different sexual orientation. Now, with widespread and growing economic crisis, the chances of people creating relationships that are based on common pain are lessened. Instead, we read of the rise of “white racist groups” to spread the hatred of immigrants and Obama. Are we surprised by this turn of events? Powell's sentiments of Students from St. Ursula participated in a Shantytown event to raise awareness of homelessness in our communities. Photo provided by Mayerson Foundation. compassion struck a deep chord with hundreds of Cincinnati public, private and parochial high school students and teachers as they lived in "shanty towns" at their high schools throughout the city. On some of the coldest nights, students gathered around fires to listen to former homeless people, now advocates, to talk about abolishing homelessness and to share the "rules of survival" for the homeless. “Guard your valuables and your friend's bag as well,” one speaker told a freezing group. “Everything in your world is in this bag; and if it is lost, you have to start over at the very beginning.” He spoke with the authority of someone who had too many bags stolen. The students listened deeply to the stories and heard that most homeless do not spend their nights in cardboard boxes. Instead, they live in abandoned cars, empty and destroyed buildings or “just on the street: I just put my head down and go to sleep.” The new “Powell Doctrine,” as I suspect it will be known, opens a long-closed door for discussion and action about the importance of inclusion as an indispensable aspect of peace. The agenda of justice, which has been put on hold might now come forward and be taken up as a part of executive leadership at all levels. Surely, the war will be brought to a close and reconstruction begun. Equally certain, there will be a return to civil-rights law, both at local, state and federal levels and new appointments to the Supreme Court. The discussion of justice will take a position at the center of reviews of policies about ending hunger and homelessness, enforcing new and old laws that affirm the involvement of people with disabilities in all aspects of life and, finally, with the end of racism toward people who are American blacks, American Muslims, Americans with intellectual and physical gifts and challenges, American children who need schools that honor their uniqueness -and the list goes on. Powell signals that there are many people, including Republicans, who want to return to the values that make America both free and just. As America awakens, so the definition of “being an American” can be refreshed, and any American, even 8-year-old Muslims, can be proud of our country. Thank you, General Powell. The Law as an Aid to the Poor Legal Aid Society now in its second century By Elizabeth Scheper Contributing Writer When the Legal Aid Society of Greater Cincinnati was founded, it was part of a new concept in American law. Now the agency is 100 years old. “At the time of our incorporation, Cincinnati was one of only seven cities in the nation with a society of this type, so our founders were really on the forefront of the national legal aid movement,” says Mary Asbury, executive director of Legal Aid. “That commitment and tradition continues today, as we are now southwest Ohio ’s largest and most effective nonprofit law firm, serving approximately 30,000 lowincome clients annually.” The organization’s mission has changed over the decades. For 50 years it provided criminal defense for the indigent but since 1979 has specialized representing poor people in civil cases. Legal Aid puts special em- phasis on victims of domestic violence, according to Asbury. "In a recent study of homelessness, Legal Aid was surprised to see the high percentage of homeless people whose cause of homelessness was domestic violence," she says. Attorneys help individuals who are leaving shelters obtain restraining orders, protect their child-custody rights and enforce visitation orders. Another area of focus is home foreclosures and evictions. Many times home buyers can be tricked into seemingly enticing loans but then are unable to maintain payment. Legal Aid lawyers try to get lenders to put a hold on payments while homeowners work to stabilize their incomes. “Last year we helped 440 families save their homes from going to foreclosure,” says Mark Lawson, an attorney in Legal Aid’s housing division. The agency also represents tenants in public housing who face eviction or encounter housing discrimination. Legal Aid also helps military veterans obtain the benefits they’ve earned. "Too often veterans are not receiving the veteran affairs income that they deserve, or people with disabilities are not receiving social security income that they need," Asbury says. "In those situations, we work with Veteran Affairs and the social security office to ensure that those individuals receive the income that they deserve and therefore the stability they need to maintain a better standard of living." Legal Aid doesn’t handle routine divorce cases that don’t involve custody issues, evictions from private housing or consumer problems such as dissatisfaction with a car or other purchase. The Legal Aid society employs 48 full-time lawyers and coordinates a group of Mary Asbury, executive director of Legal Aid Society, says the organization serves approximately 30,000 low-ncome clinets annnually. Photo provided by Legal Aid. attorneys who work in the Volunteer Lawyers Program. Legal Aid provides service in Brown, Butler, Clermont, Clinton, Hamilton, Highland and Warren counties. A non-profit agency, Legal Aid receives funding from United Way and other organi- zations. The state of Ohio provides funds from certain court fees. Butler County provides funding for children's legal aid in areas such as obtaining health care. For more information, call 513-241-9400 or visit www. lascinti.org. �Local News 12 Renaissance at the NAACP STREETVIBES November 2008 Christopher Smitherman reinvigorates civil-rights group By Lew Moores Contributing Writer lot initiatives on the November ballot. arian Spencer was born in 1920, the year women in the United States were granted the right to vote. Her grandfather had been a slave until he was 13 years old. When she became president of the local chapter of the NAACP in the early 1980s, she faced some of the same hurdles that Christopher Smitherman faced in 2007 when he became the civil rights organization’s president – a lethargy that had set in and left the organization with just several hundred members. “Our membership was down to 500,” says Spencer, now 88, a long-time civil rights activist and former Cincinnati vice mayor. “But my husband (Donald) worked hard with me, and we brought it up to 2,000. And now Christopher’s efforts have been miraculous. He’s a good organizer and has been able to reinvigorate the branch.” They are separated by a couple of generations, and both are former Cincinnati council members, but they both brought to the role a fiery mettle that paid off in a resurgence, even renaissance. Smitherman, 41, is so far pleased with the results. Membership in the local NAACP, founded in 1915, stands at 2,400, and the goal is to reach 3,000 by the end of the year. Twenty percent of its members are white. Last year the NAACP successfully fought a sales tax hike to build a new jail in Hamilton County. Last summer the national convention of the NAACP took place in Cincinnati, and the local chapter has again partnered with other groups in two other bal- Unlikely friends M Much of its recruitment success, observers have said in the past year, can be attributed to both the organization’s and Smitherman’s higher profiles. That has come not just from radio talk and visibility, but from three ballot initiatives in the past year -- overturning the jail tax last year, opposing red-light cameras and backing proportional representation this year -- and programs such as court monitoring and voter registration. Next year, with Cincinnati City Council and mayoral elections, the NAACP plans again to be in the thick of the campaign. “My goal is to have at least two ballot initiatives next year,” Smitherman says. “I’m not ready to say what they are. I think people are seeing our efforts to do substantive civil rights work. The work of the NAACP is grassroots civilrights work. We’re involved with court watch, where we see disparities in the Hamilton County justice system (discrepancies in pursuing justice for whites and minorities). We’re addressing that head on. There have been three ballot initiatives.” Juanita Adams is first vice president of the local NAACP. She said part of the success comes from Smitherman not shrinking from controversy. “He has been really outspoken on the problems and issues,” Adams says. “He has taken on what I consider some tough issues. He has been out front. He does not mind speaking out. I think people want to get involved (in an organization) when they see something happening. I think that’s the reason our membership has increased -- people want to be part of it.” And, she adds, “We have collaboration with other groups, reaching across to other groups. That’s speaking truth to power.” Essential to the organization’s effectiveness, Smitherman says, are coalition-building and dismissing a common belief that the NAACP and the Democratic Party are in each other’s hip pockets. Indeed, on talk radio in the past few weeks, Smitherman has been equally dismissive of Democratic and Republican positions. He reminds people, for instance, that Democrats (Hamilton County commissioners Todd Portune and David Pepper) came up with the idea of a jail tax last year and that Democrats on city council have voted to cut human services; and he has been critical of the party for choosing not to run any Democrats in several county races, such as someone to oppose County Prosecutor Joe Deters, a Republican. “Some have viewed the local NAACP as the same as the Democratic Party,” Smitherman says. “I’ve been working to be clear that we’re an independent, non-partisan organization and not the arm of the Democratic Party.” Collaboration has meant finding allies on some issues with whom there might be little agreement on other issues. Such was the case with the NAACP and the Coalition Opposed to Additional Spending and Taxes (COAST), an essentially conservative activist group. While they would disagree on a tax levy for Cincinnati Public Schools, they joined in the fight – along with the Green Party of Ohio, Cincinnati Progressive Action Missed an Issue? Check out the Streetvibes archive at www.cincihomeless.org/ content/streetvibes and the Libertarian Party – in opposing the jail tax last year. Christopher Finney, a conservative anti-tax activist, is a founder of COAST. In May, the Cincinnati Business Courier called Smitherman’s relationship with Finney a “friendship,” adding, “The two finish each other’s sentences, each at time interrupting to give the other credit for visionary leadership or being a man of integrity.” Smitherman furthered the description, calling it a “fabulous relationship. He just assisted us legally. We’ve been working around issues where we have common ground. We went out and tried to find partners, identified those partners and brought everybody together. It was a very unlikely partnership. The politics are very sophisticated. We have no permanent enemies in politics. We are issue-driven. Where we can find partnerships around issues, we do that.” Power struggle Marian Spencer disagreed with the NAACP on the jail issue, mostly because it included measures for rehabilitation and recovery. But she has supported Smitherman on other issues, especially when it comes to politically empowering people. “The NAACP has to be there for people who are less well represented in other areas,” she says. “They had to fight for voting and open areas that were closed, they fought to outlaw lynching. Legal Aid was there, but not in the streets. The role of the NAACP has always been to keep that door open. “I keep thinking about my slave grandfather in heaven and how he must be shout- ing at this point where he sees Obama running for president.” Smitherman doesn’t mince words about his goal of seeking power for the NAACP. “It is my goal to make the NAACP in Cincinnati the most powerful organization in the region,” he says. “My end game is that, when we come in and say we’re going to do something, is that we be taken incredibly serious. We need to use that power in a very responsible way. It’s absurd to think the NAACP would be positioning itself to be powerless. How can we protect people if we have no power? Our goal is to be powerful.” Smitherman rejects any suggestions of cult of personality, that he’s become a lightning rod or center of controversy to the detriment of the organization or a cause. “Martin Luther King Jr. was defined as being the center of controversy,” Smitherman says. “Ted Berry was at the center of controversy, Medgar Evers, Malcolm X, Rosa Parks. As a ‘lightning rod,’ I take it as an ultimate compliment. The bottom line is I’m not interested in what anybody thinks about the work we do today. I’m interested in what you think about it 30 years from now.” He carries it a step further. “I don’t care what some people think about me,” he says. “I care about the guy who doesn’t have a job, doesn’t have health care, just got laid off. I care about the homeless person who’s living on the street, the unemployed and jobless. That number is growing. I care more about what they think about my work. As long as they think I’m doing a good job, then it’s a thumbs-up.” Interested in volunteering with Streetvibes? Contact Greg Flannery at 513-421-7803 x 12 or by e-mail at streetvibes2@ yahoo.com �STREETVIBES November 2008 Local News Who’s Helping Whom? Disabled volunteers serve the needy, learn job skills By Angela Pancella Contributing Writer What types of disabilities do your clients have? It’s a range. Most come through MRDD (the Department of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities), so they go from mild mental retardation to severe autism. … This place is so good for a range (of abilities). I can have someone who, all they can pull off is picking up silverware and handing it to someone, to somebody who wants to be the first person in the serving line. Our Daily Bread, a food and hospitality ministry at 1730 Race St., Over-the-Rhine, offers a mid-day meal, serving more than 500 every weekday. To volunteer or to donate food, call Joan or Kathy at 513-621-6364. went out and did it. Several groups volunteer at Our Daily Bread for training in job skills. I spoke with Chris Miday, workforce development coordinator at the Easter Seals Work Resource Center. How do your clients benefit from helping out at a soup kitchen? We work with people with disabilities. … My goal is to come up with training opportunities for them to work on work skills before they get into the workplace. I’d say about half have had other jobs. Sometimes they quit, sometimes they just get tired of (them), and some have been with us since high school and are still with us. 13 Volunteers from the Easter Seals Work Resource Center: Kim Hoskins, Laura Grubbs, and Chris Miday. Photo by Angela Pancella. How long have you been coming to Our Daily Bread? I’ve been coming down here probably two and a half years. Our vice president started the whole idea of doing volunteer work as work training. I knew about that model of taking people, and I just randomly called down here. I came down, volunteered and loved it. I asked Kathy (Our Daily Bread’s kitchen manager) if I could bring a couple of clients with me. It worked great from the very beginning. The clients absolutely loved it. They’d come down here every day of the week if they could. I would get tired of doing the same thing for two hours, but I’ve got people who are just begging me to come down, stand for two hours and put coleslaw on a plate. They just can’t wait to do it. I’ve got like 50 different people who, every time I walk by them (say), “When am I going to the soup kitchen? This Friday, next Monday?” The jobs that we get people usually are janitorial or restaurant. So it’s great training. One lady I brought down here -- she wanted to try to bus some tables, so I let her. She got a job at Don Pablo’s busing tables. It sparked her interest, she practiced it here and Cleo’s Joke Corner A duck walks into a bar and asks the bartender for a drink. The bartender says, “We don’t serve ducks.” The duck asks him three times for a drink. The bartender says, “We don’t serve ducks. If you ask me one more time, I’m going to nail your feet to the floor.” The duck comes in for five more days and asks the same thing. The bartender keeps telling him, “We don’t serve ducks. I’m going to nail your feet to the floor.” The last day the duck came in and asks for nails. The bartender says he doesn’t have any more nails, so the duck says, “Then can I have a drink?” There was a lady working at the M&Ms candy factory. She was told that if there were anything wrong with the M&M bags to throw them away. The manager saw her throw away every bag and said, “What are you doing? I only told you to throw away the bad bags. What’s wrong with these?” The lady said, “All I see are Ws.” How do your clients react to being at Our Daily Bread? It seems like they usually understand the concept well. Some, they get it on a different level. One woman I have with me today fully understands that she is helping people in need, and that’s why she loves it. Every time we drive home, she says, “Man, I love being down there. I just love helping those people out.” And other ones, I think, they just want to get out of the factory, get out into society and interact with different people. With some, it keeps them busy and they like the work aspect of it. Others sometimes, I think, just want to come to eat the food after they work; but if they work, I think that’s a good tradeoff. They all have their own motives. Usually they just ask me when they’re coming again. I ask them, especially if it’s their first time, “What do you think about it? Did you like it? Do you want to go back?” And I’m pretty sure that no one’s ever said they didn’t like coming down here. It’s interesting because it’s not the easiest work — not everyone’s appreciative, and people can snap at you and things like that. But that doesn’t faze them at all. I think because 80 percent of the time people are very thankful, I think that just overrides the negative. Sometimes when they are having issues, different (clients) take it harder than others. I have a girl I bring down who’ll break down and cry sometimes if someone snaps at her, like, “I didn’t want coleslaw!” or something like that. And I say, “Look, if you go work at a restaurant, this is what it’s like all the time.” It’s very realistic. The biggest part of restaurant work is customer service; you always have to smile and say, “Thank you” no matter what people say to you. I think it’s good training for that. Shy people that I bring here, some have said nothing and then slowly start saying, “Hi.” I’ve had some that have gone to saying “Hi” to every single person. I think that’s the most valuable thing in what I do — helping people socially and helping them feel better about themselves. I think that trumps training them for work and getting them working. Most of them get Social Security checks and other benefits. Really, a lot of our guys, they don’t have to work at all but they want to work. That’s why they come. I think that’s great, and to give them meaningful work that makes them feel good about themselves — I think that’s the best thing. And it works really well because they’re helping other people while they’re helping themselves. A man goes into a bar with a mouse in his pocket. He orders two shots of whiskey. He drinks one and pours the other in his pocket. He does this about seven times. The barmaid says, “That is disgusting.” The bouncer says, “You have to leave, sir.” The customer says, “I ought to knock you out.” The mouse jumps out of the pocket, hiccups and says, “That goes for the barmaid, too.” How many seconds are there in a year? My granddaughter said there were 12. I said, “How is that?” She said, “Because there is Jan. 12, Feb. 2, all the way to Dec. 2. That makes 12 seconds.” There were two friends. One was a pitcher, and one was a catcher. They played baseball for 20 years. One day the catcher died. The pitcher was praying about a year later and wondering how his friend was. All of a sudden his friend showed up out of nowhere and said he had great news: “They play baseball in heaven. You’re pitching tonight.” �14 Street Smarts STREETVIBES November 2008 Local News A night in a shanty teaches students about homelessness By Alyssa Konermann Staff Writer C ardboard boxes, constructed into makeshift homes with the help of plastic sheeting and duct tape, crowded the grassy space near the sidewalk. This wasn’t a scene from postKatrina New Orleans or from beneath an urban overpass. It was the temporary landscape of 19 high schools in Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky the weekend of Oct. 1719. Shantytown is an annual educational experience coordinated by the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless in cooperation with local high schools and universities. Students construct shanties in which they spend one or more evenings while simultaneously engaging in activities that allow them to learn more about homelessness. The aim of this immersion is to foster a greater understanding of the complexities of the issue, as well as providing a level of firsthand experience that will encourage them to become active in the fight to end homelessness. Students from Bishop Brossart High School of Alexandria, Ky., kept busy with the construction of their shanties, education and reflection activities and hearing from Riccardo Taylor on behalf of the coalition’s speakers bureau. A mixture of first-time and returning participants filled the campus’ short-term shantytown, all eager to learn as well as anxious about the ex- pected temperature drop that evening. “I wanted to learn more what it’s said [to be homeless said freshman Elizabeth Ward. “Friends who participated last year said it was fun and encouraged me to join.” Kearria South, a junior at Bishop Brossart, had more personal reasons for taking part in Shantytown for the second time. “My family has had handson experience with homelessness,” she said. “For a while “They learned a lot and experienced the freezing temperatures in cozy sleeping bags and thermal clothes, realizing that not all homeless people could be as well prepared as (they) were.” -Karen Hordinski, outeach director at CHCA both of my parents were jobless, and we were staying in a house with no power, water, or heat. My brother was also homeless for six months.” Through the experience of Shantytown, South hoped her classmates would “know that (homelessness) is not just the stereotype of people with addictions and who are lazy. People need to see that anyone can become homeless.” In a special twist on the Shantytown experience, Bishop Brossart students were re- Students from Wyoming High School build their shanties in front of their school. They were rudely awakened at 1 in the morning by the police and told to move. Photo courtesy of Jeff Seibert. quired to sell Streetvibes to classmates in order to earn money with which they to buy lunch. The purpose was to help them further understand the daily struggles that homeless people face, though they were repeatedly reminded by the leaders of the event that this was an extremely mild version of the actual experience of homelessness. Karen Hordinski, outreach director at Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy (CHCA), worked with a group of students to host Shantytown for the second year. “The students loved (the small Shantytown of 2007) and wanted to do it again so that more of their peers could learn about homelessness,” she said. Thirty-six students and five adults at CHCA participated on Sunday evening, which was chosen so that on Monday morning “the students would feel what it would be like to go to school when you are exhausted, hungry and not feeling well prepared for the day,” Hordinski said. It was powerful for them.” The group heard Sam Jackson and Georgine Getty speak from the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless, as well as Karen Fessler from Project Connect. “Students were shocked to find out how many ways homeless people get tickets from the police, such as sitting, standing, urinating and jaywalking,” Hordinski said. “They learned a lot and experienced the freezing temperatures in cozy sleeping bags and thermal clothes, realizing that not all homeless people could be as well prepared as (they) were.” At Xavier University, Shantytown tackles a specific aspect of homelessness each year. This fall the student-con- structed shanties on the academic mall spoke to the issue of homeless veterans. Graffiti covers the shanties with statistics, including the assertion that one in three homeless men are veterans, according to the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans. Suzanne Buzek, a sophomore at Xavier who is active with Habitat for Humanity, describes her goal as having “less people out on the streets and more people under roofs.” “It's a harsh wake-up call, seeing the shanties on the academic mall,” she says. Buzek recognizes the need to make the issue personal. “When I sleep in our shanty tonight, experiencing the cold and harsh elements will only further ignite my compassion for those who don't have a warm bed to sleep in at night and my will to do what I can to change that.” in scars and nightmares. I’m damaged goods, and no one wants me. What do all them have in common? We are all looked down at by society and rejected by them, too. People judge us but they do not know us or our situations. People put us down and laugh at us, thinking we don’t hear, but we do. During the day we show no feelings and fight to survive. Yet at night many of us cry ourselves to sleep and wonder if anyone cares. Has God or our higher power forsaken us? No matter what we do or whom we call, we go unanswered. The main thing we all have in common is we are or were homeless in our lives. The pain and scorn of those words and time still live deep in our hearts and affect us today. We end up having little trust for others and have few friends and trust for God, Christians and those who claim to care. That is because we have been badly hurt by those same people. When others find out our past, they scorn us and look down at us by saying we did something to deserve what we got. So when do the dirty looks and scorn go away? Never. So think before you put that person down or look away, or even treat them like they are trash. That could be you. Look Down at Me But be ready for what you’ll see By Dede Stoops Contributing Writer Who am I that you look down at me? I’m the everyday person who goes unnoticed. I’m a young person who has no home and family, whose friends got tired of my couch surfing or staying there, so I’m out on the streets. I’m the kid with no safe home or parents who care. Yet you look down at me and call us “thugs.” I’m the kid of foster care who was not prepared for life and is now on the streets stealing to survive. Yet you call me “trash” and “lazy” not want- ing to work or succeed. I’m a survivor of a terrible act of nature or man. Yet you say I did something to deserve my plight. I’m an out-of-work man with no income and home so I can’t get a job or home, yet you call me lazy. I have a mental illness and can’t get help or I get lost in the system, yet you call me a “freak” and say, “Get lost.” I’m a soldier who got lost in the system, and my country wants nothing to do with me now that I’m damaged goods, yet you say my training should have trained me to stay away from this life of the streets. I’m an a alcoholic and/or drug addict who has or will hit bottom and crawled out of the streets so the bottle is my comforter, yet you say I deserve it for being what I am and hurting my family. I’m a young mother with several kids, and no man will accept their children as a responsibility; or I’m running from violence, yet you look down on me and call me a “whore” or “irresponsible.” I’m a single woman who was abused in the past and has no friend or family who cares to help; and jobs are hard to find or get when you're homeless, yet you say I can overcome by forgetting the past. But I can’t forget the memories; they are �STREETVIBES November 2008 Editorial Generosity is Just the Start 15 A little thought makes holiday charity more effective By Georgine Getty Contributing Writer A s the weather turns colder and the winter holidays approach, many people’s thoughts turn to charity. This is one of the best parts of the season, the thing that drives us as human beings to truly recognize our good fortune and share it with others who might not have as much. The question is how to best channel this energy so that it does the most good. The Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless is comprised of over 45 member agencies dedicated to serving homeless men, women and children. Every year, starting in mid-November and lasting until the end of December, Cincinnati’s shelters find themselves flooded with goodwill. People who want to serve dinner on Thanksgiving or Christmas. People who want to donate toys and clothing, shoes and gloves. People who want to help decorate or take people to their places of worship. Generous, kind people. But overwhelming nonetheless. There are two main ways to give: You can give your time and/or you can give monetarily. Here are some tips for holiday giving. First, remember that it feels good to give. That warm feeling that you get when you help someone homeless is the same warm feeling that a homeless mother feels when she gives a present to her child or when a homeless person “re-gifts” a donation to one of his or her friends or loved ones. Simply put, if you feel inclined to make sure that a homeless family has presents on Christmas morning, the kindest way to do this is by giving the serve food or hold a party, call mother or the father a gift cer- around to various agencies and tificate and allowing them the ask if they have a need. Don’t freedom and choice to pick the be discouraged if they already present they know their child have their volunteer needs met will love the best. This “giv- on key days like Thanksgiving from afar” might not be ing or Christmas Eve. There are holiday as satisfying as seapicking it out The love that you put and sonal events and wrapping in the community, year-round it yourself, but even if it’s just by that you can the gift it gives cleaning a storage channel this to the parent is even more im- room, will come back energy into. portant that the to you many fold and Ask if you plan gift it gives the last well into the new can child. a Mothers year. Day brunch Second, our or a Fourth agencies depend on volunteers to organize of July picnic. Maybe a Suand provide for holiday parties per bowl party or an Opening and food service. However, Day Bar-b-que. Carry over the many times the volunteers and feeling of charity to last the staff who contribute to that whole year. Third, remember homeless agency year round and have a special bond with the clients agencies as you make out your have already taken care of holiday shopping list. Does this need. If you would like to Uncle Bill really need a new tie, or would he prefer a donation in his honor to help homeless veterans? Talk to your kids. Forego stocking stuffers and instead put the money in an envelope and let them give it to the director of a soup kitchen. Ask your friends and family to make donations to your favorite charity instead of getting you presents. Create a new tradition of giving. Finally, keep an open mind and ask your favorite agency what it needs. Be a willing pair of hands. The love that you put in the community, even if it’s just by cleaning a storage room, will come back to you many fold and last well into the new year. For a list of many fine shelters, soup kitchens and agencies in our community, please visit www.cincihomeless.org and click on “member agencies.” A Night in Shantytown Students learn what they’re not missing By Meera Basu Guest Columnist vices and support for homeless that so many homeless young varied difficulties they have What if your mom kicked you out of the house? I mean literally looked you straight in the eyes and shouted, "Get out!" Now imagine this in 30oF weather, and you're only wearing a tank top, perhaps if you're lucky some sweatpants and socks. You may be thinking as you read this, "Good joke …" Unfortunately, for thousands of children even in our Cincinnati area, this is the harsh reality that hits them even before they turn 18 years old. 1 a.m. Oct. 19, 2008: For many, this date and time has no significance. For 18 Wyoming High School students, this was about the time they were waking up sleeplessly for probably the hundredth Wyoming High School students prepare for a chilly night. Photo courtesy of Jeff Seibert. time at 35oF. Earlier that day these students rode the Metro kids. Five of SUFK's teenag- people have faced. Sweet encountered. The future can to Over-the-Rhine to deliver ers gave up their afternoons to 16th birthday? Not for many look very bleak to someone more than 160 pairs of jeans share their stories. homeless children -- they are who has not acquired a high and hundreds of T-shirts and The opening question of this so alienated from their fami- school diploma. tops that our community so article references the situation lies that such benchmarks in Shantytown participants collected for that some of their lives are frequently ig- took a brief tour of Over-theStand Up for these young nored. While many students Rhine. Each of the participants Can you imagine Kids (SUFK). people en- in Wyoming spend their time had been provided a bright yelwhat life would be They began dured, but and effort preparing for the fu- low and black T-shirt. As they their service- like if each meal were the answer ture by taking rigorous cours- walked through the area, evsuch a struggle? learning activto the ques- es and are involved in activi- ery person who passed the stuWhat if you were ity at the local tions don’t ties that enhance their college dents struck up a conversation headquarters of begin to resumes, many of the home- to find out what was going on. alone, trying to SUFK, an ord e s c r i b e less students’ academic skills Individuals in Over-the-Rhine survive as a single ganization that the level of are at the third- to fifth-grade thanked them for representing person? provides serh a r d s h i p level, due to the many and an invisible population in the United States. The walk ended with a visit to the small local Kroger store. Students were each given $1.04 to spend at the store and challenged to provide a filling evening meal for that amount of money – the amount of money allocated per meal per person under the federal food stamp program. Combining money together in groups seemed to be the only way of acquiring enough food for all. Can you imagine what life would be like if each meal were such a struggle? What if you were alone, trying to survive as a single person? There is only so much to buy with such a small voucher. Thirteen local high schools held Shantytowns the weekend of Oct. 18-19. Hundreds of students gave up a night or two to sleep in boxes and raise awareness. The next time you wake up in bed, take a few minutes to be thankful. Take some time to be grateful that you have the opportunity to participate in an extracurricular activity, get your high school diploma or even just to know you have dinner waiting for you at home. High school might seem hard, stressful and too much work, but it’s your outlet to success that some children in Cincinnati are not being provided. �16 Vendors Resource Guide STREETVIBES November 2008 Streetvibes vendors buy the paper for 25 cents and sell the paper for $1, keeping the money they have earned. The vendors can be identified with a white badge and can be found selling the paper in downtown Cincinnati, Clifton, Northern Kentucky and area churches. The money they earn helps them meet basic housing, food and health care needs. Not all vendors pictured. Josephine Baskerville Doris Binion Terry Ranson Anthony Williams Nell Williams Grady Cook Cleo Wombles James Davis Jon Darby Darryl Bennett Julie Walker Kenneth Stonitsch Antonio Hodge Leonard Jackson Samuel Jackson Riccardo Taylor Alfred Woolfolk Berta Lambert Mary Mueller Brandon Nelson Mark Shears Charles Cole Terrence Williams Raynard Jones Richard Tyree Need Help or Want to Help? Shelter: Women and Children Central Access Point...381-SAFE Cincinnati Union Bethel...768-6907 Bethany House...557-2873 Grace Place Catholic Worker House...681-2365 Salvation Army...762-5660 YWCA Battered Women’s Shelter...872-9259 Talbert House...684-7965 PATH Outreach...977-4489 Treatment: Women Resources First Step Home ...961-4663 Catholic Social Services...241-7745 Center for Independent Living Options...241-2600 Churches Active in Northside...591-2246 Emmanuel Community Center...241-2563 FreeStore/FoodBank...241-1064 Franciscan Haircuts from the Heart...381-0111 Goodwill industries...771-4800 Healing Connections...751-0600 Madisonville Education & Assistance Center...2715501 Mary Magdalen House...721-4811 People Working Cooperatively...351-7921 St. Vincent de Paul...562-8841 The Caring Place...631-1114 United Way...721-7900 Women Helping Women...977-5541 Treatment: Both City Gospel Mission...241-5525 Justice Watch...241-0490 St. Fran/St. Joe Catholic Worker House...381-4941 Mt. Airy Shelter...661-4620 AA Hotline...351-0422 CCAT ...381-6672 Joseph House ...241-2965 Hamilton County ADAS Board ...946-4888 Recovery Health Access Center ...281-7422 Sober Living ...681-0324 Talbert House...641-4300 Shelter: Both Advocacy Anthony House (Youth)...961-4080 Caracole (HIV/AIDS)...761-1480 Drop Inn Center...721-0643 Interfaith Hospitality Network...471-1100 Lighthouse Youth Center...221-3350 St. John’s Housing...651-6446 Appalachian Identity Center ...621-5991 Catholic Social Action ...421-3131 Community Action Agency ...569-1840 Contact Center...381-4242 Franciscan JPIC ...721-4700 Greater Cinci Coalition for the Homeless..421-7803 Intercommunity Justice and Peace Center...5798547 Legal Aid Society ...241-9400 Ohio Justice & Policy Center ...421-1108 Peaslee Neighborhood Center ...621-5514 Project Connect Homeless Kids ...363-3300 Stop AIDS...421-2437 Shelter: Men Housing: CMHA...721-4580 Excel Development...632-7149 OTR Community Housing...381-1171 Tender Mercies...721-8666 Tom Geiger House...961-4555 Dana Transitional Bridge Services Inc. ...751-0643 Volunteers of America...381-1954 Food Lord’s Pantry...621-5300 OTR/Walnut Hills Soup Kitchen & Pantry..961-1983 Our Daily Bread...621-6364 St. Francis Soup Kitchen...535-2719 Treatment: Men Charlie’s 3/4 House...784-1853 DIC Live In Program...721-0643 Prospect House...921-1613 Starting Over...961-2256 Health Center for Respite Care ...621-1868 Cincinnati Health Network ...961-0600 Crossroad Health Center ...381-2247 Hamilton county Mental Health Board...946-8600 Hamilton County TB Control ...946-7628 Health Resource Center ...357-4602 Homeless Mobile Health Van...352-2902 McMicken Dental Clinic...352-6363 Mental Health Access Point...558-8888 Mercy Franciscan at St. John...981-5800 NAMI of Hamilton County..458-6670 Oral Health Council...621-0248 Northern Kentucky Brighton Center...859-491-8303 ECHO/Hosea House...859-261-5857 Fairhaven Resuce Mission...859-491-1027 Homeward Bound Youth...859-581-1111 Mathews House...859-261-8009 NKY Homeless & Housing Coalition...859-727-0926 Parish Kitchen...859-581-7745 Pike St. Clinic...859-291-9321 Transitions, Inc...859-491-4435 Welcome House of NKY...859-431-8717 Women’s Crisis Center...859-491-3335 VA Domiciliary...859-559-5011 VA Homeless...859-572-6226 Hamilton/Middletown St. Raephaels...863-3184 Salvation Army...863-1445 Serenity House Day Center...422-8555 Open Door Pantry...868-3276 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 2008 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Newspaper Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource November 2008 Subject The topic of the resource Homelessness Description An account of the resource Pg 1: Tarnished Grandeur Council Orders Plan for Single Homeless People Pg 2: The Vibe Pg 3: Eight Minutes with Myself Pg 4: Council Orders Continued Pg 5: Buddha Walks into a Bar Pg 6: Dennison Continued Pg 7: Dennison Continued Pg 8: Photographs and Artwork Pg 9: Changing the Conversation Pg 10: Short Goliath Dodges the Deadly Purse Arts & Poetry Pg 11: The New Powell Doctrine Pg 12: Renaissance at the NAACP Pg 13: Who’s Helping Whom? Pg 14: Street Smarts Pg 15: Generosity is Just the Start Pg 16: Resource Guide Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Streetvibes Archive Project Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Streetvibes Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource November 2008 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Gregory Flannery Margo Pierce Angela Pancella Michael Henson Stephanie Dunlap Larry Gross Steve Sunderland Alyssa Konermann Lew Moores Elizabeth Scheper Dede Stoops Meera Basu Andrew Anderson Andrew Freeze Anthony Williams Legal Aid Society Georgine Getty Lynne Ausman Joe Wessels Steve Novotni Steve Gibbs Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource PDF Alyssa Konermann Andrew Anderson Andrew Freeze Angela Pancella Anthony Williams Arts & Poetry Charity Christopher Smitherman Cincinnati city council civil rights Dede Stoops Dennison Hotel Elizabeth Scheper Georgine Getty Gregory Flannery Joe Wessels Larry Gross Legal Aid Society Lew Moores Lynne Ausman Margo Pierce Meera Basu Michael Henson Muslims NAACP Photography Powell Doctrine Shantytown SRO Stephanie Dunlap Steve Gibbs Steve Novotni Steve Sunderland Students https://streetvibesarchive.net/files/original/e019fc9078dbe63cfdf111e9233e45e9.pdf 860c8016f0fd78073fedbbd9fb169d79 PDF Text Text Check out the Streetvibes blog @ streetvibes. wordpress.com Photos from the damage done by Hurricane Ike’s winds ~ p.8 Interview with Barb Wolf about her stay in jail ~ p.3 STREETVIBES $1 O c t o b e r 2 0 0 8 • I s s u e 1 4 7 • C i n c i n n a t i ’s A l t e r n a t i v e N e w s S o u r c e Lots of Choices for the White House Clear differences, diverse candidates in presidential race By Gregory Flannery Editor It’s still possible to elect a woman president this year, even though Sen. Hillary Clinton didn’t get the Democratic Party’s nomination. Nor do you have to vote Republican if you want a woman to be vice president. Cynthia McKinney & Rosa Clemente of the Green Party of the United States are among the 14 presidential tickets on the Ohio ballot for the 2008 election. McKinney’s platform features publicly funded universal health insurance, immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops and contractors from Iraq and a detailed plan for helping homeless people. The ballot also includes candidates for the Constitution Party, the Libertarian Party of Ohio, the Socialist Party USA, as well as write-in candidates and independents – some well known, such as consumer advocate Ralph Nader and rightwing pundit Alan L. Keyes; and some largely unheard of. None of those candidates Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama and Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain make their way down the ramp to ground zero during the 9/11 Commemora- will win the election, of course. tion Ceremony. Photo by REUTERS/Julie Jacobson/Pool. None is expected to have even Ain’t Gonna Take It Social services sue over attack by city council By Gregory Flannery Editor Social-service agencies threatened by a city-council resolution calling for their dispersal are fighting back, filing suit Sept. 10 in U.S. District Court against the city of Cincinnati. The lawsuit challenges the constitutionality of a resolution establishing a policy that “social-services agencies and programs shall not concentrate in a single area and shall not locate in an area that is deemed impacted, which at this time includes Over-the- Rhine.” The resolution, sponsored by Councilman Chris Bortz, says the “unchecked proliferation” of these agencies has the potential to negatively impact Over-the Rhine. The policy is constitutionally flawed in multiple respects, according to a suit filed by attorney Timothy Burke: * The complaint alleges violation of the First Amendment – the affected agencies include Streetvibes and the Voice of the Homeless Speakers Bureau, operated by the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless. “An ordinance aimed to eliminate the spread of social-service programming in certain neighborhoods is an unlawful, content-based restriction on speech that was made without a compelling government interest,” the complaint says. * The lawsuit says the new policy is vague on essential See LAWSUIT p.12 Sister Mary Stanton, executive director of Bethany House, shares comments during a press conference on Sept. 10. Photo by Andrew Anderson. the marginal impact that Nader had in the 2000 race or that business magnet H. Ross Perot had in 1992. But for an electorate used to complaining that their choices for the presidency are too narrow, the 2008 ballot is full of options. Big diff The next president will almost cerFor information tainly be on other elections Sen. John and ballot McCain of initiatives see Arizona, pages 6 and 7. the Republican nominee; or Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, the Democratic candidate. Either choice will be historic. McCain, 72, would be the oldest person ever elected president. Obama, 46, would be the first African-American president in U.S. history. The two candidates represent starkly different backgrounds. McCain, the son of a Navy admiral, was a naval aviator shot down while bombing North Vietnam. He See PRESIDENT p.7 �2 News Briefs Judge Tosses AntiFeeding Law Orlando, Fla. – A federal judge has ordered the city of Orlando to stop enforcing an ordinance banning distribution of food to poor people in parks. Supported by the American Civil Liberties Union, Orlando Food Not Bombs challenged the law in court while refusing to stop serving free meals to the needy. Undercover cops arrested some activists, even confiscating their soup ladle. The city of Cincinnati has a similar restriction on food distribution to homeless people in Washington Park in Over-the-Rhine. Churches and other nonprofit groups get around the local ordinance by serving food on sidewalks around the park (see “Charity begins in the Park,” issue of July 1, 2008). New Tent City Rises in Seattle Seattle, Wash. – Nickelsville is the name of a new camp for homeless people erected on vacant industrial land owned by the city. The name is a dig at Mayor Greg Nickels, whose administration has cleared other homeless camps. Volunteers working overnight erected 150 fuchsia-colored tents. The city posted signs threatening to remove the tents within three days but activists said they hoped to expand the camp with housing for up to 1,000 people. Deadly Attacks on Homeless Bring Prison Terms Fort Lauderdale, Fla. – A man turned state’s evidence against two friends who’d joined him in beating homeless men, agreeing to testify in their trial on charges of second-degree murder. William Ammons, 21, testified he drove the two others to the site of the attacks, struck one sleeping man with a plastic sword and fired a paintball gun at a man beaten to death on a park bench. Norris Gaynor died of a skull fracture. Ammons received a 15-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to third-degree murder and aggravated battery. His friends, Thomas Daugherty and Brian Hooks, face 40 years to life in prison when they’re sentenced in October. The Vibe Streetwise By Gregory Flannery Jail Walls Can’t Stifle a Determined Activist Take note, Gov. Sarah Palin: This is the stuff of which community organizers are made. When documentary filmmaker Barbara Wolf was jailed for peacefully protesting the war in Iraq, she spent her time organizing prisoners (see “Eight Minutes,” page 3.) Her success was apparent during a demonstration in solidarity with Wolf outside the Hamilton County Justice Center. Prisoners posted peace signs from their cell windows, knocked loudly and waved to the protesters on the streets outside. Wolf urged fellow prisoners to register to vote. She also gathered statements from prisoners about the war. Here is a sample of what they had to say: “They put us in jail so we will take time to think. George Bush needs to stop and think. He sent troops over for nothing, based on a lie. He needs to end this war. He seems to make decisions based on instant gratification. Perhaps he should spend some time in jail so can think.” (Tara Ashbrook and Amie Campbell) “I don't understand why we are over there fighting. The people in Iraq have not done anything to us. We have enough problems in the U.S.A. to focus on. Bush, keep the focus on your own country.” (Diane Mayes) “The troops have been at war way too long. It's time to bring them home.” (A soldier's sister who asked to remain anonymous) “I wouldn't want to raise a family in this world today. How are we supposed to teach children morals and values when our country is fighting and killing in a war that is unnecessary? How do we explain that to children?” (Amanda Butts) “What kind of a human would want to send their people to fight a war and be killed and leave their family and loved ones behind to suffer? And this is supposed to be a country of peace and freedom. We're fighting an endless war. We need to bring people together and reunite to correct the problems in the USA such as homelessness, racism, violence (domestic, gang, etc.), energy sources, cost of living going up while wages are stagnated or dropping.” (Michelle Miller) Keisha Jones was preparing to write a statement when she was called to leave for Talbert House. As she was rushing for the door, Wolf asked, "Keisha, what did you want to say about the war?" Realizing she had no time left, she said, "STOP!" Trash Talk in That Other Newspaper Compare the thought that went into those statements with the crap that The Cincinnati Enquirer printed in a Sept. 9 story about drug busts in East Price Hill: “The Cincinnati Police Department is working hard to get trash off the street corners, especially when it’s the kind that sells drugs.” Put aside serious questions about the merit of spending tens of billions of dollars on punitive drug laws that crowd our prisons, preoccupy police departments and penalize people, mostly poor people, for what is essentially a health issue. Calling people “trash” is callous and dehumanizing. The language was too much even for the usually strident , reactionary Cincinnati Blog, which took the paper to task for a jarring failure of objectivity. Some Give Up, Others Keep Fighting Remember all the work that volunteers put into a proposed referendum that would require most employers in Ohio to provide paid sick days for workers? Forget about it. Ohioans for Healthy Families pulled the referendum from the Nov. 4 ballot, saying it will wait for Sen. Barack Obama to be elected president instead. “Speaking for the Coalition, SEIU District 1199 President Becky Williams said the decision was ‘not easy nor made lightly’ and was reached only after ‘it became clear that a shrill and vitriolic ballot campaign marred by misinformation and disinformation would be impossible to avoid,’ a statement by the coalition said. “When Sen. Barack Obama conveyed his support for a federal paid sick day bill in his speech accepting the Democratic presidential nomination, and Gov. Strickland and U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) pledged their help in enacting such a law, Williams said the coalition decided to pull the OHFA from the November ballot.” That’s investing an awful lot of hope that Obama will win and that, if elected, he’ll keep his pledge and that, if he keeps his pledge, Congress will approve paid sick days. Do supporters really expect that national business leaders and Republicans won’t mount an even uglier, more expensive fight? Fortunately other community organizers, such as the Cincinnati Interfaith Workers Center, are more persistent in their own efforts to protect workers’ rights and improve their economic lot. The center has launched a new Web site at http://cworkers.org. It’s a bi-lingual resource for information on workers’ and immigrants’ rights and local programs and campaigns for worker justice. The web site, also hosts "JustNews," a calendar and weekly digest of local peace and justice events. Award Winning Journalists Write for Streetvibes Several Streetvibes contributing writers recently won awards in the annual competition sponsored by the Cincinnati Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. Lew Moores won for enterprise reporting on the demise of The Cincinnati Post. Margo Pierce won for a news feature about domestic violence and for a news story about the 2007 elections. Larry Gross won for arts and entertainment writing for a story about the Ohio Express. Gregory Flannery won for trend reporting for a story about smoking. Granted, the prizes were all for stories that were published last year in CityBeat, but we’re still proud to have such award-winning writers in our paper. STREETVIBES October 2008 Streetvibes is a newspaper that provides relevant discussions of homelessness, poverty and other related social justice issues. It is published monthly by the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless. Address: 117 East 12th Street Cincinnati, OH 45202 Phone: 513.421.7803 x 12 Fax: 513.421.7813 Email: streetvibes2@ yahoo.com Website: www. cincihomeless.org Blog: streetvibes. wordpress.com Streetvibes Staff Editor Gregory Flannery Contributing Writers Margo Pierce, Angela Pancella, Michael Henson, Stephanie Dunlap, Larry Gross, Steve Sunderland, Bill Haigh, Georgine Getty, Alyssa Konermann, Lew Moores, Julia Przybysz, Thomas A. Dutton, Patricia Garry Photography/Artwork Andrew Anderson, Andrew Freeze, Anthony Williams, Jimmy Heath, Peggy Joseph, Georgine Getty, Lynne Ausman Advisory Committee Joe Wessels, Steve Novotni, Andrew Freeze, Georgine Getty, Michael Henson, Stephanie Dunlap, Steve Gibbs The Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. Programs include Streetvibes, “Voice of the Homeless” Speaker’s Bureau, Cincinnati Urban Experience (CUE), Homeless Curriculum, and Homeless Civil Rights Organizing Project. All donations support these programs and are taxdeductible to the full extent of the law. We are members of: �Community News 3 Photo by Andrew Anderson STREETVIBES October 2008 Eight Minutes with Prisoner #1314546 By Margo Pierce Contributing Writer wo years ago, when filmmaker Barbara Wolf sat in U.S. Rep. Steve Chabot’s office and refused to leave unless he signed the Declaration of Peace, she knew she’d be arrested. After a valiant attempt to put the war in Iraq on trial, making the point that when lives are at risk or are being lost, civil disobedience is justified, she and three fellow protesters were finally sentenced Aug. 29. Sentenced to 20 hours of community service, Wolf refused to have her lifetime of volunteerism degraded to a “punishment.” Last month she went to jail for 10 days instead. “It was fascinating,” Wolf says. “If I had been there only two or three days, I would not have learned what I had begun to learn.” What did she learn? “It is not a place that will send out people better than T when they came in,” she says. “One would hope that if you were in there for something, you might learn something and come out and say, ‘OK, I’m going to change my life for the better.’ Instead, they absolutely break you down, and you come out emotionally and physically exhausted, so you cannot be better than when you went in. The logical thing is you fall back into whatever pattern you had before, because you don’t have the energy, and certainly no one has helped you find anything more.” The physical and mental exhaustion are deliberate, Wolf says, pointing to the conditions in the jail. The temperature is very cold; lights are left on 24 hours a day, making sleep difficult; the noise is deafening; and rules aren’t provided, but even if they were, each commanding officer (CO) on duty emphasizes different rules as more important than others, making it virtually impossible to stay out of trouble. “When you’re checked, in you get a blanket, two sheets, a small towel, two pairs of underwear and a little bag with a portion of a toothbrush, little tiny thing of toothpaste and a tiny bar of soap,” Wolf says. “If you’re just in overnight, you get nothing. You don’t get a blanket. “You get to go into a cell, and if you’re lucky, on the bed in the cell there is a pad. If you’re not lucky, you don’t get a pad and you get to lay on metal and it’s very cold. … People are constantly shivering. You are not allowed to use your blanket during the day to keep yourself warm, like as a shawl. Your bed must be made all the time during the day or you might be locked down.” The infractions that can lead to a lockdown aren’t readily apparent. Wolf was fortunate enough to meet and befriend a number of women who had been arrested before, and they were kind enough to fill her in. “They way you find out what you’re supposed to be doing is there’s a loudspeaker system, and the CO sits in a booth out in the big hall and speaks into the loudspeaker,” she says. “This is what it sounds ‘PQSUWALARSHAWHA!’ ” Sounding like a very loud, very bad imitation of Donald Duck on a rampage, Wolf says the noise level is something else that’s difficult to contend with. “The cells are cement, the cell block is all cement -- the echo is just fierce,” she says. “What happens is people will be talking. For a new group to be talking, in order to be heard, they have to talk a little bit louder, and that ups the ante. “The ante gets upped and upped and upped and then, when it’s nice and loud, they’ll turn on the television, which will go louder than everybody who’s talking. And unless you’re right there at the time it’s turned on and you say, ‘Turn it down!’ it’ll be left very, very loud and there’s no Demonstraters show support for Barb Wolf while she is locked up in the Hamilton County Justice Center. Wolf says that many people are in jail for short periods of time and that a night court would be an effective alternative to unnecessary lockups. way you can turn it down. So everyone has to talk louder yet.” She coped with the noise by meditating -- focusing on her breathing -- and she says it helped mute the sound. Wolf says claims of jail overcrowding are bogus. “People were in for ridiculous things and for very short periods of time, so they have this turn-around issue,” she says. “People are in because they didn’t pay a ticket on time or they’re in because they were not supposed to be driving but they were driving because they had to get to work, and they get stopped for a light out on their car … and they’re back in for three days. Three days -- why? Why only three days if it was that bad of a thing that they did? And why three days if it’s not that big of a deal?” Wolf says that these shortterm jail stints disrupt a person’s life just enough to make it impossible to get and hold a job. She said her 10 days made it clear that there’s a simple, cost-effective solution to the high-cost of jailing people and the unnecessary short-term sentences -- night court. Processing cases immediately would sort out the people who need to be locked up from those who need some other kind of intervention. Saying she would “definitely do it again,” Wolf says she’s not done agitating for change. “I think we’re all in it together,” she says. “I think people all need to help each other … the necessity of taking care of the common on behalf of all of us.” Wolf says there’s a library at the Justice Center, but she never did figure out how to get there. The only way for prisoners to receive books is to have them directly mailed by a bookstore, publisher or www.amazon.com. If you know someone who is in, or just want to perform a random act of kindness, send a book to someone on this list: http:// www.hcso.org/PublicServices/InmateInfo/InmateInfoFAQ.htm. Many people work hard to make a difference for the less privileged in Greater Cincinnati. “Eight Minutes” is an effort to learn who they are and what motivates them. �4 STREETVIBES October 2008 Community News Peaches, Condoms and Understanding No longer homeless, Valarie Dowell returns to help By Stephanie Dunlap Contributing Writer Valarie Dowell and I have not sat long on the Washington Park bench before it becomes clear that the petite woman stumbling forward, back and then again forward, is toddling toward us. I watch her and watch Dowell, whose face is just as calm and serene as it’s been since we first met 20 minutes ago at the Drop Inn Center across the street. Dowell had wanted to stop at the homeless shelter so she could drop off a plastic bag of peaches picked from her neighbor’s over-laden tree. “Fresh peaches!” Dowell cried, prompting a couple faces to swivel momentarily away from a large-screen TV broadcasting coverage of Hurricane Ike. This same hurricane had two days ago flung branches and premature fall leaves on the path over which a woman now stumbled in our direction. I can’t tell if Dowell recognizes her until she is upon us. “C’mon,” Dowell says, reaching out a hand. The woman grasps it and Dowell pulls her down onto the bench beside us. She falls against Dowell’s shoulder and starts to cry. Dowell hugs her close. This woman – I will call her Bethany – alternately tells me, “Write this down,” and asks, “Why are you writing this down?” She smells of alcohol but there is something more than substance abuse at play. “I’m sorry,” she says to Dowell. “I’m sorry.” “I got beat up when I was 6 months old,” she says to me, her voice raking across hysteria. “My father didn’t give a fuck about me.” “This goes back to what we were talking about,” Dowell says sotto voce. “It goes deeper than what we see. People see just the drugs and alcohol.” “I’m sorry,” Bethany wails. “She was in housing,” Dowell says, almost to herself. “I don’t know what happened.” ‘I don’t push’ Before Bethany’s arrival, Dowell and I had been talking about her work with the homeless, which brings her often to Washington Park. It’s the same park where Dowell sometimes slept when she herself was homeless. “I come from being a part of this lifestyle,” she says. “It’s an honor to be able to give back.” Before she received treatment nine years ago at the Hamilton County River City Correctional Center, Dowell, 51, spent more than 15 years dogged by homelessness, drugs, alcohol and domestic violence. After her release Dowell worked for two years at the Drop Inn Center. She then moved to the Healthcare for the Homeless program, where she has spent the past five years as a program advocate aboard a medical van as part of the Cincinnati Health Net- Valerie Dowell offers support to a client. Once homeless herself, Valerie now works with the Cincinnati Medical Van and Healthcare for the Homeless. Photo by Andrew Anderson. work’s mobile medical team. Every person who accesses the van’s health-care providers must also see her. She helps patients register for Medicaid and refers them to agencies – often the FreeStore FoodBank, which she calls a “safe haven” – to help with housing, mental-health services, food “It goes deeper than what we see. People see just the drugs and alcohol.” stamps, eye care and other supportive services. She says the van makes weekly rounds between the Drop Inn Center, Our Daily Bread, Lighthouse Youth Services, Anna Louise Inn and Mt. Airy Shelter. The most common ailments she sees in the homeless are high blood pressure, diabetes and mental illness. Tending to the health of the homeless must be a priority, Dowell says. “It’s almost as if people think ‘housing first,’ but if their healthcare isn’t good, they’re not going to stay in housing,” she says. When they are ready to take just one small step, Dowell wants to be there. “I’m just a message of hope,” she says. “I don’t push anything on anybody.” She says one misconception about the homeless is that they’re lazy. “A lot of people think, ‘Forget it, they don’t want to do nothing,’ ” Dowell says. What people fail to understand is that many homeless people contend with mental illnesses that send them destructive messages. It takes personal relationships to counteract those messages, she says. Bob McGonagle shares Dowell’s intimate understanding of homelessness, addiction and recovery, having served time for 10 DUIs. McGonagle, now a volunteer advocate for Healthcare for the Homeless and sexton for a local church, says Dowell taught him everything he knows about serving the homeless. Her two most important teachings, he says, are “to listen to the consumer and to follow through.” Dowell’s weekday schedule looks roughly like this: a day aboard the mobile medical van, an early evening in the classroom as she works toward her degree in social work and later evenings spent passing out condoms and information about HIV testing in Washington Park for the Central Community Health Board of Hamilton County. In all this, she finds time to raise a 15-year-old daughter, who often accompanies her into Washington Park, and to volunteer at River City Correctional, the place that provided the fulcrum of recovery on which Dowell’s life turned. See VALERIE p.5 Only purchase Streetvibes from BADGED vendors. Vendors wear their WHITE badges while they sell the paper. �STREETVIBES October 2008 Local News 5 Only A Strong Wind Away From Hunger As Ike blows and power goes, Freestore FoodBank feels impact of outage By Alyssa Konermann Intern Winds reaching 75 miles per hour blasted Cincinnati Sept. 14. With the gusts went trees, roofs and the electricity in hundreds of thousands of homes. What was left in their place? Fires, three deaths, damage to homes and businesses – and many people left without food. Many Cincinnati residents were surprised by the strength of the storm, which demonstrated the far-reaching effects of Hurricane Ike. While the Midwest typically watches the destruction wrought by hurricanes from the comfort of the couch and with the distance of the television, this storm made tangible for Cincinnatians the struggles of natural-disaster recovery. More than 825,000 Duke Energy customers were reportedly affected by power outages at some point throughout the day, with more than 581,000 still without power the following morning. This brought much more serious consequences than battles over bottled water and flashlights at stores and a temporary lack of hot water to shower or electricity for the TV: with no electricity, it’s hard to keep food fresh. The FreeStore FoodBank, without power itself, responded to the storm with disasterrelief food distribution. Between Tuesday and Thursday following the storm, the FreeStore distributed food to more than 1,900 people representing more than 4,100 family members -- triple its average daily number. The situation was complicated by the logistics of distributing food to so many people without the computers typically used. The food room where clients usually shop for food is in the basement and was unsafe without lighting. Improvisation went to work. The outdoor donation drop-off area was cleared of supplies and filled with distribution tables where staff members packed bags, directed traffic and hand-copied information to later be entered into the agency’s records. Greg Deloach and Ralph Cunningham braved the dark basement armed with flashlights and hand forklifts to carry all the food upstairs for distribution. Brian MacConnell, vice president of client services at the FreeStore, was thoroughly impressed with the way staff and clients worked together to make the operation possible. “It was amazing,” he says. “It was so cool the way it all worked out and how everyone pitched in. It was really neat Valerie, continued from p.4 ‘Because of her’ Dowell calls to a man in ragged clothes to come help mind Bethany so we can finish the interview. “Listen to her,” George Thomas tells Bethany. “She’ll help you, OK? She’s a good lady.” It’s clear Bethany isn’t going anywhere, but Thomas stays a minute to answer my questions about Dowell. “She’s a very nice lady and she’s very kind, but I refuse the help,” Thomas says goodnaturedly. “She’ll try to help everybody. But she fuss at you sometimes.” Thomas lives on the riverbank. He is one of a number of homeless people who refuse to stay in shelters. He says he prefers to sleep under a bridge because the trucks and cars passing overhead lull him to sleep. He doesn’t like the noise or the crowd inside shelters. Dowell once felt much the same way, so she can relate. Thomas has seizures. “I should have been dead a long time ago,” he says. “But because of her, I’m alive.” He says he’ll come soon to see Dowell because he needs to get off the streets before it gets cold. “Yeah, he won’t,” she says quietly when Thomas walks off. She’s known him seven years, and she’s heard it before. Dowell turns back to our interview. “I think the best story is when the people tell it,” she says. A man using a branch for a cane limps up. “I hurt my leg, man,” he says. “I see that,” Dowell says, unflappable as always. usual, and much food at home was lost. Compounded, these factors make recovery difficult for families without a lot of financial cushion. The comment of a first-time client stuck in MacConnell’s mind, he says: “If it were not for the storm and the state of the economy, he would not be in the FreeStore FoodBank.” More and more, it just takes one thing to tip someone over the edge, whether it’s a car accident, a health crisis or a citywide loss of power. The FreeStore continues to see more and more working people who are unable to make it on what they used to. The agency has seen an 85% increase in foodroom traffic in the past three years. MacConnell remains hopeful. “The community has always been very, very generous to the FreeStore FoodBank,” he says. Kroger sent several trucks to the FreeStore warehouse, and Duke Energy donated $50,000, a “very generous (gift) that is one of those ways that people step up, ” MacConnell says. “It will work out,” he says. “It’s just one of those things that happens that we will find our way through.” The FreeStore FoodBank saw an increase in the number of people needing food after the wind knocked out power to most residents in Cincinnati. Photo by Lynne Ausman. to be a part of. It was amazing and really satisfying to see how gracefully everyone has dealt with this.” MacConnell recalls an event Thursday morning after the blackout started. There were still no lights. It was the third day of the emergency operation. “It would have been so easy to burn out; it was not fun and exciting anymore,” he says. In a rare moment of relative calm, he was pointing a gen- tleman where to go, and four different people raised their hands with a smile and said, “Sir, I can help you here.” The end of the blackout doesn’t signal the end of the storm’s impact. “This is going to reverberate for awhile because clients can’t just fill a refrigerator and get back on their feet,” MacConnell says. Many were forced to miss work because of the storm, kids weren’t fed at school as WIN/Win Solutions Working in Neighborhoods saw the crisis coming By Patricia Garry Contributing Writer Working in Neighborhoods (WIN) celebrates its 30th anniversary this month. Under the leadership of its founder, Sister Barbara Busch, WIN has grown into a community development corporation (CDC) that combines education, community development and partnerships with financial institutions. WIN’s work includes helping individuals buy and hold onto their homes, stabilizing neighborhood and creating community-wide solutions. WIN has focused on the foreclosure crisis by working with the city of Cincinnati and Hamilton County to create a pool of rescue funds for city residents in foreclosure. The group has also played a leadership role in the Hamilton County Homeownership Preservation Group, a coalition of service providers, community leaders and lenders. The agency has compiled a yearly report of foreclosure activity in the area since 2002. That 2002 report showed the first tendrils of increasing numbers of foreclosures, the influx of mortgages by global banks and brokers and the spread of the problem into all neighborhoods. The 2007 report outlines the devastation being created by this continuing crisis. Another WIN innovation has been to develop working relationships with lenders and servicers, enabling it to negotiate agreements that prevent foreclosures. These companies include Citigroup, Chase Manhattan, Litton Loan Servicing, Ocwen Servicing, Select Portfolio Servicing and a number of local lenders. Since 1978 WIN has helped more than 8,500 low-income and moderate-income families purchase their first homes. In 2007, WIN’s services benefited a total of 3,285 people. Included in this number are 101 families whose homes were saved from foreclosure. Other projects are homebuyer training; providing tutoring, training and enrichment for youth; showing low-income homeowners and senior citizens how to save on energy bills; rehabbing homes for first-time homebuyers in South Cumminsville, Northside and College Hill; and training residents to shape their communities. For all this work and for the innovative solutions WIN creates, Busch received the Most Outstanding Executive Director of 2008 Award from the CDC Association of Greater Cincinnati. �Election Special 6 Deal – or No Deal? STREETVIBES October 2008 Economy replaces backroom plot as top issue By Lew Moores Contributing Writer The backlash-buzz generated by the deal between Democratic and Republican leaders not to endorse opposing candidates in this year’s races for Hamilton County commissioner has since receded. That’s primarily because both endorsed candidates face independent opposition – unlike some other unopposed countywide races – and both are taking them seriously. The deal struck late last year by both party leaders involves Republicans not endorsing anyone to oppose Democratic Commissioner Todd Portune in his re-election campaign, and Democrats not endorsing anyone to oppose Greg Hartmann, current Hamilton County clerk of courts, who is running for county commissioner to replace Republican Pat DeWine, who is running to become a Hamilton County common pleas judge. “At first there was more reaction, but now a little,” says Chris Dole, an independent opposing Hartmann. “Everyone’s memory drops off. Time heals all wounds. At first a lot of people were really upset. Maybe they still are.” ‘Short memories’ Dole, an electrician by trade, is a Democrat and has been a Crosby Township trustee on the west side of the county for three years. He jumped into the race against Hartmann early this year, after the Republicans chose Hartmann to run for commissioner. Portune is also running against a candidate unendorsed by a party, Ed Rothenberg, a realtor and Republican who is running as an indepen- dent. Portune says he hasn’t heard much on the campaign trail about the deal and is quick to assert the decision wasn’t his. “First of all, I didn’t make it, so I have no control over it,” he says. “And I have always had an opponent in this race. Parties don’t prevent anyone from running.” Rothenberg isn’t new to county politics. He was one of those who organized a petition drive – represented by a broad coalition of disparate political groups -- in the summer of 2007 to challenge a sales tax increase approved by county commissioners to build a new jail. Voters in a referendum soundly defeated the sales tax increase – from 6.5 to 7 percent – last November. It was what he perceived as political arrogance once again that led Rothenberg to run as an independent candidate for commissioner after the deal struck by both parties. But, like Dole, Rothenberg also notes the diminished anger over the deal. And without party endorsement, there comes the accompanying difficulty in fundraising and recruiting campaign volunteers. “There was some anger, but people have short memories,” he says. “It’s seldom talked about unless I bring it up in a debate or bring it up when I’m interviewed. Even though I’m a Republican, it’s made it very hard for me to raise funds and a lot of other support I would normally get if I were endorsed. It makes it very difficult for me to face somebody as popular as Todd Portune. But he’s a tax-andspend politician.” ‘Jobs, jobs, jobs’ An overarching theme is the economy. All four candidates are running, to one degree or another, on the economy and what it has meant in the county, budget cuts the county has had to make and loss of revenue from, among other things, declining sales-tax revenues. “The top three issues are jobs, jobs, jobs,” Hartmann says. “We’ve seen population loss and have to get more aggressive on working on economic development. We start with our existing businesses and working to make this a business-friendly place to do business. Current priorities relate to economic development and jobs creation, streamlining government. If you’re aggressive in the area of development, it means more jobs and more sales-tax revenues.” Portune is campaigning on a similar platform of making investments that make businesses and jobs grow, thus increasing revenues. “We cannot cut ourselves into prosperity,” he says. That would include investing in programs such as those dealing with mental illness and drug and alcohol rehabilitation, reduce criminal recidivism and the jail population and working with high school drop-outs on completing their education. “Reforming individuals and changing behaviors,” Portune says. The candidates talk about jobs training, jobs creation and affordable housing as a way to combat homelessness in the county. Portune also includes foreclosure-prevention counseling, which he says has been going on for the past two years and has resulted in homeowners saving more than 700 homes. “We have enough homeless people,” Portune says. “We don’t need to create a new category of homeless people.” Todd Portune, photo provided. Rothenberg has been campaigning on a theme of reassurance – taxes will not be raised, and ways and means will be sought to reduce them. Property taxes will be capped from rising more than 3 percent a year, he says. “The economy, of course -that’s the main issue,” Rothenberg says. Another proposal is a 300to 500-bed jail that could be built and financed with a 30year bond. “So you can have the jail without raising taxes,” Rothenberg says. And with the county commissioners cutting the budget, both Portune and David Pepper, the other Democratic commissioner, are “talking more like fiscal conservatives than Democrats,” Rothenberg says. The candidates also talk improvements to mass transit and reorganizing SORTA into more of a regional transit system. Dole says it lacks a better east-west movement. He also the county needs to Ed Rothenberg, photo provided get more involved in creating “green” jobs, with production of solar cells and wind turbines and where mass transit would tie in to reduce the carbon footprint. “But the number-one issue is the budget and how we’re going to pay for everything and keep programs going,” Dole says. Like Rothenberg, he says the Portune-Hartmann deal motivated him to enter the race. “It’s the main reason I ran,” he says. “How is a politician to be held accountable to people if they keep cutting deals like this? Politicians must be held accountable to people and must be working for people.” For more information on the candidates, visit their campaign Web sites: www. toddportune.com; www. greghartmann.com; www. edrothenberg.com; www. chrisdole.com. �STREETVIBES October 2008 Election Special Lots to Decide 7 Many issues and races make crowded ballot By Gregory Flannery Editor Every four years the presidential election dominates political discussion and coverage. But the ballot also includes many local races and issues that arguably have a more direct impact on voters’ daily lives. Here are the major offices and issues that will be on the ballot in Hamilton County: City of Cincinnati issues * Issue 7 is a referendum on the use of red-light cameras approved by Cincinnati City Council. The cameras photograph cars that allegedly violate traffic signals, sending citations to the vehicles’ owners. A yes vote would overturn council’s decision. * Issue 8 is a proposal to change the way city council is elected. Under the current system, voters choose nine candidates from an open field. The top nine vote-getters win seats on council. Under proportional representation, each voter ranks candidates in descending order from one through nine on each ballot. Votes that are not needed or cannot be used to elect a candidate are distributed to the next highest candidate choice on each ballot who remains eligible to be elected. Supporters say the measure is a fairer, more representative and more democratic electoral system. Opponents say proportional representation would help the election of fringe candidates rather than those with broad citywide appeal. State of Ohio issues Voters will decide on several proposed amendments to the Ohio Constitution: Issue 1, proposed by the Ohio General Assembly, would establish earlier filing deadlines for statewide ballot issues. Issue 2 would authorize the state to issue bonds up to $200 million to continue the Clean Ohio program for environmental conservation and preservation of natural areas, open spaces and farmlands and other lands devoted to agriculture. Issue 3 would amend the state constitution to protect private-property rights in groundwater, lakes and other watercourses. Issue 4 was an attempt to repeal a law passed by state legislators capping interest rates on payday loans at 28 percent annually. Previously, lenders charged $15 per $100 for a two-week loan, which works out to a 391 percent annual percentage rate. Backers withdrew the proposal in early September Issue 5 is a proposal to keep the payday-lending reform in force. Issue 6 is a proposed amendment to the state constitution, allowing a casino to be built near Wilmington, with a tax to be shared by all 88 counties. State offices Ohio attorney general: Richard Cordray, Democrat; Mike Crites, Republican; Robert M. Owens, independent. Ohio Supreme Court: Maureen O’Connor, Joseph D. Russo Ohio Supreme Court: Peter M. Sikora and Evelyn L. Stratton State senate, 8th district: Daniel J. McCarthy, Democrat; and William J. Seitz, Republican State representative, 28th district: Connie Pillich, Democrat; and Virgil G. Lovitt II, Republican State representative, 29th district: Louis W. Blessing, Republican; and Adam Noe, Democrat State representative, 30th district: Bob Klug, Democrat; and Bob Mecklenborg, Republican State representative, 31st district: Steve Johnson, Republican; and Denise Driehaus, Democrat State representative, 32nd district: Dale Mallory, Democrat; and Theo Barnes, Republican State representative, 33rd district: Thomas G. Brown, Republican; and Tyrone K. Yates, Democrat State representative, 34th district: Jeff Sinnard, Demo- crat; and Peter Stautberg, Republican State representative, 35th district: Ron Maag, Republican; Marcia Garrison, Democrat; and Jonathan Morris, independent write-in candidate Hamilton County offices County Prosecutor Joe Deters and Sheriff Simon Leis Jr., both Republicans, are running unopposed. So are County Engineer William W. Brayshaw, a Republican; and County Coroner Dr. O’dell M. Owens, a Democrat. Eleven judicial races have only a single candidate each. The contested races are: County commissioner: Todd Portune, Democrat; and Ed Rothenberg, Republican County commissioner: Greg Hartmann, Republican; and Chris Dole, Democrat Clerk of courts: Martha Good, Democrat; and Patricia M. Clancy, Republican County recorder: Rebecca Prem Groppe, Republican; and Wayne Coates, Democrat County treasurer: Steve Brinker, Democrat; and Robert A. Goering, Republican Common pleas court: Pat DeWine, Republican; and Norma J.H. Davis, Democrat Common pleas court: Jerry Metz, Democrat; and Fred Nelson, Republican Common pleas court: Russell J. Mock, Republican; and Jody Luebbers, Democrat Federal offices * President of the United States: Chuck Baldwin & Darrell L. Castle, Constitution Party Bob Barr & Wayne Allyn Root, Libertarian Party of Ohio Richard Duncan & Ricky Johnson, independent John McCain & Sarah Palin, Republican Cynthia McKinney & Rosa A. Clemente, Green Party of the United States Brian Moore & Stewart Alexander, Socialist Party USA Ralph Nader & Matt Gonzalez, independent Barack Obama & Joe Biden, Democratic Donald K. Allen & Christopher D. Borcik, write-in Jonathan Allen & Jeff Stath, write-in James R. Germalic & Martin Wishnatsky, write-in Alan L. Keyes & Brian Rohrbough, write-in Platt Robertson & Scott Falls, write-in Joe Schriner & Dale Way, write-in * U.S. Congress, 1st district: Steve Chabot, Republican; Steve Driehaus, Democrat; Rich Stevenson, write-in; and Eric Wilson, write-in * U.S. Congress, 2nd district: David H. Krikorian, independent; Jean Schmidt, Republican; Victoria Wulsin, Democrat; and James J. Condit, Jr., write-in President, continued from p.1 was a prisoner of war for more than five years. Elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1982, then to the Senate in 1986, he has been in Congress for 26 years. Obama, a graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Law School, where he was president of the Harvard Law Review, worked as a community organizer in innercity Chicago and practiced as civil-rights attorney before running for office. After seven years in the Illinois Senate, he was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2004. McCain likes to call himself an anti-corruption maverick, but he was investigated for ethics violations as one of the “Keating Five” in the savingsand-loan scandal of the 1980s. Critics say Obama is strong on oratory but lacks national experience. Their political platforms also differ greatly: * McCain supported the 2003 U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq, saying even more invaders should have been sent. Obama opposed the McCain likes to call himself an anti-corruption maverick, but he was investigated for ethics violations as one of the “Keating Five” in the savingsand-loan scandal of the 1980s. war from the start. * Obama wants tax cuts for the middle and working classes. McCain wants to cut taxes for corporations and wealthy individuals. * Obama’s energy plan emphasizes development of alternative forms of energy. McCain wants to drill for oil in the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge. * Obama supports women's right to choose abortion. McCain wants to repeal Roe vs. Wade. * McCain opposes granting the right of habeas corpus – the right to appear before a judge – to prisoners held by the United States at Guantanamo Bay. Obama supports habeas corpus. There are similarities, as well. Both major-party candidates support the use of capital punishment. Both support civil unions, but oppose marriage, for same-sex couples. Both call for health-care reform that would leave the great bulk of the system operating for profit, rather than establishing the kind of national health-care systems operating in Canada and Western Europe. What about the poor? The amount of attention the presidential candidates gives to issues of poverty and homelessness decreases as the political spectrum goes from left to right, with the Green Party emphasizing aggressive federal efforts to alleviate poverty, the Democratic Party offering incremental improvements and the Republicans making scant mention of the issue. McKinney’s economic policies are distinguished by her focus on low-income people. Among her proposals are rent- Critics say Obama is strong on oratory but lacks national experience. control laws; the use of vacant housing, including closed military bases, to shelter homeless people; and abolition of all laws that criminalize any aspect of homelessness, including laws against sleeping in public places. She calls for increased funding for affordable housing and for mentalhealth and drug-rehabilitation programs. Obama’s proposals call for raising the federal minimum wage to $9.50 an hour by 2011, guaranteeing workers seven paid sick days per year and expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit, which benefits low-income workers. The “Issues” page on McCain’s Web sites delineates 20 topics and his positions, including “Space Program” and “Sanctity of Life.” But poverty is not among the 20 issues. In the senate, he has sometimes voted to raise the minimum wage and sometimes opposed it. An audience reported at 29.5 million people watched the live Sept. 26 broadcast of the first debate between McCain and Obama, possibly signaling heightened interest in the campaign and presaging increased turnout at the polls �8 Photographs/Artwork Jesse Jacskon visits SEIU offices on Vine Street. Photo by Georgine Getty STREETVIBES October 2008 City Home, a mixed income housing unit located on Pleasant Street suffers from the wind damage of Hurrican Ike. Photo by Andrew Freeze. St. Paul’s Church on Race Street just north of Washington Park. Picture on the left shows was St. Paul’s church once looked like. Photo on the right shows the damage done by winds from Hurrican Ike. Photos by Jimmy Heath and Andrew Freeze. Parts of the roof lay on the ground near Findlay Market. Photo by Andrew Freeze. �STREETVIBES October 2008 Poems/Artwork “Every Fourth Fall” By William Haigh Ripped, raucous, racist ridicule I could rant ridiculously rude To squelch the frailty of personal feuds Thread between the mind and the heart These historic brick walls do much more than part The seas of dishonest social realization When self-determination has nothing better to do Than asphyxiate itself to the chosen few Broiled, battered, bigotry baffled I could banner bullets balistically Numbing our law enforcement statistically One, ten, twenty dead Our obsession does much more than tuck us safely in bed Oh, how weak we’ve become without trust in our heads Without knowledge of cultural adopted norms No leader equipped to quiet this storm Preached, prophesizing, polished puppets An appointee to represent prolonged poignant pain Everyone elects to explore what’s to gain Caucusing the friends who wallow likeminded Cancerous is the populous’ spirit misguided Continually assuming the supposed system Forever milking the lesser base Charity nothing but a marketed face Ideals, morals, ’ans, ’ics, and ’isms we love Nothing more than a naïve notion of doves Rising from the ash, peace, equality, They have no pre-destined or innate task Can’t believe it, go ahead and vote Better yet coup From the masses will rise one, perhaps a few She or he, or they’ll always be above you ‘Better’ than you ‘Richer’ than you More ‘efficient’ than you I hate to break it to ya’ … it’s just what we do Not what I believe nor for what I work or hope Historically though, fact is fact So either clash, cope Or hop aboard with the complacency pact Otherwise you’ll just be more blood on the tracks Drawing by Anthony Williams Cleo’s Joke Corner Do you know what the hairiest part of a dog is? The outside. Knock, knock. Who’s there? Pencil. Pencil who? Your pants’ll fall down if you don’t button them up. 9 �10 Hitting Bottom Sometimes denial is the only pillow left Two days ago I saw a man passed out on the sidewalk in broad daylight. This is a fairly common thing to see in the neighborhood where I saw the man and a fairly common thing to see in any major city. He had a ragged beard and mismatched clothes, and his legs were bare to the knee. His feet were in the street, and he was stretched out onto the sidewalk as if his feet were on the floor at home and he was stretched out in his own comfortable bed. One hand shaded his eyes from the sun. Then yesterday, a block away from where I saw the first man, I saw another. The first was black. This one was white. He had lain himself on his side with a stone for a pillow. It was clear that he, too, had passed out where he was, for he lay on the open sidewalk — not on a bench or in a doorway. Surely, each of them has reached bottom. Half-starved, poisoned by cheap alcohol and crack cocaine, sick, malodorous from sweat and weak bladders and bowels, it doesn’t seem likely STREETVIBES October 2008 Column Michael Henson is author of Ransack, A Small Room with Trouble on My Mind, The Tao of Longing and Crow Call. This column is part of a monthly series on poverty and addiction. called that dog an excuse with a tail. Eventually, the dog died, and so did Philip. He was three months sober and going to meetings, but so poisoned with alcohol and his liver gone so cirrhotic that his skin had turned a shade of walnut and his arms and legs were clouded with purple bruises and the disease took him under. Why is it that some people find their bottom on the first Two homeless individuals sleep on benches in Washington little bump — a DUI or a Park. Poverty complicates the process of hitting bottom simply because the low-income addict is so close to the bottom to warning from a spouse? Why is it that others will drink and begin with. Photo by Jimmy Heath. drug themselves into disease people like these can fall any bottom. and death? lower. It doesn’t seem likely I remember Philip from I’m sure there are many reathey can take any more. the East End. When I first sons, and you can find them Yet it’s not likely that we’ll knew him, he was living in an listed in any basic text on see them in the circle at any abandoned building with no substance abuse and chemical of the meetings around the plumbing. For electricity, he dependency. Go to the chapter corner or just down the street. ran a power cord to the house on denial and it will tell you Help is just a few stumbling next door. To flush his toilet, all about it. Denial is a feature steps away but I doubt they he had to wait until it rained. A of any chronic disease — canwill stumble over there just cer, diabetes, heart yet. disease. They all If you ask them, they’ll come bundled probably tell you this is the with denial. DeBy Michael Henson worst they have had it. But if nial is the initial you suggest they get help, they response to any will complain that the rules are bad news, and it too strict, or I tried it and they sweet guy, he would help any- has many shifty strategies for kicked me out, or they told me body but himself. He would maintaining itself. But with I had to have a state ID. Some bring me kids who were get- chemical dependency, denial excuse will rise up and present ting in trouble, and he would is compounded by the action itself as an obstacle. put up friends gone homeless of the drug on the brain itself The bottom is only the bot- in his rickety building. and becomes an intrinsic featom if the addict feels it as the But when I asked him about ture of the addicted person’s getting help thinking. The mind of each for himself, individual addict will develop he always various strategies to convince told me he itself that what is happening is c o u l d n ’ t . manageable and that, if there We would are problems, they are extergo around nal. and around It’s your fault or the world’s, but it al- but it’s not mine. ways came The lucky — or blessed — to one ones hit bottom. They come thing: Who to a point so low that all these would take defenses quit working. Reality care of smacks them in the face. Conhis dog? I cerned family or friends can ammered H help raise the bottom by setting limits. The courts can intervene. In some cases, a few nights sleeping on the sidewalk — and waking up cold in the morning with the sidewalk grit in your face and hair — can be enough to convince an addict he or she needs help. Even then, pride, in its weird way, can keep them out. These men on the sidewalk can conjure lots of reasons to keep on using. Hitting bottom is a shifty, slippery, unpredictable thing at best. People of all classes struggle with it, not just the poor. But I believe that here again is another place where poverty complicates things. Poverty skews the bottom. If you are raised to believe everyone goes to jail at one time or another, as it seems in many poor communities, then jail becomes a rite of passage rather than a consequence. If you have learned to do without, you’d better handle situations like hunger or homelessness. If society mocks your poverty and tells you that you count for nothing from the day of your birth, then you might expect nothing. And when nothing comes, it is only a matter of course, not of your use. None of this is necessarily true for anyone raised in poverty, but I have seen this process at work, time and again. Denial is still denial, rich or poor. There are plenty of former high rollers sleeping on sidewalks, too. But poverty complicates the process of hitting bottom simply because the low-income addict is so close to the bottom to begin with. These men passed out on the sidewalk might have a long way yet to travel. Issues 2008 What’s at Stake A series of open dialoguges on critical issues October 25 9:00am First Unitarian Church 536 Linton St. Issue: Foreign Policy �STREETVIBES October 2008 Column Letter to a Living Nation 11 What I hear Barack Obama saying By Steve Sunderland Contributing Writer Dear Friends: I am sending this letter to people who want to really get to know me. I know that some people will see the letter as "political." Yet I wanted to put aside the politics and just share from the heart. I would be happy to read such a letter from John McCain. I know that his years of service in the Senate and his brutal years in prison in Vietnam have given him insights that would inspire me and many other people. And I would have been eager to read a letter from Hillary Clinton on her deepest feelings about taking the brave and so important step toward a presidency. She, too, has a great story for our nation and for the world. I have entitled my letter, "Letter to a Living Nation," because I feel that America is alive, growing and becoming even more beautiful. When I reflect on who I am as an American, I can clearly see that America is different from the America I grew up in and the America I studied in school and the America my daughters will grow up in. America is not finished; instead, America has another very important phase to enter. I believe we are living in a time when "liberty and justice for all" are very possible for the first time. I can feel people understanding with me that a "change" is about to happen, and it may already be happening in villages and cities throughout this nation. I am the son of this new America. My parents are one path to thinking differently about possibilities. My grandparents are the links to an America that honors those family members that step in and make hope possible. My name, although I am not Muslim, indicates a respect for all religions. The new America rests on a foundation of so much injustice, misery and lost opportunity that can now be healed, respected and remembered. The new America can dedicate itself to making sure that every child and adult is respected without consideration of skin color, religion and national origin. I am that child, and I am that adult, and I am that change. When I look at myself, I see every slave and ex-slave Democratic presidential candidate U.S. Senator Barack Obama speaks about The National Urban League’s “Opportunity Compact” during their annual conference in St Louis. Photo by REUTERS/Peter Newcomb. nodding to me about this time being "our time." Look with me into the faces of old black people and see their hope. I am deeply moved by their hope for our America, having lived lives, in too many cases, outside the circle of appreciation. I am clearly seeing and supporting their belief in hope. When I look at myself, I see every white person who was abandoned, shunned, mistreated or tortured for believing in justice for all, and I see them smiling and nodding to me as well. Look into the faces of whites, young and old, who want a job, an education, a pension, a chance at health care, and see that they, too, are hoping that America will make that one major step toward justice. Their issue is not color but opportunity to be secure in the American Dream. I stand with every one of them in their faith. Do you see that America is more than injustice, hatred and fear? Do you see that America is that person in a wheelchair, pushing up a hill, asking only for a path that is clear? Do you see that elder who would like one hot meal a day, one trip to the pharmacy without fear and one more chance to live in a country of fairness? Look into the hearts and minds of our brown brothers and sisters. Can you see and hear their joy at loving their families, at being Americans who can work for a real wage? When I look, when I listen, when I touch a hand, when I wipe away a tear, I can feel stronger for this community of people wounded and scarred by the injustices of our nation. I am stronger because the American people say to America is not finished; instead, America has another very important phase to enter. I believe we are living in a time when “liberty and justice for all” are very possible for the first time. me, "Give us a new chance to hope that America can be just." That is all I need to hear to make me take one more trip or give one more speech or to want to meet one more group. I so deeply want to have America believe in itself as a beacon of hope. I know that part of what I am feeling is the stored up experiences of so many people who have been pushed off their path by hatred. I see and feel rejection in my conversations with old people, black and white, when I hear how they lost their farms to heartless policies that have their ties to the earth ignored. Watching adults cry about how a person died because the money was just not there for health care reminds me of the many millions, throughout our history, who had no chance to see a doctor or go to a hospital because of their skin color or because money was gone. Now there are more people in this dire place. I wonder where my mother and father would have lived in America if they had stayed together and needed ongoing health care. Would their needs have been accepted even though one was black and one was white? Now, we know that America can change this simple access to health care. Will we? The history of hatred has forced adults out of jobs that were mainstays in their families. Working people have been hurting for so long, and working people have not had a government that has stood with them and said, "We respect you and your commitment to work. We will not sell your jobs to the cheapest worker in other countries. We will honor your work, your pensions, your job safety, your right to a fair wage; and we will be proud again of the American worker." I want to lead that new government. Brutal policies have shortened the education of children, denied adolescents access to colleges, and made a life of debt a commonplace for American youth. Why? I watch and feel the hopelessness of families, losing their homes, failing to get credit, having to say to their children, "College is out." I have a personal experience that education can and is the major ladder of success. If children are robbed of education at any stage, they have been pushed away from climbing into a life of hope. In my own life, I have seen phony rules about race dropped and black and poor people rise to levels of greatness. Now a cloud of uncertainty hangs over every student and every family, an increasing shadow of chances that may be lost. Our country cannot afford bad education for any child or adult. The loss of any opportunity to improve education adds to the pessimism of young people and their parents. I know that I have to recommit my energies to returning American education to greatness through fair policies of funding and higher standards. I stand with the children of hope. I am now before you as a friend of those who want a new America. I want to be seen as representing the deeper friendship that America has always had. We are a country where black and white came together to fight and overcome slavery, and we are still fighting the legacy of racism. I am a soldier in that struggle. We are a county where all people came together to respond to the attack of fascism. Together we won a war on two world fronts. I am able to be a candidate because we have ensured with our blood that justice and freedom will not perish. We are a country that has shaken off one cruel Depression, and we will rebound from this new one as well. I am an advocate for a new economy of justice for our country and for our globe. And I am a friend to those who want to strengthen the spiritual resources of our communities. What is at the heart of my friendship is an unshakable faith in the goodness of every American. Now I can feel that goodness stirring throughout the country. I want to be a part of the spiritual team of justice for all. A long time ago Harriet Tubman, Abraham Lincoln and Harriet Beecher Stowe combined to help America turn the page of history to freedom. I want us to continue their work and to free the world from all forms of hatred, slavery and poverty. I know that this is a goal that can be achieved during my term as presidency if we, as Americans, put faith in working together. I am the friend who says, "Now is the time." I am the leader who will work with you. I can feel America awakening to justice. Thank you. This "letter" reflects Steve Sunderland’s view of peace and is not a part of the campaign of Barack Obama. Please send comments to sundersc@email.uc.edu �12 STREETVIBES October 2008 The Jump Lawsuit, continued from p.1 Pat Clifford, executive director at the Drop Inn Center, explains why the emergency shelter joined the lawsuit at a press conference on Sept. 10. Photo by Andrew Anderson. points, failing to define “an area that is deemed impacted,” “concentration,” “social-service agency” or the “programming it seeks to regulate.” “As written, the directive requires both the city manager and the targeted charitable organizations to guess at its meaning,” the complaint says. * The lawsuit says the city’s resolution also violates the due-process clause and equalprotection clause of the Constitution. Instead of fact-based research, it relies on unsubstantiated assertions, the complaint says. The resolution says, “When the city and the region concentrate social services within a small geographic area, it does a disservice to the community by isolating disadvantaged people, both physically and socially, from mainstream society and the majority of available employment opportunities.” But where does that come from? “The city has no study or any other documentation to justify this conclusion,” the lawsuit says. Council struck first Council passed the resolution 8-1, with Councilman Cecil Thomas casting the lone dissenting vote. A statement issued by the eight other council members criticized the social-service agencies for filing suit instead of working with committees already studying the issue. “As a result of this resolution, four working committees were established by the planning department to work on different issues … and provide recommendations on how best to implement this “What defines a geographical area? Is that one neighborhood or a group of neighborhoods? It makes no sense whatsoever to move this forward without the city doing its due diligence.” -Councilmember Thomas policy,” council’s statement says. … “We should be careful not to allow a pre-emptive strike based on incomplete or incorrect information to undermine the diligent efforts of over 40 community leaders, social-service providers and others.” But the premise of that statement is false, according to Georgine Getty, executive director of the Homeless Coalition. The committees weren’t formed as a result of the resolution, she says. The committees were formed May 18; council passed Bortz’s resolution June 25. If there were a “pre-emptive strike,” it was by city council. Plaintiffs in the lawsuit include Bethany House Services, Inc., Joseph House, Mary Magdalene House, the Drop Inn Center, the Cincinnati Interfaith Workers’ Center, the Homeless Coalition and seven individuals who live in Overthe-Rhine, Clifton Heights and the West End – neighborhoods that might be affected by the resolution. In a Sept. 10 press conference outside the federal courthouse downtown, Thomas said his fellow council members hadn’t done their homework. “The law department for the city of Cincinnati was not given the time to do research on this resolution so we would know what it means,” he says. “How many (social-service agencies) is too many? We don’t know. What defines a geographical area? Is that one neighborhood or a group of neighborhoods? It makes no sense whatsoever to move this forward without the city doing its due diligence.” The underlying assumption of the resolution – that lowincome people would benefit by moving agencies that help them – is flawed, according to Michael Howard, executive director of Michael Howard. “It leaves our population and the people we provide services to at risk of being locked out of services,” he says. “In America, you feed people where you find them. You help them where you find them.” ‘Repeal it’ Bortz says the lawsuit is an over-reaction, because his res- “I hope that Bethany House Services would be applauded and not prevented from responding in this manner to our city’s homeless families.” - Sister Mary Stanton olution has no legal import. “As I am not a constitutional lawyer, I find it difficult to comment on the merits of the case,” he says. “That said, a common-sense answer Missed an Issue? Check out the Streetvibes archive at www.cincihomeless.org/content/ streetvibes is that resolutions are merely statements and have no legal binding effect. By definition, resolutions are ‘non-binding’. Council implements policy through ordinances. Since no ordinances have been proposed, let alone passed, I find it hard to understand how anyone’s First Amendment’s rights or due-process rights under the Constitution of the United States have been even remotely impacted.” If the resolution is so unimportant, the solution is clear, not prevented from respond- “If we’re overreacting and it’s a non-binding resolution, fine – repeal it.” - Georgine Getty ing in this manner to our city’s homeless families,” Stanton says. “Surely this kind of impact would be welcomed.” Bortz’s resolution has the perverse effect of defeating Councilmember Cecil Thomas was the only member of Cincinnati City Council that voted against the June resolution. Photo by Andrew Anderson. Getty says. “If we’re over-reacting and it’s a non-binding resolution, fine – repeal it,” she says. Several speakers at the press conference, including Sister Mary Stanton, executive director of Bethany House Services, said the city should be encouraging – not trying to restrict the ‘impaction” of – the kinds of services the plaintiffs provide. “Should we need to provide additional shelter for homeless families on Fairmount Avenue, where we already have a rich, resourceful and successful array of programs and services, I hope that Bethany House Services would be applauded and its own purpose, Getty says. If council’s goal is to have social-service agencies move into other neighborhoods, demonizing them hardly facilitates the process. “By our own city using hostile language against us, it makes it harder for us to move into other communities,” Getty says. Thomas, too, questioned the larger message conveyed by the resolution. “When you have a city that creates a perception of insensitivity and policies of insensitivity, the only place that leads is down,” he says. Interested in volunteering with Streetvibes? Contact Greg Flannery at 513421-7803 x 12 or e-mail him at streetvibes2@yahoo.com �STREETVIBES October 2008 News 13 In a Safe Haven Parsing the meaning of a child’s hug By Angela Pancella Contributing Writer Lois Simpson ¬— “Miss Lois” as she’s known to the children — retired in September as coordinator of the Kids Café at Our Daily Bread. Here are some excerpts from an interview she gave before her retirement. “I remember years ago saying to myself, ‘I’ll never work with young people.’ But you should never say, ‘Never.’ You do not know what’s in store for you. We can only see a portion of the way. “For a short time I worked with a gentleman by the name of Dr. Obadiah Williams, who spearheads the Early Childhood Development and Motivational Program. At that time it was housed in his church, but it has gone well beyond that now. And in sitting under his leadership, I learned so much. These were children that really had to apply to be in his program, starting from like 6 months on until kindergarten. “Watching him, something just started moving inside of me. When you begin to really see children, all of their skills, their cognitive skills, etc. — when you see them developing, it’s an awesome thing. And these children also were taught by Dr. Williams how to read, and they became smooth readers, rather than word readers. So (after) having that time with him, coming here with Our Daily Bread Kids Café, I was able to use some of the things that I learned there. “(Working at Kids Café) has been a blessing, and it’s been challenging for me. One thing that (Executive Director) Sr. Mary Beth said to me, ‘You have to tell the children (you’re leaving) because so many people move in and out of their lives. They’re there one day, and then the next day they’re gone.’ That had impact on me. It moved me to begin to think, ‘What is it I desire to leave with these children?’ “A lot of the children, you know, they hear what they can’t do and they hear what they aren’t and what they will never achieve. That’s an untruth. I want something tangible for them, something as simple as a clear keychain, where I can capture a couple of words of wisdom that they can remember down through the years. After a while, if they look at it every day, it will become a part of them. Then they can take ownership of it. “What’s in my head right now is, ‘Never say that you can’t do something.’ The question isn’t, ‘Can you do this?’ The question is, ‘How long will it take you to do this?’ That’s a challenge for them, and that’s something for them to be able to attain. And that’s valuable. That’s good wisdom. “So that’s one thing. And something else that’s been going around in my mind to leave with them is, ‘Always strive to do better tomorrow than you did yesterday.’ And when you do that, when you have that mindset, if there’s something that comes that The Homeless Con Trying to understanding a man who lied By Larry Gross Contributing Writer I think the moral of the story I’m about to tell you is that, when purchasing a copy of Streetvibes, make sure you’re dealing with the real thing – a real vendor. For a short period of time, I wasn’t. I got suckered by a con man. Most days I still see the guy who did this downtown. Most days I still give him change and a few cigarettes. We’re still friendly with each other. I still care about what happens to him – but my trust in him, for the most part, is gone. He’s a man who lies. In the beginning, sometimes when we would meet and I thought he was a Streetvibes vendor, he’d tell me he was hungry and needed a couple dollars to go to Arby’s and get a sandwich. I’d always give the money to him. Now, because of the lies, I find myself not wanting to open my wallet. Our encounters started a couple months ago. Often I would see him on Sixth Street, close to Main Street, sitting on the sidewalk selling Streetvibes and The Catholic Telegraph. Thinking back, I’ve never seen a homeless person Streetvibes vendor Terrence Williams always makes sure he is wearing his badge when he sells the paper. Make sure you always buy a paper from a vendor wearing the white Streetvibes badge. Photo by Andrew Freeze. selling both of these papers, but at the time, I didn’t give it much thought. It also was a little strange that he seldom had current editions of Streevibes to sell. He once told me he couldn’t sell the current issue until he sold the old issues he had left. I don’t think I really believed this, but I purchased some of those old papers anyway, despite the fact I’d already read them. That changed in September. Once again I saw him sitting on the sidewalk at Sixth Street. This was after Labor Day. He was still selling old issues of Streetvibes along with The Catholic Telegraph. I’m more or less assuming now that The Catholic Telegraph was old newspapers, too. I asked him if he had the September issue of Streetvibes. “No,” he said. “They had some printing problems and the paper hasn’t come out yet.” I could feel the hair rise on the back of my neck, but I let it go at that. We made some more small talk and he asked Lois Simpson retired in September. She is pictured here surrounded by children from the Kid’s Cafe, a program of Our Daily Bread. Photo by Peggy Joseph. you never expected, that you didn’t expect, that you didn’t see, then you can approach it differently. “What am I going to miss most? The hugs. Yeah. Because you get it daily. Maybe not from every child but from a lot of the children and then different children, different days. I will miss that. Because what those hugs say to me (is that) they know that they are in a safe haven.” for a cigarette. After I lit it for him, I continued on my way. I didn’t tell the homeless man I write for Streevibes. I didn’t tell him that the paper’s editor, Gregory Flannery, had given me an advance copy of the September paper in late August. I didn’t tell him I knew he was lying. So that’s my story on the Streetvibes con, but questions and thoughts still rattle around in my head. After discovering this was a con, I talked to real Streetvibes vendors and found out they always start selling the current issue right when it comes out -- the first day of each month. Only when a current issue sells out do they start offering back issues. Also, every Streetvibes I’ve ever purchased has run a block type of ad that states, “Only purchase Streetvibes from BADGED vendors. Vendors wear their WHITE badges while they sell the paper.” This is good information to have. I should have been paying more attention to it. I want that buck I’m turning over to go to a real Streetvibes vendor who’s trying to make his or her life better. While I’ll never purchase another paper from him, I don’t plan on telling this man that I busted him on his con. What’s the point? I figure he’s got bigger problems than trying to sell old newspapers. I don’t know what it would be like to be him -- to be homeless -- but I can try to put myself in his shoes. It must be awful for him not to know where his next meal is coming from. He must feel panicked when he doesn’t know if he’ll have a bed to sleep in when the sun goes down. It must scare him to death to think he might have to roam the streets at night. It must occur to him, at least some of the time, that he could be murdered while living on the streets. Many times he must feel desperate. This has to be a terrible life. Where do you find pride? Where do you find hope? Maybe you have to lie to others -- and even to yourself -to find some pride and hope, even if it isn’t real. I just don’t know. Maybe he’s simply trying to make a buck anyway he can. I don’t know why he’s not a real Streetvibes vendor. I don’t know why he can’t find a regular job. I don’t know why his life is so far off track. As I’ve said in other essays I’ve written for this publication, it’s none of my business as to why a person is homeless. It’s my choice to give. Regardless of all those unknown factors and as much as I don’t like being lied to, I simply need to get over it. He’s homeless. He’s homeless. Because of this fact alone, I should cut him some slack. �14 Guest Columnist STREETVIBES October 2008 When Personal Responsibility Becomes Abusive Blaming — and punishing — the poor By Thomas A. Dutton Guest Columnist Exactly when did the American mind become comfortable with the notion that punishment solves deep social problems? I suppose we should have seen this coming that, as U.S. society becomes not just a society with prisons but a veritable prison society, a kind of incarcerative logic would ooze into the social consciousness brandishing punishment — wielded as a stick to force behavioral change and exact personal responsibility — as social policy. Case in point is the Aug. 5 article in The Cincinnati Enquirer as well as the paper’s Aug. 8 editorial (Aug. 8) urging removal of the Drop Inn Center from the Washington Park area as the “ultimate” solution: “Ultimately, with a new School for Creative and Performing Arts being built and other major changes nearby, the solution must include moving the center, coupled with more comprehensive services to homeless citizens, as City Councilmember Roxanne Qualls has been advocating. Anything less is a short-term, feel-good solution.” Calling for the Drop Inn Center’s removal comes as no surprise, as The Enquirer has been playing this broken record forever. The Drop Inn Center is well aware of the pressure bearing down upon it as changes occur in the neighborhood. Even though most of this pressure is likely motivated by stereotypes and ignorance about what the center really does, the center is implementing policy and even costly changes to its physical plant in response. One such policy is referred to by The Enquirer as the “three-strikes-and-you’re out rule for residents who get into trouble.” As part of the “deal,” Cincinnati Police will compile a monthly list of arrests of people within 500 feet of the center (virtually all of Washington Park), which will then be reviewed by the center to see who should receive a warning. If shelter residents don’t change their behavior, they can be kicked out. “The Drop Inn Center must hold its clients to higher standards of behavior,” says the editorial. The language here is straight-up punitive. And worse, the assumptions lurking behind that language stem from the same malevolent sources that in other contexts take form as racism or sexism or xenophobia or chauvinism — or you name it. The Enquirer’s problem is that it judges the homeless as de facto bad neighbors in Over-theRhine, not because of their behavior, but because of their status. That The Enquirer insists on substituting status over character is pernicious on its own terms, but the issue worsens when we look at the facts. In his Aug. 4 report to the City Council Committee on Health, Environment and Education, Pat Clifford, executive director of the Drop Inn Center, said, “Out of the 163 citations in the month of July (given to people in Washington Park), only 15 percent or 24 were from people who stayed at the Drop Inn Center during that period.” Even in light of these facts, The Enquirer chooses ignorance as its strength. The center’s goal is not to kick people out — doing that would be just internalizing the oppressive discourse — but to actually reach out to people more directly to get them the help and resources they need in light of a stagnating economy closing off job and housing opportunities. We should be praising the Drop Inn Center in its efforts to approach the discarded with dignity rather than with the penalizing and castigatory logic that pervades The Enquirer and the social contract these days. We should not be fooled by what’s really at work here. Underlying both the threestrikes deal and the call for the center’s removal from the neighborhood is a discourse with a long history that has come to frame our conventional understanding about what urban poverty is and how it should be addressed. That understanding? That poverty is simply a behavioral problem, and if homeless individuals and the poverty-stricken more generally were to make the right choices to exercise personal responsibility, all would be solved. Poverty, concentrated and otherwise, is merely an individual, private matter in this view. Its solution rests with people changing their behavior by simply making better choices in their lives. The discourse accentuating behavioral change and personal responsibility underlying the Drop Inn Center’s future is a travesty, really. Is personal responsibility all we have as a societal answer to the structural realities of homelessness and poverty? How is it that 35 years of political-economic and governmental shifts that have produced jobless ghettos, underemployment elsewhere, cuts and rollbacks in the social safety net and wealth inequality escape notice as causes of all this mess? Is it even within the bounds of thinkable thought today for citizens to believe they can make claims on the state? We are in trouble, and those troubles will get worse. The neo-liberal end-game of inequality plays out all too starkly in Over-the-Rhine: gentrification and calls to spank or remove the homeless, upscale commercial development and not enough neighborhood-serving businesses for poorer residents, and two dog runs planned for Washington Park but no place for kids to swim and dive in a deep-water pool. As the impoverishment deepens and polarization widens, we already can see what’s in store for urban policy. Indian theorist Arjun Appadurai calls it “econocide,” by which he means “the worldwide tendency to arrange the disappearance of the losers in the great drama of globalization.” Econocide is what passes for urban policy these days. Whether by incarceration, active ignoring, criminalization or outright removal, arranging disappearances is the game plan for the Drop Inn Center and Over-the-Rhine more generally. Displacing the new class of undesirables — homeless, poor white and black people — is The Enquirer’s ultimate answer. This is the same logic that produced reservations, race ghettos and concentration camps. At a time when the Drop Inn Center has not seen its summer numbers decline from their usual high in winter, and as our nation becomes more and more marked by hypersegregation, racial profiling, a corporate wealth-fare state with runaway jobs, accompanied by material inequity and voter apathy, the turn to econocide and an incarcerative logic is no answer. We must do better. Thomas A. Dutton is director of Miami University’s Center for Community Engagement in Over-the-Rhine. Death Need Not Win, Survivor Says Reconciliation and hope for the condemned By Julia Przybysz Contributing Writer While the remnants of Hurricane Ike were causing widespread destruction and power outages in the region, 80 Cincinnatians endured the strong winds and flying debris -- including one audience member who had to enlist three neighbors’ help in moving a tree blocking the road -- to make it to Bellarmine Chapel at Xavier University. They went there to hear about death – and the possibility of life. Bellarmine and the Intercommunity Justice and Peace Center (IJPC) collaborated with project Families That Matter to host Billy Moore, a former Georgia death row inmate, and Eddie Sanders, the uncle of Ohio Death Row inmate Jeff Hill. Both Moore and Sanders told stories of death and reconciliation. Moore, a former Georgia Death Row inmate, was convicted of murder in 1974 and sentenced to die. Sanders lost the company of two family members in 1991: his sister, Emma Sanders, who was murdered; and his nephew, Jeffrey Hill, who was convicted of his mother’s murder and sentenced to die. Many similarities exist between Billy Moore and Jeff Hill. Both were guilty of their crimes and under the influence of drugs at the time. Both felt deep regret and pain after realizing what they had done. Continued on p.15 Billy Moore spoke to 80 students and community leaders about his time on Death Row. He also spoke about Jeff Hill, currently on death row in Ohio and how their cases are similar. Photo by Julia Przybysz. �STREETVIBES October 2008 Editorial 15 Homeless Hero Don Henry rose to the challenge, changed lives By Georgine Getty Staff Writer In the summer of 2003 the city of Cincinnati was going to sweep a bridge camp. Jimmy Heath, Andy Erickson and I went down to the camp to warn the folks staying there about the impending sweep. This is when I first met Don, who’d lived in the camp for three years. He already knew because The Enquirer had been down to interview him. “It’s all right,” he said. “They do this all the time. I have a secret camp to go to ’til this blows over.” “Yeah,” said Jimmy, pulling up a milk crate. “But maybe you shouldn’t have to.” And with this exchange, a homeless advocate was born in Don Henry. Last month Streetvibes featured a story on Don, the bridge sweeps and the longlasting policy change that resulted from Don’s stand under the bridge. Don died Sept. 12 after a long battle with liver failure in his sister’s home with his daughter by his side. I’m not going to re-hash the details of the bridge sweeps, even though it’s one of my favorite things to do. It’s a classic story about a down-and-out leader who took a stand with his friends against seemingly impossible odds and won. Who doesn’t love that story -especially when it’s true? It’s Don’s story. The rest of us were lucky to be along for the ride. “Did I ever tell you I was the chess champion in prison?” he asked me once with a grin. Don was a community organizer in the purest sense of the term. His community was the people who lived on the streets with him, and he brought them together to stand up for their rights. For three days, panhandling signs were replaced with “Honk if you support the homeless” signs. And more people honked than didn’t. Together, Don and I wrote the first press release either of us had ever written on a paper napkin from Wendy’s. He taught me to be honest and speak from my heart. That way, even if you don’t win, you can still stand yourself. He was a strategist who seemed to know exactly how to bring people together around a common mission and also how to tell that story to the media. Don wanted to save the world and the people he loved in it. He never gave up on a friend. “You can’t save everyone,” I’d say. “Yeah, but I sure wish I could save her,” Don would reply. Then he’d try again. He was a clever man, living off the land. His camp was ingenious, complete with a rain barrel and a coffee pot. I always thought if catastrophe hit, I’d find Don and he’d know what to do. He was a survivor. He fought if he had to, but mostly he used words to calm. He lived the streets, but he never lost his soul to them, nor his kindness. Don was a family man, temporarily separated from his biological family when I met him. He’d created a new family around him, taking care of the people on the streets who couldn’t care for themselves. But his daughter was never far from his mind. The first day I met Don, he pulled a battered picture of his baby girl out of his wallet – a beautiful child with Don’s red hair. Later, with the help of his sister and his friend, Jennifer, Don was reunited with his daughter after years apart. After his first visit with her, he came by my office to show me pictures of them fishing together. He happily repeated every word his daughter had said, as if it were sacred. Don was an alcoholic. He Don Henry stood up to the city and would not let them take away his rights. His leadership led to a change in the way police handle campsites underneath overpasses. He passed away on September 12, 2008. Photo by Jimmy Heath. was a panhandler. According to former Mayor Charlie Luken, he was an eyesore. He was an ex-con. He was homeless. Don was a father. He was a brother and a son. He was a mentor and a friend. He was a poet, a joker and an occa- sional pain in the butt. He was loyal and he told the truth, even to power -- especially to power. And for three hot days in 2003, he was a hero under a bridge who brought us all together. Don Henry, you will be missed. Death Need Not Win, continued from p.14 Moore without delay reached out to the murder victims’ family, asking for forgiveness. Hill spent over three days crying at the jail, realizing he would never see his mother again and that he was responsible for it. Both Moore and Hill received the forgiveness of the murder victims’ families and the families’ fierce advocacy against their death sentences. This is where their stories diverge. After 17 years on death row, living through 15 stays of execution, with people far and wide -- including Mother Teresa of Calcutta -- advocating for his release, Moore was freed and is no longer under threat of the electric chair or lethal injection. He now travels around the country and the world, telling his story with the hope to change hearts and minds about the death penalty and reach out to those currently jailed through his prison ministry and message of faith and hope. Jeffrey Hill still waits be- hind bars unsure about his future, whether his life will be spared. It is yet to be determined whether he will have the ability to hug his daughters “It’s amazing that they are not listening to the victim’s family. If the state follows through with his execution, it will only bring more harm and heartbreak.” again, hold his grandchildren for a first time or spread his own powerful anti-drug message to young people who can benefit from his story. Hamilton County has asked the Ohio Supreme Court to set an execution date for Hill. A date can be set at any time. The request occurred despite adamant appeals from the murder victim’s family that he receive mercy and not be executed. The Sanders and Hill fam- ily continues to state, “We shared the loss of a woman who was a mother, a sister, an aunt, a grandmother. We were indeed wounded deeply. As a family, we could not and will not turn our backs on her son, our nephew, our cousin, a father and now a grandfather. Let our voice be heard. Another death in our family will only add more suffering and grief to the burdens we have already borne.” Pam Prude-Smithers, one of Jeff Hill’s attorneys, spoke to the crowd at Bellarmine. “Jeff had a stay of execution since May of 2006 based on a lawsuit challenging lethal injection,” she said. “That case has now been dismissed.” Hill has been at this stage in the process before. “Jeff is tired,” Prude-Smithers said. “However, he is not giving up. It’s important for people to get involved: Sign the petition & ask the governor to grant Jeff clemency.” Lisa Davis was among those in the audience. “It’s quite interesting with Hill’s case that it involves the same family,” she said. “It’s amazing that they are not listening to the victim’s family. If the state follows through with his execution, it will only bring more harm and heartbreak.” Kristen Barker found inspiration in listening to Moore’s story. “Just as demonstrated in Billy Moore’s story, there is still hope and time to take action for Jeff Hill,” she said. “The voice of the people has “Just as demonstrated in Billy Moore’s story, there is still hope and time to take action for Jeff Hill. The voice of the people has impact and influence.” impact and influence.” Moore was released in part due to the lack of a fair trial and in part due to all those who spoke out against his execution. On Sept. 24, the US Supreme Court granted a stay to Troy Davis less than two hours before he was scheduled to be executed by the State of Georgia. That decision followed an outpouring of activism that expressed concerns over Davis’ innocence claim. The court scheduled a review of his case. Already nearly 2,000 Hamilton County residents have signed a petition addressed to Gov. Ted Strickland, asking that he grant Jeff Hill clemency. Area churches have distributed the petitions and residents continue to circulate them in their respective networks. Those working with Jeff are willing to speak out to schools, churches, organizations about his case and gather further support. To get involved, contact Families That Matter at IJPC 513-579-8547 or julie@ ijpc-cincinnati.org �16 Vendors Resource Guide STREETVIBES October 2008 Streetvibes vendors buy the paper for 25 cents and sell the paper for $1, keeping the money they have earned. The vendors can be identified with a white badge and can be found selling the paper in Downtown Cincinnati, Clifton, Northern Kentucky and area churches. The money they earn helps them meet basic housing, food and health care needs. Not all vendors pictured. Josephine Baskerville Doris Binion James Bybee Anthony Williams Nell Williams Grady Cook Cleo Wombles James Davis Jon Darby Tony Drummond Julie Walker Kenneth Stonitsch Antonio Hodge Leonard Jackson Samuel Jackson Riccardo Taylor Alfred Woolfolk Berta Lambert Mary Mueller Brandon Nelson Mark Shears Terrence Williams Charles Cole Karen Collett Need Help or Want to Help? Shelter: Women and Children Central Access Point...381-SAFE Cincinnati Union Bethel...768-6907 Bethany House...557-2873 Grace Place Catholic Worker House...681-2365 Salvation Army...762-5660 YWCA Battered Women’s Shelter...872-9259 Starting Over...961-2256 Treatment: Women First Step Home ...961-4663 Treatment: Both City Gospel Mission...241-5525 Justice Watch...241-0490 St. Fran/St. Joe Catholic Worker House...381-4941 Mt. Airy Shelter...661-4620 AA Hotline...351-0422 CCAT ...381-6672 Joseph House ...241-2965 Hamilton County ADAS Board ...946-4888 Recovery Health Access Center ...281-7422 Sober Living ...681-0324 Talbert House...684-7956 Shelter: Both Advocacy Anthony House (Youth)...961-4080 Caracole (HIV/AIDS)...761-1480 Drop Inn Center...721-0643 Interfaith Hospitality Network...471-1100 Lighthouse Youth Center...221-3350 St. John’s Housing...651-6446 Appalachian Identity Center ...621-5991 Catholic Social Action ...421-3131 Community Action Agency ...569-1840 Contact Center...381-4242 Franciscan JPIC ...721-4700 Greater Cinci Coalition for the Homeless..421-7803 Intercommunity Justice and Peace Center...5798547 Legal Aid Society ...241-9400 Ohio Justice & Policy Center ...421-1108 Peaslee Neighborhood Center ...621-5514 Project Connect Homeless Kids ...363-3300 Stop AIDS...421-2437 Shelter: Men Housing: CMHA...721-4580 Excel Development...632-7149 OTR Community Housing...381-1171 Tender Mercies...721-8666 Tom Geiger House...961-4555 Dana Transitional Bridge Services Inc. ...751-0643 Volunteers of America...381-1954 Food Lord’s Pantry...621-5300 OTR/Walnut Hills Soup Kitchen & Pantry..961-1983 Our Daily Bread...621-6364 St. Francis Soup Kitchen...535-2719 Treatment: Men Charlie’s 3/4 House...784-1853 DIC Live In Program...721-0643 Prospect House...921-1613 Oral Health Council...621-0248 PATH Outreach...977-4489 Health Center for Respite Care ...621-1868 Cincinnati Health Network ...961-0600 Crossroad Health Center ...381-2247 Hamilton county Mental Health Board...946-8600 Hamilton County TB Control ...946-7628 Health Resource Center ...357-4602 Homeless Mobile Health Van...352-2902 McMicken Dental Clinic...352-6363 Mental Health Access Point...558-8888 Mercy Franciscan at St. John...981-5800 NAMI of Hamilton County..458-6670 Resources Catholic Social Services...241-7745 Center for Independent Living Options...241-2600 Churches Active in Northside...591-2246 Emmanuel Community Center...241-2563 FreeStore/FoodBank...241-1064 Franciscan Haircuts from the Heart...381-0111 Goodwill industries...771-4800 Healing Connections...751-0600 Madisonville Education & Assistance Center...2715501 Mary Magdalen House...721-4811 People Working Cooperatively...351-7921 St. Vincent de Paul...562-8841 The Caring Place...631-1114 United Way...721-7900 Women Helping Women...977-5541 Northern Kentucky Brighton Center...859-491-8303 ECHO/Hosea House...859-261-5857 Fairhaven Resuce Mission...859-491-1027 Homeward Bound Youth...859-581-1111 Mathews House...859-261-8009 NKY Homeless & Housing Coalition...859-727-0926 Parish Kitchen...859-581-7745 Pike St. Clinic...859-291-9321 Transitions, Inc...859-491-4435 Welcome House of NKY...859-431-8717 Women’s Crisis Center...859-491-3335 VA Domiciliary...859-559-5011 VA Homeless...859-572-6226 Hamilton/Middletown St. Raephaels...863-3184 Salvation Army...863-1445 Serenity House Day Center...422-8555 Open Door Pantry...868-3276 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 2008 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Newspaper Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource October 2008 Subject The topic of the resource Homelessness Description An account of the resource Pg 1: Lots of Choices for the White House Ain’t Gonna Take It Pg 2: The Vibe Pg 3: Eight Minutes Prisoner #1314546 Pg 4: Peaches, Condoms and Understanding Pg 5: Only a Strong Wind Away from Hunger Pg 6: Deal- or No Deal? Pg 7: Lots to Decide Pg 8: Photographs and Artwork Pg 9: Arts & Poetry Pg 10: Hitting Bottom Pg 11: Letter to a Living Nation Pg 12: Lawsuit Continued Pg 13: In a Safe Haven The Homeless Con Pg 14: When Personal Responsibility Becomes Abusive Pg 15: Homeless Hero Pg 16: Resource Guide Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Streetvibes Archive Project Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Streetvibes Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource October 2008 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource PDF Alyssa Konermann Andrew Anderson Andrew Freeze Angela Pancella Anthony Williams Arts & Poetry Barack Obama Bill Haigh city council Don Henry FreeStore Foodbank Georgine Getty Gregory Flannery Jimmy Heath Joe Wessels Julia Przybysz Larry Gross Lawsuit Lew Moores Lynne Ausman Margo Pierce Michael Henson Patricia Garry Peggy Joseph Photography President Social Services Stephanie Dunlap Steve Gibbs Steve Novotni Steve Sunderland Thomas A. Dutton Voting White House https://streetvibesarchive.net/files/original/f2641fd0dd68d21d26e84eee6bad287c.pdf eb71476728569eeb94d004fa708c8f7e PDF Text Text Writing Their Way p.4 Addict’s Almanac p.12 Check out the Streetvibes blog @ streetvibes. wordpress.com STREETVIBES $1 S e p t e m b e r 2 0 0 8 • I s s u e 1 4 6 • C i n c i n n a t i ’s A l t e r n a t i v e N e w s S o u r c e A Sweeping Change No Place to Lay Their Heads Police and homeless advocates work together By Andrew Freeze Staff Writer ive years after the Cincinnati Police, the mayor, the Ohio Department of Transportation and Downtown Cincinnati Inc. developed a plan to remove homeless camps from underneath downtown bridges, both police and advocates for the homeless say the plan is working – and helping homeless people. At issue was the right of people to sleep in public places, as well as a city ordinance requiring registration of panhandlers. A lawsuit filed by Don Henry, a homeless For more man sleepbackground on the bridge ing under sweeps, check out a bridge cincihomeless.org in 2003, and look under helped to “In the News” change police policy for sweeping homeless camps and eliminated the registration of panhandlers. F Survey counts homeless outdoors In the five years since, relations between the police and homeless advocates have im- By Gregory Flannery Editor “Police contact me when they run into someone needing services downtown. They try not to arrest or ticket them, and allow me and other outreach workers to help them.” - Chico A Lockhart, outreach worker proved. “Before the sweeps took place, police officers would find a camp and decide to clear it out,” says Sgt. Steve Saunders, neighborhood liaison for District One. “They would bring in a crew from the jail to clean out the encampments under bridges so there was less blight and people would not crash their cars while looking at the homeless encampments.” Don Henry speaks to reporters during the bridge sweeps in the summer of 2003. As a result of his lawsuit, police policies changed and the city’s panhandling registration was dropped. Photo by Jimmy Heath. In December 2003, in response to Henry’s lawsuit, police changed the policy to “allow 72 hours notice of trespass prior to arrest and removal of personal possessions from a homeless encampment, provided the homeless person properly identifies himself (or herself), is not violating any other laws, and exigent circumstances do not exist.” “This policy also led to better communication between social service agencies and See SWEEPS p.6 The Best Justice You Can Afford By Gregory Flannery Editor hese are signs that don’t inspire confidence in an attorney: You have to empty your pockets when you get to her office. She doesn’t have a room for a private conversation. She doesn’t have her own computer. She doesn’t have enough filing cabinets. She plans to spend less than two hours on your case, including the trial. That’s what the Hamilton County Public Defender’s Office is like, according to a study by the National Legal Aid and Defender Association (NLADA). The report, Taking Gideon’s Pulse: An Assessment of the Right to Counsel in Hamilton County, Ohio, T Blistering report on public defender ’s office concludes that poor people facing jail are systematically denied the constitutional right to effective legal counsel. “There is little doubt that poor people charged with crimes facing a potential loss of liberty are not afforded the constitutional protections demanded by the United States Constitution,” the report says. “However, NLADA finds that the majority of the responsibility for this failure lies with the state of Ohio and not with Hamilton County.” If that conclusion – poor people get screwed -- isn’t so surprising, some of the details are. That welcome feeling The problems start the moment a client walks in the door. The public defender’s office is in the same building downtown as the county prosecutor’s office. “Defendants, defense attorneys, prosecutors, victims, and witnesses should not be confined together in the small spaces of entry ways and elevators, and public defender clients should not pass through metal detectors manned by law enforcement to meet with their attorneys,” the report says. Conditions in the office itself are inadequate, NLADA man sitting at Seventh and Broadway at 5:45 a.m. says he isn’t homeless. He doesn’t want to answer questions from a social worker. “I draw a good income,” he says. “I ain’t homeless. I don’t want to sign no papers.” Brad Roberts, an outreach worker with Projects, Assistance and Transitions from Homelessness (PATH) says he has no papers that need signing, just a few questions for a survey. “I draw a good income,” the man says. Then he asks for change. Roberts gives him a peanut butter and jelly sandwich instead. “I ain’t trying to be rude,” the man says. “I draw a good income. It’s a long story why I’m homeless.” The quarterly homeless survey by social-service agencies is a kind of downtown scavenger hunt – that is, a hunt for people reduced to scaveng- “It’s hard to get a good night’s sleep. The cops heckle them all night. The business people come in the morning and heckle them. I try to respect their space.” - Brad Roberts, found. “The physical layout of the Hamilton County Public Defender’s Office is totally unsuitable for the work that needs to be done on behalf of clients,” the report says. “Public-defender misdemeanor staff sits in cubicles within a single large room. The office layout does not allow for confidential conversation with a client or witness or prosecutor. This forces many attorneys to speak with clients in the courtroom instead of in advance of a court date.” The issue isn’t esthetic – it’s a matter of justice denied, ing for a place to sleep outdoors. Participants spread out at 4 a.m. Aug. 27, visiting the banks of the Ohio River, parking garages, benches and other places for people who have no See DEFENDER p.7 See COUNT p.6 outreach worker �2 News Briefs Homeless Man Killed While Sleeping Dayton, OH -- A homeless man died due to bluntforce trauma to the head in Dayton. Floyd E. Drummond, age 57, was found dead Aug. 16 in downtown Dayton. Drummond’s niece says he was hit in the head with a brick while he slept on a bench just off Interstate 75. She says Drummond had gotten into an argument with Kevin Alsup, who is being held on charges of murder and felonious assault. Alsup was scheduled to appear in court Aug. 26. Hospitals Use Homeless in Scheme Los Angeles, CA -- Outrage greeted reports in 2006 that hospitals in the Los Angeles area were dumping homeless patients in Skid Row, an area with a large street population. Now the same hospitals are being charged with fraud and using homeless people as pawns in a financial scam. Federal agents raided three private, for-profit hospitals in the Los Angeles area Aug. 6 and arrested the CEO of City of Angels Medical Center. The scam involved runners who would go to Skid Row and search out people who had Medi-Cal eligibility cards and those with Medicaid. Some people allegedly received medical treatment, whether they needed it or not. Residents of Skid Row said the practice was common and some individuals were able to make $150 to $200 if they were picked up. (Information compiled from The New York Times and San Francisco Gate) Teens accused of killing homeless man Pontiac, MI -- Three teenagers, ages 14 and 15, are suspects in the death of a homeless man. Police say the trio beat to death Wilford “Frenchie” Hamilton. The 61-year-old man died Aug. 26 of internal injuries, police said. Hamilton underwent surgery for wounds to the face and head and was on life support before he died. The teenagers who allegedly killed him also face charges for other assaults, including a 65-year-old man found unconscious from a beating. After surgery he was in critical condition. (Information compiled from The Detroit News) The Vibe Streetwise By Gregory Flannery My Big Fat Arrest The night before the jury reached the verdict in our trial over a peace protest, I spoke with a young man headed for Iraq. He didn’t want to go. In fact, he’d gone AWOL rather than fight in Iraq. But now he was going. A year and a half later, my fellow protesters and I have finally lost our legal struggle. My young friend has fared far worse: He lost his eye and other bits of flesh to a roadside bomb. He’s still physically recovering. The recovery that happens within the heart and mind will likely take much longer. In September 2006 seven people plopped their asses in U.S. Rep. Steve Chabot’s office and refused to move unless he agreed to sign the Declaration of Peace. We were part of a nationwide series of rallies, petitions, marches and civil disobedience. The local effort was coordinated by the InterCommunity Justice and Peace Center. While inside, we received moral support -- and snacks! -- from people opposed to the war. Over the past two years a whole team of volunteer lawyers has donated hundreds of hours to represent and advocate for us. Chabot didn’t sign the Declaration of Peace. For seven hours we sang about peace and justice and read aloud the names of American invaders and Iraqi citizens killed in the war. After we repeatedly refused invitations to leave, dozens of police officers swarmed into Chabot’s office. Some were in masks, some in riot gear. They were grossly overdressed: They had come to arrest two 15-year-old girls, a 78-year-old nun, a minister in clerical garb, a young woman working as a community organizer, an acclaimed documentary filmmaker and a fat news editor. It’s Right to Annoy the State Our trial on a misdemeanor charge of criminal trespassing stretched over six days. We tried to put Chabot on the witness stand; we failed. We tried to put former U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on the witness stand; we failed. We tried to convince the jury to convict the war instead of us; we failed. We tried to convince a three-judge appeals court to overturn the conviction; we failed. We tried to get the Ohio Supreme Court to overturn it; we failed. What we achieved is this. We made people think about the war – Chabot, his staff, the police officers, the jury, judges, newspaper readers, TV and radio audiences. The invasion and occupation of Iraq is too seldom on our minds. We find it too easy not to think of the slaughter being waged in our names, with our money. To the extent that we caused inconvenience with our little protest and the long legal struggle that followed, I’m glad. It is sometimes useful to slow down the forces of order. With a little imagination, anyone can take little steps to impede or at least discourage the process of making war: Next time you’re in a post office, pick up a few dozen Selective Service registration cards. Take them home and fill them out, registering Donald Duck and the Bush twins for the draft. Or simply recycle the registration cards. Encourage your neighbors to do the same. Make it just a little bit harder for the state to fight future wars. The reason the war in Iraq has lasted so long and so many have died is very simple: We, the people, have let it happen. If it’s going to stop, we, the people, will have to make that happen. The Curriculum is Deadly The military is still looking for more people to kill Iraqis. The latest initiative is the Army Preparatory School. This is an opportunity for people who dropped out of high school to earn their general equivalency diplomas. The good news is the federal government seems finally to being taking seriously the need for more funding for education. The bad news is that those who receive their GEDS at the Army Preparatory School move on to basic combat training. This is, of course, merely a variation on old practices: It is always the poor who do the bulk of the killing and dying in war. And don’t believe that crap about it being a volunteer military because there is no draft in effect. Serving in the U.S. military is voluntary only until you take the oath. Once you’re in, there’s nothing voluntary about it. Ask the hundreds of deserters who have fled to Canada rather than go back to Iraq. Ask my young friend with the missing eye. STREETVIBES September 2008 Streetvibes is a newspaper that provides relevant discussions of homelessness, poverty and other related social justice issues. It is published monthly by the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless. Address: 117 East 12th Street Cincinnati, OH 45202 Phone: 513.421.7803 x 12 Fax: 513.421.7813 Email: streetvibes2@ yahoo.com Website: www. cincihomeless.org Blog: streetvibes. wordpress.com Streetvibes Staff Editor Gregory Flannery Contributing Writers Margo Pierce, Angela Pancella, Andrew Freeze, Michael Henson, Stephanie Dunlap, Larry Gross, Steve Sunderland, Antonio Hodge, Bill Haigh, Mack Russell, Tye Doudy, JP Gritton Photography/Artwork Andrew Anderson, Andrew Freeze, Anthony Williams, Jimmy Heath, Lonnel, DJ Advisory Committee Joe Wessels, Steve Novotni, Andrew Freeze, Georgine Getty, Michael Henson, Stephanie Dunlap, Steve Gibbs The Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. Programs include Streetvibes, “Voice of the Homeless” Speaker’s Bureau, Cincinnati Urban Experience (CUE), Homeless Curriculum, and Homeless Civil Rights Organizing Project. All donations support these programs and are taxdeductible to the full extent of the law. We are members of: �STREETVIBES September 2008 Community News Eight Minutes with a Screamer 3 Many people work hard to make a difference for the less privileged in Greater Cincinnati. “Eight Minutes” is an effort to learn who they are and what motivates them. Below: “We will conquer, we will rule” print by Saad Ghosn. Provided by Saad Ghosn. Saad Ghosn screams his political and social concerns for all to see By Margo Pierce Contributing Writer ometimes you just want to scream. Whether out of frustration or anger or something else, the pressure of the desperation you feel craves a release. It no longer matters if screaming is rude or might upset others – you just have to do it. That is the essence of the woodcut exhibit by artist Saad Ghosn, now on display at Clay Street Press Gallery in Over-The-Rhine. “I really felt like there were so many things that needed to be said, things that were going wrong, things that I disagreed with,” Ghosn says. “I really felt like I wanted to shout certain things. I felt by screaming what I believe, I would be heard, I would make a statement.” His statement is in the form of woodcuts: images made by applying black ink to a piece of wood carved to create a picture, then pressing it against white paper, leaving a stark image. The details can be simple, almost childlike drawings, or detailed and sophisticated. This contrast can be as fascinating as it is confusing, an apt description of the themes portrayed by the artist. “Where I am coming from is not really only me; it’s values oriented,” Ghosn says. “Freedom, democracy, profiling, destruction of religion at the purpose of politics, use of power to solve issues, imposing peace on individuals even if it’s a peace not really based on justice, using force to bully, sanctioning corporations at the expense of the individuals, the illusion of being free while in reality we’re living with a lack of freedom because of the lack of basic human rights and values –- all of these are really important values that transpire in every one of my drawings.” In Ode to Freedom, 11 figures are contained in boxes –- standing, kneeling, crouching, sitting –- surrounded by S barbed wire against a backdrop of chain-link fence. This isolation is individualism at the expense of human community, Ghosn says. “It comes back (to where) our society and where our culture is going,” he says. “Frequently the connectedness is going away. There is more isolation of the individual by many things, not only by politics but also by the increasing values in the society which are really based on individual achievement, individual success. “You can really see this going on a lot in society coming from a culture that is much more tribal, much more grouporiented. It’s very much like an individual builds barriers around himself or herself because society demands it. “You end up being trapped. Yes, you want to succeed, you want to live well, you want to be self-sufficient and individual but this by itself isolates you and takes you away from your essence … what you really as a human being aspire to, which is much more connectedness. Materialism prevails and, yes, you become kind of a prisoner of it.” His upbringing in Lebanon included a focus on relation- ships “where the values (are) based on the connectedness to others.” “All the time to care for the other, this was really the most important thing,” he says. “My “...I would really like people to scream like me about these issues: ‘Enough is enough! Don’t hijack good values to serve your self-interest.’ ” parents never raised me to, ‘You need to achieve this. You need to make money.’ They all the time said, ‘You need to be kind. You need to protect the others.’ If there was a person who was mentally deranged, this was the first person all the time you need to respect and care for.” In addition to being director of pathology and laboratory medicine service at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center and a professor at the University of Cincinnati, Ghosn is a grassroots activist. He’s a fixture in the peace activities led by the Intercommunity Justice and Peace Center, and he provides an outlet for artists to express their political views in their work through the annual S.O.S. (Save Our Souls) art exhibition he founded. Politics is something that bothers Ghosn enough to make him want to scream. “In the name of freedom, in the name of democracy, we are really eliminating a lot of people’s human rights and destroying democracy and freedom and religions, and I would really like people to scream like me about these issues: ‘Enough is enough! Don’t hijack good values to serve your self-interest.’ ” In the print we will conquer we will rule, a massive boot bearing the words “New world order,” “We will rule,” “With us or against us” and other volatile phrases is surrounded by a field of human heads -- faces under the sole and skulls above it. Ghosn says his work is intended to illustrate positive alternatives. One is spirituality. “There is one particular writing that comes back that really has a different connection,” he says. “I use frequently ‘La ilaha illallah,’ which is, ‘There is no God but Allah,” which is the slogan of Islam. But for me, I use it in many ways. “I use it because it’s Ara- bic, so it’s my background. It’s spiritual, religious. ‘There is no God but one God’ is a uniting … theme of many religions. I don’t want to make a distinction between Muslim and Christian. I use it when it comes to spirituality, when it comes to values. Christian versus Muslim versus Jews versus Buddhists -- it doesn’t really make a difference.” Ghosn is a Christian but his complexion and accent are more likely to be used to define him than anything else. “With the profiling, especially after 9/11 and up to now, we do not value people by who they are but frequently we make quick judgments about what they look like and what they may be,” he says. “It’s not limited to Arabs. It can easily be black, women, Hispanic, religious –- it can be anything.” That is one of the many things Ghosn would like to see change -- and why he’ll keep screaming. To view Scream, which runs through Sept. 13, visit the Clay Street Press Gallery from 10 a.m.– 4 p.m. Saturdays. To schedule a weekday visit, call 513-2413232. �4 Community News Writing Their Way STREETVIBES September 2008 Homeless teens take up camera and pen By Stephanie Dunlap Contributing Writer When Melody Smith was 15, her family was evicted, and their occasional brushes with homelessness turned full-time. So she wrote. Writing was healthy therapy “for someone who couldn’t afford any other form of therapy,” she says. In 1996 writing became Smith’s ticket out of poverty and homelessness when she won a real life essay contest for YM teen magazine. “That was the first time that even my friends knew I was homeless,” she says. “Writing actually got me not homeless anymore.” Morning shows interviewed her. The teachers and other students at school grew protective of her. Smith wrote more essays and won scholarships to college. Now 28, living in Northside and working in marketing and graphic design, Smith looked at the teens’ transitional home across her street and saw a repository for what some of her neighbors seemed to consider lost causes. Transplanted lost causes, no less -- out-of-town teens shuttled to Cincinnati, getting into trouble, getting themselves arrested. “There’s a lot of disgruntled neighbors here in Northside,” Smith says. “I guess for some people it can feel like they’re not even Cincinnatians, so why are they here?” Instead of lost causes, Smith saw young people in need of the same community support that had made such a difference to her through her own difficult youth. “I want to get to know who these kids are that everyone has decided they don’t like -- find their real personal side and share that through stories,” she says. “I like taking on the cases that no one is willing to take on.” So Smith set out to bring to those young men across her street the same therapeutic art form that had changed the course of her life. She teamed up with InkTank and Project Connect to fashion a joint writing/photography project that she calls “The Clique Click: A Storytelling Project.” According to the project timeline, each week for eight weeks homeless and disenfranchised teens will explore aspects of writing and digital photography. The project culminates in an exhibit of the youths’ work in the Cincinnati Museum Center lobby. InkTank, which is still securing funding for the full project, is a community-based writing collective that brings writing to nontraditional populations. Project Connect works to keep young people experiencing homelessness Melody Smith saw the need for those on the edge to be able to express themselves, so she formed “The Clique Click: Storytelling Project.” Photo by Lonell, participant in the project. Lonell takes pictures of a spider web in Mount Airy Forest as part of “The Clique Click: A Storytelling Project.” This photo was taken by DJ, another participant in the writing and photography group. connected to education. Smith and her partner, the project’s photography coach Wil Jones, are now about two-thirds through a scaleddown Clique Click pilot project. Two Dayton teens living in the Northside transitional “I try to tell people you don’t have to be a teacher or be a social worker to change the lives of these kids.” -Melody Smith home have learned to study the world through a camera lens and to record it in journals Smith gave them. Because Streetvibes was unable to get permission to interview the boys by deadline, their names have been changed to TJ and Donnell. They are both juniors in high school. Donnell reported that he’s in the group home because his grandmother didn’t want him anymore, Smith says. Smith and Jones decided that the general theme of the pilot program would be the environment and its impact on self. They discovered early that it was important to pose questions that offered no “yes” or “no” answers but Missed an Issue? Check out the Streetvibes archive at www.cincihomeless.org/content/ streetvibes had enough direction to focus the youths’ budding creativity. Channeling this creativity is the key to reaching so-called “lost causes,” Smith says. “Kids are not going to stop creating, they are just going to create in ways that are unhealthy,” she says. “They are not going to stop wanting to belong, they will just find a different alternative to belonging.” That’s why, in addition to the Clique Click project, Smith tries to connect troubled youth to as many healthy adults as she can. She introduced TJ and Donnell to the people at the McKie Recreation Center. She set them up with people who work in construction and auto maintenance, two fields that interested the youth. Before moving to the forprofit sector, Smith was a caseworker for juveniles on probation. She decided she could do more good if she volunteered her time, so there would be no question of her motives. In addition to Click Clique, Smith has started a Northside adults’ writing group and is organizing a mentoring program for youth. “I try to tell people you don’t have to be a teacher or be a social worker to change the lives of these kids,” she says. “And you don’t have to do it full-time.” The teens’ first Clique Click project outing was to Mt. Airy Forest. Jones gave the youth a lesson in camera operation and composition and set them loose. “The main thing that stands out is the picture of the spider web,” Jones says. “(Donnell) really stayed until he got the shot he wanted, and it really paid off. I think it was good for him to see that, even though it took a lot of time, it was worth the effort.” Smith and Jones quickly realized they’d have to recruit a number of adults for the fullsize group because their individual attention was so important to the youth. “After every single picture, they want to show you the back of the camera,” Smith says. Donnell took immediately to the camera but TJ struggled. That’s how they learned that TJ needed new glasses. He is still waiting for his eye exam. Later TJ wrote about where rivers once flowed, while Donnell wrote about a nameless boy who fell from the sky and got hurt. In Donnell’s story, a man picked the hurt boy up, said, “That’s my son,” and held him. Only purchase Streetvibes from BADGED vendors. Vendors wear their WHITE badges while they sell the paper. �STREETVIBES September 2008 Local News 5 Day Laborers Counting on Council’s Promise Organizers want reforms in Rumpke deal By Gregory Flannery Editor he end of summer finds the Day Labor Organizing Project (DLOP) with a handful of hard-won successes and a pair of political frustrations. Day laborers working for TLC, a temporary-employment agency, no longer have to pay for the use of vests, hard hats, gloves, goggles and other safety equipment at Rumpke Recycling, according to Elizabeth Byrd, a volunteer with the Cincinnati Interfaith Workers Center. TLC has stopped charging day laborers for rides to Rumpke. Although TLC charges $3.50 for a ride after work, that is now optional, instead of workers being required to use – and pay for – the company’s transportation, Byrd says. Third-shift workers are now receiving their paychecks at 6:45 a.m., instead of having to wait until 9 a.m. DLOP, a project of the Interfaith Workers Center and the Greater Cincinnati T Coalition for the Homeless, also succeeded in getting a promise of future support from Cincinnati City Council. Councilwoman Roxanne Qualls sponsored a motion earlier this year that requires the city’s future contract with Rumpke to include compliance with Cincinnati’s living-wage ordinance. TLC pays day laborers at Rumpke $7 an hour, Byrd says. The city’s living wage is now $10.70 an hour for jobs that don’t provide health insurance. While glad that council passed the motion, Byrd is apprehensive about its resolve. The city’s contract with Rumpke is up for renegotiation next year. “We suspect the city will cave,” she says. “I suspect we’ll have a fight on our hands.” Byrd’s skepticism is the result of two earlier proposals that seemed to have city council’s backing, but never went to a vote. The first was a proposal to regulate day-labor halls, forbidding charges for safety equipment and mandating other A D V E R T I S E M E N T Interested in Leading Street Newspapers Across the US & Canada? The North American Street Newspaper Association (NASNA) is seeking its first executive director who will lead efforts to strengthen and develop street papers. This new position will be located in Washington, DC and pay $36,000 annually, plus benefits. NASNA is a grassroots association of 25 street newspapers in the United States and Canada that work to raise awareness about poverty issues, while empowering homeless individuals with an income and a voice. For more information visit www.nasna.org or e-mail streetnewspapers@gmail.com. reforms. “We had for over two years worked to get city council to develop an ordinance regulating day-labor halls,” Byrd says. “Quite a lot of energy went into it.” Following a review by the city solicitor’s office, “We suspect the city will cave. I suspect we’ll have a fight on our hands.” - Elizabeth Byrd however, the proposed ordinance died. DLOP worked to get council to approve a milder measure, establishing accreditation standards for day-labor halls in the city. “The same thing happened,” Byrd says. “It got drafted, everybody loved it. It went to the city solicitor and got killed.” There’s another reason organizers are less than jubilant over council’s promise to add living-wage compliance to the next contract with Rumpke. The law already applies to the recycling contract, but the city refuses to enforce it, according to Don Sherman, director of the Interfaith Workers Center. The living-wage ordinance applies to companies and sub-contractors with contracts of $20,000 or more with the city. Rumpke’s contract with the city is for $2.1 million. But the city’s Office of Contract Compliance rejected a complaint by DLOP and the Interfaith Workers Center. The office concluded that the livingwage law doesn’t apply because day laborers don’t sort recyclable material as defined in the contract, but rather “pre-sort” it. “The Contract Compliance Office somehow decided these workers weren’t separating and sorting these materials,” Sherman says. “They didn’t give us a breakdown of why the living-wage ordinance didn’t apply. I’ve been a lawyer, and I was really dumbfounded. Basically it was a political decision. It certainly wasn’t framed in a legal argument that explains why the ordinance doesn’t apply.” DLOP has also been hampered by the effect of high turnover in the ranks of day laborers and workers’ fear of reprisals if they complain about working conditions, Byrd says. “Things have been very quiet,” she says. “After our big push, worker involvement dropped to none. The advocates felt we could not safely move forward without worker involvement, because we risked firings. We don’t want workers to lose their jobs, even if they’re bad jobs. We’ve had to step back from some of the ongoing in-your-face stuff, unfortunately. We hope to pick that back up.” DLOP is organizing a survey to see if the city’s living-wage ordinance is being applied at other companies with city contracts. “That’s a really exciting campaign, but we’re going to need a lot of help,” Byrd says. To contact DLOP, call 513-621-5991. Looking Out for the Neighbors Drop Inn Center adds arrest policy By Andrew Freeze Staff Writer In an effort to work more closely with neighbors, the Drop Inn Center has added a new behavioral expectation for those who stay at the emergency shelter. The “three strike” policy affects residents who are arrested within 500 feet of the center. The first time a resident of the Drop Inn Center is arrested within that zone, he or she will receive a warning from the shelter staff. After a second arrest, the resident will receive a warning and counseling. After a third arrest near the shelter, the person will be barred. “We hope to stop a behavior before it starts,” says Pat Clifford, executive director of the center. Each month the Cincinnati Police Department will provide a list to the Drop Inn Center about suspects who have been arrested within 500 feet. During July, the first month of the new policy, po- lice arrested 126 people within 500 feet of the Drop. 24 people who were arrested, had stayed at the Drop Inn Center during July. 55% of those arrested with the 500-foot zone had never stayed at the Drop Inn Center and 26% of the arrested had stayed at the Drop before but not in the month of July. That number accounts for only 19 percent of the arrests in the area, according to Clifford. “With 500–600 people staying at the Drop each month, 24 does not account for the majority of arrests in or around Washington Park,” he says. Clifford says the new policy is meant to help residents improve their lives. “We are for Washington Park remaining a public park and for the Drop Inn Center to remain in Over-the-Rhine,” he says. “A public park has public expectations. Before, negative behaviors were just accepted by the Drop, the police and Music Hall. We are now working together to help people.” Many of the people arrested around the Drop Inn Center are charged with nuisance or “quality of life” crimes such as loitering, public indecency due to public urination, open flask charges, littering charges, and trespassing charges. “Arresting people for nuisance crimes does not change a person’s behavior,” Clifford says. “But working together with the Cincinnati Police Department and the neighbors of the Drop Inn Center, we can help people improve their lives.” William Ross-Bey, a resident at the Drop Inn Center in late August, says the new policy doesn’t bother him. “You can’t arrest me,” he says. “I don’t smoke or drink.” He and Clifford say most of the shelter’s residents have taken the new policy in stride. “Most residents are for it because they don’t identify themselves as the problem,” Clifford says. �STREETVIBES September 2008 The Jump 6 A Sweeping Change, continued from p.1 the police,” Saunders says. Georgine Getty, executive director of the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless, agrees. “The bridge sweeps and the ensuing lawsuit brought us all to the table, and we started talking with each other along with the downtown business community, city officials and homeless people,” she says. “More communication is always a step in the right direction.” The new working relationship not only provides a way for the city to eliminate the camps without violating homeless people’s rights; it also provides opportunities to help them. “Providing the extra notice allows outreach workers to be contacted and helps people get connected with services before they are forced to move,” Saunders says. A home for Charlie An indirect result of the 2003 bridge sweeps was the formation of the Homeless Outreach Group (HOG), which provides a way for outreach workers to work together to get people off the streets and into housing. The police now notify HOG of an impending sweep, providing an opportunity to engage clients sleeping under bridges. Arnita Miller, an outreach worker with the PATH team, works with clients who have severe mental illness and substance abusers. “Before, we had no communication with the police Sgt. Steve Saunders, a neighborhood liaison for the Cincinnati Police Department, now works closely with homeless advocates and outreach workers to help homeless people move off the streets. Photo by Andrew Anderson. and no way of knowing what bridge camp was going to be “We have 1,100 shelter beds that are full every night but at least 1,300 homeless people nightly. I believe people have the right to be in public space...” Georgine Getty, executive director of GCCH swept next,” she says. “Now we have a good relationship with the community police officers. They let us know by e-mail if there is going to be a sweep, which allows us to engage those under the bridges in services.” Chico Lockhart is outreach coordinator for Downtown Cincinnati Inc. “Police contact me when they run into someone needing services downtown,” he says. “They try not to arrest or ticket them, and allow me and other outreach workers to help them.” Getty, a critic of the city’s old policy, applauds the cooperation of the police. “We have developed a strong relationship with District One,” she says. “We have realized that no one wants to be arresting homeless people for homeless issues such as open container and loitering. The police have been willing partners in finding alternative to arresting people. The outreach worker provided by DCI and other outreach workers have gone a long way to working with police to help Count, continued from p.1 place to go. Two people are sleeping on benches outside the Tower Place Garage. A woman sits bent over, the purse resting on her knees serving as a pillow. A man on a nearby bench is prone, a jacket over his head. Roberts makes some notes but doesn’t talk to him. “I just didn’t want to wake him up,” Roberts says. “It’s hard to get a good night’s sleep. The cops heckle them all night. The business people come in the morning and heckle them. I try to respect their space.” The survey team goes to the 10th floor of the parking garage and walks each floor, searching. When they return outside, the man on the bench is awake. The man tells Roberts he is 57 and a military veteran. “He said the main cause of his homelessness is lack of a job, and the reason he doesn’t “He said the main cause of his homelessness is lack of a job, and the reason he doesn’t have a job is because he got sick and couldn’t work.” 57 year old man sleeping outside parking garage have a job is because he got sick and couldn’t work,” Roberts says. “I think he’s mentally ill. I think that’s the illness.” At 5:30 a.m. a man is asleep on the sidewalk in front of the TJ Maxx store on West Fourth Street. A blanket covers him; his shoes are on the ground next to his head. A man nearby has a cardboard box and an open Bible on the bench where he’s resting. Roberts tries to talk to him, but the man violently shakes his head, bellowing a guttural concatenation of syllables that sound like an angry version of speaking in tongues. Roberts knows the man. “He’s religiously fixated,” Roberts says. The porch surrounding St. Peter in Chains Cathedral is surprisingly vacant at 5:40 a.m. “They’re usually lined up all the way down both sides, sleeping,” Roberts says. Timing might be the key, according to Lynne Ausman, administrative coordinator for move people off the street and into housing.” In fact, more outreach, rather than tougher enforcement, is what police want. “Hopefully DCI will continue to keep their outreach program,” Saunders says. “I see the biggest need is more outreach workers.” Saunders talks about a man named Charlie who was sleeping under a bridge at Fort Washington Way. The police posted signs in the area, warning those camping there that they had to move. The police talked to Charlie and encouraged him to get connected with PATH, an agency that helps homeless people. Staffers from PATH met him at the bridge and got him into Tender Mercies, which provides housing for people with mental illness. “Now Charlie is able to thrive, not just survive,” Saunders says. Other cities have noticed how effectively the police and homeless advocates are working together in Cincinnati and are working on creating similar policies in their own cities, Saunders says. ‘People need help’ While everyone agrees that communication has been instrumental in connecting people sleeping outside to services, all agree it’s not a perfect system. “We don’t want to sweep them, but we do have to enforce local and state ordinances,” Saunders says. “We handle camps on a complaint by complaint basis. We need the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless. On a previous survey, she found the cathedral porch full of homeless people. “They were all getting up and moving; that was about 4:00 or 4:15,” she says. “I’ll make a note that we should come here first next time.” The survey involved about two dozen people from the Homeless Coalition, PATH, the Drop Inn Center, Caracole, Lighthouse Youth Services, the FreeStore FoodBank and other social-service agencies. The questions for the survey include the length of time a person has been homeless, the cause and any special needs. Davetta Lewis, a clientsupport specialist for Caracole, which serves people who have HIV/AIDS, marvels at something a teacher told her in psychology class: Homeless people want to be homeless. more beds and more outreach. A possible solution is public campgrounds where people who are homeless can pitch tents and sleep legally outside.” The larger question of why so many people have to sleep outdoors – and why it’s banned -- remains unanswered, Getty says. “The age-old question about homelessness is who owns the right to public space,” she says. “We have 1,100 shelter beds that are full every night but at least 1,300 homeless people nightly. I believe people have the right to be in public space. Downtown businesses and residents often differ. Ultimately what we need is safe, affordable housing for all city residents. The ‘housing first’ model by Over-theRhine Community Housing is a great first step in the right direction (see “Million Dollar Baby,” edition of Aug. 1). Five years after the controversy, downtown business owners are more likely to see the problem differently, Lockhart says. “Businesses are coming around and understanding that people need help,” he says. Miller says the changes in the past five years are a good start. “The community police officers do a great job,” she says. “Most clients in the camps know them. The community needs a better understanding: If they really want to improve anything, it is to understand what people’s needs are. We need housing, and we need good-paying jobs.” “I was kind of offended,” Lewis says. “Everybody has choices, but I’m pretty sure most people don’t choose to be homeless. A lot of working poor are half a paycheck away from being homeless. Georgine Getty, executive director of the Homeless Coalition, describes a couple she found sleeping at Government Square – a 20-year-old woman and a 28-year-old man. They lost their apartment to fire. “They parked their child somewhere,” she says. “They’ve been homeless for two weeks.” There are no shelters for unmarried couples in Cincinnati. “They want to stay together,” Getty says. “They were huddled up like kittens. Her head was resting on his back. It was so sweet.” Some choice: the bench or the riverbank. �STREETVIBES September 2008 Local News 7 Defenders, continued from p.1 according to Bill Gallagher, a Cincinnati civil rights attorney and chair of the Indigent Defense Committee of the Ohio Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. “When they’re under-funded, they can’t do their jobs properly,” Gallagher says. “When they can’t do their jobs properly, we end up with people staying in prison longer than necessary. We have innocent people being convicted. We have people in the Justice Center longer because their lawyers can’t get over to visit them.” The caseload for staff attorneys is more than double that recommended by national standards. “Using caseload numbers that we know to be underrepresentative, the Hamilton County misdemeanor staff attorneys are handling almost two-and-a-half times the maximum caseload recommended by nationally recognized and accepted standards,” the NLADA report says. “This equates to 30 attorney positions handling the work of 74 attorneys. “As troublesome as an excessive workload is on an attorney who must handle more than double the number of cases recommended by national workload standards, the true outcome measure of work overload is the tangible effect it has on clients. In Hamilton County, the workload means that on average a public defender can spend only one hour and 42 minutes per misdemeanor case (including trials).” For juveniles dependent on public defenders, the prospect is even more bleak. The public defender’s office uses the juvenile court as a training ground; from there attorneys move on to Hamilton County Municipal Court. But juvenile court can lock kids up much longer than municipal court does. “The Hamilton County Public Defender Office uses the Juvenile Unit as a training ground for staff attorneys who then ‘move up’ to adult misdemeanor practice,” the NLADA report says. “This is unwise. There are many more serious and life-impacting cases with direct and collateral consequences filed in the delinquency court than in the municipal court. Juvenile Unit attorneys handle serious felony acts that may result in several years’ incarceration under the jurisdiction of the Ohio Department of Youth Services.” ‘Keep the judges happy’ The person who holds the official title of Hamilton Coun- “...the complaints were not that the attorneys were incompetent, but rather that they were filing too many motions or trying too many jury trials or otherwise too vigorous in their representation.” ty Public Defender is Louis F. Strigari. NLADA’s report is not kind to Strigari, even while acknowledging that he is “a dedicated father-like figure … (who) is extremely well-liked in the Hamilton County legal community and is a kind, thoughtful man who cares deeply about indigent defense and has held a longterm, broad vision for the provision of counsel to the poor.” Strigari scheduled an interview with Streetvibes to discuss the report but missed the appointment. Subsequent efforts to reach him by phone were unsuccessful. NLADA’s report is based on interviews with more than 75 assistant public defenders, private attorneys, county officials and judges listed by name -- and “a significant number of additional attorneys who spoke with us but preferred not to give their names.” Strigari, who has been the chief public defender since 1994, is too cozy with judges, according to some of the people NLADA interviewed. “Critics of Mr. Strigari’s leadership claim that he is too beholden to the Hamilton County judiciary and unwilling or unable to rock the boat with the state and county to secure appropriate funding,” the report says. “For example, it appears that the public defender office has been historically strongly motivated to keep the judges happy. This has manifested itself in the chief agreeing to remove specific assigned counsel attorneys from cases at the request of some judges, where the complaints were not that the attorneys were incompetent, but rather that they were filing too many motions or trying too many jury trials or otherwise too vigorous in their rep- resentation. Some assigned counsel attorneys have been admonished not to file too many motions or try too many cases, perceiving that the public defender office might cease appointing them.” Assigned counsel are private attorneys retained by the public defender’s office, which also has staff attorneys. Both are underpaid, NLADED concluded. “In Hamilton County, assigned counsel fees are set at $45 per hour and are also capped at a maximum number of hours based upon the type of case,” the report says. “The rate has not increased since September of 2004. … To the extent that overhead exceeds the $45 per hour rate paid by Hamilton County, then assigned counsel attorneys are literally paying for the privilege of representing the poor.” But it gets worse. Strigari allegedly leans on assigned counsel not to bill the county for all their hours. “We were repeatedly told that Chief Public Defender Strigari contacts the lawyer and cajolingly suggests that it is not practical to submit the bill to the judge in the amount claimed, even when that is the amount of time that was spent … Many told us they receive a suggestion that they should file fewer motions or take fewer cases to trial, and they “The Constitution does not allow for justice to be rationed to the poor due to insufficient funds.” perceived that they would otherwise run the risk of no longer receiving appointed cases.” NLADA recommends a series of reforms to improve the Hamilton County Public Defender’s Office. They do not include a future for the man who now holds the title Hamilton County Public Defender – Lou Strigari. “The present requirements of public defense administration in Hamilton County, however, exceed the leadership qualities that Mr. Strigari can offer,” the report says. ‘No connection’ The problem inevitably reverts to money. In this case, the issue isn’t only how much but also whence it comes. Ohio is one of 20 states that make counties pay most of the cost for public defenders. The National Legal Aid & Defender Assoication released its report about Hamilton County public defenders in July. Moreover, Ohio has cut back on what it does contribute. “The State of Ohio has not only allowed its counties to shoulder the predominant burden for funding the right to counsel, it is one of only two states that are actually going against the national trend toward 100 percent state funding by reducing its reimbursement percentage over the past 30 years,” the NLADA report says. In a brief telephone conversation scheduling an interview that ultimately didn’t happen, Strigari gave a nod to the issue of funding. “We’re doing the work of the Lord – at least that’s the way I look at it,” he said. “We don’t do it for the money, that’s for sure.” While urging the county to press for increases in state funding, NLADA applauded the county’s recent efforts. “Despite these seriousness of the problems detailed throughout the report, NLADA concludes that Hamilton County has demonstrated an emerging commitment to providing constitutionally effective assistance of counsel in recent years,” the report says. “The county has done this through their willingness to candidly assess the strengths and weaknesses of their existing public defense system and by taking positive action on those assessments – most notably in the creation of two new management positions in the Public Defender Office. However, they are not yet providing constitutionally-adequate representation.” Gallagher says reform will take time as well as money, but the public defender’s office can take initiatives now that won’t cost anything. The office has never established a relationship with institutions that could help, he says. Opportunities for collaboration and grants alike have gone unexplored. “There is no connection with the private bar,” Gallagher says. “There is no connection with the bar association. There is no connection with the law schools.” Paying for free lawyers for people accused of crime is no path to political success. It is, however, at the core of the nation’s legal system. “The Constitution does not allow for justice to be rationed to the poor due to insufficient funds,” the NLADA report says. But practical considerations also attend. We can pay now or pay later, according to NLADA. The Hamilton County Public Defender’s Office, it seems, is a lawsuit waiting to happen. “Hamilton County’s policymakers are in the unenviable ‘between a rock and a hard place’ position of having to either fund public defender services at an adequate level (thus threatening the county’s fiscal health) or face expensive systemic class action lawsuits or other costly court action to ensure a meaningful right to counsel for the poor (also threatening its fiscal health)” the report says. �STREETVIBES September 2008 Local News 8 Gated Communities for the Homeless Shelters are full and the underpasses sealed off By Andrew Freeze Staff Writer he summer months typically find fewer people staying at Cincinnati’s homeless shelters – but not this year. The usual seasonal decline can sometimes be attributed to more seasonal jobs, more housing available and people sleeping outside because of the nicer weather. But this year the numbers at many of Cincinnati’s shelters look more like their winter numbers. This worries the people who work with homeless people. The demand for help at St. Francis/St. Joseph Catholic Worker House is unusually high, according to Carl Fields, house manager. “We have 16 beds for men, and August is usually our slowest month; but we have been staying full all summer,” he says. The Catholic Worker House normally has three or four beds available throughout the summer, but not in 2008, Fields says. The Drop Inn Center has also seen a steady rise in the number of “bed nights.” “Our bed-nights count was up 63 percent in June and 60 percent in July, compared to our 2007 numbers,” says Pat Clifford, executive director. Georgine Getty, executive director of the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless, says homeless people have been telling her, “There is a month to a month-and-ahalf wait list to get into the family shelters.” Our Daily Bread, a soup kitchen in Over-the-Rhine, serves a mid-morning meal. There, too, the need for help T has been on the rise. “Our numbers have doubled from two years ago,” says Sister Mary Beth Peters, executive director. “We now serve 14,000 meals, a month, which is about 500 meals a day.” The snapshot in Cincinnati doesn’t match claims last month by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development that homeless has significantly dropped across the country. Clifford, Fields and Peters say the reason for the high numbers could be the weak economy, a lack of seasonal “If you can’t build beds, give (homeless people) a legal place to sleep.” - Sgt. Steve Saunders, Cincinnati Police Department jobs and more people falling into poverty. With Cincinnati’s shelters full most nights, there are still people who sleep outside. In Cincinnati, there is no legal place for people to sleep if they don’t have a home, according to Sgt. Steve Saunders, liaison officer for Cincinnati Police District One. The designation of legal campgrounds for homeless people might help, he says. “If you can’t build beds, give (homeless people) a legal place to sleep,” Saunders says. Compounding the fact that it’s illegal to sleep outside, it’s also getting harder to find shelter outdoors. The Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) has begun installing a series of five fences under various highway overpasses Top: A sign warns campers of the impending fencing at an overpass. Above: Fences have been placed up around underpasses throughout the city at a cost of $15,000. Below: Graph provided by Drop Inn Center. Photos by Andrew Anderson. to keep people from camping there. Chico Lockhart, outreach coordinator for Downtown Cincinnati Inc., says he still sees lots of people sleeping outside and under bridges. He and other case managers work to get them into shelter or housing (see “A Sweeping Change,” page 1). “We want to connect people to services, not put up fences,” Saunders says. But the fences are going up nonetheless. A statement from ODOT says the state is spending $15,000 to put up the fences “for the safety of those who sleep outside.” With shelters full, soup kitchens serving twice as many meals and laws prohibiting people from sleeping outside, Cincinnati is seeing a new kind of housing development: gated communities for the homeless – gated to keep them out. Interested in volunteering your talents with Streetvibes? Contact Gregory Flannery at 513421-7803 x12 �STREETVIBES September 2008 Poetry and Artwork 9 “to be able” On My Journey On my journey, the road has been rough, It has been easy, and it has truly been hard But there have been many lessons. I’ve learned to love, I’ve learned to hate I’ve also learned to appreciate, but most of all I’ve learned who family is. Because what I was taught in the home Didn’t prepare me for the streets. The streets are not what I’ve seen on TV Or what I’ve seen in the movies, The street is real And when one experiences it Only then will you know. I’ve learned to share and embrace those I encounter on my journey. Before I thought family was those I was born to. I was told blood is thicker than water But I found out that love is thicker than blood And that family is not necessarily those you are born to. They are often the people you meet in the street. By Mack L. Russell Looks like you picked up on the signs The mediocrity of which blinds Why truth is only found between the lines The soulless make it so hard so times To be part of that number, no easier kind Of a way or ways to shift, waves that wash me overboard Into the masses of junkies’ divorce From the present, and from the real Into the realm of what we feel The pressures of what it means to deal With dollars and sense, colored suits and pension checks Politics of non-sense, and eons worth of segregated conscience With the bell’s call and the mosquito draw Blood from the veins of our poorest of all Religious cloaks like daggers fall Systemically backstabbing the supposed call Do not sin, paralyze the temptress’s laws Which cite or cites the change, chaos that cast me headlong Into the chasms of soldiers’ pride From the past, and from the fable Into the galaxy of what we label The tenements of what it takes to be able … yes, be able To come to the table And reveal the truths that lay between lines That nothing and no-one is merely a product of the times We are what, what we manifest, than what is life But a test, replete with joy yet rifled with strife No easier kind, of a way or ways To search, than drift downward dastardly to the lowest of lows And than you will know where truth is sewn In the face of your own In your friend’s boisterous tone In the humanity of those struggling all alone By Bill Haigh Cleo’s Joke Corner Do you know the only place that dogs don’t like to go, besides the veterinarian? My granddaughter said, “They do not like to go to the flea market.” To Lucy and Paul Drawing by Anthony Williams Knock, knock. Who’s there? Tijuana. Tijuana who? Tijuana buy a Streetvibes? Why is it hard to get inside a piano? Well, the keys are on the inside. �Column 10 Otis Campbell is Dying They don’t make them like him anymore By Michael Henson Columnist I was looking for air for my tires and Calvin said, “If you tell ’em inside, they’ll turn on the pump for you. It’ll save you 75 cents.” Before I could even go inside, one of the workers at the station was out sweeping, so Calvin had him turn it on for me. I filled my tires and I still had my 75 cents, so I gave it to him. “You might as well have it,” I said. “I was set to pay it out anyway.” He nodded and tucked the coins into a pocket of his coat. I had not seen Calvin in 10 years or more, and the years had not been kind. He used to be a feature in the old East End. They call this part Columbia-Tusculum now, but it’s the old East End just the same. At the time I knew him, Calvin lived in an old wood frame house on a hill above Columbia Parkway. For years, that house was buttressed by long 2x10 props to keep it from tumbling down into the traffic. I asked about it back then. My first impression was that it was an early stage of a renovation project. He laughed, and I didn’t get it. It was all a joke to him. ******** You could see he had once been a handsome man, and you could see in him, still, something of the energy and grace he must have once possessed. His hair was that sandy color that, as it grayed, seemed only to shift tones. His were a frosty blue and glinted when he joked. But his face was a spidery red, and his nose was swollen and there were deep furrows beneath his eyes. His back was bent. He moved real slow. Ten years ago. He was a broken man even then. ******** He made something of a living doing odd jobs around the neighborhood, mostly for the ones who decided the neighborhood’s name was Columbia-Tusculum. It was mostly beer money. He was a regular at the soup kitchen at Seven Hills Neighborhood Services. That program is long gone. I don’t know who feeds the people like Calvin now. I don’t think it’s the people of the condominiums. When I first met Calvin, I had a job in which I tried to reach out to the addicts and alcoholics of the East End and persuade them into treatment. I didn’t have a lot of success. I had better luck with the clients referred by parole or probation. But every now and then it worked. It didn’t work with Calvin. It was all a joke to him. He laughed every time I tried. ******** I recognized Calvin, but I They are, in fact, a dying breed -literally, for the drunk is dying as long as he keeps drinking. But also because there are fewer of the type that just slowly drinks and dies. wasn’t sure he recognized me. He had his hands in his pockets and his face and nose were still swollen and reddened. The deep furrows beneath his eyes had guttered deeper yet. His cheeks sagged like empty sacks. His eyes were still the same frozen blue, but they had a syrupy glaze over them. I asked him, “Do you remember me?” He peered at me through the glaze. “No,” he said. “I don’t reckon I do.” STREETVIBES September 2008 Michael Henson is author of Ransack, A Small Room with Trouble on My Mind, The Tao of Longing and Crow Call. This column is part of a monthly series on poverty and addiction. “I remember you,” I said. “You used to live in a little house up yonder.” I pointed to where I thought the house once stood. I don’t remember if it stood on the knoll with the new condominiums or in the place they hollowed out for the parking lot at Starbuck’s, I waved in the general direction, hoping he would help me out. But he looked away with a nod. We talked for half an hour or more about people who had come and gone from the old East End, some living, some dead, some living sober. ******** One of our most beloved stereotypes is that of the town drunk, the lovable lush. Otis Campbell was good for a great many laughs on the old Andy Griffith Show, and I suppose there are a hundred others. The drunk says funny things and nobody’s hurt. But you know and I know that’s not the way it really is. That old-time drunk can also tell you stories that will break your heart. I recall one old man, a Black man who had been on chain gangs in the old south. He showed me the scars from the chains on his legs and he sang some of the old chain-gang songs and he was happy to share his piece of history. But he was dying just as Calvin is dying, and they all are dying. They are, in fact, a dying breed -- literally, for the drunk is dying as long as he keeps drinking. But also because there are fewer of the type that just slowly drinks and dies. Add some cocaine or Oxy into the mix and they go down faster. The ones like Calvin just drink and slowly die. ******** We talked, as I said, about people come and gone, some living, some dead: Sam who had done so well for awhile. Philip, who got it, but got it too late and died three months sober. And we talked about some living and sober. So I asked him, “Do you want to get some help?” Calvin looked around. He looked up at the hillside where his rickety house used to perch. He looked around at the cars whipping past on Columbia Parkway or nursing at the pumps of the station. “Naw,” he said. “I reckon it’s too late for that.” He didn’t laugh, though. I suppose it’s not a joke for him anymore. The Sign Says, ‘God Bless You’ Its owner says something else By Larry Gross Contributing Writer W hen he got on the bus, I recognized the guy. Oftentimes I’ve seen him downtown on the corner of Seventh and Vine streets with his paper cup and a cardboard sign that says, “Homeless. Please help. God bless you.” Many times I’ve put a buck or two in his cup. It was approaching 10 o’clock at night when he got on the bus heading up Queen City Avenue. I don’t normally take bus rides that late, but I had business downtown that made it necessary to take the No. 6 bus after the sun went down. Why this man was on the bus, I don’t know. What I do know is he was drunk. So did the bus driver. When he got on, he could hardly stand up. He’s a tall, thin man with short blonde hair. He was wearing a white T-shirt and blue jeans. The bus driver was as nice to him as she could be – even when he started to board the bus without paying his fare. “Sir, you need to pay the fare,” she said. He stood there, around the middle of the bus, staggering with his hands in his pockets, looking for change. I wonder why he was drunk. Is it because he’s homeless? Is that what made him so angry? When he found his change, he staggered to the front of the bus, put his coins in the slot and asked for a transfer. When the bus driver gave him the transfer, he continued to stand there. “Sir,” said the bus driver, “you need to sit down.” On shaky legs, he continued to stand. “Sir, I’m not going to move this bus until you sit down.” These words had no effect on the man at all. He continued to stand as though he didn’t know what else to do. A gentleman sitting in one of the seats to the man’s right groaned. “Man, sit down,” he said. “I want to get home.” This woke up the drunken man, who now was suddenly angry. “Don’t talk to me like that, boy!” he said, getting in the other passenger’s face. “I’ve worked hard today.” The drunk man dropped his transfer. He asked the bus driver for another one. “It’s on the floor,” she said. “Just pick it up.” “Give me a goddamn transfer,” he said. “Sir, sit down!” He finally sat in a seat to the left of the passenger who had made him angry. He started to curse at the man and at the bus driver, who wouldn’t give him a new transfer. The bus driver got on her phone and called I find myself now wondering what happens to that money when I place a buck in a paper cup downtown for a person holding up a sign stating he or she is homeless. her supervisor. The drunken man, still with shaky legs, moved to the back of the bus and calmed down. The bus driver got her bus moving again and apologized to the other passenger. She told him her supervisor would meet her at a stop on Werk Road and have the man removed from the bus. I’m thankful I didn’t have to witness that. My stop was before the bus turned on that street. But the events of that ride leave thoughts and questions in my mind. I now wonder if the man is really homeless. He had some- place to go in the western part of town. Was he staying with a friend on that night when he was so drunk? I wonder why he was drunk. Is it because he’s homeless? Is that what made him so angry? Was he taking his anger out on that other passenger because that other passenger had a home to go to? I find myself now wondering what happens to that money when I place a buck in a paper cup downtown for a person holding up a sign stating he or she is homeless. I suppose it’s not any of my business. It’s my choice to simply give and try and help. I might feel different later, but for now I find myself avoiding the corner of Seventh and Vine. I don’t want to see the guy who caused trouble on that late-night bus ride. I don’t want to think about him or look at him. I don’t want to look at his cardboard sign that says “God bless you.” �STREETVIBES September 2008 11 Column A Sporting Silence China’s brutal acts ignored for the sake of the Olympics By Steve Sunderland Contributing Writer W hat are we to make of the Olympics in China? The hoopla goes on, documenting the success of the Chinese in bringing off an event that many thought would be upset by protests. The protests were squashed. The president of the United States went and left as a sports fan. The world joined him in silence about the genocide in China, the Chinese domination of Tibet and the arrest of elders who legally sought to protest China's housing policies. How did China emerge without a touch of responsibility for being a country with no freedom of speech, little freedom of assembly, abusive of religious freedom and exploitive of workers’ rights to safe, reasonable, and free work? The world has bought deeply into the connection between the sports-industrial complex as a way of appeasing this political, economic and military giant. World problems of hunger, war, unemployment, inflation, homelessness, the absence of safety nets for health and ruthlessness toward dissent have been increasing during the games, as if the real world of suffering exists in a parallel world that can be ignored. China is also partially responsible for the expansion of world and state misery. So why the silence? We have to look to the reaction to the "Bodies" exhibit at Cincinnati Museum Center to get a hint about the "silence." The financial success of this grisly exhibit has overshadowed the moral concerns that the "bodies" might be Chinese political prisoners who were murdered. This exhibit points out that even in a democracy, the forces of authoritarianism and greed can overcome democratic values. In a sad way, the power to do whatever it wants is the common characteristic of the behavior of the Museum Center and the Chinese government. The city, like the world, is suffering from a fear of offending the rich giants that control everyday life in largely invisible ways. Every now and then a project breaks through the public relations strategy and touches a nerve of the population that is unexpected and unwanted by the controlling forces. Think of the shame of New Orleans after Katrina, Burma's denial of services following their hurricane or manipulation of the gas crisis. The Museum Center is clear that it has to have a "success" with the exhibit and resents any threat to closing it down for any reason. In reaction to criticism, it has said the exhibit has "entertainment value" and it is "educational" -- and these concerns should trump any moral concerns. Yet the financial realities of the exhibit aren’t known by the public any more than the political realities that brought the exhibit to Cincinnati or the medical realities that created the exhibit. This lack of transparency continues the fiction that the exhibit, like the Olympics, has values that super-cede humanitarian concerns. What must it be like to be sitting in Chinese prisons, working in labor camps or contemplating taking an action against the Chinese government? History tells us many stories of those imprisoned in such conditions. Recently, a new diary emerged from Poland's horrifying Holocaust history. It is by Rutka Laskier, a 14-year-old Jewish girl who died in Auschwitz. Her diary was kept by a friend and only just shared with scholars and the public, titled Rutka's Notebook: A voice from the Holocaust. Rutka writes: "To sit in a gray locked cage, without being able to see fields and flowers. Last year I used to go to the fields; I always had many flowers, and it reminded me that one day it would be possible to go to Malchowska Street without taking the risk of being deported. … I'm already so 'flooded' with the atrocities of the war that even the worst reports have no effect on me. I simply can't believe that one day I'll be able to leave the house without the yellow star. Or even that this war will end one day. ... If this happens, I will probably lose No one questions that Tibet has been overrun by Chinese imperialism with the resulting toll of thousands of deaths of religious and civilian people. my mind from joy." Millions of Chinese and Tibetan people could write their own stories of current conditions that mirror Rutka's harrowing existence. There is little question that slavery and genocide occur in China at this time. No one questions that Tibet has been overrun by Chinese imperialism with the resulting toll of thousands of deaths of religious and civilian people. Evidence of the Chinese selling body parts in ways that are illegal in any other country is clear and damning. Chinese workers suffer under sweatshop conditions, fake labor laws and brutal working conditions and have little opportunity to litigate violations of even fake labor laws. I have had the privilege of working with recent student and faculty visitors from China to a local school. After a bit of awkwardness in getting to know each other, we launched into complicated discussions of both China and the United States. There was nothing but enthusiasm for the United States but there was a particular concern for peace: "We want peace and we are afraid of being attacked by the U.S. We do not want to be another Iraq." Criticisms of Chinese policies were also evident, especially about Tibet. Statements of courage, concern and compassion were made as the students and teachers worried about their future. I felt that the hope for a different government in both the United States and China was being wished for, a government of the people and for peace. To create such a world, we must break the silence and say that China's government must change. And we must join our voices and resist the phoniness of the Museum Center’s rationale. Long live Tibet! Close the Bodies exhibit! Unite for peace! Title: Black David Letterman Character: Man of sense and (cents) of humor 1 – Waking up to find that he has now become the watermelon man 2 – He realizes that he has to wait a year to hear the important affirmative action decision 3 – He goes to the doctor and asks, “How has this happened?” You have been drinking too much moon shine 4 – He is learning to understand that George Walker Bush is for the 1964 Civil Rights Act 5 – On a job application, he learns to understand why an Afro-American writes he is an American, when asked “What ethnic group are you?” 6 – He realizes as he enters the church and listens to the song being sung, “As we lay they burdens down” [The true meaning of the burden of proof] 7 – As he looks in the mirror he can fully understand Jason Bourne (in the Bourne Identity) 8 – He realizes why his eyes is on the prize 9 – He realize that Fred Shuttlesworth, Leslie Gaines, Martin Luther King Jr. and General Kabaka Oba are his brothers. 10 – He realizes that Billy Graham is the number 1 spokesman on television By Antonio Hodge �STREETVIBES September 2008 Column 12 Addict’s Almanac By Tye Doudy Street News Service Warning: Grapic language he smoky interior of the Roxy, with its smells of clove cigarettes, coffee and greasy diner food, is an oasis. Those old familiar pulpfiction posters on the wall and the same Skinny Puppy songs playing on the jukebox. Small groups cluster at tables and in the booths. Gothic kids and punk rockers drinking the allnight coffee and chain smoking. Flamboyant gay guys sitting at the bar talking loud and looking around to see if anyone is paying attention. No one is. I spot an associate sitting by himself at one of the small two-person tables and make my way over. His name is Joe but he goes by Ashes, and Ashes looks loaded. He barely looks up when I sit down; and from the length of the ash on his smoke, I can tell he was on the nod. His hooded eyes finally look up and find mine as the waiter takes my order for coffee and toast. He tucks a long strand of greasy hair behind his ear and through missing teeth tells me I look like hell. Coming from him this is truly something. Ashes has been on the streets a long time. He was already “old” when I first hit the dope road all those years ago. Beneath his long and tattered leather jacket and his Sisters of Mercy T-shirt, his thin frame shows the wear of the longtime dope fiend. His arms are covered in homemade tattoos and scars from past abscesses. He is somewhere in his late 30s but looks a decade older. Anybody with eyes would make him for an addict. He’s about as trustworthy as a rented snake, and he is the closest thing I have to a friend at this moment. My first question is, of course, is he holding; and second, can I get him to kick T The squats that line the freeway overpasses are like catch basins for the refuse of the city. The mentally ill, sexual deviants, illegal immigrants, wanted fugitives, hardcore drunks, prostitutes, crusty train-hopping kids, tweakers, junkies, the unlucky, and the unloved. down a little something. Even a rinse would set me straight and buy me some time to make a plan. No junky wants to give up any dope ever, but I have some leverage as he has no hustle and he knows I will make some money today. He supports his habit by spare changing in the transit mall. Not a sure thing, even on a good day. A real loser’s gambit. Real bottom-of-thefood-chain shit. So I get him to agree to get me well as long as I take him along on whatever scheme I cook up for the day. The shock of the smell In order for me to get the fix, we first have to go back to the squat he shares with some other scumbags under the Jackson Street overpass. We I have to be careful. I’ve only been out of jail a few hours. I don’t even have laces in my boots yet and am still carrying the clear plastic property bag with all my shit in it. Many junkies have gotten out of jail only to OD with their first shot. leave at once. Fuck the coffee and toast. It’s only a few blocks away; and as we make our way to the spot, morning people are beginning their day. Office workers are emerging with their overpriced Starbucks beverages, and service workers are on their way to their shitty jobs serving shitty food to shitty people. The pedestrians avoid eye contact and keep moving. They’re not scared, just seen it all too many times. Anybody who lives or works downtown is so used to this that it’s like rain to them. Something unpleasant but inevitable, just part of the city. When we finally reach the overpass and duck down through the hole in the freeway fence, the smell of shit is a shock. The whole side of the embankment is dotted with small white flags of used toilet paper marking each pile of human excrement. There are no public bathrooms open at night in this area of Portland, so people do what they have to do wherever they can. No matter how many squats I’ve been in, the smell of piss and shit always takes my breath away for a moment. This is the bottom. Truly, it would be hard to fall any lower than this. Maybe dying of AIDS in He’s about as trustworthy as a rented snake, and he is the closest thing I have to a friend at this moment. a welfare hospital would be worse. Maybe. The squats that line the freeway overpasses are like catch basins for the refuse of the city. The mentally ill, sexual deviants, illegal immigrants, wanted fugitives, hardcore drunks, prostitutes, crusty train-hopping kids, tweakers, junkies, the unlucky, and the unloved. We all have called these places home. For a night, for a week, even years for some. It’s easy to fly below the radar here. No rent, no responsibility and nothing to worry about besides where the cops are and where your next fix or your next bottle is coming from. My next fix is coming from Ashes, and he is unrolling his works from a piece of leather he had up his sleeve. “There’s not much here to go around,” he says. But he is willing to share a little, after he gets his, of course. I watch, trembling in anticipation while he prepares his shot; and as he draws up the black water from the spoon, my stomach does flip flops like maybe I’m gonna puke or shit my pants. But I don’t. Ashes has no veins, so he just shoves the point in his shoulder and slowly pushes down the plunger with a slight grimace of pain. “I left a good rinse for you” he says, gesturing towards his spoon. Upon examination, there is a light brown residue on the spoon and in the tiny piece of cotton stuck to the bottom. I look around at the spectral figures in the darkened squat. Most still in their bedrolls and sleeping bags. It’s hard to spot a familiar face, so I just ask out loud if anybody has a clean point. Nearby, what I had mistaken for a pile of trash and old rags stirs; and by some miracle, this small girl who I hadn’t even noticed says she might. She begins to dig in her pack and pulls out the familiar brown paper bag of the Outside In needle exchange. She tosses the bag to me and tells me to keep it; she says she is trying to kick. I don’t want to think about Tye Doudy is 33 years old and lives in Portland. His stories are all true and told in the hopes that others might learn from his mistakes. This is the first in a series of articles about his life. He can be reached at wurmstar@gmail.com. what I might have done if there weren’t a clean point available. Sharing needles under a bridge is not anything I want to experience. I’ve been lucky and I know it. I want to hug this tiny female savior but we don’t know each other. I wish I had a million dollars to give her. She might have just saved my life and I tell her so as my way of thanking her. She merely shrugs and rolls back over so she doesn’t have to watch us shoot dope in front of her. as “the boost and return.” Another variation on this is to hang around outside the store picking up receipts or getting receipts out of the trash. Then you go into the store, steal the exact item on the receipt and return it for the cash. The only thing required to do returns is a valid ID. Once you have done three returns, Maybe dying of AIDS in a welfare hospital would be worse. Maybe. The booster’s shot I have to be careful. I’ve only been out of jail a few hours. I don’t even have laces in my boots yet and am still carrying the clear plastic property bag with all my shit in it. Many junkies have gotten out of jail only to OD with their first shot. They dumbly do the amount they were used to doing before being locked up. Not realizing that the time inside has lowered their tolerance. From what Ashes has left me, I definitely don’t have to worry about an OD, so I prepare the meager fix and do my thing. It hits me first in the muscles of my jaw and with a slight burn up my arm. No euphoria, no rush, just a slight sensation of relief. It wasn’t much but it will have to do. I know I will have to make some money soon, and my first thought is Home Depot. It’s a bus ride but pretty much a sure thing. They give you up to $100 cash back on returned merchandise. You don’t even need to have a receipt. The hustle works like this. A guy goes in and shoplifts $99 worth of whatever. This guy is known as a “booster.” Another guy waits outside. The booster takes the stuff out of the store and hands it over to the guy who waited outside. This guy is called a “returner.” The returner then goes inside the store and returns the merchandise for cash. This is known your ID is burnt and the store cuts you off. So boosters are always looking for new returners with clean ID who don’t look like disreputable dope fiends. Right now I need someone with a clean ID to take the bus to with me to the Beaverton and put some work in. Ashes is not an option. He doesn’t even have ID, and any loss-prevention guy would make him instantly. I tell him to help me find someone to do returns, and I will kick down some cash on top of the shitty little shot I already owe him. The small girl in the corner who gave me the rigs has overheard all this, and it is too much for her. She stands right up and says, “Fuck kicking! I want in.” I feel kind of bad for dragging her into my madness but she says she has clean ID and in the light is actually pretty cute in a beat kind of way. She stands probably five feet tall and is no more than 100 pounds. She has black dreads pulled back into a ponytail, large expressive eyes, pale skin, and very red lips. She says her name is Zoey but she goes by Squeak. Appropriate. She is wearing black Carhart bibs and a Venom shirt but says she has just the outfit for our expedition. After digging in her impossibly large pack, See ADDICT p.13 �STREETVIBES September 2008 News 13 The Cost of Free Food Generosity, creativity and dancing help pay the bills By Angela Pancella Contributing Writer meal, maintain our dining area and assist in our social work department are all paid. Many of the people working at Our Daily Bread have faced obstacles to working elsewhere. Perhaps they have had legal problems or an addiction history; they might have mental illness or a spotty employment record. Our goal is to see their work at Our Daily Bread provide a basis for greater stability in their lives. There are administrative costs to keeping Our Daily Bread up and running as well — keeping track of the budget, scheduling staff and volunteers, getting publicity so the community knows what we’re up to. Where does the money come from to do all this? Mostly from individual donations. There are also companies that support us, and about a fifth of our budget comes from foundations. September is a big month for Our Daily Bread’s fundraising. On Sept. 12 we have a dinner dance called the “Soul of the City Soiree.” A Motown band will come to town for it; Montgomery Inn will be providing food. In September we also release a cookbook, Food for Thought, a collection of recipes from volunteers, donors, staff, local chefs, local media and other friends. Mixed in with the recipes are favorite stories and quotations about life at Our Daily Bread over our more than 20-year history. Information about these and other activities can be found on our Web site, www.ourdailybread.us, or by calling 513621-6364. As always, you’re welcome to visit us in person at 1730 Race St. Come in and have a meal. It’d be our treat. ing at the $4.3 million since spent on them. Whether or not you have, The final hours of Seattle’s ‘million-dollar toilets’ like me, googled "Seattle latte), before you could use a By JP Gritton million-dollar toilets," you bathroom -- unless you hap- know all about them. The selfStreet News Service pened to be in Victor Stein- cleaning toilet is about what A while ago my hometown brueck Park, where there’s it means to be human — it's of Boulder, Colo., bought a a free, self-cleaning toilet. It about well-laid plans going, bunch of old bicycles and was just waiting there, like a quite literally, to shit. left them around the city, green bicycle. I witnessed the toilets' final spray-painting them green to Like Boulder, Seattle has hours from around 8 a.m. to distinguish them from other just learned a lesson about around 8 p.m. July 31. This is bicycles. It was a great idea: human nature the hard way: what I saw: Boulder is very sunny and It turns out that public restInternational District sometimes it’s warm; people rooms are great places to poop 9:44 a.m.: The outside is there like exercising, for ex- and pee, but they're also really covered in small dents, the ingreat places to do drugs and side feels maybe clean — example with bikes. Within a few months, have sex. Also, if you don’t al- cept for the toilet, which has though, all of the bicycles had low advertising on them, you three inches of toilet paper in disappeared. It turns out that, won’t afford anybody to clean the bottom. The instructions if you have free bicycles lying the self-cleaning toilets. come on in English, Spanish, I wonder what former and Chinese; and then a terriaround, the only people who will ride them are college kids Councilwoman Tina Pod- fying sound begins, as though on acid, who subsequently lodowski, who advocated for somewhere there’s a vacuum self-cleaning toilets a decade powered by a jet engine. lose them in the mountains. When I moved to Seattle ago, is thinking now. Or if Michael Hill works next two years ago, one of the first former Mayor Paul Schell, door at the International Disthings I noticed was that you whose veto of the project was trict post office. The first thing had to buy something (i.e., $4 overridden in 2001, is laugh- he tells me is that he never uses the toilet. The next thing he says is that other people use it, sometimes two at a time. Addict, continued from page 12 Across the square, a woman is she finally finds what she is laugh and seeing her smile standing at the corner. after, and with a giggle she for the first time, I realize she 10:04 a.m.: Man with exgets back under her blankets. is more than kinda cute. She otic camera takes pictures of Some rustling around and is a very pretty girl. Petite the pagoda; but judging from a small amount of cussing and delicate features highthe angle, he also must have later, she emerges virtually light the playful light that captured some of the toilet’s unrecognizable. Some worn shines from her eyes, and if last moments. Gap khakis, a striped Co- I’m not mistaken, that light is 10:10-10:17 a.m.: Four lumbia sportswear sweater, being directed at me. people use the toilets. Woman and her dreads pulled back at corner disappears. I realize in a bright knit stocking hat Reprinted from Street Roots as I take notes that editorial inhave transformed her into terns and plainclothes cops are someone the Home Depot © Street News Service: virtually indistinguishable. clerk probably won’t look www.street-papers.org Pioneer Square twice at. 11:01 a.m.: When I get to Her new look has Ashes Part one of a six-part sethis toilet, a family is waiting and me laughing, and that ries. For future installments, to use it, looking Midwestgets her a little pissed off, visit http://streetvibes.wordern. A man comes out, but the but after a minute she starts press.com. toilet is beeping loudly. The laughing, too. With that waiting family looks confused and doesn’t actually go inside. After the doors have closed again and the man has walked away, one of the people waiting pushes the button — the doors don’t open. The family stays there until two city workers come by and pry open the doors. I am too embarrassed to ask anyone questions. 11:29 a.m.: Somebody has been inside for awhile, so one of the two guys waiting kicks the door. Hard. That’s why there are dents in them. Victor Steinbrueck Park 12:13 p.m.: After he is done I talk to a man who won’t go on record, except as “Turtle.” “There’s filth in there, drugs,” Turtle says. “It’s a good idea, but people smoke weed in there. Crack. Shoot heroin, you name it.” I ask him what we should do, and he says there’s nothing to be done. 12:34 p.m.: I use the bathroom; and inside there’s a can of malt liquor, a plastic wrapper and a pile of soaking wet toilet paper on the ground. The toilet is clean and flushes well. At Real Change Like, 2 p.m.: I call Andy Ryan from Seattle Public Utilities and ask him about the high-pitched beep. “That’s the ‘pull-yourpants-up’ alarm,” he says. We talk about the toilets: how there aren’t any attendants, how they’re cleaned more than any other toilet in the city. “They’re no better or worse than any toilet,” he says. “They just cost more.” Waterfront 4:24 p.m.: It starts raining. There is a family — Midwestern — outside the toilet. I have been watching the toilet from across the footpath, by a flight of stairs. I decide now to cross the footpath and talk to the family. I go over to them, and a very young boy goes into the toilet. I stand a few feet from the family and feel uncomfortable. I say, “Have you ever seen a free, selfcleaning toilet?” but nobody hears me. The boy emerges, is applauded. Capitol Hill Around 6 p.m.: The button is green, and I press it; but when the doors open, a man is standing by the toilet. “Hi,” I say. The doors close. Later, when he comes out, I learn his name is Mike Jefferson and he’s used the toilet three times. He says the toilets are good for people who have to “piss or puke” on their way home after the bars have closed. I go inside and find a complete roll of toilet paper by the toilet, soaking wet. There’s also the piston of a syringe and graffiti. International District 7 or so p.m.: A crowd has gathered under the pagoda by the public toilet, because now it’s raining harder. I circle the block a couple times, I guess expecting to see a drug deal or something. But they’re just trying to get in out of the rain. I realize that I’ve stared at people going to the bathroom all day and take a bus home. The next day I walk by a toilet on my way to work and there is a small padlock on the door. Seattle’s automated public toilets have gone the way of the green bicycle. When you come into Our Daily Bread, no matter who you are, you can get a free meal. A hot meal, too, most days — jambalaya, hamburgers — although in the summer we’ve had meals like cold chicken salad just so the kitchen wouldn’t get too hot to work in. How much does it cost to provide food to people for free? The food itself, oddly, is one of our smallest expenses. That’s because generous companies make food donations to us, a church group makes meatloaves and brings them in, volunteers bring fivepound sacks of sugar on the days they work. Only rarely do we have to buy anything to supplement what is donated. Mostly we buy items such as spices so we can prepare donated meat and vegetables in a variety of ways. So if the food isn’t a major expense, what is? Utilities, for one. Making Our Daily Bread hospitable in all kinds of weather takes air conditioning in the summer and heating in the winter. Keeping the lights on, the water running, the telephone paid for — we can be frugal, but the costs still add up. Staff salaries are another expense. Our food is served by a volunteer crew every day, but those who prepare the Flushed Away Angela Pancella is director of development at Our Daily Bread, a food and hospitality ministry in Over-the-Rhine. The ministry serves a mid-day meal Monday through Friday, serving more than 500 meals every day. To volunteer or donate food or nonperishable items, call Joan or Kathy at 513-621-6364. Reprinted from Real Change News. �14 Advertisement STREETVIBES September 2008 �STREETVIBES September 2008 Editorial 15 Feds Play the Numbers Game Anatomy of a press release By Street Roots Editorial Team Street News Service Right off the bat, the headline was fishy: "Data Demonstrate 52,000 Fewer Americans on Our Streets, in Our Shelters." That was the heading on a press release distributed at a news conference last month by the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, the overseers of the nation’s 10year plans to end homelessness. Still, the numbers sounded impressive. "For the first time in the history of contemporary homelessness in the United States, the federal government has released national data, reported by local communities, showing a second year of consecutive decline in chronic homelessness, with an average 15 percent decline each year from 2005 to 2007 in the number of persons experiencing chronic homelessness in the nation," the press release said. This information was based on the third annual homeless assessment report to Congress from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). It’s worth noting that this is actually based on an extrapolation of inconsistent figuregathering during a 12-month period between October 2006 and September 2007, before the fallout of the mortgage crisis materialized on our streets, unemployment hit a four-year high and the specter of spiking fuel prices came to roost on our stoops. The fact is that point-intime, one-night counts in January 2007 tallied nearly 672,000 experiencing homelessness across the country – both those sleeping outside and in shelters. That report says that the total number of homeless people counted on a single night decreased by about 6 percent, or 23,600 people – out of nearly 1.6 million people who needed emergency shelter or housing during the year-long reporting period. That means, the report says, that about one in every 200 people in the United States stayed in a homeless residential facility during those 12 months. But you’re not hearing that trumpeted by the feds. The press release doesn’t use those numbers. Instead, it uses the number of people defined (by HUD) as chronically homeless, which narrows down the target population to very specific category of people who are "unaccompanied homeless individuals with a disabling condition who have either been continuously homeless for a year or more or have had at least four episodes of homelessness in the past three years." You had to have been on the streets or in emergency shelters, not in transitional or permanent housing, during these episodes. It needs to be noted that this definition cuts the figures down to an estimated 18 percent of the homeless population, according to the report, to which most of the federal money for assistance is being directed. Nor will you hear the length of caveats the report lists for the fractional reporting by social-service agencies or for interpreting the numbers, which, it says, "should be done with caution" and even questions the measure of "real" success. (Those are the report’s observations, not ours.) The feds’ press package also doesn’t mention the report’s findings that among those newly homeless, "the most common path to homelessness is leaving someone else’s housing unit" -- they were already homeless, but living off friends and relatives until they wore out their welcome. These numbers don’t even factor into the measure of homelessness by the people charged with correcting the problem. This shell game of facts corrodes our understanding of the real work at hand – to restore public and affordable housing to the poor, ensure health care and provide gainful employment – down to the nub of feel-good political hubris. It cheapens the progress being made and the lessons learned, condemning us to repeat our past while proclaiming success. It is, in the words of wiser men, the very definition of insanity. Reprinted from Street Roots © Street News Service: www.street-papers.org Chris Bortz Lays a Goose Egg Promises column, doesn’t deliver, leaving this space blank This is where Chris Bortz’s photo was going to go. This is the space Streetvibes reserved for a guest column by Cincinnati City Councilman Chris Bortz on his proposal to restrict social service agencies. He promised to write it. He assured us it was coming. Two days before deadline, this is what he sent: �16 Vendors Resource Guide STREETVIBES September 2008 Streetvibes vendors buy the paper for 25 cents and sell the paper for $1, keeping the money they have earned. The vendors can be identified with a white badge and can be found selling the paper in Downtown Cincinnati, Clifton, Northern Kentucky and area churches. The money they earn helps them meet basic housing, food and health care needs. Not all vendors pictured. Josephine Baskerville Doris Binion James Bybee Anthony Williams Nell Williams Grady Cook James Davis Jon Darby Tony Drummond Julie Walker Kenneth Stonitsch Antonio Hodge Leonard Jackson Samuel Jackson Riccardo Taylor Alfred Woolfolk Berta Lambert Mary Mueller Brandon Nelson Mark Shears Earlene Moreland Terrence Williams Charles Cole Quition Williams Raynard Jones Cleo Wombles Need Help or Want to Help? Shelter: Women and Children Central Access Point...381-SAFE Cincinnati Union Bethel...768-6907 Bethany House...557-2873 Grace Place Catholic Worker House...681-2365 Salvation Army...762-5660 YWCA Battered Women’s Shelter...872-9259 Starting Over...961-2256 Treatment: Women First Step Home ...961-4663 Treatment: Both City Gospel Mission...241-5525 Justice Watch...241-0490 St. Fran/St. Joe Catholic Worker House...381-4941 Mt. Airy Shelter...661-4620 AA Hotline...351-0422 CCAT ...381-6672 Joseph House ...241-2965 Hamilton County ADAS Board ...946-4888 Recovery Health Access Center ...281-7422 Sober Living ...681-0324 Talbert House...684-7956 Shelter: Both Advocacy Anthony House (Youth)...961-4080 Caracole (HIV/AIDS)...761-1480 Drop Inn Center...721-0643 Interfaith Hospitality Network...471-1100 Lighthouse Youth Center...221-3350 St. John’s Housing...651-6446 Appalachian Identity Center ...621-5991 Catholic Social Action ...421-3131 Community Action Agency ...569-1840 Contact Center...381-4242 Franciscan JPIC ...721-4700 Greater Cinci Coalition for the Homeless..421-7803 Intercommunity Justice and Peace Center...5798547 Legal Aid Society ...241-9400 Ohio Justice & Policy Center ...421-1108 Peaslee Neighborhood Center ...621-5514 Project Connect Homeless Kids ...363-3300 Stop AIDS...421-2437 Shelter: Men Housing: CMHA...721-4580 Excel Development...632-7149 OTR Community Housing...381-1171 Tender Mercies...721-8666 Tom Geiger House...961-4555 Dana Transitional Bridge Services Inc. ...751-0643 Volunteers of America...381-1954 Food Lord’s Pantry...621-5300 OTR/Walnut Hills Soup Kitchen & Pantry..961-1983 Our Daily Bread...621-6364 St. Francis Soup Kitchen...535-2719 Treatment: Men Charlie’s 3/4 House...784-1853 DIC Live In Program...721-0643 Prospect House...921-1613 Oral Health Council...621-0248 PATH Outreach...977-4489 Health Center for Respite Care ...621-1868 Cincinnati Health Network ...961-0600 Crossroad Health Center ...381-2247 Hamilton county Mental Health Board...946-8600 Hamilton County TB Control ...946-7628 Health Resource Center ...357-4602 Homeless Mobile Health Van...352-2902 McMicken Dental Clinic...352-6363 Mental Health Access Point...558-8888 Mercy Franciscan at St. John...981-5800 NAMI of Hamilton County..458-6670 Resources Catholic Social Services...241-7745 Center for Independent Living Options...241-2600 Churches Active in Northside...591-2246 Emmanuel Community Center...241-2563 FreeStore/FoodBank...241-1064 Franciscan Haircuts from the Heart...381-0111 Goodwill industries...771-4800 Healing Connections...751-0600 Madisonville Education & Assistance Center...2715501 Mary Magdalen House...721-4811 People Working Cooperatively...351-7921 St. Vincent de Paul...562-8841 The Caring Place...631-1114 United Way...721-7900 Women Helping Women...977-5541 Northern Kentucky Brighton Center...859-491-8303 ECHO/Hosea House...859-261-5857 Fairhaven Resuce Mission...859-491-1027 Homeward Bound Youth...859-581-1111 Mathews House...859-261-8009 NKY Homeless & Housing Coalition...859-727-0926 Parish Kitchen...859-581-7745 Pike St. Clinic...859-291-9321 Transitions, Inc...859-491-4435 Welcome House of NKY...859-431-8717 Women’s Crisis Center...859-491-3335 VA Domiciliary...859-559-5011 VA Homeless...859-572-6226 Hamilton/Middletown St. Raephaels...863-3184 Salvation Army...863-1445 Serenity House Day Center...422-8555 Open Door Pantry...868-3276 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 2008 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Newspaper Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource September 2008 Subject The topic of the resource Homelessness Description An account of the resource Pg 1: A Sweeping Change The Best Justice You Can Afford Pg 2: The Vibe Pg 3: Eight Minutes with a Screamer Pg 4: Writing Their Way Pg 5: Day Laborers Counting on Council’s Promise Pg 6: A Sweeping Change, Continued Pg 7: Defenders Continued Pg 8: Gated Communities for the Homeless Pg 9: Arts & Poetry Pg 10: Otis Campbell is Dying The Sign Says, ‘God Bless You’ Pg 11: A Sporting Silence Pg 12: Addict’s Almanac Pg 13: The Cost of Free Food Flushed Away Pg 14: Flushed Away Continued Pg 15: Feds Play the Numbers Game Pg 16: Resource Guide Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Streetvibes Archive Project Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Streetvibes Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource September 2008 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Gregory Flannery Margo Pierce Angela Pancella Andrew Freeze Michael Henson Stephanie Dunlap Larry Gross Steve Sunderland Antonio Hodge Bill Haigh Mack Russell Tye Doudy JP Gritton Andrew Anderson Anthony Williams Jimmy Heath Lonnel DJ Joe Wessels Steve Novotni Georgine Getty Steve Gibbs Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource PDF addiction Andrew Anderson Andrew Freeze Angela Pancella Anthony Williams Antonio Hodge Arts & Poetry Bill Haigh China city council DJ Georgine Getty Gregory Flannery Homeless Teen Jimmy Heath Joe Wessels JP Gritton Larry Gross Lonnel Mack Russell Margo Pierce Michael Henson Olympics Otis Campbell Police Rumpke Seattle shelters Stephanie Dunlap Steve Gibbs Steve Novotni Steve Sunderland Tye Doudy https://streetvibesarchive.net/files/original/225e6b567f1b00e469582fea305188b5.pdf 91ad40b67b1ee50b0b562a380b5e8c7d PDF Text Text Carnival fun for all p.6 “Eight Minutes” p.3 STREETVIBES $1 A u g u s t 2 0 0 8 • I s s u e 1 4 5 • C i n c i n n a t i ’s A l t e r n a t i v e N e w s S o u r c e Can’t Afford to Get Sick Referendum would mandate paid sick leave By Gregory Flannery Editor and leaders, collected more than 275,000 signatures on petitions supporting the prooters in Ohio could posal last year. In Decemdecide Nov. 4 that ber 2007, Ohio Secretary of workers have a le- State Jennifer Brunner cergal right to paid sick days. tified the petitions as having Under current law, em“A number of ployers decide whether to pay workers when they independent are too ill to work. Aside studies have been from workers covered by a union contract, employees done that show this are subject to their bosses’ will save employers policies. money.” The proposed Ohio Healthy Families Act would require employers well over the 120,000 valid with 25 or more employees signatures required. to provide seven paid sick Under a provision in the days each year to employ- Ohio Constitution, howevees working 30 hours or er, the state legislature got more per week. Employees the first crack at the meaworking fewer hours would sure. have a pro-rated amount of “They then had four paid sick days. months to pass the bill or But putting the referen- pass something we found dum on the ballot hasn’t acceptable,” says Dale Butbeen easy. The Ohioans for land, spokesman for the Healthy Families Coalition, coalition. “They refused to a network of more than 190 even schedule a vote on the community organizations bill. They held a perfunc- V Council moves to limit human-services agencies ver-the-Rhine has too many people trying to help other people, according to a resolution passed last month by Cincinnati City Council. The resolution establishes a policy “that social-service agencies and programming shall not be concentrated in a single geographic area and shall not locate in an area that is deemed impacted.” The resolution doesn’t define “impacted,” an ambiguity that is one reason a O By Lynne Ausman Staff Writer he abuses associated with day labor are well known: Senseless fees. Long waits. Long rides. Moldy lunches. Buses that seems about to fall apart. Waiting in line at 4 a.m. Unsafe conditions. Hard work. Long hours. Dirty work. Inadequate or nonexistent restrooms. Small paychecks. Check-cashing fees. The DNR list – “Do not return.” One Cincinnati man and his co-workers had been packaging pizzas for For more 12 hours Luke, a volunteer, collects signatures for a ballot referendum information that would require employers to pay workers for sick days. straight – about Day Photo by Andrew Anderson. no break, Labor go to no lunch. tory hearing, on which we impossible. The bottom dlop.org As the got 24 hours’ notice. We rest of his wanted to bring in expert See SICK p.6 “line” started to leave, he witnesses, but that made it followed, ready to get on the van to go back to the labor hall, get paid and hopefully get some rest. But he was shocked when there was no van to pick him up, no phone call to the factory saying the van had “Some of the people who are trying been delayed – nothing, no to degrade us have never even consortium The reso- one; just the uncertainty of lution de- being left in the middle of of non-profvisited us. To make judgments scribes the nowhere, with no money, it groups is about us without even knowing number in no resources, not even a contemplatwhat we’re doing is pretty unfair.” terms that pay phone to use. ing a lawsuit challenging might be He and the rest of the line used to de- sat and waited – waited for the resolusenter. tion, according to Georgine Over-the-Rhine has too scribe drug abuse or infec- a ride, a phone call, the sight Getty, executive director of many charities, Bortz says. tious viruses. of another person. It was “The unchecked prolifer- freezing cold at 1 o’clock in the Greater Cincinnati Co“There are 120 socialalition for the Homeless. service agencies in Over- ation of these agencies has the morning. No one came The resolution, sponsored the-Rhine, more than one the potential to negatively until 6 a.m. by Councilman Christopher per block,” he says. “That impact the residential charThe van was dropping off Bortz, won approval in an doesn’t seem a very bal- acter and the neighborhood another group of day labor8-1 vote. Councilman Cecil anced way of approaching Thomas was the lone dis- it.” See SERVICES p.6 See LABOR p.12 An Excess of Good Deeds By Gregory Flannery Editor Nonprofit Day Labor Hall Coming to Cincinnati T �2 STREETVIBES August 2008 The Vibe Streetwise By Gregory Flannery I Am Not an Animal! Words matter. Otherwise sexist language, racial slurs and the linguistic trickery of right-wingers -- “family values,” “welfare reform” and “death tax” come to mind -- wouldn’t be worth getting upset about. A recent word fight among community activists in Cincinnati wasn’t so serious as any of that. In fact, it wasn’t a fight at all, but rather a spirited discussion among allies about terminology. The issue was how to help homeless people vote (see “Organizing the Homeless Bloc,” page 10.) If someone is going to educate potential voters, that person must first be educated about the procedures, no? That’s all Stacey Hall had in mind when she distributed an e-mail announcing a meeting. “The voices of the homeless and our collective service populations should be heard in the coming election,” she wrote. “The Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless is sponsoring a Train-the-Trainer session to give organizations the information and tools they need to do voter registration activities with their constituencies.” Josh Spring, a social worker at Over-the-Rhine Community Housing, supports the idea. But in a response to Hall’s e-mail, he objected to her choice of words. “I do believe that this title needs to be changed to something more humane,” Spring wrote. “Humans train animals, not other humans. It sounds demeaning to the people referred to in the flyer. It also puts certain people above others.” Hall, director of the YWCA Battered Women’s Shelter, was quick to say she’d meant no offense. But she didn’t hide her surprise – or cede the point. “Wow. Well, certainly not intended … It refers to training people to do voter registration, not be potty trained, obviously,” she wrote. Spring explained his motivation in another e-mail. “If I sounded angry at anyone in the last e-mail, I was not,” he wrote. “Language is just so important because without sometimes even consciously being done, language shapes the way people think and act toward other people.” Them’s Fightin’ Words Language is at the core of a fight between CityBeat and a group of 29 prominent people organized by Citizens for Community Values (CCV). Now the conflict has landed in federal court, with the alternative weekly newspaper suing the anti-gay, anti-porn lobby and its supporters. The defendants include Cincinnati Police Chief Thomas Streicher Jr., Hamilton County Sheriff Simon Leis Jr., prosecutors from Northern Kentucky and Southeastern Indiana, ministers and others. In June, CCV convened a press conference in Cincinnati City Hall, calling on CityBeat to drop the “adult” category in its classified ads, arguing the ads promote prostitution. CityBeat’s lawsuit, filed last month, says the CCV group violated the newspaper’s First Amendment rights and interfered with legitimate business activities. “As a direct result of the CCV coalition’s campaign, CityBeat’s advertising revenue, and in particular the revenues generated from adult-services classified advertisements, has been reduced by nearly 25 percent,” the lawsuit says. “In addition, CityBeat lost a longstanding advertiser – a family-owned restaurant – as a result of the CCV coalition’s campaign against the paper.” The lawsuit could raise interesting questions: Do people who dislike CityBeat have a constitutional right to criticize the paper? Does the use of City Hall and the involvement of Streicher, Leis and the prosecutors turn the coalition’s efforts into a government attack on the free press? The newspaper has a heavy hitter on its side – renowned First Amendment lawyer Louis Sirkin. Streetvibes is a newspaper that provides relevant discussions of homelessness, poverty, and other related social justice issues. It is published monthly by the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless. 117 East 12th Street Cincinnati, OH 45202 Phone: 513-421-7803 x 12 Fax: 513-421-7813 Email: streetvibes2@yahoo.com www.cincihomeless.org Streetvibes Staff Editor Gregory Flannery Contributing Writers Lynne Ausman, Margo Pierce, Larry Gross, Angela Pancella, Greg Olkhovsky, Michael Henson, Charles Cole, Mack Russell, Patricia Garry, Rachael Lawson, Tyrone Williams, Daniel Horner Photography/Artwork Andrew Anderson, Andrew Freeze, Anthony Williams Antonio Hodge, Berta Lambert, Bethany House Services, Angela Pancella Advisory Committee Joe Wessels, Steve Novotni, Andrew Freeze, Georgine Getty, Michael Henson, Stephanie Dunlap, Steve Gibbs The Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. Programs include Streetvibes, “Voice of the Homeless” Speaker’s Bureau, Cincinnati Urban Experience (CUE), Homeless Curriculum, and Homeless Civil Rights Organizing Project. All donations support these programs and are taxdeductible to the full extent of the law. We are Members of: Go ahead: Do something You want to make a difference, right? If you’re not sure where to start, check out “JustNews,” a comprehensive online calendar for peace and justice issues compiled by the Cincinnati Interfaith Workers Center. The calendar lists nonpartisan events that are “in the spirit of justice – whether economic, social, civic, or environmental.” For information about activities and events that can use your help, visit cworkers.org/webcal. To publicize peace and justice events, write to calendar@cworkers.org. International Network of Street Papers �STREETVIBES August 2008 Local News 3 Eight Minutes with the Breakfast Brigade By Margo Pierce Contributing Writer Making sure day laborers have a meal he volunteers of the Breakfast Brigade face the harsh reality of day labor and try to address one aspect of that experience – hunger. The college students who make up the Breakfast Brigade set up shop in front of two day labor halls every Thursday morning. Tables loaded with fresh bread, hard boiled eggs, fresh coffee and oranges offer free meals to anyone who wants one. “It is about being in solidarity as best as they can with these folks,” says Michael Schreiner, campus minister at St. Monica/St. George Newman Center. “After understanding the difficulties of the men and women in day labor – how early they have to wake up to go to the labor hall and not necessarily get a job – and understanding a lot of them won’t be able to get a breakfast because it’s so early in the morning, (the students) wanted to be able to provide that.” Inspired by a spring break “mission trip” to the Catholic Worker in Gainesville, Fla., a group of Cincinnati students wanted to emulate the Breakfast Brigade they saw at work there. “They asked, ‘Are there day labor halls in Cincinnati? Is this something that we can do?’ ” Schreiner says. “It was really the students’ enthusiasm and the students’ desire to make this happen is how it got off the ground. “We’ve been doing this for about 15 months now, and when we first started (the workers) were wary. And we still get this from people who don’t know who we are; they ask us how much we’re charging. When we say, ‘Noth- T ing,’ they say, ‘Where are you from?’ We say, ‘From St. Monica/St. George and University of Cincinnati students.’ They’re really receptive.” The TLC and Minute Men day labor halls have neither welcomed nor discouraged the effort, which works well for the Brigade. “Our Catholic social teaching tells us that each person has dignity by the very fact that they’re created … so we do this out of a call of faith. There’s no question about that and we “It is about being in solidarity as best as they can with these folks.” are not ashamed of that,” Schreiner says. “But we’re not proselytizers or evangelizers. I could care less what their religious persuasion is. I want them to get a good meal in their belly and know that there are people out there that are concerned about their well being – as best as we can, walk with and walk for each other.” Preparations begin at 2:30 a.m. when volunteers meet at the kitchen of the Catholic Center. Every week – with the exception of a few weeks when students’ schedules made it impossible – eight loaves of bread are baked while the coffee brews and the eggs boil. Before loading up two cars, the group pauses. “We eat one loaf … our celebratory loaf, our way of sharing in the meal with them in solidarity as best as we can.” Schreiner says. “We put all the food together on table and we pray a prayer to St. Vincent DePaul, and then we head out. We’re there until 5 a.m. Sometimes we leave a little later, if there’s enough people and we have enough food. Sometimes, if it’s a busy day, it might be 10 till five and we’re out of food Students from St. Monica/St. George campus ministry bake fresh bread and cook hard boiled eggs to pass out to day laborers on Thursday mornings before most people are awake. Photo courtesy of Michael Schreiner. Students from the University of Cincinnati prepare breakfast for day labor workers. They meet at St. Monica/St. George at 2:30am to begin preparations of their freshly made food. Photo courtesy of Michael Schreiner. already. We’ll drive back and clean up and people go home and go to bed.” The number of volunteers can range from four to 12. Given the cost of resources and a fluctuating roster of volunteers, the group has to limit its efforts to the current locations. But that’s OK with Schreiner. “I don’t want to see it become formalized,” he says. “I’d rather see it stay grassroots. I don’t want to see it be a 501(c)(3) kind of thing. “If people are interested in coming by and seeing what we do and how we do it, they’re more than welcome to come. We would really love to have people feel energized about this and say, ‘We can do this, too,’ and maybe do some other labor hall or do the same labor halls on different days. We can only do two labor halls. When we were doing three, it was really tough because we’d have to have a least six people come every week, and costs were getting pretty big. We’re very fortunate in terms of purchasing our food because we’ve been given a lot of assistance.” Members of the Breakfast Brigade have talked to schoolchildren, churches and other groups looking for a service project. “What we feel we’re doing is we’re trying to encourage our students to go beyond their boundaries, their safety zones, to minister to folks that maybe they wouldn’t, but also, as poorly as we do it, to show the workers that we’re standing with them in solidarity and we support them and we back them,” Schreiner says. “With a lot of our students, they’re like, ‘A labor hall – what is that? I don’t understand what that is.’ If you didn’t know you, could drive by Minute Men or Quick Staff or any of them and you might not even blink. It’s just a business. It’s one of those things that a lot of people don’t know about; and if they did, I think it would just open some eyes.” While working to educate people about the reality of day labor, Schreiner says he has a message for the workers, too. “We understand and we honor the hard work that you do,” he says. “We just want to show you that we appreciate that.” To request a speaker, make a donation or volunteer to help the Breakfast Brigade, contact Michael Schreiner at 513-381-6400 or ucnewma@yahoo.com Many people work hard to make a difference for the less privileged in Greater Cincinnati. “Eight Minutes” is an effort to learn who they are and what motivates them. �4 Community News STREETVIBES August 2008 Mercy in Over-the-Rhine For the mentally ill, a place to call home By Larry Gross Contributing Writer Protecting the neighborhood oslyn lives in one of the six Tender Mercies apartment buildings in Over-theRhine. A cheery person who likes to prepare meals in the cooking facility in the lobby of her building, her face lights up when asked what she enjoys fixing the most. “Pork chops,” she says. “Candied yams, turnip greens and collard greens. I’m a good cook.” She’s only responsible for preparing her own meals, but she cooks for others in her building, too. “I can’t stand to see somebody hungry,” Roslyn says, “so I share.” She’s lived at Tender Mercies since her arrival from Birmingham, Alabama, five years ago. “It takes the pressure off, knowing that you’re not homeless,” says Roslyn, 51. “It’s just a warm atmosphere. The staff here is superb.” Since 1985 Tender Mercies has provided housing for homeless people with chronic mental illness or emotional disabilities and also provides support to residents, allowing them to live independent lives. “This organization stays true to its mission,” says Russell Winters, chief operations officer of the agency. “It doesn’t try to stray away from doing what it does best.” Tender Mercies, a nonprofit organization funded by various social service agencies, was founded by three clergymen working among the homeless in Over-the-Rhine. The Rev. Chris Hall, its first director, was working with two women who had been released from a local psychiatric hospital. He found the women housing in an apartment building on Race Street. Within two months one of the women was raped in her own apartment. The other was murdered. Realizing people with mental problems needed to be protected, Hall and the two other clergymen, Randy La Fond and Edward Slater, met with the owner of the building. The owner allowed them to manage the building, which eventually became home for 12 previously homeless women with histories of chronic mental ill- R “We’re out on the sidewalk serving breakfast to anyone who wants it, and we’re letting the drug dealers know that they’re not welcome on 12th Street.” ness. Along with this came 24-hour staff protection. Now Tender Mercies provides permanent and transitional housing for 150 adults. Rent is on a sliding scale. “It’s based on a resident’s income,” Winters says. “Technically we charge 30 percent of their income. If their income is zero, they pay no rent and we work with them to help establish a source of income.” Residents are free to come and go as they please and can stay for as long as they like – providing they’re not violent, don’t sell or use illegal drugs on the premises and live by Tender Mercies’ community living guidelines. While Tender Mercies has a relaxed, friendly atmosphere, one thing they’re not relaxed about is illegal drug sales in the neighborhood. They stand up to the challenge. “Over-the-Rhine has definitely changed a lot in the past few years, and at Tender Mercies we see ourselves as being part of the solution here,” Winters says. “The corner of 12th Street and Republic used to be one of the busiest streets for the City of Cincinnati Police Department to patrol – lots of drug activity. Our staff put up a sign that said, ‘Do not sell or buy drugs here.’ ” This banner, put up in 2005, helped curtail a lot of the selling of illegal drugs in the area, according to Winters. Tender Mercies continues that fight. “We’re holding a community breakfast the first week “I don’t think a person really knows what community means until they come here and visit and get immersed in Tender Mercies.” of every month,” he says. “We’re out on the sidewalk serving breakfast to anyone who wants it, and we’re letting the drug dealers know that they’re not welcome on 12th Street and that we’re here and we’re watching.” Winters says Tender Mercies has a strong working relationship with the police department. “Recently on Baldwin Alley, right here next to our transitional housing building, there was lots of inappropriate activity behind a dumpster, and we worked with the Cincinnati Police,” he says. “They installed a camera, and it was motionsensored. It actually had a recording that would say ‘Stop, look up. Your photograph has just been taken by the Cincinnati Police Department.’ ” ‘What community means’ Tender Mercies has 45 employees. It’s often difficult to tell who are the residents and who are the employees, as the approach is one of friendship and togetherness. Rickia Cooper of Walnut Hills, a single mother of five young children, has worked in the facilities department at Tender Mercies for four years. “I’m a ‘people person,’ and this gives me the opportunity to interact with a certain group of people that some would stray away from,” Cooper says. “Some don’t understand this group of people. I just happen to be a person who does.” Derrick, 37, has lived at Tender Mercies for almost 10 years. “I became homeless, living on the streets, living under bridges, and then finally I went to the Drop-In Center,” he says. “I then went to the hospital, because I was hearing voices; and they diagnosed me with paranoid schizophrenia, and I ended up at Tender Mercies.” Now feeling better, Derrick was one of the first residents chosen to be on Tender Mercies’ board. “If residents had any problems, they would come to me,” he says. “Then I would take that problem to the other board members and help resolve it.” Derrick has been cutting hair since he was 12 years old, and that’s how he makes his living. Clients go to his room to get their hair cut. He has no plans to leave Tender Mercies. “I love it here,” he says. Tender Mercies doesn’t work out for everybody, Winters says. “Some people don’t do well in this environment,” he says, “and if it’s not a right fit, we’ll help them find more traditional housing in the community.” With 23 referrals from social service agencies in the past year, word-of-mouth about the agency is clearly positive. “I don’t think a person really knows what community means until they come here and visit and get immersed in Tender Mercies,” Winters says. Tender Mercies holds its summer festival from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Aug. 23. For more information, visit www.tendermerciesinc.org. Check out the new Streetvibes blog at streetvibes.wordpress. com �STREETVIBES August 2008 Community News 5 The Face of Hospitality Student photos highlight ministry’s guests By Angela Pancella Contributing Writer long one wall in Our Daily Bread’s dining area hang a series of photos of guests. They were taken by Norwood High School students who signed up for a photo workshop through the St. Elizabeth Arts Foundation. The students — Sara Daugherty, Amanda Glasgow, Tori Herre and Sylvia Hoyt — worked with lead artist Michael Wilson, a Norwood native who has done projects with Lyle Lovett, Emmylou Harris and the band Over the Rhine. He credits two members of the foundation for his involvement. “I got involved with this because Douglas (Horner) and Juli (Thompson) asked,” Wilson says. “I think Douglas just asked me, and I don’t remember us having long, drawn-out ramblings on how to make the workshop work. I remember him presenting this idea, and it sounded great.” The idea was to take students to Our Daily Bread to volunteer in the serving line one day, spend three days taking photographs and then hand out prints of the photos on the last day. They would also hang their best work for permanent display in the food and hospitality center. Throughout the week the students met in the afternoons in the Kids Café room at Our Daily Bread to learn photography techniques. On the last day of the workshop, June 27, Herre said she was surprised by the guests’ reaction to the students. “You expected people to not like you being here … but everyone was really nice,” she said. “They’re like, ‘Oh yeah, take my picture! Take my picture!’ It just made for a better experience, because if they didn’t really feel OK with your presence, it would have made it a lot harder. It made it nice to just be able to say, ‘Do whatever you want,’ and then we just caught some really amazing here every day. It just felt like we were intruding at first, but then they really accepted us and were like, ‘Yeah, we love taking pictures.’ It felt like, to me, they became models; they loved it. It just brought a lot of joy.” In the end, the students had about 400 prints to give to guests, and each student had five photos framed to hang on the wall. They plan to also exhibit their work in a gallery later in the year. A * Sara Daughtery, a Norwood High School student, participated in a photo workshop with the St. Elizabeth Arts Foundation. They teamed up with Our Daily Bread to learn photo techniques and to photograph people who eat at the soup kitchen. Photo courtesey of Angela Pancella. pictures from it.” Horner, who spent every day with the students along with intern Gene Edwards, says the sheer numbers of guests they met was overwhelming. “I would have assumed that there’s people everywhere, but there are people everywhere,” he says. Daugherty agrees. “It was an amazing experience,” she says. “Coming down here every day, you actually remember people and they remember you, which was really nice. You would expect people, like Tori said, not to accept you in this space where they’re * * * * * Our Daily Bread, 1730 Race St., is a food and hospitality ministry in Over-the-Rhine. The ministry provides a midday meal, serving more than 500 people each weekday. To volunteer or donate food, call Joan or Kathy at 513-621-6364. Everyone’s a Winner Carnival is annual Bethany House ‘friend raiser’ By Greg Olkhovsky Staff Writer B ethany House Services celebrated its 13th Annual Children’s Carnival on July 9 in Fairmount. Debbie McGarry, director of volunteers and special events, describes the event as a “friend raiser.” The Children’s Carnival brings together former and current Bethany House clients and their families to eat, socialize and engage in activities and games. The carnival also promotes awareness about the agency’s mission and values. “This event provides an excellent opportunity,” McGarry says. “It is something different. It is a fun summer activity for friends and family in the community to become a part of.” Bethany House Services is one of five non-profit family shelters in Cincinnati. Since 1984 it’s helped provide housing, education and other programs for homeless and disadvan- Friends spend a weekday evening at the Bethany House Children’s carnival. The Carnival is an opportunity for current and former Bethany House clients to mingle and enjoy food and fun. Photo courtesy of Bethany House Services. taged women and children through direct service and initiatives to effect systematic change. More than 150 volunteers helped set up the carnival, operated more than 30 game booths and cleaned up afterward. All of the prizes were donated, with support from more than 70 sponsors. Around $4,000 was invested in operating this year’s carnival event. “It is a great thing when all of the families can eat and do as much as they want,” McGarry says. “We’ve had kids grow up with the carnival for many years now, and they tell us that the Children’s Carnival is what they look forward to every year. Knowing that this event is genuinely loved by many people is an amazing feeling.” �Sick, continued p.1 line is the Republicans control both houses of the legislature. They made it very clear that they had no intention of moving this issue at all.” When the General Assembly let the proposal die, supporters of the measure got another opportunity – and faced a new set of 4 ballot, the coalition has to collect another 120,600 signatures from registered voters.But that’s not all. The state constitution requires the signatures on the new petition to be from voters who didn’t sign the first petition. “They have to be completely different people,” Butland says. “There also has to be a certain number in 44 of the 88 counties.” Even so, the coalition is confident it will succeed. “We’ve already got over 200,000 signatures in hand,” Butland says. Business groups lobbied state legislators, opposing the bill, and are organizing a campaign against the proposed referendum. Ohioans to Protect Jobs and Fair Benefits, based in Columbus, is among the business groups working to defeat the measure. “There’s overwhelming support of this among voters across party lines. The reason is pretty obvious: Everybody gets sick. That’s not a partisan issue.” If approved by voters, the proposal would make Ohio the first state to mandate paid sick leave, according to Ohioans to Protect Jobs and Fair Benefits. Several studies have shown that paid sick days actually improve productivity and save employers money, Butland says. Those studies were among the evidence that Ohioans for Healthy Families Coalition had hoped to give legislators, he says. “A number of independent studies have been done that show this will save employers money,” Butland says. “I know that sounds counter-intuitive; but when you factor in less lost proGeorgetta Rice, signs a ballot to require employers to pay ductivity, less spread of illworkers for sick days. Photo by Andrew Anderson. ness in the workplace, what A reporter’s calls to the nomic climate Ohio cur- these studies studies say is group were not returned, rently faces, an additional there is a net increase in but in statements on its mandate on employers productivity.” Web site, Ohioans to Pro- would slow Ohio’s recovUnder the current systect Jobs and Fair Benefits ery and discourage new tem, consumers often pay argues that mandatory paid companies from coming to the price for employers’ resick days would be a “job Ohio and existing compa- fusal to provide sick days, killer.” nies to expand,” the Web Butland says. “With the serious eco- site says. “There is a public-health Services, continued p.1 serving commercial uses of Over-the-Rhine,” the resolution says. Those aspersions aren’t accidental. Bortz says that what he calls the “hyperconcentration” of agencies trying to help people has the perverse effect of hurting the neighborhood. “The hyper-concentration attracts more than just the people who need services,” he says. “It attracts people who prey upon them.” Asked if he blames the human -services agencies for crime in Over-theRhine, Bortz explains what he sees as unintended consequences. ‘”Maybe I didn’t phrase that comment carefully,” he says. “Basically, you’ve got an at-risk population. They’ve lost a job, lost a home. Maybe they have an addiction issue. Usually it’s a combination of a lot of STREETVIBES August 2008 The Jump 6 things that get people to the point of desperation.” Where such people congregate, trouble follows, Bortz says. Drug dealers and others see the humanservices agencies’ clientele as a potential market, he says. “You’ve got other people who don’t want to help them,” Bortz says. “People end up gravitating to prostitution, for example, to feed an addiction.” Bortz’s resolution doesn’t accuse any particular agency of any particular wrongdoing, but Mary Magdalene House is presumably one of its targets. Since 1988 the agency has provided a basic service that often proves elusive for homeless people: a bathroom. The Rev. Giancarlo Bonutti, a Marianist brother, is director of Mary Magdalene House, which serves up to 1,600 people a year. “We provide 21,000 showers a year, besides people who come in just to use the toilet,” he says. “We have a very personal ministry here for the people we serve.” Bonutti says that, so far as he knows, Bortz has never visited Mary Magdalene House, located on Main Street. “Some of the people who are trying to degrade us have never even visited us,” Bonutti says. “To make judgments about us without even knowing what we’re doing is pretty unfair.” Like former Vice Mayor Jim Tarbell, Bortz says the number of human-services agencies in Over-the-Rhine stymies re-development. That argument ignores certain inconvenient facts. “In fact, we are one of the first groups to take an old dimension to this,” he says. “We have 300,000 food and restaurant workers in Ohio who have no paid sick days. The Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta says over half of the restaurant-borne illnesses in this country aren’t due to bad food but employee sickness.” A worker at a fast-food restaurant in Kent, Ohio, infected with a norovirus, recently caused hundreds of illnesses, Butland says. “He couldn’t afford to take off,” Butland says. “Four hundred and 50 people got sick as a result. This happens a lot.” A recent Quinnipiac University poll showed 71 percent of respondents support the Ohio Healthy Families Act. “There’s overwhelming support of this among voters across party lines,” Butland says. “The reason is pretty obvious: Everybody gets sick. That’s not a partisan issue.” “I wouldn’t want to go to every neighborhood and say, ‘You’re going to have to have more socialservice agencies’. People aren’t exactly pounding on the door asking for more.” building on Main Street and improve it while maintaining its historic character,” Bonutti says. But council’s resolution overlooks a larger point, he says. “It seems to me some of the social-service agencies that are helping out in the area are actually helping the city,” Bonutti says. “A lot of us provide services for free, not costing the city any money.” Bortz’s resolution is his second attempt this summer to restrict human-services agencies. His earlier attempt to insert restrictions in the city’s zoning code prompted an outcry from churches and other non-profit orga- nizations. Council sent the proposal to the Cincinnati Planning Commission for reconsideration. The resolution doesn’t specify how many humanservices agencies should be in Over-the-Rhine. Bortz paradoxically suggests that’s not the point. “I don’t know what the number is,” he says. “I don’t know that it’s necessarily about the numbers.” Instead, he introduces parity as a measure. “Look across the entire region, not just the city See SERVICES p.7 �STREETVIBES August 2008 Services Local News 7 of Cincinnati,” he says. “Look across the 12 counties. There is no neighborhood that even comes close to having the number of social-service agencies that Over-the-Rhine has.” But Bortz admits there aren’t any neighborhoods in -- or outside -- the city asking for agencies to locate there. “I wouldn’t want to go to every neighborhood and say, ‘You’re going to have to have more social-service agencies,’ ” he says. “People aren’t exactly pounding on the door asking for more.” Bortz bristles at the suggestion that he or the city have an animus against the poor in Over-the-Rhine and the agencies that serve them. “I’m not talking about forced relocation by any stretch of the imagination,” he says. “There’s a little bit of confusion, particularly among the advocacy groups saying, ‘Oh, you’re trying to close down agencies.’ Of course we don’t. We want to help them improve their efficiency.” The resolution directs city administrators to “carry out any actions necessary to adhere to such policy” – again, without specifying a course of action. Bortz characterizes the measure as a “starting point” for discussions on ways to better serve people who need social services. “I’m not sure there are any folks who understand what’s going on in the social-services community who think the status quo is fine,” he says. ‘There is room for improvement.” Check out the new Streetvibes blog for discussion of issues between editions. streetvibes. wordpress. com Streetvibes archives from January 2004 - July 2008 have been uploaded to the Greater Cincinnati Coalition’s website. To view them in pdf go to www.cincihomeless.org/content/streetvibes �Poetry and Artwork 8 STREETVIBES August 2008 Thing I Carry By Charles Cole I carry my baby in my heart. I carry a vision of my baby’s face, in my heart and in my mind. I carry myself from here and there. I will carry you ‘cause sometimes I do. Sometimes I wonder who is going to carry me. God - that’s who’s going to carry me. Good things come to others that help one another carry each other, so carry me and I will you because carry each other is the right thing to dolike you carry me, me carry you. Let’s keep carrying on. I carry good feelings of Hope, love, and happiness. Food 4 Thought By Mack L. Russell Sr. I hear voices, but not in my head. I see dead people also, but only in caskets at the chapel. People talk about plenty but almost never say anything. I listen, but only hear what I want the message in this passage is only food 4 thought. Are you hungry for knowledge, food or just wanting to read? Do you feel with your hands that what you cannot see? This is just a simple passage that’ll probably never get read. Some parts are reality but to be deciphered in your head. Hear, see, feel, believe what you want but knowing the difference Is food 4 thought Life Changes By Mack L. Russell Sr. I’ve been through so many changes in my life. Some seem more severe than others. Not knowing from day to day the outcome. Somehow I mustered up enough energy to pull through. I’ve prayed timeless times over and over keeping the faith. In my mind I’ve wondered were my prayers useless but in my heart I knew everything would be all right. I’ve been through so many changes in my life some seemed more severe than others Not knowing from day to day the outcome Yet I still stand alive and well. Tomorrow is another day And I know not what obstacles I will face but my journey is to move on because chances will occur. Bearded Man Drawing by Antonio Hodge �STREETVIBES August 2008 Poetry and Artwork 9 “Gay Celebration” Northside Photo by Berta Lambert To Jim and Wife Happy Birthday Drawing by Anthony Williams Unexpected Reunion Cleo’s Joke Corner There was a criminal who stole a cement truck. The policeman caught up with him and dragged him through the computers. They found out that he was a hardened criminal. When the prosecutor took him before the judge, he told the judge that they had concrete evidence against him. There was a shipload of one-legged pirates who were singing, “Let’s go to the hop. Let’s go the hop. Let’s go to the hop.” The captain said that he was hungry and that he was going to a restaurant. His shipmates said, “Which one?” He said, “The IHOP.” Why did the skeleton go into the closet by himself? Well, he didn’t have any body. What do the letter A and a flower have in common? They both have a B (Bee) following after it. On May 1 I was downtown at Fifth and Walnut streets, my usual spot to influence people and make them laugh. Two years ago my daughter ran away. I hadn’t heard from her in those two years. I was very worried and concerned if she was all right or not. I prayed night and day that she was all right and that she would come back home. To my surprise, on May 1 I turned around -- and there came my daughter across the street from Fountain Square. I dropped everything I had. I ran to her, and she ran to me. We hugged each other and cried tears of joy. I will always be grateful to the Lord for bringing her back to me. I didn’t expect that by selling Streetvibes I would ever encounter my daughter. Some days this job seems very hard and strenuous; some days are easier than others. But the very fact that, after doing this for five years, I was able to see my daughter back in Cincinnati, shedding tears of joy -- I never knew what tears of joy were. But now I understand. I want to thank everybody who has ever bought Streetvibes from me and all the other vendors. All of you were also part of the answer to my prayers. May God bless each and every one of you. - Cleo Wombles �10 STREETVIBES August 2008 Column The Prostitute on State Street Sometimes painkillers create new pain I By Michael Henson Columnist stand at the corner of Gest and State in Lower Price Hill in the late afternoon and see a young woman stumble out of a car. The driver is Hispanic, probably from Chiapas or Guatemala; but it is no matter. If you watch long enough, you could see her stumble out of the car of a downtown businessman or a construction worker from Adams County. She stumbles, I say; and even as she rights herself, her body leans leftward like a bow, bent perhaps by the moons of heroin or the pressure of crack cocaine or by the distortions of her labor, serving men in the cramped front seats of cars, She is a small woman, not five feet tall, and very thin. She has a name tattooed at her neck like a shackle. Her teeth are gone clouded and gray, and there is something about her so twisted and damaged and childlike and holy (I do not use that word lightly) that I cannot understand how any man would want to have her. But the men do have her. Again and again, they come here because they know they will find her. ***** Lower Price Hill is a mostly white Appalachian neighborhood that is not a hill at all, but the place where the Mill Creek flows into the Ohio River and where in the late 19th century a number of industries and a collection of working-class housing came together. Somewhere in the 1950s the original German and Italian residents moved out, and the Appalachians moved in. There are now a growing number of Hispanic and African-American neighbors, but it is still a largely Appalachian neighborhood where young people speak a mix of downhome and hip hop and we still hold an annual festival of down-home music and culture. Lower Price Hill was never your quiet, tree-lined neighborhood. From the first, it was a hardworking, hard-drinking community, There is something about her so twisted and damaged and childlike and holy (I do not use that word lightly) that I cannot understand how any man would want to have her. impacted further by the effluents of the local factories and, since the ’6os, the Metropolitan Sewer Division’s Mill Creek plant, an 88-acre facility. Residents concerned over the effects of all these pollutants on themselves and their children put up a stiff fight, and things have gotten better in some ways. But other things have gotten worse. ***** In 1995 the Purdue Pharma pharmaceutical com- pany came out with a new drug it called Oxy-Contin. Used properly, Oxy-Contin is a very effective painkiller for cancer patients and people with chronic injuries. The particular feature of this opiate was that it was produced with a time-release mechanism to put just the right amount of opiate into a person’s system to keep the pain at bay without getting the person high or addicted. That was the theory, anyway. But people don’t always use a drug properly. People pretty quickly found out that, they could snort it or shoot it to get the whole dose at once. Demand for the drug -and addiction to it -- quickly took hold in Appalachian communities from Maine to Alabama and into the urban Appalachian centers such as Lower Price Hill. It didn’t help that Purdue Pharma took an aggressive sales strategy. In fact, they’ve been sued in several states for continuing their aggressive marketing even after, it has been said, they knew that addiction was spreading as a result. Oxy became known as “hillbilly heroin.” Communities were transformed as people became desperate for the drug. Burglaries, thefts, robberies increased. Treatment centers were overwhelmed. Prostitution became common in places that had never seen it. ***** Why did Oxy take hold so quickly in the Appalachian community? Three reasons: First, Pur- due Pharma had that aggressive marketing campaign that targeted the region. Second, high rates of cancer and chronic injury in Appalachian communities mean there is a lot of need for pain-killing. Third, sharing is a strong cultural tradition in the Appalachian community, including drugs. People in need and in “need” can usually find someone to share with them. So something like Oxy will quickly spread. If there is a fourth reason, it would be the perpetual economic and social crisis of Appalachian communities, where unemployment is high and chances are few. ***** So Oxy had fertile ground. Word got out about the disaster. There were articles in The New York Times and other media. Communities raised hell and supplies of Oxy-Contin grew short. Purdue Pharma, in a desperate attempt to clean up its image, started a drug-abuse prevention campaign. But the damage was done. Lives were upturned. Desperate addicts looked for alternatives, including Methadone. Methadone is another very effective drug when used properly and together with counseling. But addicts in Lower Price Hill and other communities figured out that at least one Methadone center was willing to let them forgo counseling and take more than what they needed to control the cravings. So they had a cheap, legal high; and the community faced still more Oxy became known as “hillbilly heroin.” Communities were transformed as people became desperate for the drug. Burglaries, thefts, robberies increased. troubles. The Oxy-Contin overdoses became Methadone overdoses. So we raised hell again, this time with the East Indiana Treatment Center, and Methadone got scarce. And the addicts shifted their tactics again -- this time to heroin. Now the Oxy-Contin overdoses turned Methadone overdoses have become heroin overdoses. There is a local group, the Coalition for a Drug-Free Lower Price Hill, fighting the good fight. The police do what they can. Families struggle with the problem one by one. A group of teens, angry because girls could not walk the street to school or work without being solicited, made a video talking about the problem. But the problem persists. It did not need to happen. The people who made it happen will face lawsuits, but they will not face jail time or the loss of a loved one. I doubt if any of them has a daughter or sister out on State Avenue, stumbling out of men’s cars and walking the street with a marked and bent body, holy and sad, a tattoo like a shackle at her neck. Organizing the Homeless Bloc By Gregory Flannery Editor I f all poor people voted, this country could be a lot different. The Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless is coordinating a voterregistration drive, aiming to make it easier for clients of its member agencies to Agencies want to make it easier for clients to vote participate in the political process. “The point is to make sure that the voices of the people we serve collectively are heard,” says Stacey Hall, director of the YWCA Battered Women’s Shelter. For homeless people, voting is at best a kind of luxury, she says. “First of all, you’ve got a lot of things on your mind, such as where you’re going to lay your head and dayto-day survival,” she says. Some obstacles are subtler. “There’s the issue of how you’re treated when you go to register,” Hall says. “There’s the stigma of how you’re treated when you’re homeless.” Practical considerations can also discourage participation: How do you regis- ter to vote when you have no address? Ohio law now requires voters to present identification at the polls. What if you have none? “The mechanics of voting make it difficult for homeSee VOTING p.11 �STREETVIBES August 2008 11 The Curious Case of Tracy Johnson Local News A little story about how things work By Gregory Flannery Editor In the annals of injustice, Tracy Johnson’s ordeal the night of June 13 was comparatively inconsequential: He was cited for jaywalking at Race and Garfield streets, an offense he says he didn’t commit. With the help of a volunteer lawyer, Johnson beat the ticket. When the case went to trial July 10 in Hamilton County Municipal Court, prosecutors dropped the charge. The reason? The primary witness didn’t show up for court. That witness wasn’t a police officer, but rather the driver who allegedly struck Johnson with her car, then fled. Instead of citing the driver for leaving the scene of an accident, Cincinnati Police cited Johnson for a pedestrian violation. Johnson says a driver entered the intersection after the traffic light had turned red, then suddenly reversed, backing into the intersection and striking him with the rear of the car. Officers at the scene didn’t write an accident report, according to Fran Cihon, a public information officer for the Cincinnati Police Department. “They said it was not an accident, so there was no accident report generated,” Cihon says. “The officers who went to the scene told me he was not struck. He committed a pedestrian violation when he was in the roadway.” But dispatch records and recordings of 911 calls, released to Streetvibes by the police department, support Johnson’s account. Three passersby called emergency dispatchers after seeing Johnson hurt. One caller gave a description of the vehicle that struck Johnson and the direction in which the driver fled. “I want to report a hit-and-run,” the caller said. “There’s a dude laying in the street.” “Somebody just got hitand-ran – a black car,” said the caller. The dispatcher asked, “So it was hit-and-skip?” “Yep,” the caller said. “He’s lying down in the middle of the street. It was a black car. Somebody else got the number. … (The driver) went straight up Garfield towards City Hall.” Another caller gave the dispatcher the license number for the car that struck Johnson. “I want to report a hitand-run,” the caller said. “There’s a dude laying in the street. The lady’s license plate that did the hit and run is MZNIKKI. The dude is still laying in the middle of the street. … The last time I seen the car, it was going down Garfield.” Tracy Johnson shows his homeless ID. His ticket for jaywalking was later dropped when the witness failed to show. Photo by Andrew Anderson. An “incident recall” log provided by the police department reports a call at 10:09 p.m.: “H/S (hit-skip), striking vehicle was blk veh, victim is in street.” Johnson says that after police arrived, the car that had struck him returned to the scene. This, too, is verified by police records. The “incident recall” log says that at 10:15 p.m., “Striking veh returned to scene … black vehicle with OH MZNIKKI." But instead of arresting the driver who struck him, police cited Johnson for jaywalking. When he declined to sign the ticket, officers handcuffed him and drove him to the Hamilton County Justice Center, releasing him after he agreed to sign it. A reporter’s efforts to contact the alleged driver of the car were unsuccessful. Johnson says he believes police behaved as they did because he is homeless. His Voting, continued p.10 less folks to get to the ballot box,” Hall says. Misunderstanding also plays a role – for example, the belief that people with criminal records cannot vote. “There’s a lot of confusion about criminal records and voting,” Hall says. “There’s a misconception that, if you’ve had any con- tact with the criminal justice system, you can’t vote.” Persons serving prison sentences for felony convictions are not allowed to vote in Ohio. But former felony offenders can. So can people serving time for misdemeanor convictions and people on bail or locked up awaiting trial. Part of the voter-regis- tration campaign will involve helping homeless people obtain absentee ballots. As with other generalities, it’s inaccurate to assume that homeless people have poor voting records. “Women at our shelter are made homeless by domestic violence,” Hall says. “We serve people all across identification gives his address as the Drop Inn Center. He says he fought the citation as a matter of principle. “You can’t leave someone like a dog in the street and do this to them,” he says. “I want to make sure this don’t happen to anybody else.” Attorney Jim Tomaszewski volunteered to represent Johnson, even going to the Drop Inn Center on Independence Day, his day off work, to interview him. While commiserating with Johnson’s frustration, Tomaszewski says there is nothing more that can be done. “The police are not violating his rights if they don’t cite someone else,” he says. “He felt he was probably slighted when they found out he was homeless. Unfortunately, I’m sure that’s something he deals with all the time.” An associate with the law “The mechanics of voting make it difficult for homeless folks to get to the ballot box.” “You can’t leave someone like a dog in the street and do this to them,” he says. “I want to make sure this don’t happen to anybody else.” firm Lindhorst and Dridane, Tomaszewski has been an attorney for two years. He says he agreed to help Johnson after being asked by a staffer at the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless. “For me, it’s part of what it’s supposed to be about,” Tomaszewski says. “It’s the old ‘To whom much is given, much is expected.’ People call you and need a hand with something. It’s what you do.” tion drive is still underway. “We haven’t set a numerical goal, but we’re hoping to get member agencies excited about getting their clients to vote,” she says. the social and economic “We’re going to be workspectrum. There are people ing right up to the deadline. who have voted all their We’re going to give organilives and people who have zations all the information and the tools they need so never voted.” Planning for the registra- they can jump right in.” �Community News 12 STREETVIBES August 2008 Million Dollar Baby Major grant part of affordable housing “boom” By Patricia Garry Contributing Writer ver-the-Rhine Community Housing has “a lot of good things going on right now,” says Mary Burke, executive director. “It’s very exciting to have projects underway, and it’s especially exciting that we are providing the full range of housing types.” The agency has received a grant of $987,743 from the Federal Home Loan Bank, through Union Savings Bank, to transform five buildings on Odeon Street into housing for the chronically homeless. There will be a single point of entry for the 25 units, with 24-hour engagement staff. The Odeon Street Permanent Supporting Housing Project, the O first in this area, is based on a harm-reduction model successfully used elsewhere in the country. The concept is basically to house the homeless first, then work on sobriety and other issues. The buildings are being purchased from the Cincinnati Center City Development Corp. (3CDC), which assisted Over-the-Rhine Community Housing in getting the initial architectural drawings. Other partners are the Partnership Center Ltd, GlaserWorks, and the Corporation for Supportive Housing. There’s more good news. City Home at 1400 Pleasant St. will provide 23 units of homeownership in Overthe-Rhine. “Right now, it’s just a big hole,” Burke says. Thirteen townhouses will be created on the site, five Mary Burke, executive director of Over-the-Rhine Community Housing, stands in front of what will become the first permanent supportive housing project in the area. Permanent supportive housing provides individuals with housing and then works to address substance abuse or mental health issues. Photo by Andrew Anderson. in the 1500 block of Elm Street for affordable elderly housing. The proposal calls for 14 units, with new commercial space on the ground floor. Over-the-Rhine Community Housing hopes this building will be LEED-certified. LEED is an acronym for “Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design,” popularly referred to as “green construction” or “environmentally friendly.” Finally, El-Moe is hard at work in Over-the-Rhine. Elder and Moeller high schools are collaborating on rehabbing a vacant building into a home to be sold to a first-time affordable-home buyer. Most of the work is being done by the energetic volunteers, with some technical items, such as electricity, being subbed out. unfair standards and bad The new board includes pay is a non-profit day la- representatives of the three bor hall. sponsors of the non-profit The Cincinnati Interfaith labor hall: the Cincinnati ers and picking up the pre- college students who spent vious shift – the same shift their Saturdays preparing Workers Center and the Interfaith Workers’ Center, Greater Cincinnati Coali- the Archdiocese of Cincinthat had ended five hours them. earlier. By now this group Safety equipment for tion for the Homeless start- nati and the Episcopal Diohad been at the factory for working on the packaging ed the Day Labor Organiz- cese of Southern Ohio. The 16 hours. machine: $4, even though ing Project (DLOP) with rest of the board is comThey didn’t complain; the equipment was never the hope of organizing the prised of individuals with workers. The idea of a non- experience in staffing agenthey feared they’d lose provided. the little checks coming to Check Charge: $1. Yes, profit day labor hall is now cies, businesses and nonthem if they complained. they charge you for the Finally at 7 a.m. they ar- check your pay is printed “We’re not just trying to be nice rived back at the day labor on. to people. We’re looking to hall, exhausted, hungry, Net Earnings: $40 after make room for people in a global angry – and waited in line taxes. again, this time to get their The federal minimum economy and help them find an checks. wage is $6.55 per hour. upward path.” Thirty minutes later the The U.S. Department of line emerged from the la- Labor’s Wage and Hour Dibor hall, checks in hand. As vision says that wait time -- a realistic goal, with a new profit organizations. The non-profit day lathe workers examined their when workers are required board of directors assigned checks, they began to real- to be on-site as a condition to bring the plan to life as a bor hall will not charge for transportation, dispatch, ize the bitter bite that greed of employment -- is paid social enterprise. “The founders are op- check-cutting or safety takes out of their earnings: time. The day laborer in Gross Pay: $84, or $7 per this case should have been erating from a faith-based equipment. Workers will hour for 12 hours worked. paid for 17 hours of work. sense of social justice, and get larger paychecks beThe five hours waiting for But instead the net earnings they are looking beyond cause unjust fees won’t be the van: not paid. The hour of $40 for 17 hours come to simple charity,” says Mike deducted. The staff will Phillips, interim president also inspect workplaces it took to get to the job site: $3.50 per hour. not paid. The hour it took This is the day and the of the board. “We’re not and won’t send workers to to get back to the hall: not life of a day laborer. This is just trying to be nice to peo- places where conditions are paid. not a particularly grotesque ple. We’re looking to make poor or the management is Transportation: $7 to get depiction, but a typical day. room for people in a global unprofessional. In addition, the nonto the work site, plus $7 to We’ve heard worse, we’ve economy and help them get back. seen worse, we fear worse. find an upward path. That’s profit day labor hall hopes Lunch: $5, even though One solution to these ter- our strategy -- and for many to help workers move from the meals were donated by rible working conditions, of us, that’s our theology.” temporary employment to higher-paying, permanent positions. The hall also plans to provide a variety of training and referral opportunities to make workers more attractive and better qualified for higher-paying positions. This will be possible through partnerships with existing community services. The businesses that will hire workers from the non-profit hall will be encouraged to offer employment to workers who impress them. The non-profit day labor hall is considering possible locations, including the NuBlend Building, which houses a Freestore/Foodbank program, the Drop Inn Center’s HIP Team, McMicken Dental and the Cincinnati Interfaith Workers Center. The board is focused on finding grants to underwrite the expenses of the start-up period, establishing a nonprofit tax status and building relationships and partnerships with other non-profit groups. An opening date hasn’t been set, but organizers expect the hall to be self-sustaining within 12 to 18 months of opening. Labor, continued p.1 of which will be affordable for low and moderate income homeowners. Ten condos will be created through rehab in four buildings. The project will begin in the spring. For senior citizens, an application has been made to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s 202 Program for funding to redo a building �STREETVIBES August 2008 News 13 African Women Take Charge Immigrants become entrepreneurs By Rachel Lawson Contributing Writer Sojourner Truth delivered a famous speech regarding the unnoticed plight of African-American women at a time when it was most needed. Her words hold true in regard to the struggles and the resilience of African women: “If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, together women ought to be able to turn it right-side up again.” Africa’s most recent history has been overshadowed by the struggles for liberty. The 1960s have become synonymous with successful battles for freedom from European colonization. Along with freedom from the colonizers came bloodshed and struggles toward the restoration of each of the individual countries. Adapting to independence, negative stereotypical cultural perceptions were soon altered and recognized as false: The whole continent is not a jungle, there are not only lions and tigers, and Africa is home to extremely intelligent individuals. Ultimately, the oldest preserved skeletal remains of humans were discovered in Africa -- and were female. African women, regardless of their specific country of origin, have been able to turn the world upside-down in many ways. Recognizing the scope of their actions within the United States can heighten awareness of the intelligence and capabilities of women within the African culture. Data from the 2000 U.S. Census showed 56.5 percent of Africanborn females in the United States were employed, as were 66.2 percent of African-born males. This data pays tribute to the ability of both Africanborn men and women to successfully find work in a country with different values, habits and beliefs. Furthermore, although males have generally taken on positions at pre-existing jobs as teachers and scientists or in manufacturing, females have become innovative business owners. By using what might be considered common knowledge within their own countries of origin, they have started restaurants, become clothing designers and opened hair salons -- a much desired alternative that is welcomed and valued within the American culture. The fortitude of Africanborn females is most noticeable when recognizing the various obstacles that African immigrants face. For instance, although Africanborn immigrants have the highest level of education of all immigrants and often arrive with college degrees, their education is not always accredited within the United States. Some have had to start over, including taking temporary positions as factory and manufacturing workers. Imagine how American physicians would respond if told that all of their hard work doesn’t matter and they have to start all over by lifting and loading boxes. On the other hand, African women have taken to starting businesses that allow for both a connection to their culture and a steady paycheck. The ability to start and maintain a successful business relies on many qualities -- for example, persistence, communication skills and business sense. This pursuit also demonstrates to younger generations the importance of being independent and the capability of actually being your own boss. Female entrepreneurship is not an idea unique to the United States. Starting in the 1970s, females played a vital role in the stability of canoe fisheries in a variety of West African countries. They play dual roles as business financiers and mothers. Bringing a strong business initiative to the United States would be only natural. In a way, it’s not so surprising. After all, African women have put scientist on the tips of their toes, simply by successfully existing for more than 3 million years. Cincinnati is home to a diverse African community. For a volunteer position that offers the ability to work with a diverse population, call the International Center of Greater Cincinnati at 513-621-0284. Want more Streetvibes? Check out the new Streetvibes blog for discussion and coverage of other issues between editions. streetvibes.wordpress.com Streetvibes Subscriptions Are you intererested in having Streetvibes delivered to your mailbox every month? Send a check for $25 with your name and address to: Streetvibes 117 E.12th St. Cincinnati, OH 45202 PAID ADVERTISEMENT �STREETVIBES August 2008 Guest Column 14 Intelligence, Environment and ‘Value’ Time to rethink the goals and methods of public education By Tyrone Williams Guest Columnist Poverty is neither an excuse nor a justification for academic or professional failure, though it does have an impact on one’s future prospects. Because poverty in the United States isn’t likely to be eliminated in any foreseeable future, educators and policy makers interested in the development of young African-American pupils must focus their attention on the other factors that contribute to the disparity between the success rates of white children and the success rates of nonwhite children. However, one can focus on these other factors only after dispelling a number of distracting myths regarding economic status and intelligence. It’s obvious that children with access to computers and electronic accessories, up-to- date textbooks, ample school supplies and parents and guardians who value learning are more likely to succeed as professionals or academics than children deprived of any, most or all of these factors. Nonetheless, children can and do learn and succeed in the absence of all of these factors, thanks in no small part to dedicated educators. I say all this not to give comfort to state and federal legislators and policymakers slashing away at educational program budgets but to emphasize that intelligence, the ability to adapt to changing environments, is largely independent of social, political and economic factors. Does this mean then that parents, educators and administrators should cease pressing state and federal legislatures for budget increases? Absolutely not. While it’s true that some needed educational reforms aren’t related to economics per se (e.g., parents “modeling” the importance of reading and studying), it’s unconscionable to downplay the importance of relatively “safe,” up-to-date and stimulating learning environments. At the very least, the continued linkage between tax bases and school funding, a relic of the once credible idea of community “control” over school systems, needs to be broken once and for all. Until Americans understand that we are all responsible for the education of all primary and secondary students, the educational system will continue to function like global capitalism in general — the artificial creation of “boom” locales/”safe” school districts until they, like all the former boomtowns/”great” school districts, suffer the ignominy of a “benign neglect.” Nevertheless what we witness today, all across the country, in debilitated and renovated school buildings, in state-of-the-art and impoverished classrooms, is a general scorn for learning among students, teachers, administrators and the gen- It goes without saying that certain academic values will be in conflict with the values that students bring to the classroom. eral populace. The state of American education is not an index of our collective lack of intelligence but a willfully obstinate underdeveloped intelligence. In the current cultural climate of tabloid television news, talk radio muckraking, corrupt political processes and unethical business practices, it’s im- Are you interested in helping with Streetvibes? Are you a writer, poet, artist or photographer? If so contact Greg Flannery at 513.421.7803 x 12 or email streetvibes2@yahoo.com possible to assess anyone’s intelligence quotient, especially since that process itself is little more than the institutionalization of a glorified house of mirrors. Given all of this, it’s not surprising that even socalled educated people tend to confuse causes and effects, means and ends. For example, in certain states with fairly large Appalachian populations, white and black Appalachian students tend to under-perform in academic settings, especially in pre-college environments. Indeed, they tend to do worse than some black students living in impoverished, often crime-ridden, urban environments. These environments, one largely rural, one largely urban, contribute to, but do not cause, students to perform poorly. These environments “contribute” in different ways. For example, rural Appalachian students tend to come from strong, familycentered social traditions and environments. Thus family values tend to override academic values. If a family member is ill or needs assistance, responsibility for that family member might fall on another family member of student age. Appalachian students thus tend to miss an inordinate number of classes due to their commitment to family responsibilities. This is neither good nor bad in and of itself. It is merely a social fact. It acquires a negative stigma only in a culture that places a certain premium on academic or professional success. However, rather than seeing Appalachian students in the throes of competing value systems — one academic, one family-related — some leap to the erroneous conclusion that Appalachian students are simply intellectually deficient. Black students living in At the very least, the continued linkage between tax bases and school funding, a relic of the once credible idea of community “control” over school systems, needs to be broken once and for all. urban environments also tend to come from strong, family-centered social traditions and environments. Here, however, the family might not resemble the “standard” nuclear structure. Indeed, it might not include any “blood” relatives at all. The proliferation of gangs in urban environs is driven not only by economic and social factors but also by a desire to belong, a desire to be part of something larger than oneself, a “family” of one kind or another. Yet even when black students grow up in stable, nuclear family structures, they still tend to lag behind their white counterparts. One could read this as an index of substandard black intelligence. One could do so only if one ignored another competing “value” system: the tremendous ambivalence blacks across the economic spectrum have toward the educational institutions in this country. Across the economic and social spectrum, blacks tend to regard the desire for higher education as a desire to act or be “white.” That this suspicion can be found across the economic and social spectrum suggests that acting or “being white” is not specifically tied to economic mobility. It is also bound to the question of language, the lexicon one uses, how one speaks, how one sounds. It is bound to the question of political affiliation. Again, this social phenomenon is neither good nor bad, right or wrong, in and of itself. It is obviously not a question of intelligence. Just as academic or professional success takes a backseat to family values in many Appalachian families, so too academic or professional success must compete with other values black people might find just as, if not more, important. Consequently educators and policymakers must begin — or for those already doing so, continue — to rethink where they begin. They must abolish the assumption that the purpose of general public education is to merely inculcate certain values in students whose own “indigenous” values must be eradicated or, at the very least, suppressed. They forget that all people elevate or suppress certain values in certain contexts, that the issue is not a matter of good or bad, right or wrong, values but a matter of context, what values seem appropriate in certain situations. In short, they — and we — must emphasize that education is about adding on to the values students already have, that education is about giving students more values from which to choose and pick. It goes without saying that certain academic values will be in conflict with the values that students bring to the classroom. This resistance is not something to avoid or regret. Rather, that moment or site of conflict defines, for me, the very condition of the possibility of teaching. Guest Columnist Tyrone Williams is professor of English at Xavier and a poet whose latest work is On Spec. He is a long-time supporter of Over-the-Rhine and the currentpresident of the board of InkTank. Only purchase Streetvibes from BADGED vendors. Vendors wear their WHITE badges while they sell the paper. �STREETVIBES August 2008 News 15 ‘Bum Bashing’ and Hate on the Rise Report shows shocking increase in attacks on homeless By Daniel Horner Street News Service Violent attacks against homeless people in the United States significantly increased in 2007, with the number of lethal attacks jumping by 40 percent from the previous year’s figure, according to a recent report by two groups that advocate for the homeless. Fatal attacks jumped from 20 in 2006 to 28 in 2007, while the total number increased from 142 to 160 – a rise of 13 percent – according to the study “Hate, Violence, and Death on Main Street USA: A Report on Hate Crimes and Violence Against People Experiencing Homelessness 2007.” Factors ranging from local laws that criminalize homelessness to a current fad for “bum-bashing” videos “send a message to society that homeless people are not human (and) do not deserve respect” says Tulin Ozdeger, the civil rights director for the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty. The law center prepared the report along with the National Coalition for the Homeless. Local laws that restrict public sleeping, sitting, storing property or asking for money create an “environment of hostility” against homeless people and send the message that “attacks against them will not be taken seriously,” she says. The two groups have not done a full “scientific analysis,” but Ozdeger sees a correlation between such laws and attacks. Florida, whose 31 violent anti-homeless incidents topped the 2007 list, has a number of localities that have passed anti-homeless measures. Another factor in the continued prevalence of violence against homeless people is “bum bashing” videos, according to the study. Over 6.8 million copies of such videos have been sold and teenagers have imitated the videos “by recording themselves beating up homeless individuals just for the fun of it,” the report says. Retail sales of the videos have slowed down, but that success has been offset by the rise of YouTube, where such videos are popular, Ozdeger says. After Florida, the states with the largest numbers of incidents were California (22), Nevada (14) and Ohio (13). But Nevada’s population of 2.5 million is far less than California’s 36.5 million, Florida’s 18 million and Ohio’s 11.5 million. But Ozdeger cautioned that the figures might well be low. The report draws its data primarily from media reports, because victims of the attacks often don’t report the attacks to law-enforcement authorities, she says. David Pirtle, who says he was the victim of several attacks when he was homeless, confirms that point. Pirtle says he didn’t report the attacks to the police. On the basis of his experiences and those of his homeless friends, the “best case scenario” is that “the police don’t do anything,” he says. When he was homeless, he lived in several sites across the country, he says. The worst attack was in New York City in 2004, he says. A “couple of guys” beat him with an aluminum bat or wide pipe, he says. He says he suffered a chipped tooth and probably cracked ribs. But rather than going to the police or seeking medical assistance, he “just found a spot to curl up for a few days to recuperate,” he says. His assailants didn’t appear to be homeless men or criminals, Pirtle says. They were “nicely dressed” and appeared to be college-age, he says. Of the people accused and convicted of violence against the homeless in 2007, 86 percent were 25 years and younger, with many saying they committed the crimes for the “thrill” or “fun” of it, the report says. Pirtle says he had “never been attacked by anyone other than young kids who are intoxicated and bored.” Some of the attacks seem to be motivated by “bias against the victims because they are homeless,” according to the report. For that reason, the study asserts that attacks against the homeless should be tallied as hate crimes. Brian Levin of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University-San Bernardino says that failing to count attacks against the homeless as hate crimes “denies the rightful communal condemnation of this prevalent, but often invisible form of violent prejudice.” There were 187 fatal attacks on homeless individuals from 1999 through 2006, according to the report. For that same period, FBI statistics show 85 homicides classified as hate crimes, the report says. The report includes examples of efforts to help raise public awareness about the causes of homelessness and the needs of homeless people. For example, Florida’s Miami-Dade County public school district’s curriculum for all grades includes lesson plans relating to homelessness. For pre-K and kindergarten, the goal is to “give children an understanding of the needs that we all have to be comfortable and comforted,” according to a section of the curriculum quoted in the report. There was also a Florida-wide public education project, initiated by the National Coalition for the Homeless in conjunction with AmeriCorps*VISTA volunteers, the report says. Reprinted from Street Sense © Street News Service: www.street-papers.org A Surprising Generosity One man’s wallet contains a special treasure By Gregory Flannery Editor Ronald English gives $20 a month to help a child he has never met and probably never will. This is exceptional in part because English used to be homeless, in part because he lives on the minimal monthly benefit paid by Supplemental Security Income and in part because of the health problems and tragedy that he has endured. Asked about his life, English recites an undifferentiated litany of pathos, horror and pride. “I go to church,” he says. “I am a mental patient. My mother got raped and murdered when she was 19. I have five brothers, six sis- ters and 36 nieces and nephews. I like everybody and I respect everybody. I think I’m a nice guy, friendly, honest.” English used to sell Streetvibes. Today he supplements his income by selling drawings, frequently surrealist images of a human face. More often he donates the drawings, several of which grace the offices of the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless, where he likes to visit. English has an apartment in Clifton. He likes to visit the Drop Inn Center. A social worker says he likes to socialize. In his wallet English keeps a photograph of a child he says he sponsors, donating $20 a month. He says her name is Lucy, and she lives in Africa. His wallet also holds a letter, folded down to the size of a square-inch lump, attesting to his generosity. The letter is signed by Larry Jones, president of Feed the Children, a nonprofit organization that arranges sponsorship of children in Third World countries by more affluent people. English is no one’s idea of an affluent person, yet he helps Lucy. “I donate $240 a year for medical, housing, clothing and food,” he says. Jones’ letter attests to English’s generosity. “Your gifts in the last 12 months have helped children like Lucy survive,” the letter says. “This is why I’m proud to present you with your certificate of ap- Ron English, an on-again-off again Streetvibes vendor, donates $20 a month to support a little girl in Africa. Photo by Andrew Freeze. preciation, honoring you for helping provide over 200 meals.” Drawings are not English’s only artwork. He delivers himself of a poem committed to memory: Where legends are made, Where dreams are born, Saying I am a man amongst men, Standing tall, Asking God for your mother’s salvation, father’s respect, sister’s love and brother’s freedom. Peace be with you. God bless America, and feed the children. That’s the kind of man Ronald English is. �16 Vendors Resource Guide STREETVIBES August 2008 Streetvibes vendors buy the paper for 25 cents and sell the paper for $1, keeping the money they have earned. The vendors can be identified with a white badge and can be found selling the paper in Downtown Cincinnati, Clifton, Northern Kentucky and area churches. The money they earn helps them meet basic housing, food and health care needs. Not all vendors pictured. Josephine Baskerville Doris Binion James Bybee Mark Campbell Silvia Collins Grady Cook Orlando Craig James Davis Jon Darby Tony Drummond Michael Harris Kenneth Stonitsch Antonio Hodge Leonard Jackson Samuel Jackson James A. Jones Alfred Woolfolk Berta Lambert Mary Mueller Brandon Nelson Mark Shears Riccardo Taylor Julie Walker Anthony Williams Nell Williams Cleo Wombles Need Help or Want to Help? Shelter: Women and Children Central Access Point...381-SAFE Cincinnati Union Bethel...768-6907 Bethany House...557-2873 Grace Place Catholic Worker House...681-2365 Salvation Army...762-5660 YWCA Battered Women’s Shelter...872-9259 Starting Over...961-2256 Treatment: Women First Step Home ...961-4663 Treatment: Both City Gospel Mission...241-5525 Justice Watch...241-0490 St. Fran/St. Joe Catholic Worker House...381-4941 Mt. Airy Shelter...661-4620 AA Hotline...351-0422 CCAT ...381-6672 Joseph House ...241-2965 Hamilton County ADAS Board ...946-4888 Recovery Health Access Center ...281-7422 Sober Living ...681-0324 Talbert House...684-7956 Shelter: Both Advocacy Shelter: Men Anthony House (Youth)...961-4080 Caracole (HIV/AIDS)...761-1480 Drop Inn Center...721-0643 Interfaith Hospitality Network...471-1100 Lighthouse Youth Center...221-3350 St. John’s Housing...651-6446 Housing: CMHA...721-4580 Excel Development...632-7149 OTR Community Housing...381-1171 Tender Mercies...721-8666 Tom Geiger House...961-4555 Dana Transitional Bridge Services Inc. ...751-0643 Volunteers of America...381-1954 Food Lord’s Pantry...621-5300 OTR/Walnut Hills Soup Kitchen & Pantry..961-1983 Our Daily Bread...621-6364 St. Francis Soup Kitchen...535-2719 Treatment: Men Charlie’s 3/4 House...784-1853 DIC Live In Program...721-0643 Prospect House...921-1613 Oral Health Council...621-0248 PATH Outreach...977-4489 Appalachian Identity Center ...621-5991 Catholic Social Action ...421-3131 Community Action Agency ...569-1840 Contact Center...381-4242 Franciscan JPIC ...721-4700 Greater Cinci Coalition for the Homeless..421-7803 Intercommunity Justice and Peace Center...5798547 Legal Aid Society ...241-9400 Ohio Justice & Policy Center ...421-1108 Peaslee Neighborhood Center ...621-5514 Project Connect Homeless Kids ...363-3300 Stop AIDS...421-2437 Health Center for Respite Care ...621-1868 Cincinnati Health Network ...961-0600 Crossroad Health Center ...381-2247 Hamilton county Mental Health Board...946-8600 Hamilton County TB Control ...946-7628 Health Resource Center ...357-4602 Homeless Mobile Health Van...352-2902 McMicken Dental Clinic...352-6363 Mental Health Access Point...558-8888 Mercy Franciscan at St. John...981-5800 NAMI of Hamilton County..458-6670 Resources Catholic Social Services...241-7745 Center for Independent Living Options...241-2600 Churches Active in Northside...591-2246 Emmanuel Community Center...241-2563 FreeStore/FoodBank...241-1064 Franciscan Haircuts from the Heart...381-0111 Goodwill industries...771-4800 Healing Connections...751-0600 Madisonville Education & Assistance Center...2715501 Mary Magdalen House...721-4811 People Working Cooperatively...351-7921 St. Vincent de Paul...562-8841 The Caring Place...631-1114 United Way...721-7900 Women Helping Women...977-5541 Northern Kentucky Brighton Center...859-491-8303 ECHO/Hosea House...859-261-5857 Fairhaven Resuce Mission...859-491-1027 Homeward Bound Youth...859-581-1111 Mathews House...859-261-8009 NKY Homeless & Housing Coalition...859-727-0926 Parish Kitchen...859-581-7745 Pike St. Clinic...859-291-9321 Transitions, Inc...859-491-4435 Welcome House of NKY...859-431-8717 Women’s Crisis Center...859-491-3335 VA Domiciliary...859-559-5011 VA Homeless...859-572-6226 Hamilton/Middletown St. Raephaels...863-3184 Salvation Army...863-1445 Serenity House Day Center...422-8555 Open Door Pantry...868-3276 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 2008 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Newspaper Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource August 2008 Subject The topic of the resource Homelessness Description An account of the resource Pg 1: Can’t Afford to Get Sick An Excess of Good Deals Pg 2: The Vibe Pg 3: Eight Minutes Pg 4: Mercy in Over-the-Rhine Pg 5: The Face of Hospitality Pg 6: Sick Continued Services Continued Pg 7: Services Continued Pg 8: Arts & Poetry Pg 9: Arts & Poetry Continued Pg 10: The Prostitute on State Street Pg 11: The Curious Case of Tracy Johnson Pg 12: Million Dollar Baby Pg 13: African Women Take Charge Pg 14: Intelligence, Environment and ‘Value’ Pg 15: ‘Bum Bashing’ and Hate on the Rise A Surprising Generosity Pg 16: Resource Guide Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Streetvibes Archive Project Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Streetvibes Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource August 2008 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Gregory Flannery Lynne Ausman Margo Pierce Larry Gross Angela Pancella Greg Olkhovsky Michael Henson Charles Cole Mack Russell Patricia Garry Rachel Lawson Tyrone Williams Daniel Horner Andrew Anderson Andrew Freeze Anthony Williams Antonio Hodge Berta Lambert Bethany House Services Joe Wessels Steve Novotni Georgine Getty Stephanie Dunlap Steve Gibbs Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource PDF affordable housing African Women Andrew Anderson Andrew Freeze Angela Pancella Anthony Williams Antonio Hodge Arts & Poetry Berta Lambert Bethany House Services Charles Cole Daniel Horner Entrepreneurs Georgine Getty Grants Greg Olkhovsky Gregory Flannery Hate Crimes Immigrants Joe Wessels Larry Gross Lynne Ausman Mack Russell Margo Pierce mental illness Michael Henson Over-the-Rhine Patricia Garry Photography Prostitutes Public Education Rachel Lawson Stephanie Dunlap Steve Gibbs Steve Novotni Student Tracy Johnson Tyrone Williams Voting https://streetvibesarchive.net/files/original/872cfc6d0252cf101127784fbdbff9bf.pdf 8ed7c39b6e576ebf7c909d06fe5345a9 PDF Text Text Poem "' p age 8 TH E TR I-STAT E'S ALfERNATIVE NE\VS SOURCE W\rn'.cinc.i ho1ne'ess.0J"l: Charity Begins in the Park Some seefood distribution as nuisance Bv ~~01i£'"' FRU'.tt exclusive foct1s ofyourevent STAFF WIUWt Failute tocomply ..vi th this rule could auton1arically forfeit the event. Disrriburion offood and clothing shouldbecoordinatc.-d v.1th one ofthe local non-profit age-1cies." Y ou "'ould be hard pressed co find someonev.hodo(,'Sfl't want to end hunger and l Right wing crusade targets adult ads B r G IUIGOt( \' F1.,,~'Ntl(\' EDITOR A ho1nelessness io Cioc.iooati. Controversyarotu1d passing out food andd otho1gat11\ishingion ' Bless them with food ' Today this policy has Park has led some groups to circumvent regulations to do peopleon bolh S>desofdie issue still discussing thebest V.'3)' to tl1e1r patt to feed the hw1gry. T\.\•o years ago the end htutgerand honielessnessin Cincinnati l>atk Boardtook C\\'l> Cin<.-innati Julie Home, n1anager of steps to make Washinf,rton Pail: a n1ore v.-elcon1ing place for business setv1ces for 1he eve1yone. Theboatd added a Cincinnati Park Bo..vd. saysthe second-shiftattendant to keep board ··declinesto givegpecial· the parkclean, nlearlingthere is staff·at the parl: from 7 a.m. to 8p.nt TI1epatk boardalso added a newstipulation to the special pen11it process:"'l')e1111it holder agrees NOT to distribute FOOD or CLOTHING on Patk Board propetty as 1he 1968 The 40­ Year Journey To understand 2008, look to the tur111oil of 1968 BY LE,,. A1ooR•:s CONTR.IDVflNG W RJ'l'IZR. 2008 uscpc.'fl'Tlitto groups \\<ho \\'t\flt to use \Vashington Park as a staging atea 10 hru1d out food orclothing." She says die board changed the rules because"asignificant an1ount of garbage resulted Ste PARKS on pnge 5 1968 \\13.Sayearofconsid· emble irony, a yeat that began ";d1a P6)'chological blow to 1!ie Anterican \Vareffo11in \fiemant - theTet oft"cnsi,,c, \vi'l<.'11 the \fietcong laid siege (ntilitatily unsuccessful, 1t tumed out) to cities in South Vietnant- and a year that ended on a high note ofspacecxploration. h 'vasa yearv.tlen progres· sive politics v.•as in its ascen­ dancy - liberals Sen. Robert F. Ke.11nedy and Sen. Eugene McCarthy. both ofwhomop­ posed the Vieman1Wat, \vete challen.ginga sitti.ngpresident f0t dte Den10cratic nontination and inspiting n1uch e.,xcice.n1ent ­ and yet endc.-d in November v.-ith d1eetecrionofa son1e'"ha1 soporific, centrist and veiy 1>am­ noid man as president, Richard Nixon. lt \\l&S the year that Martin Luther King Jr. \Vas assassi· natecl in t\pril, unlea.<;hiog:a1or­ rent ofnational grief that also sparked urban riotsaround the Alternative Newspaper Under Fire I OlunreerJ /RHll I iJ1i")~1nf ( :-0,,1r11u1111y (:lff11'C/1 /Xll'fic1pme 111 the "(;()(Xf fiar11 R1111 'b.voffer111gfood <111<.f w1~Y!tsot101110 re.sk'k11ts ofO~Y!r-1lw­ R11iJw. Photo by .•ll1<fre\1' 1b1<fer:so11. counny. Yet it 'vas also a yeat, anod1et irony,v.11en black rruh­ tancy - even separntisnt - had grov.11and began.just barely, tot."\'(.'O marginali~ King·s phi­ losoph)•of civil disobedience ru1d non-violer1ce. f\·lore radi­ cal elen1ents, both black and v.~1i te, \vetegaining son1ecur rcncy,arguing Kjng's strategy v.•as too tepid. A ctuel locaJirony in that yearofironies was the death of Noel Wright,ooe of people v.ho \ \ t."re kjJlc.'d in Cincinnati i_n the aftem1a1hofKing's ~sa.ssi. naoon. All had been relati,..tyq1oet in Cincinnati forfour daysafter theApril 4assassination. Then. on Monday, April 8, that all changed. In 1\vondale, crov"ds collected, v.indov.'S i.n the busi­ ness district \vetebroken., fires v.·erc set, a curfe\\' \Vas im­ po<ed. Twenty people \\OOldbe treated at Genetal (nov.•U111ver­ sity) Hospital. and 175 would bearrested. 0 "'o R:>ge on the s treet tn1ed n1en gather in Ciry l"'\..J.lall to deno unce a ne\vspaper: This must be Cirx:innati. A coalition Ic.-d b)•the anti­ gay, anti0pon1lobby Cirizensf0< Community Values(CCV) held a press conference June 9 to denult\d Ci{}'Beat elurunatetl1e "adult services"catef,'Ory in its classified ads. Pronlinent an10ng the coali11on v.<ere C1ncinna1i PoliceChiefThonUIS Streicher Jr. and Hamilton County Sheriff Simooleis Jr. Son1e of the classified ads are thioJy vealedadvertisemenL') f0<prostin1tion,1!ierebymaking Cif>·He(ll con\plic11 io"huo1an tratlicking," according to the coalition. 111at leap oflogic ­ anal~0-0LLI) 10 sayingads for catS lead to dnink driving - failed to elicit the intended public outrage. in part because the coalition'ssrrategi,.•struck 013ny as arrogant andheavy-handed. Several Oirisrian n1inisteis, notably !he Rev. Chatlie \\linbum,a fonncr membc."C of Cincinnati City Cotutcil, are pan of1he coali1ion, but there 'vas nothing conciliatOJ)' in its approach.l11e coat11jor1 dtdn ' t c.ontac.t CifJ18en 1 to air its concerns before n1aking a pul>licattack; andit didn ·1 invite c ;,)18eal to the press confet'ence. That \Val)IOO n\uch for even the conservative Ci11ci111101i £11q11irer, v.'hose editorial chided theooal1tior1 f0t its inlJ)Olitic manners. Not didtl1e pa111c.ipa1100of the polic.e officia ls and ptosecutors - Can1pbell Couo(y Auoroey Justin Verst, KentonCountyAttorneyGarry Edn\ondsoo aod Dearborn Noel Wright v.<as 30 years old, a graduate s tudent in the Univ'<.-.sit)•ofCincinnati School of Oesig,~ An andAn:hitecrure. As repo1·ted by 77re Cinci111Kl1i Enquirer, Wrightandhis\vife, Lois, 27, also an an sn1dent, hadbeen marric.-dj ust months earlierin December 1967. "l11ey v.<ere dtiving: 10 their hoo1e in ~lolDlt Ad.111lsfron1 lheirsrudio inMountAubun1ontheeveni:ng ofApril 8 \lihcn their car \ \ '85 stopped on DorchestetAv12:31ue. Their 'vhite Ford station wagon \\"3500 Dorchesterv.ohen the)• fol.lld thenl:Selves blocked b)•a car in the street. lbey stopped, and a dozen blackyouths, male and female, began throv.iing rocks at their car. bteaking the 'vindO\\IS. Ooth Noeland Lois w•rcpulk-d fton1d1e car. The lateRoben Knii>schiId, CountyAttomC)•Aaron See 1968 o n page 4 SeeCITY REATon page t 2 �STREETVIBES About Us 2 STREETVIBES Streetvil;es r1 7East 121hStreet Cincinnati, Of-1.45202 phone: (513)42 1·7803 x 12 fax: (S 13)42 1-78 13 July 2008 Our Mission Streetvibes isa newsp.1per Ihat provides relevant cliscussionsol homelessness, pove1'ly andolherrelata:I social justireissues It is published onrea month by U>t'Greater Cincinnati Coalition fo r the ~Iomeless. 't'heGrea t e-r Cinci nr~.:it i Coalition (or Lhe Hon\Cless isa group ofshelters, agenciesand.indi.v iduals •'Ommilted toending homeless in Cincinn.atl through coordina~ng.'*rvices,educ'1ting thepubucand g rassrootsorganizing. Our Vendors streetv1bes2@}rah00.('0m \VV.'~v.cindhon)t'}es,.c;..org Streetvibes Staff AlfO\<I \\roolfolk An1hoc1y \ViJJian:t.11 Antonio lfudgr Bt>rta Cleo R;t~11anl L'U1.tbc.'J1 \Voulbld Joues Editor Contributing Writers GRl...; Oi..t..Hli'-15~\'' ~.fUL\ll I~ 1-.1\SUN, S'1T.vtr $G!I.'DlllC!.Af\'D, L \·N~lt A u:;MAN, Jon Joseph111e Dnrby Bas.kt_l'viUt. ~1u~ll~r '\\'illinn1s Davis Toos .B rantki11 .lat.f.ison SiJ,·ia COiiins 011nt1fll0f1d Nelson Doris Ch:u-tt.~ Bi:uiou Cole Ktlly Smith Jr. J ason Ha11'ison M:u·k G1mly Ja~s Quintioo Shc.::s1'S Cook Bybee 1 \\ Julit' Wnl""r Ltoniu'CI ~1a.rl< MIU)' .J=icks:on Citmpbcll l\('nneth Rlrcardo S1u11 Stonits<b T..'lylnr Tiffanie f\ilichae-1 11111·1-is. illian1s Ai"¥'.fl ,f\ l'ANCTll./\, L,A)IAYC I«~, r Ar1ur1A CAI{)(\'. Lr.•ni Moo1,t-s,. ANO~E.tV fXO:ll~ l}(>N~ll~ NBThlf:fl'Jl. RflOf:Rl M.\Nt&A, JQ!:li\. IL.\STI..i\<,-:5:, M.uu.l.\'N .... Sl::tll lt~U,J\, ~rlf\I C,\NM_IN1 Cf1~ HAlMA~~ A l'i$A KCY.111iRriiti\~'N Photography A \It •RI;\\' .-\~J~..K.'it~, B l!IQ')\ Li\.\llltRT, Artwork t\."-'ll)~ ~' l·IOl)(iL A mliCY,1,:''f \<V1t.1.L'"~ Advisory Committee j or \<\'tslil.S, S·n~•e NOVOrNI, l\Nl~Kl:\\1 FHEl!Zf, Gf.Dr\GINI~ G El.'1'\, .Mtt1L\l:.J.. I (£."ISl.l.\!, Su.11 IA:\:Ill Du.'lf1.,,1•, SnLvitG1oos· Cover Sth.alTcr C.<,lVtx PHC)l(> av "OM FE:AvE1­ 75 cents 25 cents goes directly to your vendor pays for • printing costs ( We are members of: .k-----------------, -------------------· Donate to Streetoibes --.. No11h Antrri<::ln St r\~1 Ne" spape1· ;\.sso.c.iation 1 The mofe.support wehave from the community, the runher oureffons reach; Ourwork is possible only with the help of gen-etous Irtdivldtlal gifts. Please cllnsider nuiklng a contribution today! ./ l11tert1alio.11al Ntl\vorkof Street PoP<r• J Enclosed is my •tax-.deduetibleoontriburlon of: $25 IN SP I I I S5lY_$100 $ 150 Others Or nuike ch"'lkspay;lb1e-ro: Vqucan doo!areonlino •W.W,~lii>UJCIC....orl.; ,City I S.tnle/ Zip: - - - - - - - - ­ 1 I , !Sttci.\IVi~;m 117 E°ilstlirl1s'~ Cinolnnon,c:>l145292 .. ________________ _________________________ _ I hsn kyou for givjng generously! .... �STREETVIBES The Vibe July 2008 3 In The News Streetvibes celebr:ates J uly as Strei!JVibes month By 6rogory Fla-.ery Portune Wants Probe of Exploitation "This is t~besi-f.Olinj: in.my life. e.;n, ,honest·with people and belni proud of wJ,·a u am s~lh•g is ibeh;est.fttliog. P~ple areso "ie~ t()­ ~· E\.·en dte-eops like me." ~Kmn~da Seonits ch, new St:rteMbes ''\\'eAreTheirSla\'CS,-•.•aninvesrigauverepon in theJlUle I edition of.'fueafllhf!J'. has pron1pted Han1ifton County C.on1n:Ussioner'[Odd Ponune to call for a probe b)' Jav.· (:ofurcemcnt, 11u! s1ory <Jn ~xptoitation ofLatino '''Orkcrs 111 suburban Cincinnati focused on workers ln1-ed here (1·01n J>oe1'to Jtico by a ten1poraty er111>IQYn\t:lu n~--enLy, ti ulou org;u1tzc!f'St11\d\\Otkcrs· righL~actiVISIS say dte \~rkt.'t'S are housed incrov.'<ledoonditioos, fcirced tool~" intrusiven1lesabou1lheirpersonal behavior.subjeccedto fines and od~r in\\"QIunru.iy poyr<>ll deductionsand ~n1e1inleS c;vjctcd \vithout ducproi;1,..~ 111a letter to the.Cincinn.ati Beaooo. a progre)sivepohtical blog, Ponune said he \vauts 1.healkgaLiQnSfully i11\1ei.'1Jg11ted. "J·read lhe article in the June200S .~irer1viht!:t about 1hepersonnel agency ·andother local con1pany d1arare forci ng inunigrants into s.la\'e..Jike \\'Orkingand hvios conditions,.'"' ·r ortunc \\'fot<.\ "I h}ndercd n formaJ rcquc.s t 10 ·01>en an 1nvesrigarion into the jssue ro U.S. Attorney for dleSoud1em DistrictofOhio Grl!'g L.ookh1t1dt, toOt1io 1\ 11on1eyC'.e11t.'t"cti N:incy R<;)'::;-crs. tolhuuhonCowu)' PrQsect1t0t JoeDe1ers and SheriffSimon Leis. The conditions'{lredeplorablennd. l suspect. illeg;il." vendor 9oyoirrememberJason? He,'s th..9.year-Oldhoi11cles5 pre-sch'oOlec;ou fl.>adabouhn .1Yivc11·Jb<s,)l:emember ishm~el Beah? Ele's.lheformerduld soldier.fromSien:a L.eonov.lio yiSjtodCii>cmrullLYou read abo~t him.fa S.'t ro.el1ibes:·roo. t~ ·the pas()~ear..~rceb'ibe.s hasosho..,11 readeffl·thefaoeofhOmelessneSs, r,,.fllrlng U1e·suu£Si"'I- and tl1•sucoesses- of dus,growingsegniem of0ur socieiy, \11e' ve.also givm,):'OUoon1preJimsj Ve covera&l.ofibeefforttosecure hiiman.,,.,rvfcesfuiuling};)im the ciiy.ofCinciiuioll, shlfrei!u1.<>f>Oetry and am"1ili offiln!i:i1il><s ,;,;,,dori and in-1i;atocfthoshooking0i<pl6itati()ii of l:.atino \VOtlCeiSinstlburba11:Cincinn'ati. Of <x>urse, JKqvidingcol)lpellingnews and f earu~storjes isjustJlru1 oftl1e ~~ of.i'm;ci11•ih<'s_T.he olherpart iS 001po\.,\;,;,,g1i0mf1ess'aitdf00nedy homt..f~-..\~111cn~d11Wn tiy·[rivii1g 1ij6mjobs :s:e1 Ii ng.~1i:.e1~·lhe$, $dline Strypibg.hfioi )·cpdors tea·rn rotreprepttarial skjlls and hcli>s·tb·cm 'U Q;l mQllC)l IQ&Cl offtl1C$lf'ttlS;J1nlso helps lllOl'e fo11wu1teclti~ 111ee1 Arresting the Victim l!'l!!re·s $0111etJ1iJIS, ~lse dim doe~1 ' t sull:ll right. TtacyK. J(llm~o sayshe \'13$ crossing RnceStreetatGarfield Par\.: ooenightlast n10nth \\Tien he'''asstn1ckby ·a car~ 11led.ri\'.er t1 eel. \\i'i tnesses called 91I. and police and pata.J11edics arrlved. Thnt's \\•h.cn things 111rnt<I s trange. Ac;cording U) JolulSQn. H_e SB)•s-1he.dnver v.110 suuck hin1 \vasa num. BU! about 15minutes Inter 1.hecarretun1ed, this tin1e. dciveu by a v.on1at,, \vith tJ1~ 11tru1 \\.f10 strµck Johnson siuing 1n tJ1c p~en gersidi:.. OfticerSspoke10 the couple.,bU1 didn't char-&re ei1herdrl\:er. lnstead 1hey asked for Johnson's idenrifiGi.tion. He gave ru1 fO cfudshov.iinghis·a:ddressasd1e Drop Inn Centi.'.!(. Ne'1 duns helme\\\ he found h1mself bandculfod andplaced ln theback.of• patrol C"df, ..\Vhe-n lhe}' seen Ill)' ID and,-sa''' that I \V3S homeless, I·\V'Ull from being lhe vicDn1 to1his," JohnsonSil)'S. OfficttrSc1n:d J<.)hnson for (I. crossv.-alk v1ohuion and, '"',,""'"heref-used to sign the cttation, took hin1 to the Hantilton County JusnceCenrer. Police.released ltin1 v.·heil heagl'ee<l 10s1gr, d1e ticket, Joh1t.i;onsays A requestforn copy oflhe :iccideo1 repon brought ·:.m unusual tesponse·ITom· CinciMati 'Police. 'f11ere isooaccidenrrepon.. according 10 Fran Cibon.npublic •nfo1mat1011.off1c:~ .., SJ>Qke-10 theoftic.ers \\1ho responded to the scene," shesays...111C)•said it was notM accidei1t,, so thc1c was.on ocCicten1 rep<ut gcot:tnled. Th~oAicers ,...~i.o v.oent to d1escene- 1old mehe '"itS notstwck. Flecommi1ted a pedestrian vior3tion v.11e.1 he \v3S in dle.road\\13}'." ul feel Ji.kc t•nt· bci11gdi$Ct'l{lllOUt<.'d agnntSt because f m homeless.·· Johnson says_ Si1t:(!tl~bc.,· i$ \vllitingon records.lfot11thepoliccruxt fil'edi!t~Unt:1lts., including 911 audio lilpes. \\tatch fur·afull report in ourAugust 1· edirio·n. Dumb Laws Don't Help Kids h~m~J'IS•Jl"OP.I• :mets~• !h• l\e behiild-lhe.st~esso casu3lly propa~Ocl lr.,rtl1e c0rporruemecfui. :\Vjtb j'ourbrlo nran re'u lt ogr goal ofint1tasipg 1tic·Crcq11enry o( publlgtitlp to C¥Cn"lhrtt l\'telq. pdgli11g 6 111ore is.sur.s pygry)'flG Wilh yourhelP.wecao.helP. to provide sales traiiiing·to the vendors·and to oxp;uidsal)>S i~to NonhenJ;.enruekyru1il,o1ber ¢incinruttis,u~uilk w.u:iw help us kctjl ~i<m;ng?'llic·nuniber:<lfli6"!"!ess(lun11i<1o;jo Greatur CincinnatiisOO tl'ie rise~ so we need to'ke\JI infomiih_g_w:sd advocilringon their behaJ(. .Please use theform on lhebortomofpg~ z ro,h~lp ~with whareveryou can aflbld You'll behelpi1ij;'Su·«c'11,/J,i>s re>eh 1T11)to readersand MlP.Jlli>re \'eOdoJS:: Siooon:ly Grei.w Elann~ !,'tteeflibcs: Bd1tor By the Numbers 65°1*-Tbe amou1,1t.Stree1Yi6es sail\.~ a~e up compared to the firsts months in 2007. 36-Average number ofStreetvibesvendors each month ~1outdsonle008 plensetell stare Je.gislru:orsd:w derncxUzin_g 9eXoffendersd:)esn' t help d\or \•1ctiJn.~7 \Vluu S1lll'led astul e~1-0ct t(I keep foriner oflendersa\v.ty ltou\ scllools is turning into a push tomake itimpoosible.forthen110 livean}""·here.at all, Con.sider the lntes1bri2,ht idea In Colu1nbus..House Birt 111, recendy passed b)• dlcOhio House ofRcpre.5Cntati "Yo'S..<:.ll.l):ln·ds tf1c de.tinirion ofn<:gl1."Ctcd t.hlld to include ac.hild\\ hose pareru a!IO\\'Sa convictedse.xoft'"ender to reside Jn tbesai11e. residi:uce lL<; 1.hecluld. Sau1u:ls 1'e!l.'9()c1nble at flt.-a glrutce, ri!#it' Here·s theprobleni: ~"1osi kids '"·ho arese.xuallyabused koo\vlhe1rabusers. h's true lhntsmheoffenders prey on srrnngers-, bul expens say 85 percen1 ofsexual abuse is oon1n1it1ed by people the children koov.'. 1l1atoftl.'ll meansfamiJy mi:mbc.'l'S, 1nt ll1diogpartntS and Siblings. ~'l akmg it a cdn1e co restore a fanul)' after approp1iate tre.atn\ent isn'tjusr CC>Wlh!t--pmduc::u''-:-, it·s nJso Uupracticl\L Lkt<j1oc oot, IOtn1cr ofl'erldet'$ hB\leU) live somev.'here. Legislators ShouJd quitgoing forsimplistic.soluljolis and ,,,.on.: v.1th e.xpens to find\!ffecrive policies. 1 $ 13 - The amount of money it fllkes to get a new vendor s.lftrted $40-~ to buy food for the.mo"nthl)' vendor meetin gs $70 - p,ostagc for monthly subscriptions $250 ~ to p·a y for a quarter of'a print run $500-to pay for hlllf of a print run �1968 STRE E TVIBES The Jump 4 J uly 2008 lO do. \\'e have no tirne to hair:.." Lois Wright would be 67 )'WSOld1oday.TI1e UCalurmii officehasno recordof\\if:iera, a UC professor1 told 1'he lf anyl'hete, sh• mi sJu be, &rquin'n•lnu 1\-ls. Wrij;ht hod told him. ' People are being "'Ill<)' pulled.N<)cl Mdl..()iS manipula ted ' from the car." he said."'There Ho1nelessness had not yet \'las no provocation~ no e.'X.. changes.Theyjust pulled !hem become a n"tio11al i.ssl>e in '68. from die car." By the rime i1 had, son1e four Thti Enqu1t't!I" report~d; )'ears later, Pfestdent Nixon "While ihe girls held Mrs. oould v.in re--electionTn aland­ Wrigh~ theboysslugg..'<l\l'ril;ht slide, a repudia1ion ·o f llhd thensmbbed him in the Ioft McGovern libernlism. chest. .. . Wright fell to the E'len as homelessne.s s ground, bleeding heavily. .,Jis \~rked Jts wuy ln10 tbe pro~ wifekneltbesidehimand rried .&ress.ive lexi.con. j t c·an1e at a to stop die bleeding." time\\iten t>fewDeal politics­ Noel Wri.ghl died one day cappcdolfinthoruid-'60s "ith laterarnearby Christ Hospital. landmark civilrig)nslegislation Mrs. Wright had been a - began to Wltavel. A Republi­ sociaJ \Vorker, had \•,.orked in can Southemstrategy wassup­ lhe past widt young Africa11· pianting it. co1ooolingSouibem American g.lrls in Sr. Louis. Th~y "What we're seeing here In hardly led shel­ the last year or two is that tered lives. Kuipscbild told· people who live in racially 11w Enq1tin:rthcy isolated suburban areas are \vere ..deeply in· becoming acutely aware teces1ed in th~ that education Isn't really pi ig ht of Ne ­ education if it's done in a groes... In fac t, racially isolated situation." - Jeff Brokamp Knipschild said. C.Ootinued rroru paee 1 ..Noel \\'right \Vtl.~ quie4 niodest, young man, Sensitive, yes, but firm. He could takecare of hjm·seJf. but verl>olly, He didn '1 believeinthe fos~ the knife, the gun. A slight man, thin-fuced, c11rly haic He \\-Ureif shon, shoner thal1 nline, He v.-as no Dobemiao. He djd nolcall artemioo tohimselfm 311)1 \l..uy." tt Democrats,feeling disoftected and~'lrayedbythecivil rights' gains, with ogro";ng backlash elsewhere in the count!)• to \Wi:u rnat1y OOclside<ed tJ1dex­ cesses ofthe Ne\v Left, black miUtnnts. threeyearsof urban riots and..spoilcd'' c<>llcg:estu­ dent;. Jules \Vitco,•er, a tornier IWr,-c· {$ f111i.t~11e e~'ltn 4Q} '(JllT:/ '!fh•r ,,,~ iJ...~~·fl.l!il11flt/(»I ()j :l fnrfi11 /.,Jttlw.r Kl11~ Jr. /'hrJlfJ'( (."01111t-,\V (Jj 'R<!r1il"l \"'•lt1,w1n /i1!<'1J rN11·l " '"'1l'. nJ1;ttlrd<1lfrt:t!ilmir.cui.1t. JOwnaltsm at An1ericsn Uni ver~ sity. v.rltc.over notes ho\Y un~ popularthe warandpresident "~l'.'e-then aod no\v. '"No'vthecowitty-is agai11st this \V'J.r in rtaq, ag.ainsl 1he president as well, l31gely be· cause hegotus into a v.•ard1at didn '1 need 16 be fought 3nd botched it,.. \\'itcover says " W11-ar·s re1narkable 10 rn¢ Is iha~ fur all !he qlJIXl6irion 10this warin Iraq, is it hasn' t spilled <>ut fnto th~ Sth..'il."IS like it did In 196$ " Tht: ptlniary reason is the lack of a milillll)' draft.Another is there is110 con1p31abJe cul ~ tural revolution lhat tCcds into 'the.backlaslL.lndeed, Witwver n1uch ~ i t \WIS an 311ri-turrooiJ voce." NathMiolJones,appointed to the federal .appellate coun here in CinciruUlti b)• President ('.urta- U1 1979 and serving unti I his retirenlenl in 2002, served on tho Kerner COtllll'liS ­ sJon 111 I 9 6 7 , \vhich i n­ that isjuc;1 irw:endini)•." ln additiOn «o innuendo obout Obama'sblackness, there m "hi;p"'1>obou1 his religios­ ity.There is the Rev,Jeremiah Wright. tha1 schc)QI in lodoue­ sia, even those terrible allusions " That's when the to the .RJ'K as­ emphasis on civil S$Sination, rights and soc ial 'Very action programs aware' began to encounter youth a great deal of resistance. What's J <. f f happening today is BrOkmnp seeS soniethiiig of a reminiscent of silver lining in 1968." - Judge Nalhaniel Jones both the ironies veStiga.ted die d\'il·dis­ IUJWn.<<S of die '60s and issued its.ta.. mousrepon of 196.8 that talked of rv.•o says. th<: co1m1oy ln 1968 ' 'Iv.is in wmtoil" And the.publicjust Ainetlca.s, gotsickofit Thus the ironyor· one ~tiite andoneblack. a Nix.onelection. Jooessees l968 asa trans:· '1~skindofromonrlc to say formative year.a yc-arthatsa''' tt1at all the pro1esis ~lgai ns1 Lhe oclash nnd the beginningof~>at backlash. "That•s \\<hen tlte en1pM­ S1so11 d\i l n~h~andsociat ac· don pro!,'nUTIS began lo.cnco~m­ ter a great deal ofresi,stanc-e,." he says. "Whal's happening10day is rnminiscent ofl 968." Civil rightscases and gov· cmment p<.llicies in J968. in­ volving eo1ployn1ent, becan1e "reversediscrimination" \\flOO.it in,•olved affirn1ati,•e action. School desegregation beca111e kno'4TI b)' lhc code \\'Ord of l.i l.c lii.Y 111-.:o·l..~1.'tl~.~or R 1cl.'(»'(I /\1l,\'f)t11 (it!f#!!~ II! JJ,,,)/1 i-J 11111111/KJ/Nilur P'"-·1/J,~111 11·11!1 '"' 11111 ")/ llll(Jr 11•u1: 1 / I H1tf)N t:/N11/t>/r~v tif 1.,11·w.1•f,\•ll lu;,> tk.t:t.ir11 ta1il ll'l11lr //1)11.1~ Jl'f tt>ltl. NoelWright had pl1110ed lo become a teac.her once he _g1'aduated. Fie hru:I anex¢llettL fururO, Kn!p.;dtildrecalled31 tho time. ..He minded his 0\1tli busi­ ness- or tried 10," Knipschild s.'lid. One day aAer her husband died, Lois Wright told The 61U(tlln=r•..,,,c~ve got 90 mucll .~1111 reporter and ·colunmist v.bo \\'35 on thefi:ont lit1es covering the '68 presidai. lial election and v.mte 11le Year the Dren111 /)icd: Revisi1i1tg /96l$l" A111eticu, pub.Iishod·i11 1997.says.'68 is ayearthotstill resonates f'our dfcades·la,t~r. •(Oh. noquestioo aboutit." hesays b1 phone from Wash· ington D.C•• wh~c he teacht.'S 8altl11tore \fj etnamWat n.itrted the.coun­ '1Y around." \Vitoover sa}'S. "It didn' t What it really did ""as that the «.-action to 1hatv..•asso negative ru1d \Ws played upon b)•Nixon aod hi,slawaild order can1paign. The di.sgustofn:iany VOfl:!fS and lh~ nppearnru:-e of. the protcstocs v.•crodistinctly ·offe:nslverosomany people.. .. lt \Vast1·1a pro-Nixon vore.-as j tl'il presented \'lithtenninology ~" "People didn' 1tnind bus­ ing fo·r anychjng else," Jones sa)1s."lt'sonly \...tle1rit's done for descgl'.'cgation th1.1t it be­ com·es busing cases:.1\nd no\\' \:vilh Obama and tl1e lemt$ bi't­ ter ondclingi~ 'gunsandfaith.' t1:s a n1ischaracterization. Peoplew:cboingmanip1dawdin 2608 by tliis24/7 news cyde in v-·hich snlpperS ar¢ placed. c011text is lost. historicaljustifi­ cation is ig11oredandpeopleare and parallels- a high school population for whom l 96S might be :mcicothlstory.but roe whom 2008 is energizing. An OWortw1it)•togel in\l()lvedin Q presidential can,Paign tl1a1 mm­ ters[0 d1enl for mefirst rimes in their Ji.,'\!S. They' i:e connecting.. Broka1np offersson-iesym· tne1ry here - his fa1her, Raymond.Brokmap, \\13~ prin· cipal ·o f Wal11u1 Hills High School In 1968. Jcff13rok•mp hasJustfinished his first year as prineip<tl at rhescbool 40y~ later.The schoolh""1't changed muchinthose 40years, be says )lien: are still thobij;h aca<bnic stand;ards. as \\<ell as th.edi,~er­ ~ity. both ethnic ftnd religious. While sludems paid SQJlt• ruren­ rion in '68. che:,.• pay n1ore ar ~ terltiO)t today- mosdy because I8-)'ea1-olds can no~· vote Bcokttnip v1si1ed different classroomsthis poS1 iid>ooly"'~ and a<lked students ifdiey were registered lO vote. "The}' \vere aln.~y regjs­ t~red and ready to vole,-- he says They \\'crO very ptoud. r �STREETVIBES Local News July2008 Parks Continued rrnm p11ge I rooo frQtn and clotl1ing btittg passed o.ul. and 1he park was not designed to be- a social ScrviccugcnC)'···· f\.t-any gro ups such as \ .'lr.eyrutl Coc1unun.i1y Olu1x:h111 Springdale hm•e been going to \\'3sh ingto11 l'ark e''ef)' Sarurd:t)' fo r Seven years lo hand out food a nd forn1 relati011$lups \vith 1>«>plt Jfc>10 Over-tbe-Rhjne. ··we don"t \V:tnt to just prca:th \vh at to do, so \\' C decidedto do sonielhtQ!I." suys Star' rvhtl'ule:I tvlutflhy, direct9r ofevangelism ai dieVine)•ard 11w.t led to die fom1:11ion of lt gmup that co•nes 00"'"' eve'}' Saturday no,v. Son1ed mes ht l\.\tet!n 30 ond . 40 people fron1the churcli help out - rrpeopleare hw1giy, we can bless th'cm '\h•ith food," Murphy says Ahhough lhogtouptl1oug1>1 they \\'ere doing e\'erything properly- until d1ey "\lreasked 5 Thu cJiurchgrO\IPstopped foe a:\vllilebur recently retwned Over-lh<>-Ritine ..111ere·ara: l\\'O churches locotod ri<;ht 0 01 thepark(orid) mnny soc:iaJ..ser. 1ce agencies tlt:IJ \voul<lpt\)bai>ly \velcon>=: the help. They \'Ui} Very good. decent people who n1ean \vell but thc l'e are uninlcnded consequences... This1snotjus1f1ll iss·ue that Cincinnari faces. ~Defining \i..-here groups ain p<isSout fOOd OJ' clo thlnf~ is a con1mon 1actic to-gelhon1eless ou1 of s1~~" Clifford soys. ..\Vhether it is successful is to be .se2n. : \.nothe.r la\,,Ol policy isuot gojng tO 1naJ.:e pOvcrl;)·or homelessnes;sgoav.13}1. " A rei:ion by 1he Nation'll C.oalition fo r I.he 1-lomeless in No-..·en1ber 2007-found·22 cities havo.sirnilarla\\'SOr p0lieici in placo. In Orlondo, Fla,, tbe group .Food No1 B¢ntbs hos suad the Cit)' over a la\v that requires groups to getpennits IQ Wa.~1litl~f01'1 Park ar•d ha~ been passing out food on the sidl!v.•aJk, 100111ically not 011 park property 111eparkboard euooumges groups that v.·an1 to pass 0 111 food to panner \vith a non­ proiil.it¥e' tC)' in Over·4tM:-Rinne tha1-might alr"3dy bbproviding asintilnrservice. 1 " \Vhen gfoups inquire about a.spe:wial use pennit to pa$SQUI food. \\~ refe( th~nt 10 lo~I soci~ l-s:crvicc agencies tliatdisuibu1efoodandelotlting in the vicin'-1.y of\\:Mhing:1011 Park," Honte says. Pa.I Cli ffo l'd, s,enc l'aJ coordi n ~tor al 1he OJVp Inn Center. \vhoseageucy is liSted asa ••ferrnl by !he patks board, believes people should be ill lowed to pass out IOod. '1 thml< people should i>C 31Jo,ved 10 getpemiits to feed a.$ lor•g ac; p:eople ne~d the food to pass out food to the and the groups agree to clean J{t(,•k1.~. ' ' ~T}/11111<·(,'r.JitJ1'1 J1r1(!)'•11f/ I 'Q11111111nif'.' (·/r11rv:h, M'aSlt>J,' i homeless, \Vith a l11n i1 of up and flI~ eonsidet'Jtl! o l~ 1he :W1rl~JIN' ij\~~1 1Ji fl 'm:lli1rgi<Pt /J11rk Pl1r1tr1 b,_t' ,.1u;/n~1o1· ,.t,.r/11rsm1 1lJ>plyin$ l'~1ct! a ye:lr. Thec.:ise neighbCH'$," h OSB)1$, is pending in federal court, S-i1lce the Jle\11 sripulatio11 food rutd clothing. Hesaysv.hat be depende11L :i11-<I not v.tle.relheolayor \V:lS forced co lO Stop. , ....a..c; passed f\VO y ettts a~>t>~ tht."Y dt>n 't \VQnt Is ..groups independent," he Say.s,' 1\\'hen testii)'. "'T\VO years ago 1he park, Clifford says he lms only lmda con·tingby anddroppmgclo<lie; groups leave, th.e re is al\,>ays ~1 urphy SJY.S hJsgroup has _rJ(>hCeask'l:d us 10 l~ :l\t~ w1d 10 t'OUple of ~coups contact hiln 011 the side,valk .:uuJ le•lvin~ trnsh pil<ll h•sh in 1he i;a1bage worked \,1j Lh Cit)· Gospl!J notpassout food in the park,,. aoo,ausing d1c Orop'Jnn Centt:r rrash evety\vhere. rt~s not good cans. f\..fissio n on Murphy says. as·astagingg.round to pass o ut fortl1eneig11borl1oodaod is not various art Tile ne\V "Defining where projoc~ digrll6<..-d tOr tile people." reg·ulat ion groups can pass .. 0 u r has n'r r~ally t.'luJJ't:h t'O/Mul~l!l'-J /'rf!)' ll'illt r a.\iJdnl.\' ufl)~>eJ«//14• .Rltf111! iJt out food or clothing 1 'Unintended deterfed thl! focus: .is not ll'lt$l1i11g1tn1 I'(ll'k, 1/K>l(I h).l t f/11,/rt:,., ,-J11tll'-r;.1)11 consequ ences' public f..aing, is a common tactic solel·y on \ \1essels·s·ays. to get homeless out food, but "lhav1,."f)·I Joe \Vessi.:IS.·\\JJlo lives ntw fo r m i· ng of sight" the parf.::, belie.ves that.groups noticed a relarionsh1ps ·P'dLCllttord and helping '"·ho c(ull~ dO\\'lt t() pass out· declinf! food h11vo good intootions.. because they people bolter "'1 dtlnk their inreutioJis are just use the sid:ewalk t)O\I/, blfl theirsituarioo;·he says. pure tind good bl.it theend n.:?$111 i i is much better .sfn cc the With bU<~gc.'ttings1n.~J« is less than s1>ectacular," he groups did o better iob of and resources lllOreexpeusi\'e, soy~ picking up the trash :t,fh!t 1t rnigtu be in th.e~ lnterestof everyone in\•olved to nol Th• food distribution has themselves." he seys. 1 negari ve consequences. \ \ essets \\!OUld like su<:h 3li~nte groups th.at in lhe'-'ftd according to \\rcsslils b'TO\JPS 10 p~lctnr.,.'1'\vith agencies all·h ave thc$!lmegoaJ: ending "'It encourages people to or churches tbstare alread)• in hlmger ood hon1cl~ness. 1 ... Continur.d rrnm p11ge-' bcrs ivcv», Ilic ccotcrmovcd to M'ain Str ee1. 8}' then Nixon '"'On re-election by a llind~lide, and the Nev. Deal \WS·on ics \Vay ot1t, but soc.fat senric.e 1\ )()cat assassination don't h.avea·great frame ofref­ era1~ this being n1y fi'rst )'ear. Buddy Gmy gre.w up iu bu1I think d10)' ;ire very jJ(lliti­ Mount Carmel in Clern1on1 caUy a\\'al~ really engagedand 1n rune with this elec1ion. It's Coun1}', a.bucolic village set 1n fl rural county. and gradu:.\ted funt.'lSUQ "\\'hat \\1e'reseein~J 1 ere in from highschocil in IQ68 ·r he son of a rai lroad theIastycar ort\\-U is-1hatp00plc \\"Otker, l.e \ve1\L I.Ct Putdne Uw­ v.holivein roc:ially isolatOOsOO.. w'ban are~1s are becoming "'l'Sll)',got d..>eply embedded in acutely av.'are that educarion tl1e anci-\var 11W)ve.1ne111 and l.sn·1 re-.J.!Jy education if(fs OOne d•vpraf out ofcollogcJ~1 t\\O in :J rncially isolated situ.11tion. years latet 11\ die swnmer of 19?0 he 11w.soc.i::d education can bej ust as po'verf'ul ll~ the academic 1noved into an apartnuo!nt in educat100. Peoplev.hc>ba,rerun <:h·l!r-Lhe-Rhine, afiel' leavlug and hiddl!Jl10 be insulated are his engineering pursui1:; al realizing dlut doesn'Ihelp thi:ir Purdue. l~e staned taking iu homeless peQple.at bjs npfif't­ child.. 1 ered a friend, so1neone he'd hc.lped us a bon1eless niait, SOn1CQne \itwho' d \!wt)l'kCd at the l)rop Inn c~.n ter. \VnJked in as Gray s111 1hel'e and 1·rused a handgun ond shot hiin Wilbur ""He \\'Ould speak rtuth 10 Worthen shot him nwi1n wtd f>O\lier and not bo: nfrajd to do again,emptying his ,357 Mag­ that." Bonnie Neun1eier told 11811. Ci1Ji81J(1t rv.o years.ago. ·"J'hat Buddy Gray dted oot qune chreedeca.<ks aft~r that tun1ul­ \V'd$ hJSSt)'lc." The Drop 11111 Cenrer tuo u~ yearof 1968, c;ray \\lfi~ moved ~o E1mSu-eetrnJanlJiliY 46. killed byson1CC)nc \\~10 v.-:i$ 1978. l t reninins lhere tod.tl)~. likc n1inded, \!.'ho apparently i'ound ~01111011 111 home a1,vay Mving 1.housands. Bui t1 do -r,cn ye~;:; ago. from home. in o home.Buddy Buddy Gt3)1, in n1any W'J)'S die Gray helpod set up, killod tha1 aJ1eniative face of Ovt!t·lhe­ yc;.lr almost 1htoc.decAdes 11ftcr Rhine, \\'tlS ai the Drop lnn thar)'~ilr of ironies... Cen(l!f wt1en.a n1an heoonsid· agcncice> \"\.'fC ~II 111tact, (;ri'J\' ~ "''Drl. M'(l,\ lll(ltW ;It 1l11l .vplr~'J <-f 196.'/. rwm~J'..mw,1&' u.-...111 menL Heset up about -a dozen of 1hen1on nlats in his apart· mcnt. \ \1id1i11 a couple ofyears C.my opened UloD10p Inn Ca1­ ter in the 1700 block of Vine Street. a snl::tll pince. .-\ s num· 0 �6 STREETVIBES Community News July 2008 .fllJle/a Panr:-:1111 IS dlrtt.11)1' "/ 1/e1V!/Q/>1J11!t1t iii 0Jtr DlliA• (l,~,-,._1, aJolXI u1t<fhuJ(Jlklll1)• n1t1Jl.~ll')' tll I 730Rl.K:t."i1. , ()1.-'l9'·lfie,.HJ11/1e. 7:/Jt. Jttflll.111':\' Jt't\'t:.~ (J n1kf·tfll)' 11/~U/ i.lan<f(l)' 1/11'0UJ!h Ft'/,/o'i') '. se1\1/11g Ju{JJ\' ihuu50(} 111~uls ot>\'C.'~·tlaJ'. 10 \VJ/iJllli!i'I' Or {/OltOle feo, 11 l)t' I WJI• fJll1'(,f/t1)hle Jtt•1ft )'. ea11.JoaJJ tJI' K'all)' 18 5JJ ~Jl-6J6./, btl\v:ee.n n1eand l\.<lissCookic " 'tis made bcc:1usoour family '"""i;oing to Our Daily Brl.".d, or 1l f\itrs, \\illke, O<Jllced \\'e v.-ere goingthereand made the connection \vtth r...1IssCookta·· lf1/1t1I w1c.•J'l• j:o11r chi/1/lt<>Otl i11y1re.rs-io11s ofAfi.u Cwkie.? Mljust remember ~JIU she '\135 ve1y nice. Sheal\.''llYS ll&:In n1c.e­ snule, il bdght snufeAbourlier. 11 jusl n1ad~ her a ca.ring. conlpas.~01uue ''"utwi l.koo'v Passing it On ,\ f11.ft:.t1f1J1 } 'Ul k'T, Ci/,\1: /lt(».'llJj~l..l ll /11r /)l~Jfl / 111/ 1'rnlt'r, u~1rl« "'''' " /ll'Qfll<' '" /N!lfJ lfrc"' .8''' 1111() !io1t.\•ing. Pl1<1t(} b) fu;lreor ••f,.r/,~r.\'('Nf, Honieless as a child, 7ze norv helps tlze honieless BYA N<;l'J..A l'.\ NCl:J.T.i\ CoNrRUJUTl'NO Wv.ra::u 1\1alco1n1·\ 1amer is.a ne,.,. case mnrmgerartlu.rDropInnC(.'11.tet: Ispoke 10 hin1ih his office.on the """'ond-:itul-a-hlllf' floorof 1he shelter abpu1 die,,'Orl: of1he ·1:>1up-JnnCen1er·s iean1ofcase m:)n~f.,~. includiug.Anl)'Silver. Kenny l:la\rer.s, Sherran Hariis nud t.l1eir- !.up~rVJ!>()r~ Steve Knl£)1l ll'l111l iJ ii J/1r11 J'Ott tlo'! ..f\rfy jo~ as a c.~ 1t1A11Dgel' is 10 refer c.lienTi to various resources,.,fth.in the c.on1n1luii1y tba1 ought Sl!f\'C their needs SS" related to mental health, sub51a11eellbt.t<leor01.heris.'iuL'S Ultimately, 1he case n1anagen1en11eam ishere tohelp 1n1.fividu:~s.gcl into housing.·· 11t,,., du peo11legel /rfl111 flou•11x1air,,• (rl1e ''lti1tr..r aret1) to )'VII? ,.,.Depeudjngon ho\\"ever long our 0 \\111 aparnnentJbra little thatnloreimportantl}'. it '''m 1he relulio11sb1ps- l·ikc (;ertoJn v.bde as '\Cell ·• ta~chers. n1y 01enior at SL X fl 01., 1/iil}'1>11 1:et 0111 uf and the Boys and Girls Club, llllll'! "'tii·ch is·nght do,..n 1h es1rc~t. IL'''as those people \\<ho really ··s asicnlly, 1ny .!!.rru:1dnlotJ1c' hel1>i!dsltapo! n1y ltfu 10 !:? ' 'CU\C took 1ne in Nun1bersand.itges options and to lei 1ne kno,,•the are ve.1y hard for nl'e - I think \\'Orld \V3S much latger ~lan 11 ,,,.as \\lhC..'O I \V!IS bct\VCcn 10 \>\'h.SI ( \\~Sabl e tO!iCC·tuld.v.f)() and 12. \Ve lived in my cared. who \\ref!! re-31 people ¥roodtnotht:r ·s ha.ll\va)1, in bet comnti tl~ to helping <>thets. Jt apartmern building at the time. v.·as those relation.Ships that A re ~.,,,,ie ,·i ftltt' t11l,•ocutes She eventuallysaid, 'Enoug)i is n1otivated me 10 1,vant to gee pe111>le •11lt11 lt111re h1?e11 enough.. ~ Shc-t<.)(Jk n10into her backan<Ironuibuu.: to.sonwc /;011relus tl1e1nse/l'~S'! home. ·n iat totally<changed th< else's lifu. uajt!cto1y of111><life " ··1 v.'t.l\t to \\'~"h1ns;1011 Pruk "'Oh. ye$, A ntnnbe.r of our Elen1eo1ary. I had some great staff ha,.,e been hon1eless. 1111s t/11.~ i!.~perie11<:e •~·illl teachers \\1ho \\'Orked hard in 1nclud1ngmysclf, nnd are nO\V· .v1111r futlter .f1J11~thing 1/101 the community. including Mrs. \rorldng he.re.'' \\lilke. S he \V3.S my i11spire1/ J'"'' tQ g11 i11t11 l'tk~it1/ n>,,rli? kindergartet1 te.achc.r. She.ru1d Miss Cookie; (Vogelpohl. 11111.: /1111;: 1~·ere.V"'' flQllltJfl!S!f? "O!i. definitoly. I dtink ii played founder of Our Daily Bread) a huge role in termsofme 1101 at e goo d fri·<:n<ls I don"' t ""Lt was011:mdoff\\<hen I \\.;lS malcingcemiin OO:isions I think ren1en1ber if the oonnec.tion .f:PUV.111g ~ ltvln£_ ,,1tlt11iy futbt!I'. \\'e slept v~+.erever '-..e c:ould­ on rhe floor of s·on1eone's ap:utmcntbuilding.iua hall\W}" 1'here \Wre tin1eS\\11en v.~had dledi<nthos beenhere, diey rue able lo rec1ue:;l 10 set< a.n ndvocate..and od\•o qiles are the firstenuy step- afiercon1ing 1n10 tho-she?hcr - whcrc they ~ak toson1000e toshare their need$ iu1d \vhaLever their condirions a[e. The ndvocate 1,1,1ill ''ssess things at·that point and referd1cm to c1th-cr usor10 son1e otl1er source \\ihereby they eru·l l'ecei \'C hclp ,. Please be sure to only purchase a Streetvibes from a vendor wearing a white or yellow badge. Interested in neJping with Streetv.ib.es? Are you a writer, p0et, arttst or photographer? Uo you want to heJp Stteetvibes!? Call 513.421 .7803 xl2 oc email streetvibes-2@yabo.o.com my futher.he.speaks highly or bee. He has a .g reat. deal oJ' respect fQr her. She alSQ ­ "''hen I later sav.· her. co111ing back ho n1e, seeing her pcrio<lically. during0<1n jsilS­ she seen1ed 10 ha\1e n deep res_pec1tOrnly ralhet a~ ' ''¢1L.. JV/tu~ 1/11J'tlll S l!l!j'tlllfj'd f ill I/I t! ,/itfl lTt!? " f\1y sho11-tetm pl::in 1'lghtOO\v is to hopefully enroll in the C;ot1egcofM01,1111St. Josei'.>h's Nonp<ofit Lel>:focsbip Progauu. "11jcl1\\fill 1ake11;e.about 12 to 18 l'n onth$ lo contplete. Uldrnately my in1erest istodo aclit~nistralive v.oi'k. Bui 1.llt'1e·s also U1c goo.I ofn.line to getrny J1 h.D. in either soc1oloro• or SQCJal \\()I'~ .,. 5tree.tvibe:i Subscr1ptioos Are you interested in ha~ing Streetvibl!-V dellvilred LO your ma1 lboll; CVCI)' 1nontn'! SendaGbe.iko for $25 \V1th y~ur name and address to: Streetvfbes 117 E. 12th St Ciric!rtnati,OH 4$2-02 �STREETVIBES Community News July 2008 7 Public Assistance as Close as the Library Hamilton County joins with library system to improve access BY LYNNE A u.£\tAN" STAA' W RJl'ER euinghelpfromHamilton Counly Job ond Family Services (JFS)just got easier, thanks to a partnership with the l\ 1blic Libraiy ofCincinnati and Hamilton County. The program ";11 allowJFS clients to subnti t their paporn<Jrk to the library.which v.-ill fax the i nfonr~tion to Jf·s. Forty branch libraries in Hantilton Cotutty, in addition to G the f\1ain Libraiy dO\\'llfO\\'ll, will participate in the ne.w progrant The goal isto make the JFS application process n1ore accessible. Many JFS applicantsandclients tlon'tfeel con1fortable n1ailing personal documents s uch as social security carcls, binh certificrues, passports and n1arriage licenses. This often means applicants will deliver the application andauachmontsby hand. "111aroould nlOOO they have to take time out of \VOrk and spend n1oney on gas;· says Moira Weir, director orJFS. "'We'd rather they saved that tin1e and nlOOey.111.is is anod1er step in our mission to be more. accessible ro the people v.·e """"' JFS doesn •t expect an increase in the nuntber of applicants. The new service is intended tohelp prevent currenr cliaits fro1n having dtelr booefits CommunityAcriooAgem:y,the suspended or tenninated due10 HamiltonCollllly IJepottroenlof an inabi li t)' to deli,•er Mental Re tardation and documents. Developnlental Disabiliry and While thisseivice.\vii.I save. Stop AIDS. The library is excited to clients a crip 'vhen they have papenvork to submit, it V1f()ll 't provide the ne'vsecvice as well. conipletel)•elinlinatedte need to "w e•re cons tantly go doY.fltOY.fl: Clients ,,111 still evaluating and anticipating the net..-d to meet \vi th casc,vorkers needs of our customers and at the do,vnto'vn office. Ne"' pro'<iding diem 'vi th infonnation applicants will still have to go that improves their lives... says do,vn to the K i 1nber n1ain office on fender. " We'd rather they Cent r a l saved that time and ex:ecu ti vc Parkway to dj rector of money. This Is begin receivillg the Public benefits, but another step in our Library. "In subnti tr ing mission to be more addition to s upporting picking up accessible to the documents in tax fomtsand people we serve." addjtion to the applywtgfor a application can pass port , be contpleted through the now they'll be able to connect libraiysystom. wi th the Job and Fami ly For ne'v applicants, there Servicesdepart1nent. It's our are a variet'Y or outreach hope that. by drawing more progra1ns in the community at people intodteLlbrruy dtey 'viii social service cenrers. Jn beconle n»refan1iliar \vithour February, JFS opened its mMy programs and setvices 00\\iest substationatdteColltcil andvalue dte librruy as a cn1cial on Agins They have already sourceofinfonnation." connected Y.iith htmdreds of All Libraiyemployeeshave clients. ln addition, there is a been trained in handling case\ltOrker dcdjcated to the sensitjvc documents to ensure FreeStore/FoodBank, and confidentialit)• and accurate another ""'Orker who rotates submission. JFS has some bet\vem five hontefess shelters. \.\'eek.end ande\teni1:tg hours but Universil}' Hospital has sixcase dte Librarybranches ";ube able v.'Orkers through JFS. Future to fax applicat ions and substations ma)' include the supporting documents when JFS isn't open because the cowttl)'. It offers a sele<:rion of libraries have more \Veekend and evening hours. JFS adntinisters federal. state. Md local programs for thosein need. The Department helps with child protection. elderly protection, child care, child-support enforcen1ent. v.'Qrkforce development. cash assistance, food stamp disbursements and Medicaid. JFS helps to pro,1de the basic in1111ediate needs to a fan1ily living in poverty. Food Stamps areoftoo an inva1uableresource ror IO\V·illcome families. Mar1y families, especiallydtoSein rural and suburban areas, are swpriscd to learn that they arc­ eligible for food stamps. E.ligibility is based on factors su<:h as fa1nily size, incon1e, assets (cl1ecking and savings accounts. stocks Md bonds. etc.) resources and expenses. A persongenerally qualifies if their gross monthly inconte is "id1in JJOpercemofthefederal poverty guidelines and \vithin I00 percentofthepoverl)' level af\ec all allo,vable expenses (rent, utilities, etc.) and if the person's resources such as cash. savings.stocks, andetc.•do not exceed$2,000. With 4 1 locations eounty,.ide, the PublicLibnuy of Cincinnati and Hantilton Count)• is one.ofthe.Iarg,est and busiest library syste1ns in the neatly IO mi IIion books, audio books, cligital audio books & &books, CDs, digital videos& DVDs. magazines and more. plus free internet access, \\'i­ Fi, livehomev.'Ork help orlline. almost I SO researchdalltbases, and J<no,,<ftNow, an online chat v.ith a librarian refermoe 9'7\rice­ avaiIable 2417 through the We b s i t e . W\\'\V. Cincinnatilibraiy org. as v.·ell as over 14,000 annual entertaining Md enriching free. programs on an extensive range ortopics and interests for all ages. Libnuy cards are free for all Ohio residents. All ofthe library branches are participating in the ne\\' partnership with JFS. Some branches include: Bond Hill, Clifton, Conyville, Elmwood Pl ace, ~fad i sonvil l e, ~ft. Washington, Northside, NOr\VOOd. Price )>fill. \Valnut Hills, West End and Wesl\<ood. Note: TJ1e i1!fom1ation pw~·ideci i111/1is article regarding serl'ice eligibili~v is only basic inforn1atio11. A11 accurate detel'r11ina1;011 <if eligibility<:an be obtained by c'>ntacting Han1ilu>n Co1111t)1 Depart111e111 qfJob and Fan1ily Services af 5 I 3-946· J()()Q. WHAT'S AT STAKE? JOIN US for DAYS OF DIALOGUE. What better time than an election year to dialogue on the critical issues that affect us aH O UR PURPOSE is to create an environn1ent \Vhere people with differing views can listen and be listened to, and civil discourse can occur. \VIIEN: Each dialogue \viii be held on Saturdays from 9am to 12 noon V.1HERE: First Unitarian Church (536 Linton St) at comer of Reading ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~- - Free & Open to tbe Public ­ Reservations Requested. RSVP to 513-579-8547 w\vw.ijpc-cincinnati.org Immigration July 19 �Artwork and Poetry 8 STREETVIBES My Sanity f losLn1y freedom oot long ago Bui ell)' sanity rer:ulltL'i. Igo through relapsesremembering B.utnot progressing. M~y past i.s sriJJ SOTJl¢ \vfJ.a1· 1m • future Or S9 it see1ns. for nol n1uch has chru1ged 'A'ages '1J~l<)\v 4Uld living is high Jobs are stan:c and lomporary. A te\voftJte pe.ople 1· kne\vare gone. . \nd lhosc thn1 arcstill thCft haven· 1liboogcd. ['111 searching for a better \Wyof Ufe. A1'1d e.och<by rli·ve Lhlr1gs f.<el l>euer, Oul CVl?I)' inch I 1;-1kem1d ewiy n10ve I 1nt1kc l 'he econon1y crun1bles and shakes 1loSt IJJ}' frcodom f'M)t longugo Btrt mysani1y renmins. ''Distinguished Man'' BY A NTONIO HODGE STREIITVLBES VENDOR And So I Gathered .... And so I g_otheted up all 1hn1I knew andpla11ted i1here in Ovec-d1e-Rhioe• .asntall tO\Vll gut at bean lost u11hecit}· n1ovcd by 1ho pcoplc'sstorics d1n1dov.n hon-ie \\l'JY of li,~ng pro11d faces hard bandsof determinatioo sade}1es9fsorro\\S too nmny co n:in1e I looked up more often back in 19!70 there.\...-ere 111ore tace.s ai 1he \vi11dov.~ above got to gatl1er upstrength got to renten1ber (0 Jook up 110 1 loo.I:> do\vn with despair thnt \i,ii:lt ,,re·ve@therl!d isall fornaugtn l'mo littledizzy from all 1hechm1gesdisrt4>ring R senseofreace in this place \\'e•veplanted seeds ·nie Nannie Iiinki>ton l·loii.c;ea1 12111 nrtd Ehn gone Waslungron l'orkSchool J:,'OllC Shalash'soomer store S<)ile People I reJtrember gone landmarks forv.tiom·isaJI thiscementpouring, condo•s rising'/ Gather up thestories gatl1erup the spirit gathcr up the song.8Qf~1c pl'Opl-c gof ro gatherup~n1ething that ,.,,u le.id us 10 see.the ligh1 throug1·1all ofI.his .and not tlle mood S\vi.nging darknessofde1nolition July 2008 �STREETVIBE S July 2008 Artwork and Poetry \.Vriters! ~ subn1ityour WJI poetry to Strectvibes ­ email your writing 10 streetvibes2@yahoo.co111 I 9 Abstract Ball To Scott and his wife / )3\' AN 'l'll(•~Y \VILlJAJ.JS - Lord I'm Thankful l}y Rt)IJEWI' l\if~\N A~A Tharikyou for 111)' ~·es tosee lbank you forsetting n1e free 11uutk you fot )'Ol lf n1et cy Thank )'Ou foe the...,o;-un.~1ne and Lhe raio lbankyou for.easu1g nl)' pain 11UU1k you fot c..·ery, e-...·e1')"tl1lf1£, rm Indy ~innkfol Work Advertisement " Our" Janitorial Serivcc We believe in team \Vork You, Lhe client, decide tbe pay rate We, the cleaners. will handle the re~i Call: Harold V. Taylor 5 13 86 1.0468 Thank)r()u fot I.ti!! n l)\.\'l!l'S and ltil! i~ lb3JJk you for ~ le birdsruid lhe bees 11\tltlk you forgi vlng me v1C1()1)' For 1hcsc things l' 1-n thankful Berta's Art Corner " Chalk Bird" C l.IFTON, CINCINNATI �10 STREETVIBES Columns J uly 2008 The Paperwork Can Be a Killer Inane rules can block the road to recovery yourpicturcJD'T' ol "as taking William h.is nan1e's not Willian1, "I don't have a photo ID... but 1·11 call him that- 10 Peoplecomingoutof prison sign up for treatment for heroin often lock o photo ID. It's just addiction. We had a hard· one ofthe things that n1ake it c.amcd appointment. and v.·c hard fursomc.'()llcv.hohasdone sl10\ved up right on rin1e in the rin1e to get ajob and establish lobby ofthetreatment center. It himselfback in the community. had taken me several days of They get a photo IO in prison, v.<0rkjust lO gel hin1 this far. I andsonle places \viii recognize had to negotiate ''ii th a parole them as ' 'alid . but many officer, a case n1anager, the corrections officers insist on intake person at the1rea1ment laking lhe:m a-; a prisor1erleaves. center, and \\'illian1hin1self to lt'snot right, it'snot policy. but get to this lobby. I thought v.•e had a chance. You have to be able 111e s taff I n1et \vere not to prove you are particulal'ly friendlyorhelpful. It was, "Take your backpack the person you say you are. offthe coun1e( "- not "l•lo'v mll)' l help you?" - until I We wouldn't want to explained I ..va.saprofessionaJ, detox the wrong not a client. Why do you person . suppose that is? Shouldn't So, no photo ID, no everybody be trea1ed with treatment. r.;.."Spect? Out back to our story. Wil lian1 is lean as an arrovihead.Tattoosclimb up his die')' do it. Any"~Y. bockto the neck and dov.11 his ant1s and lobby of the treatnlent center. "\Ve can·1 take you if you ove1· his ankles 10 the IOJ)S of his shoes. Hjs eyes arc blue as don't have a photo ID." sn1oke and \Ya.I)' as those ofa ..It's at nl)1 sister's." "Can·t take you." fox. HehadgoneAWOLfour ri111es fron1 the halfu-ay house I piped in at this point. "His v.•here parole had placed hin1, siste.r'sjust 15 n1inutesa\\r.ty." and he \I/SS just an inch or t\VO "Can't takehim," front being sentback lOprison. .. You could start hin1 Like any good addict, he had through intake \W\ile I go pick it barg.."Li.ned and resisted.. but he up." But no, d1ey couldn"t wait v.•M, fo~ the n10mer1t, '"illing. He had everything he v.tiile v.~ ran to get the JD. O\vned trussed up in a blue Make a note to yourself. If lau1diybag. Everything. it1ums you ever become a heroin out, except for one thing. addict, you are likely to want First ques11on: "Cao I see 1rea1.n1ent at sorne point. So s The Box One man's trash is another man's home furnishings B Y L ARR\. CROSS CoNTR1nurc~o WRITitR think ahead no\v, so that \\then your life becon1es totally disorganized andyou beooole either homeless or in1prisoned (orson1econ1bination of both) or v.•hcn you get robbed or v.tlenyour housegetsbun1t out, make sure that. a.-; you get separated front ~reiythi.ng e1se of value in your life, you never loscsightofyourph040l0 You have to be able to prove you ared1epetSOn yousay you are. Wev.'Ouldn't want to detox d1e \\ll'011gperson. So. no photo ID, no Hammered by Micha.el Henson .~ficf1<1cf ff('ll$(1JI is (tf/l/IQr offemUot'~\ A S,,1(1/f fee>O/fl \l'ilft T'ro11l:J/c 0" .~!)' j\Jind, 111c T<W ofW11gi11g. (tfld Crow C<t//, T'Jiis ce>lu11111 is pt111 ofo !f1011tlrly .Jerics e»1 pol'c11)r <»td (l(/iliclior1, We had to se1 another appointment for fi,redays later. Five nlOredays in tlle lifeof an activeheroinaddict, Willian\ didn't \\iail five days. Active heroin addicts don'tusoolly wait five days for rnuch ofanything.. \Vhen the jon.;.."Sison. thc.TCigi 't ml.di \liill stop it. Apron1ise ofcreatnlenl a f<..-..\•daysdov.11 the road isn't much ofa barrier to the hit that's v.•a.tting just rninutes av.•ay. I took \\1illiam and his laundry bag back to the halfv.•3)1 house v.•ith stric11nstructJ.ons: Follo'v the n~es, stay at the facility and don"t use. He \vas AWOL again v.-ithin hours. Bigsurprise. •••• I could try to be mad at the u11akepet90f1 I1aJked to on the phone. He could have said son1ething that \VOuld have ren1inded n1e to get the ID problen1solved before we got 1he ~e. Bui rnaybe he to ld Willian1and William ignored lw.n1 l could try to be madat the v.<0111an \vho v.'OuJdn' t give us time to 8<-1 over to the si&1er for the photo lD. But she is a seasoned hand, ru1d she 'vas acrually 'iet)' sensiri...reabout the v.•hole thing. So l can't blan1e hereithc."f I could ti)' to be 111ad at \\lilliao1. I put a lot of v.otk into th.is referral, and so did his paroleofficer, his case n1anager andthe intake v.'Orker. H_e had evel)•body puUingfor hint But Willian1·s J USI doing ,vflat an addict "ill do. l could try to be n1ad at myself l shouldhavekno.,,11 I hadbeen do"n this road before. I had bought ID's for addicts with 111oney fro n1 my own pocket. I kne'v they \\iOuld ask for a picture ID. and I simply didn' t figure that into nty calculations. But I had to give up being ntad at myself (and odier people) long ago. l'mjust mad atthe nilcs, Addiction is a huge problem in this society. \\lehke to n1ake a big show of ho'v serious v.<e ate. \Ve say 'veare in a v.•ar on drugs. But it's like 1hat 01her war (you pick the war)v.-esayv.e're6ghring. \Ve pick the 'vrong 1arget, and v.•e under fund the fight<.'fS. And die casualties keepn1ow1ting up. I don"t know the numbers, but itseems to nte\\<e could lay offsoo1e admitaJs or pull the funding from the Homeland Security boondoggle in Wyoming and set upa fund for photo lDs for those \\iithout tl1ent \\lecould sell a ballleS'h1p and expand the number of treatn1ent centers. We could Pa)' the \\()rkc.'f'S in the treatment centers a decent salary. \\lecould do a lot oftllings. Maybe William '"'"Id still "ant to use. Addicts are likethat But it v.rould give him one less excuse to keep on. I assun1e he·s out tllete no,v, nodding frontthe latest highor ti ending for the next. Or S\veating it out in a cell in the Justice Center. Or dead in on alley.Anyooeof tl1ese1shkely. But it's not likely he is i.n a tecovery progrant. Not for a\vhjle, We had a little \llindo\v of.,\iillingness, but it'sgone. I hoJ>ehe finds it again. '"'fliis took place last sum.me." 1 back ..vhoo I 'vas doing son1e consul1jng wo1·k fo1· an office fuminire store do\\fltO\\fl. TI1estore is ruo by a fatlh!tar1d his son l no longer \VOrk there. because the father is the devil and the son is Fon.'SI Gu.mp. but that'sa tale for another day. Ne..vfumllure v.ould arrive at the store almostdaily. Th.;..'Se shipn1ents includedhugeoftice sofas that \1.1ould be shipped in large, th.ick, cardboard boxes. After the sofa s 'vere unpacked, the boxes \VOUld be left nexcto lhe side\\ialk fot the trash collc.'<.10rto haul a'\'3)' that night. Also left for the trash colfec.tot wereoflen old chai~ fra111ed pictures and various other things that the O\\lllers considc.'f'Cdjlmk. One sun1n1er afternoon I v.·a.sstandjng outside the store sn1oking a cigarene. Nexc to the sidev.•alk ..vas one oftl1ose big cardboard boxes.. I ..va1ched a man cross Eighth ond Main, ond he stam.-d v.•alking quickly \Vhen he eyeballed the box. He \VflS a short. shinlessmon '""'1ring dirty bluejeat1s. f<lis face wasdir(y, too. He had short blonde hair and his body \\13.S n1uscular. When he re.ached the box next to the sidewalk, he looked at it, d1en at me. "Hey, )'OUgot an extra cigarene?'· heasked. He had a look on this face that \V8S stem and not all that friendly. I gavehin1 a cigarette. He also needed a Light. The 111an took a longd:ra\V on his smoke and then turned his anention to the box. He moved it around a few 1in1es, lookc.-d it O\~r and lifted it to sec ho..v heavy it ..vas. He then looked at me again, "I v.·ant this box," hesaid ··1t·s yours," I replied . "\Ve're throv.ing itout" ·•1can use it," he said He picked the box up and. v.1ththe cigarette hanging outof his o~uth.hestatted 'vlllk1ng up ~lai n Street, heading toward the courthouse. ln the days follO\\iing. the man \\'OU.Id return to check out otherjunk thru had been lefi fot the trash collectors.. He always ren1ained shircless, al ..vays v.'9.fltt.-d a cigan.11e but that & 1em face ofhis got a linle friendlier. Fie took an interest 1n an old chair that had a damaged u-eanr~nt > �STREETVIBES Columns July 2008 11 The New Jackie Robinson Obama's promise for a different America at docs U.S Sen. year but the grade inner city Barack Oban1a's schools get continues to be an presidential run "F.,. 111e younges1 Md most mean for ourcommunity, this pe>0rly experienced tt:achcrsarc nation and the \VOrld? By rotatedduough 1he mostdifficult v.•inning the e lection in schools and, after tv.'Oor three November, Obama~t prove years, these teachers leave to that the promise of Anlet1ca be repl<lced ,.;!h equally poorly m.ight finally be \vithin reachof anyone. Obama needs to The promise of the change the Constitution has been rarely question: " How can W: reahzed due to polilicaJ and c.'C()fl()JTlic.habits ofinj usticc that seent so deeply en1bedded in our hearts. Today the promise of equal education for all rrunonhesis denied a~ only one major group graduates from high school. 111e prontise of l.'(]Ual justice has lx."C."n dcnicdas only one majorgroup is jailed. Tuepromiseofequal health care has bcc.'fl abandoned as prejudicial treatntent by doctors for heart disease, high blood each citizen and each community be advocates, models and agents of peace?" trained teachers. Thescandal ofhealth care increases as more and more peoplc arcacc<.'Pting that hc.-alth care is too expensive. The C()flS(..'(]lK.'llOOS in life uxpc.'<.tan<.y pressure, diabetes and other for nlinoriries revealshorrifying dis"""'8 is doledout differendy stati&1ics about chjldn.., • andold people. A silence persislS. The silence of inner-cit)• mayors. countyofficials,church leaders and others in charge ofmajor colleges and universities only chills the at.mosphete faciogout cities in this region. Oban1a's challenge is lo change the nature of the questions about An1erica. Instead of denial aboul race, poverty and class. he needs to ask, ''Ho,vcan \Ve usethe gifts of all p(,-ople to rccon.struct a society of contpassion?" Instead ofseeing our country and citiesinviting \\'tll'S. Obama needs to change the question: "Hovi can c.-achcltizx,.'ll and<.-ach co111n1unity be advocates, models and agents ofpeace·r· Rather than let the c."COnomy drift into a depression, Oban1a noods to raise the <1ucstion. "\Vhat kinds of jobs can be ce Village by Stev Sunderland otlercd to citizens. offering stroog '-'11ge5, goodbenefits and realisticpensiorlS'r· Thesequestions su.__ggest a burning desire lO Slop a slide to\varddespair abolrt our major institutions.. These questions point toa di recbOll that callsout to citizens to join a tea111 of equally acrivecitizens in facing and lcadjng our V.'3)' out ofthe failureofoursociety in the past years. Sadly. evidence indicates dtatracisn1 \\111 playa nlajorrole in many sectorsofoursociety. Education forstupidandabsurd unders1anding has led 10 our current context. The "best" n1inds have been lost, fractured by fear. and cncoura_gcd to abandon large sectors of our for blacks and \vhit(..'S of all SOCtet)'. incon1e levels. ·111e pron1ise of fair housing has been shattt.'fCd as poorly financed loans have crashed around the heads of poor pc.'Oplc and have spread to the nUddleclass.111epron1ise offair employrnent has never been achie,recl. It is rare to see n1inorities atthe he.ads orin lhe uppc." ranks ofmajorAJn(,-rican businessesand orgru1izations. llle progress ofnuno1·i1ies in genera l and African­ An1ericans in panicular has bc."Cn spctty. ~tajor advances are al\vays tentporary. lntpactedproblenlS have f,'Olteo mo"'diftic1•t. The politicaland spirin1al optionsseen1 nue ood more Iimitt.'d. Schools change superintender11s eve1y other Without solid thinking, backed up \\~th values of inclusion.fostered at the local level, sociecy stuntbles into er1onnous holes. l·lo,vdid v.•e get SO n1illion people \vithout health insurance'? Ho,vdid \Ve let banks abandon their risk­ assessntentresponsibilitiesand 1rap people into losing their hon-.es? Ho\vdid v.-eal.IO\V lies to lead us into a horrible and costly v.'Rr? Ho\vcan v.clct fi:ar trun1p reason v.hen itcomes to racial and religious leadership? Now, \\~th the political cantpaign entering a n1osl impcrtant phase, Obama \\~ II need to contend \\1th the rising fear and hatred fron1 conu11unities. No one ntakes n1ajorchange by then1selves. I r~ ""fw~ of~ IQ ~~th.;~" 1111,.,""*'" c,. #lfdr-111,. /row Sr, t..',.RJa, think back to Branch Rick•'Y'• effon to bringJackie Robinson 1n10 the major leagues. Rickey had to open the door and Robinson had to perfom1­ and perform hedid. \Ve forget theobstaclesofhatred that he faced in every n1ajor ci(y and even fro111 his ov.n ballclub. instead, \'IC lhink ofRobinson as a pioneer, l ike Neil Annstrong. landingon apartof America that must have seen1ed like the n100Jt Obanta needs nlany Rickcys, many of us v.Tio arc prepared to open the door and 1nsiS1 dlal raciso1rl0tbe allov.ed to rear its head i.n our fantilies, neighborhoods and electoral process. We must take a deep breath and realize that eachday 1ha1 \Ve n1ove IO\vard 1he No..rentberelection is a day of "playing in lhe 111ajors... We must f.'<> to bat to end racism in the election, n1ake few errors that create even more feat.play by theAnterican rules ofjustice and useallofourintelligenceto make a ditf(,•n:ncc by \'()ting. As a 7-year-old, I looked a1 Robinson, and I wa~ an1azed at his talent and courage. As a 68-year-old, I ant again irtspinxl by ffie "n1n"ofObama Robinson and Rickey changed America by making the achieven1entofjustice a"1ctol)" for all. Oban\acan do the san1e, rcrnindjng usofthe hope inour dentocratic processes. As v.-e say in this tov.n,"l·le isrounding third andheading honte. Slide, Obanta, slide... r-------------------------------------------------------~ I I I I I Streetvibes exists as a forum for the expression ofthe views and opi nions ofour readers and supporters. The opinions expressed herein are not necessarily those ofthe Streetvibes staffor the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Hon1eless. I I I I I ~-------------------------------------------------------~ leg. store decided to throw out a at least l had sonte kind of protect that cardboard box co1•dall beu1 my head Pelilaps "'l can fix that," hesaid. beat·upold studentworl< desk. imaginaiy story in my head front theelen1ents'? Did he cue l \Vant to have sonte kind of AJmost like magic., assoon as it about the n1an. outa doorfor it? Docs thatdoor sati sfactory ans\ver or One~ thc.-re '"'t.'fC someold. faded, franted pictures that was left by the sidewalk, the Thal box he look with him ha"realock? Didhe nl3}'be also conclusion orcl05ure as tov.hat v.-ere being throv.11 out that he shi11Jess man f'eal>peated. those fcv.• \veeks back \vas cul out a \vindo\v? I saw during those sun1mer liked. His e)' es glean1ed v.•hiIe sontehO\V his hon1e nov.•. 'The l guess those pictures he months lastyear. "Ican hang these up, Ican looking overtheolddesk. l knO\V nothing for sure other stutI he \vantcd - that took are hanging up inhis box. usc th cs~"' hesaid to me v.Tijle "Hell,yeah I'" he said to me dantaged chair, those old Docs he \\trite or read by aboutany ofthisexceptmaybe lookingthen1overcarefully. as Ismoked. "I n1ay not have a pictures ru1d that s1udet11desk candlelight v.hilesiningat that foronething: hontelesspeople, I didn't see the man for a home bul al least I cru1 have a - arc nov.• in that box.. His s1uder1t desk? If the store had JUSt like a ll o f us, need fe\\•weeks after he took those desk!" hon1e. d1rov.noutamattress, \\OOldhe pemt."lllence. They need asense pictures. With lhat said, l staned to of place and a place called havetaken that, too'? Que<.'rions filk'<lmymindOne allcmoon in August the put tv.'O and tv.'O together - or and still do. Ho\\• does he Ofcourse. it's possible thjs home, �12 STREETVIBES Local News July 20 08 Developing Communities Award ivinners have tnade a difference in neighborhoods Bv PA'rnJ<~IA GAnRV C<*'-"l'l<!fll i('l}."Q \ VkiTEK Tho Co111n111nify·t):.•,vclop­ n1en1 CorporationAssociatio11 ofGrcaicr Cincln1,1.iti prtScnts \vurking ,,~·th theAvund:alc Re­ development Corp. llfld Walnut l'fJlls ROO~~topmen1F<1uncta . tlon. Je11nnc. direc1or of opi:ra­ cio1tS.-h.as tx~n with the WnlnuL HJJ1s.R.cdC\<·clopmcni Founda­ uon since the I~SOs, hired b>'" i1s tirsi t:Xt'tutjve director, Dou Lenz, nod is.stiII n1an1niinin_g the records. doing the reports and keeping the orga1li7J.Uion On awards.each year to the n10st outs11tod1ogpractiti()tlerinsev· era.I comntunity dcvclopmcnl catet,sories. n 1e\\-rinnenffor dlis year.:prL'Scnt"''<i June 26 atour Annual Awards Gelebrntioo at ttock the Coc:nn1uruty..\ctior1Agcney, • llie MOSI OulSUu1dJng arc; Proj tct for the p.'l!'.Tycnr -..wis • The~\1001 OutSlM<ling C.01ruuons on ·f\1lai.tt, developed Ex.e<:utivc Director iS·ST, Oar­ by Meroy Housing, The 199 bara Buscb, SC, the founder units 1n 1he old Franc1.scm1 ilt'ld leaderofWotkuigUtNei.gh· l'fouSing ~vclopn.ettL proJetl &orhoods The 30-yoar-old art lx;jng revitnJi7..cd into Com­ 1100-profit organi.1.aricin iS dedi~ nlonS O"O/\.fain. twferC}' Ho us· cared to helping lov•'- atld mod.­ Cng. lhc nation's largest non­ erate-incon1e peopJe shape profit housing developer. lever­ 1.h~lto\\'lt co1u111un11i es1 Work­ uges additional resources ing in Ncig)ibomoods hos b1ril1 1hrQugh Cathol ic RcaJLh..::are or rehabbed and sold 137 Prutners. lbtal investn1enc,..;u hollle'.S IO fir.:;r--timc, 1<,......ln<.:0100 topSM miJJion Throusn May home ()V.'ners. s~ of "vhonl 200$. Mercy and C'otholio 11'1(,)'led dittcd)' Out ()f pubhc l'fea1 Lhcare Po:trLn~ts hav~ In· hou~ing. Busch isa111\Titlyhclp-­ vested nearly S9 f\ifillion and ing residents address the fore~ completed 01ajor renovations clo~urc c-risis. Nclf,hbo{hood on SS units and mfnorrcno'v·a­ l ~·aders have ne.gotiated fair nonson JS 1110re. lendingagreenlt.\'llS v.;rh natiooal • "fhe Most-Ou1suu1ding and k>cal lenders and loan scr­ Lender is OS Tlrulk, \Vilh 1ho vicers. -r'heseag,ree.rnents have 3\\l'ard 11.ccepted b)' Glenda led 10 dle protet ti01\ o l' 222 Cousios~ vice presidt-01 arid homes valued.al S 14.Sn1iUion co1n1nuni1Yde:vefopnlent nlSfl·­ WJ.N has 3lso done a ye31ly aget VS B'11lk has led the way st\Jdy, beginning in 2(!02, to in s1:1pporting thotity's Neigh­ rra:ck foreclosures, ·atr e·cced borllood Enh:mcen1en1 l)ro· nesghbothoods·ru,d 1nortsage gmn, siJlce its inceptioo·it12007~ providing $3,00<) to each of the lenders. • ·n1e Mo.st Out!.1anding partic-ipaung con1munities CDC Staffer is Jeanne Dav.is. three each year Avondale. CityBeat cn~ni 1»1oryosto beunconsti­ umonat, the appealscourtruled. Coutluued (1·0111 1•a2e l ~egan gard - stop .tbe~a.. litiDJ1from o\1e1-fook1ng lhe fl'ICL U1at this is.sue has been take.o to court be.fore, ruld d1,epolicelosL ln 2002 the Ohio f irst DistrictCoun orAppeals admon.. ished Cinc.iJu1atl vicecops for singling out ad\'ertisers in (JtJ:/Jea1• .A. three-Judge panel upheld• nili11g by the Hlimilt"" CZow1ty Munici pal Counlhnt d'u'e\voo1d iMges ~gain..<it three peo·pte ac-cused of pr3¢ticing n13SS3ge ''~d1oot a license.·n1e vi cooops- bcha,i or "•~S~1 form ofselec6ve pros·ecutionso dis~ "We do not make relative moral judg­ menls on any busi­ ness placing ads In CityBeat." "lllepol!Ce ha-.. not lnsii.. tut'--d ;:igooeralcmckdo,vn;" 1hc appeals: judges \vrore. "11l e con1rnandetof the vice squad testified th.at.rntherd1:m sinlplyconsulI I.he Yel/uur Pages, ill v..hichiln)•n urri>crQfi.111 liccn~-d n1assage es1ablishn1ents an-cl provide.-s readily idet1tify lhetn­ selves ns offen der~ lhe vice S£1uadady t.lrh'Oled forenlb rce. mcntuf1holit cnsiogorcllnan¢o 1. : chose .advl!!rfj sing under the ·ad1J1· section i11 -<.:it)·Be,'lt," The.""~kly 1\e.wsp.<iperand i LIO. s.1.1ppot1ers mllied Juut!20 011 FolmtainS<1W'lroto :aonooocc its formal response to the ccv.. led coaliLion. Dan BockJ·a1Jt, gfl11crol 111a11crgar (if( 'ft)1JJeaJ. S(t/ c/ the.~ /10/l t' I' <JOQ/ #!l"t.Llt!.\' \Vii/I /;1'11' C!t !/iJt'Cellll;: l'I / Tt\'i"\·· 1iga1io11:t'. But 1/1c ,fact 1!1a1 so1ne l11lvv::1·1iscrs Jtin'C broken Noithside, Price Hill in 2007: Clifton Re1ghts/On1,•ersity l·leights/Fauvie,v, Evan-. '.>l i;>n, \\'e;st\VQod In 2008. fora iota.I ofsix .sO fur. 1'be oonlmunity counci-Js urc using these fi.nJds veiy cr~'l.tl \<ely to in1prove thetr neli;ltborhO<)ds. Sup11orte1s of each Of 1hcse ncig.hbo·rhoods cannmkeckpositsin d1eir11enr­ csi US Bonkbe.inch to help " itb che \\'Ork. • The£\.fast Ou~'t:tnchn_g Collaboralivc Eitfon . \- \wrd \VL'f\t to thecityofCincinn.ati tbr the Neighborhood Enhance­ ment Prowwn WtmCity Man· llf."" Milton Dohonoy Ol'nvcd in Cincinnati, hu sa~· thenood in several neighborhoods fo<drns· tic aciion- 3.i:id he t<.lOk i i, The N'EP\WS"crea1ed to have a last· lng physical lntpact-011 lxuuntu­ nifics, onlim:ingbuildin.gcodcs; demolishing irreparablebuild· inS-S and clealiing upocighbor­ 1~ sore spots.. Keep Cinc1n· nail Beautiful and ~>e Job Co1ps jofn(.-d ln to hulp. as did ni:ish­ boffiood leadetslllld residents. • There arc tv.'Q 0\\'(lrds rn th.e Most Outsranding City Stafferca1egQf)'. presented 10 citycmplQ),.~ EdCu011l11gtiam of~ie BuildingDepanmenr" "" n<>01uiatedby PriceHill Will h<­ cal1Seofh1s ded1cauon to in1· proving die.Jiving conditionsand tholiv¢SofI.he rcsidi..-ntsofCin­ cinnati, especially Ofhis li.o nle neigltb01'hOOd Qt' Pric-~. Hi ll. Whe11 theciiy's Neighborhood Enhanc-en1eon1 Progran1~gan l a$tyc~ir. Clmtnn,bohnm rcacht.-d ~ fjf((}lf n(}l /IHlffj' l'f('l!}l""-f ( '/)f' (/It ((/\' / for lf/fl~I (}llftllllo' ///tg N1f14Jh<1r<1ll1'1 1'.lforl far th~ "'',•lgJ1btJrJwtxl Et1l 1ati<lft11'11t1 Prr;grQf11, Piiot<>at>•U1i!.t)· oj' f 'l11<.·1r111n1/-ul1,gp1· ba.ck to hls roots \vllh People rion,. Over-the-Rhine Commu· Wolidng Cooperariw!y, helpin~ nit}' Flou$lng_, an4 Cmcinna11 ci-eaten ia.skJOl'ce to 1tmke .stJrl! Revitaliz.arionAgene)'. . -\nof lo'ver~incoo1ell0ntoo'"nersdid rhem spoke of his famously de­ «liledstylc .and nbiht)• to gl11de oot <lip·lhroush th• c.rocks. TheQther MostO utsmnd­ die J;,reparalion of con1plex 1ng Ci1y S1aiferis Jeunifer\Valke· fmdiug applicaLiQcis. Pert) ' is a of°Lhe Dtpru1t11ciu ofCon1n1u­ local heio for affordable com·· nity Developn1entrutd Pltllll.ing n1unity-b3S('(fhousing. \\'aJke~ pl :mn 1ng~-u1ulyst, "'11Soomina.J­ ed by S:irah T. All'11l of Over· die-Rltine C.On1muui1y:Eloll!ling. ..She alv.·ays gets'back 10 you righl'a\vay ::ind gives you (1!1 the jnfum1~ttion you rt1.-ed tuid d1en son1e.··.-\ llan says...She's ve1y pl'ofes:sional and knowl­ edgeable about bov.• the city pro_~;mn1s \\(lt'k; ~ld ifSJecan'c ans}''Or your <1ucsli<.ln. she k110\\rs; \\ ho crut" 1 • • a developn1-ent.aod The "''J~1 Ou1stan<~ng \'oluntoor 8\V31d was present ~ ~d 10 l\•fel WiUJAJUS, b(,)i!fd memberof die \\'alnur Hills Re­ de\telopillOOI1-'oundation.\\'ill· 1ams Uves nnd brc~thcs ~1alnut Hill> He manl\!led die CVS dfugsiote a1Peebli:sC'.onlt!ffor more than 2$ y_ ears. \\•as the fow1ding president of 1he \\1al· nu1Hills Busan~ . \ssoc1at1o·n and has long :llld faithfu lly !il!tved <~1 d.e \V~ilnU1.~hUs 1\Jea The ~10st Ou~s1and1ng Council Boacd. He's been a Consultant tt\\Wd\\Ult toSteve 1nen1berofd-ie.Redevelop1i1en1 Pere'y of Steve Percy Real E.-;. Foundanon's board of 1rUSti.."C$ 1alc Consulting S(:rv1ws. Re fo r ntore than 15 }'ears. not \Vas non1inated by 1he \\'ah1u1 couttting the year-Imig breaks Hills Rede\lelopn11~11 FouncJa. ri!·quired by the by-la-..\'S. t/1(• /t1111<io6sn t 1111.·a11<1I/ac/11/1 T h C· , - - . - -- - - - - - - -..... ad s aw 1r 1"(1n g , lie !fa1cl conlirlon's .....~~r., ·' We do not n1ake rela'i'•e attack ''ms. 1nor~ Judg1nen1s on any bust· al its core, 11ess_placing adsin Cil)tlcol. '' «Ul assault 1Jockl'alh .1·a id ·· Doing so o n th e. would 1>h1cc us on (I ' 'Cf)' slip­ pery slope :llld would also be innppropdate... ,\ s an e.xru11pl 6~ lhere \\f3Sa major story in tl1e ne\i..s yesterday that n1ore lhan 400 n;Q) estate ind,~1ry plti)•ers h3ve been indicte.d aspa11 ofa J ustjce Deparunent crackclo\vtl on allegoo mongage fraud. So \:l/O t1ld it be frur to s_ay that nle· dia.wm1x111i-cs·shouldno Ion~ accept adve11ising fi-o nt busi.. ni:s._~ otrer.i11g n1011ga.g.e-set· .;rel!' ln published respcnses to the coalinon, r;~rfJ(!f1J Cdilor John Fo x pointed ou1 d1at S1re1eher, Lds. \Vit11)uru and CCV have been fr•quent tar­ gets of cn tlc.isn1 in Lhe paper. p 11pe r ' s F I r s t Amen d­ n100t righis, according to Pox,and Bookrnth. '"'Mos1 1m po r · ta n t l y . C i tJt/leal believes 10 .' flNI B<if.:J;1vr1lJ...1>¥lfiJr(i/ 111tn1d;,.¥r and values lefC il)•}ft'ttl.o c1.ffitr,f fl l~IS}Nfll.l'f! UJ fr.OOom ofspeech and liee· ( '1'1i:l!tU fer ( 'ot111111111ir y I i t/11qs (If dom of tho press; · BocJ..-nuh ot I Vll(11 11 11 flr11111t111r1 :-,'111111/'i! SSJd. "Govenlmoot1nte1terence P I NJt <J I')'. l1t<lr.:-u • ,.IJNk l :JIYJ \\'ith lhtse inalienabl~ iights dt$­ turbs-usgreatly·.,. fl') co1nply "1ith itsden1and, but 1be coalition :u:mounced it dido 't say "Th" iisn""1 .rep " ill �STREETVIBES Local News July 2008 13 Many Struggles, One Goal 'Voices ofHope' at tfze Freedom Center Br Jou.~ EAS'l'L.\CK CoNl'IOULl'fl NU \\1Kl'l'Blt '';Jiu/ StJ !(>diJJ\ a.\' ll'L' init1afk' 1/1~ U11i~1t.•rsol J.Jecla1Y1tion t?/'H111na11 /ligh1s. u•e c:'Oll tt> 111h1<ltl11t .fi)11rfreado111.\' u/HJn 11•/1Jch 1J1c>·arc bt1st~,t .._ 7ht .fir,r;t J.~· .freedo11t r~/· speech 1111d e.~·p1'l! ssio11 ­ i.:•'CtJ"''ltctt' '" 1lli' u·orld. 711.: steo1ul i.\'/n!t.~tltJ1tt u,f L'•'i'I) ; pt:r.,·011 (() 11•r)r.+.'f1q1 ~•'cl1J:,;•hcro i11 1'1e ufotld. G1><-f 1n hi~· 1111•11 U'O)' ­ 11u· '//1irr.J is.frue<lo111.fro11> '"fin/, '''Inch, 1rouslt11eJ l11tf1 '''orld 1er111s, lril~au~ cco110111i'' u11rler.;to11tl111g.~u1hf''h 1111//sec.·•~re lfl e1x:ry· 1111ri t>n f1 health)' pc'ac.etlutt: lf/t:,/01· it.t luhahi1tu11., - e1·cr>·111/u:1t: in the U'tJritl. l1u:/011r1h ls fir:1:d,JJ11 fir>ttt fear. u /1icl1, rranslate,J inru u•o rlcl ren11s. ~ueans frl1·orlflurltlc 1Vtlucrior1 ofa111mn1c11r.1' ro sut •/1 u 1x1;u1 nnd i11 Sll(.'lt o 1hon.>11g/t fi1-;hin11 rluu no 1 •11•1// be Ill {J JJONiflOtt 10 ( '.{ llt t 111i 1 {Ill acl u.I 11h)·si1:11/ t1g,!!rc.\·.,·io11 a,r;c1i11:t 1 u1t>' n«1gl1bar ­ l/(lfi (}t, <111Jt1t·hc1\,' in 1/1e 11'0J'ld. ·• -~ Frnuklin D. Roostvt.11 .\ilcuce. " the eivil rights- moveruont i.o Arncrica,. lhoH.oloc.tu.1S1 · Rabbi Joachi111 P1·inz, 196'3 l\tarcb on and \\'orfd \\•ar U,.al1 ....•ere 1nfloonrial in defining the \\ras-J1ing,1011 iss:ue. The innovatjve script \\'3.5 perforn1ed by an " 111t:1t· f,,. a11.Jr}rit.'.f111 1>1'tJ~i:tb thttt St1f ·'" '(/J(lu alSCrti>lc cast and ~tured asei·iei; a t'hlswical v.n ting:: u·ant l tl'(!O quick'l)~ g11 u/(JJ'tt!. /fJ 'Ott •~·0111 to l{l).fr11; andOrfltQJ)' froro rnOrc thu.n 30 inWvidu..'ils. in<;ludiog $!r> 1ogt.rhe1; · H'a J~e~l 10 go jh.1; t/1iit kl):" Eleonor Roose,,,,i~ Illie Wi<Se~ Goorge Bemard Shaw -Al Co1-e. Nobcl Lttfu1•e, 2007 :ind othe' s.. Topics included the aften11ath of slavery. the " /.au1.•i11g hchitu'/ 11lg/11s u,f 1cr1vr ttnd,/t ur l~oloc.au.«, d1e Declaration of Independence. 1hc I ri.,·t.· Univc-rsal 0 ¢Cllaralion of Human RJgbts. lbc 1963 Into a tlflJ'bJr:ilk t/Jt11 ~· 11 •<11Jdrously clror ~1 arcb on \\l:ishingtoo, theEqual Rig.hes..\.nlMdi11eJ1t, I rl.1e S1ooe,vaJJ 25 l'ltld.ga)· ~ctlv1sn1, tlle auoot1es i.i1Sud:in and the perils of indifference, \vhich continues 10 8ringi11g the gifts. 1)int "~" u11(.-es1ors ,t;a,·e, p'etpetoruenll)te nliSet)•mdsuffeiing, I u111 thi! tlrca111 t111d tltt '10/)C~fthe ,o;:fal·'t!. { 1-i.)'l' Thcscriousnciss·o fthe matier \ V'4$ appmo1 fro1n I ri:;c d>eSlark appenranceofd1e'S1age-·sctonJy 'vid1 seven I rise. " chairs \vitJ1ceadi.!lgstand~ for the fUli'1ntots ::iud tt lruge -~1ay it An gelou. '"An d Still I Rise'· screen tl1at provided for background Visuals. r ''lfl1•c uu~ .l 'Our 1i1\·J. ) tOlft' /NW t: ; ·u11r /11uitlletl 111<1.t se.\'JY.:arnfn$.! tfJ hn:q1/u:.rro~. " The pr~'SetllAli('Ul, direct and r~trained, n ()\\'6d So1:ooor d1osc quon11ions-o:tigh1be famiUar, some ....£ n1111a Lazarus, fl"oo.11he:sonnrr 1•t 1he base not: but aH \vec~. spoken as pa11 of "\rbicesof Hope: of tilt: Stillu(I- of Libersy Flumru1 RightS- Since the holocaus1," a drn.tfllltlc perfon11anceand call to.action created by the Center ''()p/Jl 'f:i>'.'i'1d f>COJ>I~ t'-i11111ol ~111ai11 0/J/Ut'!l'.\'e'I for l·lolocaus1and l;lu1nartity Educaboo, prod1Jced 1n ,f<)t:i:,•er: 7'/u! Jrct1,.ni11_g ,for J 'rt.•edf1111 c11t.:n1110 ll) • parrocrship \11ilh dle Natl<H:l.Sl U11derground Railroad 11Janijes1s if:;clj.' .. l':reedon1Center. Ii took placeJw1e 11 and 12 in dle ·:\fa1·1i11 Lu1l1cr King JI'., "•Let ter ft'O.ll1 n Preedon' Cen1er 1s J.lat i:1et Tub.ma1l Th¢at re 8i1111inghamJaif.. St1vte11:ibc.•s \Vas proud to be a sponsor ofche event. l11r: piec~.\Vriuen and dil't"Cledby Bob Saut!'lbrey ''81J;ol1J' ttntl hatrt:,/ an: n1>1 Jl1c: 11u).,·111rgt111 covt.'fS tbe events and ti.guros thzit scrvr..-d as cahal}'stS 1>1vb/11-1n. 111e utosf 111gc·111. the 11w~·1 <lil·grt'fcef 11/, 1n d>e revolutiooofl1un:w1 nglits.~and present From 1/Jr: 11Jl1S1 sha1u~fi.tl an•l the 1ftos1 tragic pn.>ble1t1 1s diec:re.atioci oftl1e.lJn11ed Nattoos 10 1.heeirLer~-ei)ceof scaonlossly fro•I' 1opic to topic.Thediologue<"'11¢re'<l on the pron1otion oftolerance. inclusion and social )ustJce- The cen1raJ message \vas tha1 nope.ace is pos.5ible in a \VOl'fd in \1ih ic.h persons, otherbeingsand the eruth iISd r""' abU'ledMd mi$Uled. Theoppr•ssion ofo.n.y St.'llti<mt b~in g. is the of)pri:ssion of all The ftee-dont ofany unplies freedo1n tOraH. It urges our 1n\'(>lve1'ueDl, nOtJt'ldiil~ce, \\'luchhaq_nddJ.e(l hiSt01y \.\; tti so ntauyt~"'«lies . Pethnps 1he banoers thathnni:, on the fa(:ade of cho Frci:don1 Ccnror itself Sum j t op bCSt: "O ur diO-"e.rences are unporta.111 but ot1r sllared hunianiry m~-iS 1nosL" He Makes Others Look Good ·;B,· GRt!C°: O.t.fcttQ~R'' nt)-Selfthmu9;h tliarsiruationagilin," ltCSQ)'S. '1 kneWI had tO.k"'11'!\Shtli1~to coilti)lueon." l'row 19s2 duougb 1 9&~ Hudey setvedJn !he Nwand trained to 0ec-0m~ a borl>er, Regradillit.XI from·Ni>nolk,B0tbl!rsc1ioo1 llllooc t;rpohsmc1Ualroh heopcncd-bislirst'Shop inPiiil.ndelphi• in 1986. 11 lj'aSdtll!ln!l;.bJS·I Q•;)!eal' Silly inJ'Ltlla<(elp!na th•the b.t'Mn ~tred11gJr"i;seiviCO!; \o. th~~~ss. '[b;:goDcuttin!i;lli,o h3irilfli<l!iieless:P'!Cll)[o ear]y onin n1y oate!c,'1 Fiutley SR)'$, "I \\lauld,oAeltrlmes secsoroconepassmgcy-,moI kneweoold usea 1rim or ~.J woul~ th.~i;go outs1der reeruitthe,person Mddi:;u1.thenwp. ll'l'i:le;medi»n1eqne.up, I lirli"' I wa&provi"llmgthem wi'lli a chance 10 sue<OOO'omdi.~ ond llilit \<iai;*"'j !initlf)'fng.~ Jfurl'eyosba~fic·stoJ)' ofhlsnlOSt memorable 01qleneo<;e: lu lhenuddleofwmt~r hesm\\so­ SJanding outlti<Jo who n¢~a hJlit<uLButloy 1ook liinii nsiilo~ tlew\ediiimup,·At iliatv.i1y-momen1 bOth RurLO)i'lll\dbls'cU$1ometnotl<Mn manin Staling l..sidothoShot).Jt turned oin thotwo 111•,,.hll<I 0Jice,beenco,.workess.;Il1en131;¥md1es.uitill'lped.bis ~' Uwl~?· ",:1ri11'(1t1~ "•~W11 1Jr,i~)11,'/.fhrl lli 711rfN~tt1ln 11(~ P!Wq 1'11.llidfv.W ~.-.i o(theci>n1[xlay. STAFF Wiirrnlt ~!J!IS.Hui!ey cuts!!>ebwrofboJh.pwu1g.sodnon· R~rirl~t~\~"'C\'S ~·h1~bai:\lersbop ~·~"''~'Tho' nativel)fBu<ikey.e l:aKe, O~io "115cbe"1) •irtling'l1rur Since 1986. l·le<IJldled bis sltopat ~4 EaS•Coun St in October<ZOO~. Hudt>y hos 1\lways' beeq ell)patheac •IOwatd s:trujf!!iin~ indlVfduol~~t~ 16 he )"tS ••!lllllcl'.l""e<\ Tcy,m_g1o find·ondn1'111llllln a jobJ Ustto sug{lorthimsrlf. be"1cinrnJer&I hardshipse:uiy ln his~ou~lt l \1<>.ycars latcr Rur!oy bi:<>am,c homc)css His brush with bomelJ'SSliess1bWJ11ruely lasiedJustooeda~ b)ll ttJ11ade on.im1~qtelnlR>l<i, "I vow~theV..iy nextdoy ttitul 11<>ulanev'Orp,u\ ltlt'f'.d wli1,1/.r.,lu)p. •s\JI• fri<:nd\>.e<Qmo.sober- lUld'evetttu"1ly !like ch0rs,b �STREETVIBES Guest Column 14 Joe Now and Then A haircut, a meal arid a siirprising kindness 5,. ·r1~ 1 c C.\~"NoN· for bleeding sore.s: and li e~ July 2008 T/111 C111111au ta 1.1 j.'IKll1'>JlFtl{>l11•r und pot•I- flt. ll\"'iiS '11 C J1JC.lfri'ifll ( \11ftl1 .tl11r1..·r11, his u'fl'-' qf.~IJ t>t•111-... they'd boon drinking. They '~'eregettlnga littletoo friendly ru1dbei~iug lb1·n1011ey: I think thC}· just \\IMted to ge1 wann. Jnc v.·s~n ' 1 ~ayu1g 1 uucb as he stood thctc in a bl'\vildcrCd m1por. To n1y d1.$beher,one of th~ insir11ctors ca.Jne over and suu1td $hbv1t1g d1e1t1 oul the ck>or Jo~ s turnble<Iand foll 10 1he floor.·rile i11strucrors1arted kickutg.lunl, l.d.l1nghu1t,, "Get ouL 3lld-stayou1I.. My bro1her :md I riui ov~r and pushed Ille 1nstn1ctor o ut of tht ' '-'It}'· Joe "ns bleedingfrom ih•-•"""- We helped hl111 1.o h1.s reel aod sent bcf(lre\\ ¢C()Uldsti111 CUltit1g. Joestumbled in that day ""d ··1 10\'I! ya. nmn.... 1»1ntOO 10 hi.s.he:id I nlOlioned Mc? I ~skod mysolf Hud for him to conic over; he son1eone.sent an unkoo\1111 re!eas..">Ci a.deeJ> 11)()311as h e.~t i:;irurdian? \\'ho kne,vrha1such do\0,11. I \lllUllCVCf rofl~CI ~le reassurance \~':IS needed to lift odoL He smelled like bacon nw fion1d1is nlclanchol)•? gre<ase ruld cigareites. ....tiile !us 111cfirsthmc IsawJoo, he breath s1unk of •~l •:oh()I and himon hjs'"~· \l/:tS lyingin a doorway~ 11 \v.ts rouing 1ee~1~ Soon nfttt, u1y broll1crruld the v.lnterof 1977 ~·I)• bfother I thrl!\VO.haltc:loLlt around I Y.'Ql"t: oo our\.\'ll}'·to the Oank Cluis and I lutdjlist begun our himand preparedn1y clipj)ers. Cn:fe for lunch_Joe v.•as again tirst day 111 b3cberingscbool i1t AsJ looked into dlen1innr. hts StQf'diug ou1Stde, begging:. J3e O\'cr~the-R.h 1 nc. Joe l~l)' 1herc feattrros began lo-sofit.'11as11ny asked forson>echonge. L~ead like a pieceof gu1n thatsociety dro.plets of frost a.nd sinus \Vt:Off't!rl.°d.IO buy hiiu lttli!ILEli$ had chev16d up an<l :::p11out, drain a.Se s1zu'.1.t!d to mel 1a,.. a>• ,...holiJ pcr$00nQpcncd \\'11111!,..., Citl l::Sl' ( )11..l l),t!\'IST 1 ouly to be trampled upon and fromhis beard1llld mustache. embedded into theooucrete. Ido11' 1re-m~nlber. if l asked His c.lothes '''ere b.tircly fit \vhnt k~ n d o f h1.11 rcul Joe eoough to keep him v.·an11: his \V:tnled. h e"\\'3SJUSI a subject., and I1 ,.,.as o shin satdout past the He asked for some free service. J sbnmken·and change. Instead we only l:newhow fr~·Y ed \VOOI offered to buy him t<.> give u burr. jocket l 1un1ed on the lunch. His whole Through the clippers and persona opened split seam on p roceed~d to while we ate. 1.he rearoJ11js n1o'v his hair pants. his ngh1 do\\'11 the ntiddle. underwear sho~\!ed \Vi111e he " Naah,.... Joe's volce curled up on Mold rur..-ce of gmbledwhile moti01"'1g ,,;lh his cardboard. I '"'3S 17, and never lO O\}' hands. Iifc. had I v.·i tn~scd S\tCih a " l-lcJUSt\\l11nls a J1ttlooffall cle&ilm•individwLHe probably over,jw.1'll trim." Rt>' instructor desetve-d th.:.siru~tion he v.·a~ s.nirkcd, in, jusl plain lazy or drunk. I ·11.Uswosmy fu>treal l<SS011 d1ough1 n ironick'>\\atdt av.100 in humiJi·iy.1 later lwn~d tllnt unnnlo in u g;trbagc can nnd IX."Opleon thc-sti:.:ets k~(.'P thi:1r then Inter see another·person ha.tr longer for \Yarn1th in ·1he St'aJ'th lbr~1trlt1ing 1oca1fro1n \Vint.er. 1feh so Cdlhlu'mSscd. I thesameoontffinet. hwcit-d to finish the halrcm Dnd l'here\I/Wel\IJOan.>::tS 10 the cnn1med his bea.rd. L1ook the schOOI, nJun1or und~n 1 or Side ht11r1.1loth oA:' and lo'''l.!rcd iho ·n1e senior side charged for bruberchair. Joe ;lowly lifted services., 7Scei11S lbtabnircu1 his body uplf01n the seat,cruue and 50 tents·for a shave. On O\'~' ond patted Ille on the back ·rhe juruor side. haiccua and as he spoke; 1L sounded l ike~ sl;(IVCS\\'CrcgQncr!tlly free An " lt'sO.K," instructor \VouJd grasp a for 1he 11ex1 fe\V days, ,..ftenever Joe walk!?d pa.-;1 the display 'vlndo,v. he'd stop. kJ1ock on d1e glass, lakeoffhis beiu11cicup.JJ9in110 hisha1r nnd sn1ile. Jn th11t sin1ple. act of f()l'.gi venes:s, he had s1ar1cd LO becomea J1unw.a tome_ Onecold day, businffl \l/aS sJov.i unll students '''l.lru standing around 1alking. Jus1 dtu:t dw:<ls:)C)rfle,vapt.:nandJoe came iu \Vith L"\VO othtJr indi\:1duals. It \V3S obvjol1S ho1nef~inci'vidual ofl'dtestlt'el and offer a free sen•ice. or son-:eonu~sdle}' ~\'Ot~djust 'v.ill: 10,111¢)· nll received tht:s<1n1e ha.ircu1on 1heju11ior side~ \Ve would take u burr cli~}1>et and j ust bUzzI.he hair do~·n.. Son1e of thesepeople had nolbathe<.i or '~tied 1ht.:1r h!\1r in n1onths. ·n1e dippers 'vould clog ,\Ji1h ac.c:un1ulat«ld'lndru.IT andscabs in the ,va.,-y-coa1ed hair. V.le al \vays had 10 chec.k a1e. Soup dripped as his 1ren1l~ui;: l•11>d Jd\edtl>e spoon, ..111/s 1.t i11}1e:~ I j lr111Jai.l lu1Kl1 w·1tli a ho1t1l!/eJ.1 N1t Nr ntN1Jt•(f ",/l,f " titbl his ftnger.s stained yello''' by I.JI! tt.1.lrf Ill(! (J SIOty aOOl/J life- .. Pholb b,1· 1111UJJ/()1( '10111ot1. CQtS Of .S1noku1g \Vltllc J" thought Jqc '1"1a$Al\\~'!'drunk, ) 1 Ibecrune a'vnre that hesuffered menUlJ problems: his spe.ec.h wos a lillle hord to understand nt tin1es \\'e ti::1n1cd through our conversati on thaL \\!hen Joe cal'ne baek fton1 the Vieuuun Wor, his wife had left fom. His 1>are:t11S had died, und \\•itl1.uo othor l'amlly. Joe fcli into u sev.eredepression.He.drifted arowld nnd e nded up 1n Cincinnati. He did nligrntory Carin lnbor t{) l!"'.iJ"n cnouey., only to IQSC ifoo alcohOI,giunllling. being beate1l and robbed I a~ked Joe o;vhy he dJdi1·1 receive,'t.'terans' l>enefils. He AA rugged. a.nd sce1ned 1101 to ,aro. Ho loved ~oscball and kept repeating, ...t hose Cinc.lnnari Rcdsl',\Vc left Joi: Sitting 1hece at 1he b:ir-\''hen v.~ fini:;hcd \'4th lw\Ch. AAL-r S\Lfrdrad nef\•e danlnge from 3 fall 140\\' c.o uld I kel!p ' '·orktng? t\m I no1- a mnn aD)'lllOOil As I drif1cd along bewildored. l heard...I Jo,,. yn, man.-· My feelings 1ransforrned all, to<hly ho '"~ a p:~ying a!:; 1 i·urncd :tnd s:.l\\t a mun c.ustooler, he could stay warm learung against a bulld1ng, P"lhnrxlling ~· hnlc \\~1ilclonger. It v.•as Joe. 1walked over .\llany yecars Inter I '"as and pu1\\ hat I hOO i11 hiscup. I v.•alkin!; dov.·ntovm, lov1 on sclf-csti..'Cm /\ty life.bud taken told liim thnt I n.'mCmiJ<ln:dhim a oonlplete spin 1n rern\S of J\om n•11l)' ag<>. We !llook hcal1h, employmcnl and handsasour li\'l!S toud,cd Ot:lCC finsn<:es. There hodbeen n bod ng•un. Thal OOy .loe·seemed an .o.uto ncclde11t, a h~an annck, I anj;d, af)U!ll'dian. \Vh.:.-n ii ,.,..!IS had to close our business and 1 my tum to need him ' 'U 1 l"'"" Do you have trouble reading? Seeing people's faces? Doing everyday tasks? There is hope. There is help. We can help you or someone you know who has: •No Vision • Loss of Some Vision • " - .Cincinnati Association for the ' '' - Blind & Visually Impaired 2045 Giibert Avenue Cincinnati, OH 45202 A not-for-profit agency For information call 513-221-8558 and ask for Adrianne. �STREETVIBES Opinion July 2008 Working for Nothing Bricklayers unpaid far low-income housing project Bv CnRJS H .AR'"l'r.t.,NN Ai\1) At.\SS..\ Ko~'ERi\IANN 1J1l8gine fora nlinutethatfor the past five l'llOnLhsyou have av.11,kcnedbt.-foredav.n to''~ as a bricklayer for 10 exhaUSbog:houl'S.oo.Jy to te(um hon--.e to explain to your fan1ily thru you will sajll r\Ot be able to affurd food or n:nt, The reason: you haven't beenpaid in over a monlh. Tens of thousand of 1n1n1igrant \VOrkers 10 the Cincinnati area~ to v.'Qrkc.-ach da)• on housi:ngprojecsrMging from g:overnmen1-funded projects to private hontes. ln order 10 offer the Jo,vest bid, hO\\•evcr, c-o ntractors and subcontractors 'viii son1erin1es unethically cut comers. For 0 .A.G Construction and subcontractors Best Masonry and O rlando Cacedes, chat has ntea.nt v.•ithholding the pay front 35 c.mp!O)•ecs, an atnOlSltequating to arow1d $300,000. D.t\ .G Consttuclion is not a new nan1e in Ci.ncinnati. The genera] contrac1or has also bC(,.'11 responsible tOr the Paul Srov.·n Stadiun1, the Carl H. Lindne r Y MCA and 1he A~'llncedTedmology Leaming Center at C1oc.innati State Coll cge. Likc\\'i sc. th c s ubcontractors involved cootinue to work in lhe Cincirutari area. Froo1 Novernber 2006 through February 2007, these 3 S n1en \\forked as bricklayers for a D. t\ .G. Cons1ruct1on project in the West End The ptOJeCI utihzed federal g.raot money to fund the initial consrructionofpublichousing, 1\s governo1ent-contracted V.'Ork, there is a 111andate that v.'Orl\ets be paid the prevailing v.·age. According to Oavis­ Sacon \\'age Detem1inations, this "'Ould be$33.SO pethour. Many of these v.•orkcrs . hov.·ever, v.·ere paid SI 8 per hout- or nothing at all. As an ironic twist, the project exists io order 10 provideaffordable holrsing. but those used in the constn1ction process are not being paid. Public housing is 111eant to address poverty, but not paying employees in no v..-ay reaches this end. lllis C)1Clical systen1 only perpetuales the negaiive stereotypes of im.111igrants: if they ate oot paid, 1hey caooot realistically be expected to participate in thecon1n1uni[)1 or contribute to 11S econorny. This situation also reflects pootly on the local econonl)' on both moral and commercial levels. Unethical business practices s uch as this discourage outside jobs fron1 corning into the city, ru1d local union labor suffers \\ihcn a contractor knO\\IS he or she is able to hire in1migran1 labor 15 V.'ithout being held accountable 10 pay them n1atket wages. There are nun1erous problen1s that Cincinnati's Hjspanic pcpulation is tilcing. and this is an issue that carutot be ignored. This is not one isolated case, but rather an exan1ple of one group of individlia.ls \\<hOare stri,iing to make their voices heard. ln order to end 1his cycle of exploitation, action n1ust be taken 110\V to hold contractors andsuboon1111e10rs oocounll!ble to their en1ployees. The unpaid wages ­ rougMy $10,000 perworker­ ate currenlly froze n in a government account that \\'aS originally set up to pay the v.orkers through the contractor. D.A.G Construction has the ability to end this sicuation by simply agreeing v.•ith the U.S. govemntent that this n1oney is ov.-ed, but instead 1he ca.o;e is tied~ in 1.i tigation.The \\'Ofkers have \\iaited through nun1erous promjscs for paymc.'11t tOr the postyear, and U.S. Depomnen1 ofLabor off1c1als estin1a1e the case could still proceed for another year before reaching a court. Ho'Ne\rer. itdoesn't appear that D.A.G c ­o nstruction ,vJJI agree that the \l;'Qrkers must be paid w1less pressured to do so. We ask St1t?en:ibes readers to take action on this issue, parricularly by contacting D A. G Conotnx.'lion andasking the111 to reassess the situation and pay the v.•orkers. Dale While, the CEO of D.A.G Conscruction., has dte pC>\verto do this. forthis reason. \l;'Cask thatoon1n1l1licarion be directed to hint We have drafted a santple lener, v.hich can be obtained by c-mailjng cincinnari'vorkersrights @gmajl.com.Tiie Ohio Regiooal Office for D.A.G Conscruction is locatedat 4924 Win100 Road. Cincinnati. OH45232. Their phone nun1bet is 513-542· 8597. f>leasejoin these \\IOrke.rs and the many others they represent by usi.ng your voice 10 den1and theirpayn1eo1. Maybe it's the Wrong Dream B Y l\l Atut .\T\ K. Sc111R.\ IER CoNTR1nurr~o WRITER I mababyboonier- anold \VOman to a lot ofn:adc:rs. I \V<\S born in the prosperous ru1d post war 1950s ru1d can\e of age in the early 1970s. My parents dido ' t aspire to the American dream~ they knc\\' they \vete in the n1idst ofit. I grew up io a rural area of ClemtontColllty. Welived in a n1odest hon1e su1Tounded by a couple of acres. My fa ther raised a garden and n1y n1other ..put up.. or canned tlte bounty. lintes 'vere hard, because n1y falher \\OOld be regularly laidoff his job at f ord ~lotor Com- Rural reflections on the housing crisis in Ohio My parents didn •t \Vas te monc..')'; they ate simple food and didn't go a lot of places dw'lng d1eir \\()rl\iogyeatS. But they realized \vhat I can1e to kno\v as the Anterican Drean1 - the opportunity to achieve theirgoa1s through hard v.'Ork. But \\iheo did our goaJs get soske"-ed? My patents' goals \\lere simple: obtain adc."<.1uate housingand live oon1fo1tably v.iithin their rneans. ltseenlSto nle thatman)1 of the descendantsofn1y parent's generation have goals that arc Drive through Clermont and Brown counties; there are stretches of rural routes where It seems that every third home has a " for sale" sign out front pany. Their first hon1e cost $7,000 and it 'vas a srruggle to make the mortsagcp3)rmcnts. lllll diey did it Af1et a li fetime, they antassed their empire: a very nice hon1e they had built and paid cash for and a \\iintc."home in Florida. Ifthe)•needed a cat or boat or lawn rllO\ver, they could buy one and pay cash. radically w1realisric. A three bedroont, onebathtoon1hon1e is not sufJicit."llt. I've often nla1veled at the rnag.nif1cet1t hon1es tltat grace v.•hat used to be cornfields. Large hon1es on five-acre lots v.ith roaringcathc.-dral mtranoes O>owdid diey wash thoseenor· rnous windO\'YS anyway'?) and atlached (or delached) three· and four· cat garages. Whl."11 did these homes start popping up? As the farn1e.rs ~ed on, the1..1d \\'ltS split and sold off in lots. Subdivisions v.·ere developed in the fan11 tictds ofmyyouth \\iith namc,'S like Drakeland. When I \\13.S younger, I though! that pemaps the own· ers ofdtese honle:S n1ustbe doctors and such \vhO moved out fron1 the city lOenjO)• counny livirtg. I later realized that man)1 of these hon1eov.ners \vere n1y contemporaries, \vhO had tOIk>\vedin d1eirparent'sfootsteps ru1d got good JobS \vi th son\erimesmerely a high school edi1· carion. lvlany ofd1en1hetdjobs at ford ~lotor But v.•hen did nly conten1° poranes decide tltat dleArnencan Orean1 their parents held v.-asn·1enough for then1? \\iltat ma~thc.'111 think the.')' oould surpass their parents in such a big v.•ay? \Vl1a1 ntade tl1e1n think diey nolonlycotdd Im'" the big· gest, the finest, the 111ost, but that the.')' tfese1,'i!cl all this and nlore? AndOO\V for tl1e declioe. Ori'" throtl!'I>ClennonIand S rO\\'ll counties; there are for the deeIine oftheAmerican stretchc,'S ofrural routes \\<here Dream much closer to home? Could it be that v.·c forgot the onethi:ngourparents taught, that The middle class is 1s, 10 live \\lithin our n\eal1s? I guess U.S. citizens can't dissolving, and the divide between the be blamed et1tirely \Wter1 tl1eit government has a soaring: na­ two remaining riooaldeb1of$ 9.38 trillion.·1ne classes is greater apple didn ., fall far from 1he than ever before. tree. But is it tinte, perhaps. to rethink \vha1 the American it seen1s that eve1y third hon1e Dream should or could be? has a "fo1·sale.. sign out front. Would ii be 100 far.fetched Look in the local papers: there 10 unag.inea cow11Jy, or even a is listing after lisring each ,veef< V.'Orfd, \vhere everyone has adofforeclosures. equate food. shelter and re111ein1nlinentclosingofthe spcct? I \1;-0nder ifthcAmcri­ Ford Plruu in Batavia iscertainly can Drean1hasn't resulted in one reason. The outsourcing of creating tl1e \iety cla.'i&.'S that \V'e n1anufacturing and service in· in1111igrated to the U.S. to esdustry jobs overseas is another. cape. f>redatory lendingisyet an· Tho middle class is dissolv­ other. Your Ii ve-bedroon\, ing, and d1e divide bel\"eeo lhe three-and-a-half bath isn't 1v.o rernru.ning clMses1sgreatet enough? It's eaS}1 ; sintply ob· than everbefore. Shouldn'11his tain a hom<..--cquity lineofcrc.-dit serve a.-; a v.•ake-u1> call for all and, using the equity in yout of""'I horne, go ru1d buy )'Our 1oys. Whethe.r 've like it or not, No\vthere are "forsale" signs the deo1ise of 1he An\er1can flaitking big trucks, boars, R\'s Dreant is i.n motion. Ifv.-e are and motort.)'clcs in abundance. 1ntell1geo1, v.<e·u use tl11s as 101­ Younot only loseyour toys, but pctus for change. lt 's tin1e to rethink the aJsoyourhon1e. But isn't one prime reason American Dream. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 2008 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Newspaper Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource July 2008 Subject The topic of the resource Homelessness Description An account of the resource Pg 1: Charity Begins in the Park The 40-Year Journey Pg 2: About Us Pg 3: The Vibe Pg 4: 1968 Continued Pg 5: Parks Continued Pg 6: Passing it On Pg 7: Public Assistance as Close as the Library Pg 8: Arts & Poetry Pg 9: Arts & Poetry Continued Pg 10: The Paperwork Can Be a Killer Pg 11: The New Jackie Robinson Pg 12: Developing Communities Pg 13: Many Struggles, One Goal Pg 14: Joe Now and Then Pg 15: Working for Nothing Maybe It’s the Wrong Dream Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Streetvibes Archive Project Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Streetvibes Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource July 2008 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Gregory Flannery Greg Olkhovsky Michael Henson Steve Sunderland Lynne Ausman Angela Pancella Larry Gross Patricia Garry Lew Moores Andrew Freeze Bonnie Neumeier Robert Manassa John Eastlack Marilyn K. Schirmer Tim Cannon Chris Halmann Alyssa Konermann Andrew Anderson Berta Lambert Antonio Hodge Anthony Williams Joe Wesels Steve Novotni Georgine Getty Stephanie Dunlap Steve Gibbs Tim Feavel Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource PDF Alyssa Konermann Andrew Anderson Andrew Freeze Angela Pancella Anthony Williams Antonio Hodge Arts & Poetry Barack Obama Berta Lambert Bonnie Neumeier Charity Chris Halmann CityBeat Freedom Center Georgine Getty Greg Olkhovsky Gregory Flannery Hamilton County Jackie Robinson Joe Wesels John Eastlack Larry Gross Lew Moores Library Lynne Ausman Marilyn K. Schirmer Michael Henson Parks Patricia Garry Robert Manassa Stephanie Dunlap Steve Gibbs Steve Novotni Steve Sunderland Tim Cannon Tim Feavel https://streetvibesarchive.net/files/original/a311ce3dfeb1b7785244406bc53cd60d.pdf d0262c91b9f64a7717d118e01743f4bb PDF Text Text THI<: TRI-STATE'S A LTERNATI VE NE\VS SOURCE MoBo Co-Op takes you for a spin - p .13 '''' "'".ci · nc-ihon~.~.SS.OJ~ 'We Are Their Slaves' Ifthey treat citizens this way, imagine how it is for im1nigrants BY <; R[(;OR\' F'J.•\ N,...•:H\' EurK•R Y our boss stops bv une>.i>cct:dly~ secs 1:1 111ess 10 your ni>arllne.11 t11idJ>Utusliesyou.hy deducting$~(> fromyour ne>.1 paycheck. Ft>llUl31ely hedidn't sec the bccrc:)ns rn your trash - oryourboyfuendhlding m die c:Joser.: etther of 1hose c<:iuld indentured servitude; ind~d some of the '''Orkcrs (efer to ihe11l5efves·as "sla\'eS... J\f1i:.r m<;111Lhs ortrying 10 \\'Ork with the 00111panies to resoJ\'e d1e001r41laints, acti\~sts Hnd union officials are no''' appenl1n.g to the public to dernand adjoc1. BuJdiey '1-onot putting 1111 their holJ"Soo public havegotlenyou fired. At the meatpacking plant outrage; d1eY' \'ealso1rtken d1eir " hereyou \\Ork, the procluction concerns 10 1h<: F.B l. liner\msso fust 1h.at youcan't Sl1~e1,·ihes h.as le;,imed that an keep up the pace, \\'hes1pork FBI agt:11t n1et May 21 '''ithm1 fallson dio floor, supef\1sorstell organizer forthe United Food youto pick it' up and 'vmp irfor and Con1n1ercial Workers d\e grocery store .,..,;,houl (UFC\\'), (mexpert on hurpan cl~u 1 iog iL You' re still not crnfficking v.h.o \VOrks for the \\'<Jr'krng l"ast i!.nt>U£,h . the C:1 n ~it1n:lll '\, \\fC./\ •u1d t\\'O superviSor tellsyou to 1110ve as \\Urkers lured here front Puerto fast os you do \I/hen you' re Rico with the pro1nise ofgood jobs 1 IfyourcJlild is-sick ood) 0 U mi$nday ofv.t)rktyounot (D1Jy •Like a crnzy house' don't get paid forth nt shiA: a The people ofPuerto Rico $50 fine is deducted fu,,n1}'Out p:iychcck. lfyouquit bcfoit six are U.S. citi7.cnS twld ta)l.11a)•crs~ n1ontbs, aS200 fine1sdeducted they need no pernlission to llli\.<ingse.x. fton1your lw,1 cl1 ~k. v.;'<.>rk lo Ohio o.r Keotucky. This isn' t a S\\'Uatshop in a 1bird \\~orl d count1y-: it's ajob in subucban ('inc·innati , A .~roe1 ~·1bcs 1n\•est1gation of Co1ttpJoj11tS by workers •ind concerns rt1iSi1d by uniOn and religious acrivists J1as fo und co n.ditions compitrable to That doesn'tmeon gotringhere is 'eas)'. That·s wllere Diverse Pcrso1111ol Co. - also .k.no,,n :is AbleiD1v"'5.ePerso1mel Co. ­ con-es in. 8.'l~ io f<ut \\' nsJli, Ky.. 1hetao1poraiy~n-.:iloynm1 agency recruits J>ueno·Rica:ns rotj<lbs<JO d"' mainl•nd 0Jfc1ing C'ilu.~1111u11i {'roces~i'1g 11·orkers rt~/(IX 11111sl1iP /•11vte1j!ropl! b;• i l1Nira11•~·bw'C'r.rotr, hut 1/1e / }(ti·e 111.')/dl! c.' t11t hr: (/apgerouslJ•,/ilst TheSoutlrwt$ COhi.o pln)'S ou1 as an ''inescapabJe rughtmare.. tbr hi s~nipl D~lees, \\'orkel's' Ri~hts Soa:t•d nnd U1u1t-tl Food and according 10 EUcn Oicoger. an Commt.rcial \,!'arke1'.S orgooizer for the Ul' CW. ~'a rotnwl: flj erdetnilingoornplai11ts about • ~\'Or,k<:rs forc<xl 10 the ten1p agency, Oienger describes. condi 11ons far )i\iemcro\vdcd·apanmeors different f\on1"""" IJ«l<1lis..'<I in 'M!dJ10uses_. forv.·hJch advertise01t!nlSjn Pue.no Jtiro. 1hey' recharged e.~otbi tan l "'Son1etin1es pel)ple don·, rei15 • ~''Orkrts fur()Jdd(.'(} ·aassnt..'Vl. even make enough 10 buy ..Mr, Rodnguez and his groceries f'or d>.e \'-\'ekand have to have,{sits ln lheir hotl\e f3mily i;amc1othc U.S \vi th no io !,IQ §lUMnf~ or Iivi r'.lgofftheir l'i'o11111te11tlk."'1'$ ot'll1e 1noney, bur\l.ith tl1e knov.100g_e ·fellO\l/\\10rkers,•· tl1e.tliersavs. o·pposnesex~ • l aprohibitionagainst thru diey had d1eir freedomnnd "Able/Dl\iec-sePtocesany,\'h~ could \\'Ork fo r anything they fromfourtosix ~·iorkers intoan drinkms•dcol1oj iJlon...,'s v.·an1ed 10 achieve,•· rl1e letter opa11n1ent :Old up to 12 u1 a O\VTI hoo1e; says ''f\.tlr, Rr,d riguc~ has not house, many ot' 'vhich arc • exc~<>:iVf!.. S1opped v.t>rlang and dreruiting vOCMtofallhousehold furniture ni.1fldatory charges fo'r since.he.a1t1ved in the U,S. 1 le ru1d ap1>liauc:es excep1 fot a transponation lo '""Ork. stal1ed (Di""rsePer;onnel Co.) mattress on the floor to sleep sl\Opp:1ng·ormcd1caJ c.llTC; \\'I th lhe purpose of helping 011" I • bla1ai11 ""'uni lwasSL11eril~1 1.he i11di"ldual$from Pucrlo Ri.togct ln1mi111ucl °'1il.S~ln tiago. n v.ork with Miplo)'e.rs in the fan11er Able/Diverse i>er..sonnel ~,Qrkp{ace; • tb111illesf~,vid1 U.S. and ntaking ava.ilaJ)!e to en11>loyee '''h<> novv lives in the111on a short·tern1basis. i f MJddletoY.n. says he be-Jieved C\'ll:Uon from comp:lll)'­ diey des1r"'1, a furnished pla<e the promises of a bener tire controll~d housu1gthe V"1)' do~ • w<uk<r gel$ Un:d; and 10 li ve~ transrx:im tion roand v.'hcn hesigned 111> 'o ~omc 10 fron1v.t>rk."' Cfnt innari 1n 2006. Buti1:t5leiid • unsanitary and pot<noally dangerous food But \vhat rnight hRve p~si.n.gprac:uces seen1ed a drea1n for-Rodnguez Confinut~d an p:1ge 4 OOusing andtransponarion. Wittie Rodrig uez, the founder and O\vncr <Jf th~ co111pany, ck">Clined requests f°' an intetvie\\I, Buthls anor1tey, Nlichael S. 'Gl;,issn1an, sent a staten1ent to S1reel\tib«s. ~odri guci.cs n1c 'o tJ1c United States front Cuba with his n1other in J980, acC01'ding to .. �STREETVIBES About Us 2 STREETVIBES Stniet vibes ·1·11 East 12th Street Cincinnati, O H 45202 p hone: (513) 421-7803x12 fax: (5 13) 42 1-7813 streetvibes2@yaho<>.«om June 2008 Our Mission Streetvibes isa newspaper that provides relevant d isclissionsol hol'(lelessness, poverty and other relat«I social justkeissues, It is published on<ea monthby tlw Greater Cincinnati Coalition fo r the Momel..ss. 'TheGre.iter Cincinrtati Coalition (or the Ho11\C.less isa group ofshellers, nget1cicsand ind iVidual.s commltled to ending homeless inCindnnatl through ooor.dinating.services,educating the public and grass roots organizing. Our Vendors W\'\'\V.cindhon)(?}ess.org Streetvibes Staff Alfred Anih<Kl) ' \Voo!Jotk WiJJianlS Mark Sl1ears Gmdy Cooll Antonio llodg• Berra Cleo R:~i11ard L'l.11.tbtrt \\>'01tili1C9 Jont s Editor Contri buting Writers C RbG OtJJ·ltJVS~\', Mat.\l!LH ttl\SON., J ames Quinuoo Jon Josephine Byb<t' \\'illlan1s Dru·by B askt.1'\'iUt $TINl!S UNOEltLAND, ARDr>J..IJ\ IV<X>l.£NS, l,;)'N}.'f:: i-\ll!!MA..~. U1L1 GALl.AGHl!JI., ANr.OEU. p/11''CliLL\1 LARRY C K0'.6, PATRICIA G ARIN, ANIJ 1-iow.•l'Af<l.'Ut Photogra phy A NDRE\\' A r-.1'£RSO."., Bl'.Kl'A LA~IBEltl', AN'D UFCW ~(ar k Jul it \Vnlkrr 0 1mpbell D~vi s Artwork .A~"J0.'10 l•JOOC£ M'rnt.\NV Vlll.l.w.8 Advisory Committee J\t n neth Ri«ardo Saut SiJ,i a Tony _8111J1doc1 StonitS<h Taylor .Jackson Collins 01\UllOlOOd Nelson l\ilillOO H ;m•kin;& J1.>1t \Vl!SI"-~' S'll!Vlt NOVOl'NI, ANt'>Rf;~\' ff{€~ Cf.C~l.:<:l i>-1r. C erf'\', MJOlA~l 1-l l!N~, STIIT'tlAN lt! OUNl.AJ', Sruv1::G11ms Cover Cr.rvUR 11f.Sli.N UYB11 t Hi\l\.f~. l\itichae-1 1 (_ r l'efl (C Ch:uic.s llt111is \Villian1s Cole 75 cents i.. !I goes 25 cents (a':_ directly to your vendor We are members of: -tU¥'1!!_ " pays for printing costs .k----------------~--------------------- . Don ate to Streetoib&s No11h An1e1ica.n Street Nel\rsp.aper 1\ sso-c_iation JN SP ./ l11tert1alio.11al Ntl\vorkof Street Pat><rs I I The mofe.support weha.v~ from the community, the. further our effons reach; 0u~work is possible only with the help of gen'etous Individual gifts. Please consider making a coutributibn today! Name: - - - - - - - - - - - - - ­ l\ddt.o ss: ------------- City I SUtte/ Zip: - - - - - - - - ­ 1 ~ Endosed·is my 1ax-deduetible oontribmlo11 of: : I $25 _S5(} _ $ l00 _,$ 1SO_ OtJJerS_ I 0:r nUlk.. ch~ks 11ayoh lem: : Yqucmi dori111eonlin• ,w,w,~fion,Je...,·ort; litrcOtVi~'llt ll 7 E:JSt l2rl1s~ Cinolnnall, 0H452()2 I J I .. ________________ _________________________....'J , I hankyou .for giving generously! I �STREETVIBES The Vibe June 2008 3 In The News New Or!tao~ Louisiana Mayor's JokeTakm OITeo1ivdy By 6rega.y Fl1• ••ry Ch 1rdES to Ch.n::il: N:t So Fast \vdungs 1n go\emmen1amtobor1ng-orsodlr~1n 1hceir 1mpwon ncogl>bomoods-:is 7001ng""""' Alannod by prop>5Cd dllngcson ohcal)' rCUlCllllOO's mnmg code. hom:in«nl('<S COMMl'1•'Y Md n.-losiaus lc:><leissuc:c«ded ~ bv 20 on i;cttong col)' ()()Un(ll IO •tql bil<l Md """" Th<! proposals '"""d SC\ ere d'fcet an howchun:ll<'S :ind noo1X0fi1 oroan1Z3tioos ser\'e their clients.. according to S1eph.......,. Gibbs. founder 1he F~ Foodllm\k and• ,,.,,,..,..ol'd1obolldof C11C1nn.'l1 Cool11J011 rorlhe Homeless. AnlOll!; duni.}"S"l'Pf'O'<d by die C.namllll P1:•1n•>g(·,.,.,.SllOl1, lho ~~ "'Otdd create restrict·ions on "M•-r soci.al St•' iC'l't C'ttn OIK'nttr Md eve11'"here mcir3dntinisu-Jt:i,reofficescan be. Cnhe&S3)' tile lmlgu• is so bmld th.11ehurcl1es \\OOld be affoaed. 100 The proposal '''Ould ndd ..spec1nJ a.ss1s:1a.nce shchers.. 10 the- 1.0n111~ code. o1Jo"'ir1~ Joro111ory hou~in,y. bu1 only as ocond1uonrd use 1n tl1e rouo,,<111~ ateos. F: ....,<'S. h."" • 1"0Cir"""'' """''IS1S or commemal. do'"TIID\\'O ;ind' 1n1anuf11cturinu hn111ed"dis1ric1s r\11 new progr:ints V.Qu(dbelinlited 10 50 residents.\'l'ith a l'eC.l lHfen"IClll orSOsqu..Wfeet per resident Thodcfin1h00 of"'tta1\SJ1J011:i.J ho11S-n!i·• \\'()uld bechnngcd 10 rcnl()VO<.iomutoiy st)•le housing n1 agencies thru SCl'\'e'p001>le floolnll 3'>l1se and nc~lcct. adj us.ting to hfe \\1i1.h n phy!Jcnl disallilily or1ncnlftl 1llncs.\, 1oou1:11.:n11ing rron1 lhcCfl"l!OtS.Ofdn1g or aloohol and readjusting IO !!OCiuty \vhii~ hOllSl.'<l l11cl~ cnn11 n/\Ij t1!>lic~s..1pcr'\llsion Existing shelters \Wuldbe "g1mKllb~1e1\!d i11,''according 10 Mntliar~1 \Vuersde. a C·llY pl:.'U\H{lt, Out lh(lt \\'Quid cl-TCQlivcly rrce.r,e lhOSlfltuS: <1uo '"'It really han1pers ooy n~\vplanning il'v.~ \\'Dtlt to rc1\ovn1c Bnyol'theshehcts,.'' says Pat CldTurd.. ¥e1tetlll cc>01dinator or the ()r(.)1>hu1 C'1.:n1cr Opponents of1hechnnycshnd 1uiw1quickly~ theprnccsszipj)i?d 1hrough 1he plnmungoon1nussio1i_ "'\\'~ dldn' 1cva1 kllO\\' lf1t:SC 11iCC11rtl>S y,\.'fC hoppc1t1r~.. Cl1fJOrd says. ··1f y<>t•' re g_ou1g todooode chooges for shelters. It \\'Ould behoove you 1ohl\te inpur from sorucoo~ v.11a v.'Otks u1 st~l 1c& L n.sti:acl lhc.')' v."Crc \vr11ti..'fl by pwplc "~10 op1-,ose slleher.;." Clifford's·r~ference \\'JS 10 opponc11uor the C11yL1nk humJn-servtces mall proposed for ihc WC$! End ..One ofdie reasons ''e are nlak1ng the chan,fS ''as :a reeen1 coun case on C11ylul!.., andtheJudi;cspouucd OUI i<lmc problcn"' uoouroode,• Wucrst!e ~ Ci t)•cotDKil's Ecooomt(" 0e.. et0pn•ent Comm1ttff un.:i111n10usl)· \'OC4!<i to wdefuitelyposql<lll<discUSSIOOofdieZ011111j;chlr1i."<Lp.rilll:die1SSUebockbefore the planmn1>~ "lien: b..,.......,.,MCCS-smc1<Slll1d odvocat<S hope IO mflueoce ibe OU1C0111e s1f111Jh""Y ""crons d'°1 ·, olondy l>a>'O ~ 1~0 gcmngackqu:olc treaanent, sonle \'eleransAffiwsclmK':satt l'M)\\ dtn) int pAin nlfdicatioJl o people \\no fad ICSIS ra1 Jllegol drugs. 1110ll\ll$ Vane.:, a r<llred AJJ Force ir..asta-sergeanl isorp111jns fellO\\l\.CCemns to chang;e 1he POiiey In a rompl31nl he filed Y.1th the \ ·C1eransA fTwrs ~11.'d1c3f C01cer 1n C1nc1n1ma. Vance dl-"Cn ed me delu ill ,,,. mcd1c:1nc I() panmis \~ arc '" p:u I\ -1b1s pobC)' encourages \'cterBl\SIO he 10 tl1e1r docior and die V1\ for fe.'.'lr of losin~.needed~.. he511)1£ ··1 \\Ondcs how n1.a11y hocnclcSS velcrans gnl Llm1'v..\Y speodingaU theiro1oney a11heblnck mnrkm IOJi..'1 caredenied 1hem by lhisunjusl and vindicU\.e policy. Pain-clin.ic paiien1s areunfaifly IOf\'iHe<I J\oother c,linic ri:tllJ1rcsvc:rcr1u1s 10 unclc•to Llus hun\Jl1n11ns proct.'<luro •• \lance asks vete-raos \vho hnve been don1ed rrc;1.1n1cn1 because of n railed urinalysis 10 00111:Lct hicn 11185%35·108801tl1ornyv~>111U)\Vll canL 1 Sur~ cultw·ttl exchanges are :11111nportMI '"°Y to de,•clop pe~1ceful r~louons wnh 01I1;,.~ colmtr•c:s. n u1iscntcrtu11111Kn~t oJy.·ayli t1 goodutco, or doc.-s ii so11'1C11111es have the effect orgi,·i112 t)'1"AUISn f rl"f Jl~s'! As 1hc l~aople's Republ1corc111nll prep;utS ror lite 2008 oiynlptc G:u11es.. petiplc OJOlllld the \\Otld l1t¢ '''°'uliLing to hi!lliligho oho1 regimo·, Ol'P•"-<SiooufToboo. p<o<:1i1ioromorFnl11n Gongnndpohricol dissidents. But tha.t's not ~oing to s1op 1h\;) C1ncinno1i Pops 01·chdsrra from perfumi1n.g 111 lloo•ng 1n Au£uSI. Thodc..:.1s1Q111otu-wp1 .• the1nVlUUion h~1se-.'Okcd htrlecnnasn1so f'al Butperhaps lhat's noc s:urpnsin~ 1""h1s 1s~ :t.t1Cf atl. 1.heaty th3r y.•atmJy \1iClcouicd atl c.\h1b1UCN1 ofhuJnau corpses fro1n Ch1n3 at the l\•IU$tu1n Center- \Vet311 only hope \1oestro Eru:h Kun~l 111l.t'S a eue fron1 Bjork. '"ho song-Declare lnde\1ende11<10" d'"i 'Ill o Sh:ini:haoOM<M ru id a>r'11,>ad ohe Chin<Se So'«flmi<•ll by .lhoulmg••r.1i<t•Tot..11" l\>llyo<C. Ray~ -lySUgg<Slt.'C! a"""YIOttdua: orus <>1>"shomcless populotion: Gi•e than one-way bus lickets oot of to"" N•ain re11'11Ctcd his smremesub<Isnl!poruayedJhehomei..sa.subslllflCCabusas"horel'\ISC"1ellor Sldt..l lioouome1"bereelse.Asur""Y byad\<oco<y-i> FebnmyV.0"'1CI !Mr 86 pem.'111 1'..re1it>m1''ewOrleloos Si'<ly percenl:Jaid lhey \\'<fe 1->cl<ss bocause ofHumane Kotrin1, andobout 3-0 !"'r<t'nl sasd !hey had r~1Y<d rmlalm!l31<eatooelimefumlheFedenlEmoigoocyM....,,..1A&<rlC)' Fortl.audmlalt, Florida Ttt0 Pleads Guill)' in Boating or llomd.., Mao One.oflhroemon accusod offaially beoiingahomolessmon ashosk,,o on• porlc bench pleadedgutliy aad asreed to iesufy ~ns11l1e od>C11. \V1LUan1 Ammons. tbe20-year-old su!jleCI pleaded guilly to lhird-d"ifOe murder and aggrovai..rbatrery ilndfllCes between I0 and 20 years 10 poson. 11loplea was alf. .ed in exd!ani;» for his 1cstimony oi;ai11S1 oh< olhcr1'\0 on.'\dtors lllld!>.'<•USO A1mK11S ,ws fb<lldto havefrredpelleis fioo'l apain lboll gun. buo had"" inOi ctod ohe fam! injunes. Cbkqo. ll!ioois Propos•ls Boin1T•k<:n for H9.,.ri• .,, Only S<h ool Ch1c•goschool offic.:ds1ireaskuig IOrpropQSals from onyor•Q 1111~10S1od m creatingaboortlingsdloolforlhec:ity'sbornol....,studei)1s. lbeChi~Conlirion t\lr the Hon1el~si~ OOnceme<t Lhat.crealioga boarding schOol for hornclcu ohildtco will lik4'ty.drivca ,vcdge.ill fitmili~ahd alionah!t>tudentS fro1n d1elr housed peers. Chicago Public Schools identified 10,349110111elossswden1s ohiJ year. The coofui-011 ~ rever.ons the nS>ngnu111IJe< ol110meless du lc~en ond fumil ies by creating decent and safeaftbrdol>le housina. Comm Wllty members Me raismgquesrlonsabouthi>" ohescbool system wlll beable 10 financiolly cpcm1c •boarding 5choolW.eruhcyare Ill r.ady S1roJ:J1;llns 10SU11•ln dieircummt operations.. By the Numbers It's Too Dam Hot Ifthe thermostats in every house in America \Vere lowered I degreeFahrenheitduring the wmtcr, the nation would save.230 million barrels ofcrude oil ­ enough to fin an oil tanker 400 Limes. (Timt's the amount ofoil being imported into the United Slates fr01n Iraq each year.) VirtuaJ Payment Ifevery American S\vitcbcd to rcccivingJUSt one bill as an electronic siatemenlinstead ofa paper one. the one­ time savings would be-217,800,000 sheets· enough to com pletely blanket the island of Key West in a single layerofpaper. Paint by the Numbers If I quart.of leftover paint wore rccytlcd from every renovation project inAmerica this ye.Jar (I 0 percent of all U1e housepaint purchased in the United States is typically throvvn out). itwould reclaim 2.5 mi llion gallons - enough to paint the outside ofthe White House every year for the next 43 centuries, or to paint SanFrancisco'sG-Olden Gate Bridge 250 limes. ' • S<i.ll\;I!' .D:I la ~'-.) ~~lltl;li: Murch 200!' �Cootinutd f ro1111>a).!t I Santill;\osays be fow1d himself livlng with 11 ('Uher mon i n~ ltouseinOO\i.'htov.n Covington. \\7i lh the ihem10suuJocked, d1e house 'vas cold in \\inter, he Sii)'$ ..., tum-ed ·1he oven OJ) to wain1the house," hesays. ..A 101ofthe people wereso cold 1h6)' '''Ore their coats in the house You· ve got to rove! up 1hc ''~ndo'''S \Wth bli.iki.15.YOO look at our hoose- it's like a Ctl)Z)' house;'" Theentploynxmt COlllJ>311)' chacged Santia.go $135a ''ceek an apnnment 111 do\\•nto\vn C'ovingtQn that \vOuldsccm to ·bei1t the 013.CketofSSOO " '"'h1f ~. the company·s la-\\'}'er says Lh.e housing arrangen1ents are optional, Di.enpcr,Shermanand $0n1cof the \VOrl(erssay v;orkers v.-ere told th¢>· had no choic-.e·b1.1t to live \Vhere Di,rerse Personnel Co. 1old dle11' dllrd IJOle.\\le \Yill deduct$5'0 pcrpcr$00,., • "'Bei?r cans. liquor or drugl}ate not pet'miu:ed u1 Lite house o r 10 the areas surrounding it.'' • "'A.s an ad11l1, your belmviorshouldbe tho lies!. No Jighttngord1scusston. lf'Lhet'e are problen1s. we will ca.II the police,no questio1lSasked." • "lf } 'OU do notshow or fQrrtnt, hosays-cwn though he son1e1imes received fe\v hoursol\vork. ""Lei·s say. you sci $60 ­ you s1ill got to pay $ 1J S," he snys. '"'I ~"01 one check fo r $6.40 for 1h~ \vcek. That \\'eek r\\'Orked one da)· orru-o da)'S, but they business of the co111pany .. girlfli endstaned asking \\i1at independent of\'ihothcr 1husc h:ippmcdiohim Thcyfirodhcr; are ofa confidential nature or IOO. 'Then !heygivehim ooedey t i()(. •• 10 ge1out of lh~·npru'tmertl The. • ..ilfyou are fired f'ron1 n.exrdny they starred thro\ving your place of \\."'Ork. \\1e \viii -e.veryth1ng - thro,.ving this, throv..ins :ill their stuff and e\rctluatc 1hcsitua1ion, and ill notify if you 'viii be saying_. '\'ougot tot,'«>! Yciugot transpotted toan.otherplace.oc io go!· Th~• took evesything i f you h.ave to leave the likodtegrooenesllftdiheclodies aparrn1ent \vhere you reside and pU1 i1 ou1 on the St:reet 'C1tey immcdiotl'iy." didn'ts1X"1k English,""-'>' d;dn't • "U'youdeci® 1o:leave have no ntoney. they didn't bf fore. yoltr six n.onths~ the k110\\'00 01\e.hel'e .TI1e,.· started con1rac1: 1s tern1ioaled \\'lth crying to n1e. They don't \\'301 (Diverse Personnel Co.), your 10 live in lhestn.>et .. las! 1.:hock \viii bo retained until Sanliago. \vho ·spea·ks everythingis discowttedfro1n English. says thatSonh?ofthe­ youtcheck, 1ndl,Jding the$200 co1npaJl)' ·s l;>eba·vior ~mt>l y 1ha1 wil l be mystified h1111. He gives a discoL11100 for reponer a pay stub dated r\ pril brc:1king 1hc 2S, 2007 For47hours,h1s nct coutr.:lct." P•Y was $204. The fi rst n~erules ptobtett1? Th.~ cheek lists his are so address as· an apartn1eor stringent that comple.x in l'ilrk Hills, Ky..- but \\'Orii:ers: and Santiagosuys ht \ Vtt.s hving ;-md familieshave V..'Orkin_g -in Middleto\'-01 at the­ '''I: 1 \\ notice 11.nd, snanil.\1 aod ha')6\'e inoon16-tax unable 10 exemptions. Neuher lS tn1e, he speak English, S3)'S havo no idea " I kno\V 1h is ii:; fra ud because )'o u' re ly1ng.··Sar11Ja&'O.$ll.YS: "The fedesal inoon1e t lX th:iriks1·11, Ii ivi ng in He ShO\\'S a reJ)Otrer a pa)• June 2008 fou 11 d tii1ii!, the1usel ves "It's a fake address," he e. vic 1ed s:!)'S, "'I never hved dlere." wi 1ho u 1 TheSt.'(:()f1d problcm? Thu Proper lagal pay stub indicates San1jago is Sllll clwgcd ~ ie rent.·· 1u ai·k~d STREETVIBES Streetvi bes Investigation 4 s tub no, 2784 , <h11od N°ov. 29. 2006. sho\v i ng SanriagQ's ne1 pay as $6.40 Dienger'$ ITiers:iysAblel Kentucky. I am Diversecl1arged up 10 $6,000 per month in rent for some houses. In Sai~ti.ago 'scasc, 12 pc<.>ple paid SIJS a \vcek for ren t toraling $6.-480. "'f he runountS cl\tll'gfd rue exccssi''e. according to Don Shem~n. di.ri:.otor of the Cincinnn1i rn1crfaith \\'Orkcf$(t-'flt<..'t ...Vlhe.n they get to the U111led ·S1a.tes. they're put 1nro these ap;inmentsor hou~. " he says ..l 've ~en insoo1eafthc apnnmcnts.11\CJY•rofbtirorfi,·e to an apartnl'oot. bu1 1here are only t\VO bedtoo1ns. So1l1e of 1hen1are p~ying $ I00 or more a v.<eek 10 ll\•e in the llJ>~1u1~L The)' \\'Qt1J dn ' t pay th!! O \\'ll CT ofthe apan n1ent: they V.'Ould pn)• 01 \tel'Se l?mo1lneJ The)' v.-ere p-ayiitg u:p.1 0 $I .6QO for Ti.If'; l~n 1'r.'i! / •(Jr,,.c»11wl l1t1111~s t/n• fJJm'rlHll'l/l~ nh'1\'<!. /?jglir l/111 1lr~ /XIJ"''' lf.'rli h> ilk' rig/II gi\'t'.S Jfu.U aJd1't!.Q' 10 .1t»rllYJ11•· w·Jm 1J(llvV r ft\v:d 1/1\'r<'. T/1t• JJU>' sud> a/.'ftl .s!w.,.•i 1ht11 I/If)' .JUlfJI! 1tQri;(•fY Ill po•rs1111\1't1S r11<1rr1(l(I (1111.l /111tl }/\\~ 4·1d.t, •~1111..•/t ltt• ,f;,•11il•s. wo·1ey 01r1f t·11• P/wJo ' Do what he says' l~lgh rents and cto\vdcd conditio11s aren"• tire onJy complalots-al>ou1 lh~ housing. Emplo}•ees havl.} to .sign c-011 1.racts and con1ply \vith house rules 1ha1 VIVuld offi:nd mOSI people's senseofpersooal l'reedoni. EQp1esof dotun~ts obtained by .')/1t:t!1\·iba:; incJude lheserestricrions: • " h is tho responsibility of those residing in the company·s 11.f)tttlmertts 10 01wntall1 andcleoo the 1n1enor as-\Wll as the e..\:terior of the apartmcnrs.ll1c fir.s1 ti mo 1ha~ the fac1Jiries are found diny. 3 watniog, \Viii be £.lvfi'I. The second1ime t1usoccurs,, \W\viii deduc1 $25 per person. The wo1:k withoul giving nn1 1 co previously, $SO will b~. taken fron1 your paycheck." • "'l:very aparonenthas a lead Tho lead is 1n charge of thehouse.You ha,ia to do 'vhat 1he lend says. He ,,;II 1ruk for Willy(Rodriquez) " • ..Moo ar~notpeani111!d 1n lht: apWtmoots.ofthe \\'Omcrt, and \l/0111en are not permi1ted 111 the aparune1\1S ofthe n>en:· • ·1beemployee~1all 001 reveal. discuss orcon11i1u11ic3te to any 01hcr pc:rson, firm or con1pany in any nion1en1. form or 111eans;direc1 or1ndi1iectly~ theoature. class-0rdescription o_f the affairs .re.lated to the n1snied and I have rive cltdd1'eo. They don•t JUSt do that to n1e. ·n1~rdo tJ1a110 a for lol Ofp~")JllC" Whenbeapplied fot une1111>loy"1enr v.•har to do next.• according_ te con1pe11sation fron1the-state of lheUl'CW Ohio. San Liago says state "In OVCI}' (;,~SC- \W havi: officials told him 1hcy h•d no conte-a-cross so far, as soon as rcc-0rdofbis htl\'i.ng v.'Or'ked in a petso11 is f'lred t1y the thlS$f~le. con1pany, they thro\vthen1out of lheapannlen~ \Yithinjus1a fc\'i day~ sonicrim<.'$ d1atsame night \\1th theonly optionsof goingditecdy 10 the airi)()rt., a shelteror outon the street." the unjonflier says. Sanciago. 26, sa)'s he .sa'v ii happen. ·11iey hada couple, ~1eguy was SJ ck fron1the back pain," hesays. ~·1·1 1e~· fire.d hin1 "l'he Sleeping on the floor Santiago •s girlfriend. Jll.Sl11ine Rivera. \...tlOfn he 11.e1 after conung here te \\'Ork, is a forn1er en1ployee of Able Personnol Co ,,..i1ith might or n1i&rbt not be the san1e as D ivt!l'Se. T he l'elati.onship Continued on p::te::e 5 ·­-· Earnings Summary ,.. w i.,ts-..u -1 OU o.to 11: . 00 �STREETVIBES June2008 Continued f1'01U 1>a2r4 bern een the DiverseandAble con111aules i!i tnurl.:y l11e t\.\'b e-ompa1iies share tha sn.n1e addfcss. ru1d \vlieit a fet>Ortcr tried in vain to reach \Villjc l~odnglrlon d1epho1le.he \\a'> 1 told lht!1\\Q con1paniesa~ one and thesa1ne 'Jbe le1ter f'ro1n Michael S. Glassn1an. Rooriguczs la"~"'" Olso fuilcd to n1ake the rel3tionship cleat "F-0r 1he la'>I severid rnonlhs, Mr. ~odrigu ~z. and the O\vner of.;.\bleMnnagei1ient ha\'e tiled toopcm.wjoiii1ly-undcra nev.iy tbm1edmtil}' doing bnSlnessas l11i= Divets~ Pi:rsonnel Co ('TOPC') but recent!)' hove decided tono longerOpe·rale in thi.Sfashio•t." the lcUcr .&ly!>. "lt 1s Mr. ~odngi1ez's intent to rl!tunt to doing busloes$on his O\\fl v.id1 IUsorigi1ui1 oon1pmy." _Rivera·sdescriptioo ofher ~:i)pcrieocc· ''·i1h che Able l>erso1mt.i Co. soundssu111larte 01.hers· occounrsof \\twking for Divers_,. Personnel Co. After oni"inghere, nmy 1wrk<'IS find the1'nst!lves ~ttuggl ing, tog1.'t-by. shesays;. ·· A lot ofp«>ple go 10 ~ r e Salvn 1ion ;.\ rn1y for food because they've go[ 10 send m6n~· to dJ1:(rTI.uni lies." 'Riv1;..'fa says ..Aftermy brotherandnty n1Qn1r~n. tJ1~job, they cho1ged 11iem $200 because they. supposedly broke the oontma." Riven\. 22, arrive<} frOJn l' uerto Rico in May 2007 "$on1e guy rrorn the conlpany goes to.Puerto Rico," she S<1ys. ··tte pays $50 for ""'.Cry 1)¢JSX)n \\~10 ,gOt SK.'flt bcrc. They have a person \vho sa\v you ln the! su~t qrson1~1.hiog and lhe)• 1old you about this con'l':uty.They say they pay for y0\11' housing. t!Jid the).•-give)'OU transporration. Bur the>•don't say youhu....e.topay IOr i1 1i'c>10 your pa)•check. Once peopJe getl1ere, the)•findouL One of theguys \'iho usc..-d to \.\'Ork for­ Able had te>sleep on the floor fQr th tee 111c.>nthS \vflcn he got here." Rivera says that \\~\ea s.l1e and h'cr fn mil)' c.xpresscd a degre to live 10 an apartn1entof their own choos111g, CQnlpl'lll)' officialssaidsucha n1011e v.'Ould cost 1hen1 theirjobs. · "They bring people from 1>uerto Rico to here.-and lhen thl!)' lh.t<.)\Vd•em iu 1he str~IS... sheSays-, The UFCW mer echoes .Rivera·s al.legations. "'In one inst311ce, Able/ Div~rse P~rsoon~I told the ~'Orkers th?Y c.ouJd lenve but they \vouldha-..re tocontinue co pay (or r¢.ot -at the compJJny Streetvibes Investigation apartments or they \vould be tired," dte H1ersay~ Conlrac1s \vidt Diverse require \Voriie-rs to pay S7 ~r­ petson per day for transpornilion t. o \\'Ork. ·'Il's less th3Jl 01\e n1i le tiun1 1he U1>art111ont· to dtl! job,.. S.lfltii,tgO says As ''rith the rent cJ1arges, the tn\tJ.;1J0rU1tioJ1 ''scr,>icc" app'3ars to be lucrative for the 1!111p!o)'l1X'fll ageucy. "They also charge folks$7 lld.1y inUMSfXlrt.uion tees, even if1hcir \.\"Otksitc·ls OJ1ly o.1.1c mile a\vay, and they takl.}groups of folk$ 111 buses or vans," We UFCWsays. Not •II of the \li()rkers·are Pucr10 Ricans. Ja ck ie Robinson (no[ hi$ real name) says h·e 'vorked 111 lhe S:alvad Q:ran s~cret Sl!t\11ce boforeo!Jlluningpoliticalasylum in t11e United Stales.Assigned to ~ job at Cincinnati J'>rocess111g, u company thnl· processes pQrk for the Kro_ger Co., Robinson explained through ru1 i111erpreter \.\'hat he d-Unk,softJ-~ \1,;()f\.;jng oon.ditions._ "'Su prett}' n1uch we are sla\;es,," he says...ll'sor11elh1ng hoppens to us. wegei fi r«! and dtey get somebody else. They are 1naki.ng OlOfC·moncy offll':I. and \\'e are. tb~1f~l aves Ola.king all 1.h1..;r ntOU~' •• ' I sa'v many get bu rt' It Yl'3S \'-'Orii_1ng co.nditJons ut Cfoti1i11.'.111 Pn.x.'essirig 1h111fiis1 pron1pied \VOrkers lnstyear to contact lhe Soulhv.•est 011io '"'<>r~crs Genter, tdJjli.ated \vith UFCW, and th ~ Interfaith Vlori<etS ~enter. "'Struiiog aboul Augustof last year. \Ye bea rd sonre complaints from i1nmjgn\nt \\'Orkers about ho\\' they \I/ere tfe~te<l at· Cintinnitl i 'Processing," Sherman says "We felt die b..'Sl way to address the problem \.\'a$ through 1he COOlllllUli1}•.SO\WJOllUI}' fomll'd tlleSouth\\+est Ohio \\1orkers· Rights Board " i1b rcligious:11d co111n1uttlty activists ,vho in Dccembcrhclda hcarins \.\ith six V.'Ork.ers. TheY. descnOed 1he situatu)n at (.1ncinnati 'Processing. '"1.bls one \Von1a.n had dinbctes bui Ibey v.'Ouldn·1101 h·e r take her medicine Tile ~E>i:r\'isQrs onl)•le1. hl!ftake d•I!' nledicine alcl!ftain tinleS They ha.d several s upervisors: who '\\'01dd'm.a_ko doci'sions on 'vho 5 \.\•Quid take breaks, Some lSSOmC\\i:ifltptuzled b)· the l&: \.\mkerswe.renol eve.1 atlo\wd of the \\1ord ·con1phunts' \ VJth 10 1·akt! ln<e:ak~. and I.ht:)' '~•t refere.tee to SOWRB. 11 isihe '''Olkirigso1110tin1es 72 ho.urs a co111pi11y•s undeistandingthatat \.\~k..­ n1ost SO\\' RB rec~1 \red lo January. the \\'orkers' allc.gat ions from fo rmer Jllghts Board.sent.Cincinnati eotploy~ ,,iho 1ns1sied on Processingand the Ktoger Co. ano11y1nity. ... Jn OOditi().11, it \\'ft_(; ·a lengthy lis t of \\•orkers' obvious lha l SOW l:lB con1plaints: "\\rork necessary aCcepted as true \IA1itever \WS forn\'O \\•orketSis done by one. tol<l10 U1em,even though tnM)' •• Superv1sors-ha,•e con1e to oflhe olleg;ill005 """'obviously \\'Ork druuk and drink on the falso ru1d 01hers diipl•yell a job. Supervisors asked cornple1e misun~ers1anCting of en1ployees to perfom1 sexual how the tneat processing acts. S~cJVioors imply that this ind\1Stry \VOJ:i.:s !md' hov.• it 'is isdwonJy ''laY 1hey \.\ill receive regulated. It \V3~ clear that SOW RB \vas either l>opelcssly S.rt\\'O'l31l¥ peopleg.e1 burto1\ tht! Job b.."Cousoofimprop...- trnirnng ru1d bee.al.$! or lhe pressure u, ""'kAideRodrigl"1Z.'sst:uenmt too fast " containsanaccU)l)Lioit, •'ef>ea!ed by o the r \liorke rs. that p11)rl1pled Ci1.ciuna.tl Pnx:e:ssirlg 10 thrcateo a laY1Sui1 against •hu SOW:RB. ..Thet~ \\1ere 11.lsQ tiroes v.11en 111eat \vouJd fall oo the floor, mid they would j ust pick up 1he mCjtl ~nd put i1 lnu;k on the line. ... Ooedtingdtar'S for su1'e is that, a11et \V()11::.ing -al CinGlnnati Processing, I Y..111 nt',>er buy n1eat fi'Q111 Kroger. bt:Causc1hccond iiion 1n·,'lf1i ch dte meat is h3J1dled is ' 'el)' bad," na'l\.'C' or so J.\ ide R<><lt iguez's s·taternent unfair ly says favorabll.} treatn1oot. ... The Supervisots haras$ed, hun1ili01rad and inlirriidated sonre en1ployees through vCfbal abuse.. Employees v.·ho approach s upe[visors \V1th sincere c:o1npl&ints and/or sugges6ons for i n1pro\'e1nen1 a.re disrespected, i.e.. tlte}' :ire. threatened \vith tt.'llllfo:,:itionO:' cursed at.'~ Thi! l>otitd reque$ted a mee1Jn_g to discuss 1he complaints. In a fan. 30 t"l'IY, Dennis H_ilgcro1lf'I, general nlanager of Cincinnati Processing\ sfud duu1ks - but no thrutks. ... \\1hile. 1he co111pany ·apprecil'Jl'S yOlir brio.g.ing lhcse allegaaons iO its atten1ion, i1 v.uuld be tn.appf\)p1·i.nte ford1e company-10ntee( or othen-..1se deal \\~ th your organization about mutters· in-vol,iing itS employees... FCilgeman v.•rote. ··1111: co1upany has rctairted rul indapendenl jnvestigiltor to r111/fJll Qrgool:...•r f{/lt n DiQngtr l1m invesrigate the complai nts /11w1ogra;JJ; IJv A1>tln-l• t .-l1n1i!f,\'"'" rtliS<;.'(! in the r~")Xlrt ·· _L.ynn 0 , 1>uodzak. an partisan thal they had no :1ttornl!)' luted by Cancinunli concern li.)t U1e ll'Uih .. Proc.essing tO conduct the Bu1Hil£>'1UW1 is "TOO!' Not investigation. refCrrt?d o. all cbe con1pl1tints -nboul reporter's questions· 10 C'incinl't3ti Pttx:4.'SSing h~tve ~ 001np:.viyattomeyJin1f\1iJls. He givmonoooditioo ofanOl'l}rmity. ln tu1n relayed IQ 13il~111t1n a O nt': o r 1J1e \\>Ork·ets who reques1 for an inrervie\.,.. nnd a co1nplained abotn die cofnp:llly copy of the i11vesriga1or's \~·as ..\jdc.Rodiiguez, \vho v.as re.port. Jn letters rcJH)<Cd by fi red in October 2007, The Mills to ~·111:c tl'ihcs. Ril.geman UFCW provided a copy of declloetlboth rcquesl!l. Rodr1s~1 ez·s $la1 c111~11 L, tided Hi]gen1an's le1ler to 1he ..Gin.cinnati ProcesSing \\10rk~r South,ve'st Ohio Wo rkers ~ .L 'fi.ostln).)1l)'.·· Rights llo•rd (SOWRB) •scd "Wh-cn Istarted \\'Orking. 1 the \\Ord "coo1plaults.••butinhis \.'!'as never proper,ly trained on May20 teyJy tOSllt!4!ll"ibes, hi! how 10 use tht: kni \ tCS or bov.• bristlesarthe use.of1he 1enn to use the chen1ioals... lhe ..No inreMe\viscalled for;.. state'n1en1 sa-ys. ''l received no Hilgcmwrwrit~ "Thcoornpooy oricnt<1tion \vf'Httsoc!vcr. an.d l h·~·n lk•ping l.an110 \l·(Jrkirn, ~1,an a Gon1e.z (not her r~I cu1n1e) o_ f Fa.trlield v. tOJ1_1>ed meat at Cincinnati Processing until she Wl\S fired last fall. 1 5¢aking throusfl an l111erpre1et. she nlak_es the same charge nlwut sanit.'11iQn ru d1oplont. "A lot oftimes. if1hcmcat fell on d1e floor, they ,,<0uJdn·1 do \Vhnl they're Supposed t() do." Gon1ez say~. " TI1ey' re supp<>sed to :;pmy i~ but d11:y 'd jw;a-put i1in thcpack:ib'i:S, l s.'l'v ir\vith Ill)' ov..n eyes. E\'WI the Suj)e1·v1sot Sil"' il Titl! ne'v people hadn '1 been trained. l11ey pickl!d 11 up. and t.he Sup:.?rvisoisdidri 't sayan)1hing �6 STREETVIBES Streetvibes Investigation June 2008 Courinul'd rron1 paet::i bC· h igh-ha~1rd ind11$trics," he It \\.'<.lUld alrend)r be on the says. St)'tofoa,111 plale..'i:. The \lthqle ,i.\ skl!-d to respolld 10 plate""uld falloo the Door, and allegations ofunsanitaty f:ood they ,vouJdpickeverytJting up, haridJing, Hilgetnan \Vl'iles. \\'rap ii up -and send i i to ''C iocin11ari Proccssinsl1as an Kroger," unquestioned re~o rd of '"Jt"s preuy ruuth t:vc1y ill1y, providing qualll)' S<.'f\'lCCS .:ttK!of They 1w uldyell and make diem con11liance\\·fd1ngoroussafety goso fast.and people couldn't tmd sani1ation standards. 'l'be cvoo Stretch their backs, The company's operationS·aild n1ent \VOuld fall on the ftoor all records ar~ closely 1110J1itored 1he thne because they \\'Ould by \lflSheUSDA inspect01s :· V.'Orkso fast." Butse\>:eral\\urkerssay tha1 supervisorski10\vv.ben OSl>1\ 'T hey' re coming' or Kroger pcrsonJ.ll!'l ·,vitl be Si:xual h.a1!lfi$1n 611t \VilS con1mon ac Cincinnati l)ro c~s sing. according 10 GoJnezand Jackie Robinson. ''When1heStipen.isorssa'v thru Di:onis g.i'"I!· nte a pieceof candy, they said !heremustbe son1ethi11g f::>eing on," Gon1ez says. ..T.hcy 'vould say. ' Did you go under h1s desk ru1d do oonie.thins for hin1·1· I Jjk«I d1e v.orkand reaUyenjoyed111)•job. Ijustdidn' tundmtl!td die w~y they trtate<I me. ihe·way 1h-cy harassed mese,,-ually and nl~tde us \l/Otk su harcL "They'dsay. ·Worl< osfost 1 3S), 0 u lllO\te a l night. Move as fast as·you do "ticn you1 rc havtag9aX.••• So1neiin1es 1nj wi~ resulted from pressure to \\•ork f:isier, Gomezsays. "One day tbey hod a lotof me31 to cut.~• she says. "They v.·~tl! t-t1tting r:ioi:k feeL They had lol offeet to cut. One of the supervisors told one of the v.>0rkors, ·vou·ve got to go fosterl You'vegot to go f~erl ' He cut hi111self. IJe lt151part of his fingor. They1ook him10 the hospital. They did not call 311 ambul.aocc. Th1..'Y didn "'t stop the hoe. They didn't c.lean the kni ves They didn·1 <lo anydting... la a letter to ,)11v<~tvibcs. J·l"ilgclnt1n, the 1>hmtmanager, brieflydefendeddie oompuny·s safe!)' retord a "As you n1ight ~l. there have beoo cuts front tin1e to time, and the company has compl1ed\\;th all OSHAreoord k~~ping tequirt1ntlllS," tJ1e lettersays. T he local office of rhe (ltcu1Xl!1011a!Safeoty 1r1d Heal di Administration (OSHA)hos no record of sat"et)' vlol:uions at Cincin:na ti Procoss ini;. according to Area Director DicJ< GilliltiSL '"\Ve have noth1ng. on that con1pai1y, aud.c>0111tally \vt a1e familiar ,...;,h m1.:a1packcrs because there areJ1' t n1m1y of lhem le!l and tl1eyalso tend to Jlotlt Di,•ersc aorl Ahle t.·i>1npar1ie,\· n·u:nu·t '" l' 11crf(J R.iC(t, l1/11Jll),~J'(Iplt bj•i J11ti1TJ11•A11i11..·1"$0ll. ''Reruly,ve'tes1ill lhc union there," lie says. ·•\\-'e nevet de­ c:ertilied \Vejust haven·1 had a lot pfcontact until r~ce11tly.H Dieng.er says 1he 1uuon has in itiated formal w nraci \Vi1h i1tspecting, and 1J1e operation tcrr.,c>nuiJy impll.)vcs,An c-m~i I cr1ti.01zing the <:on1paoy. c.itculated by 11tl!n1bcrs of 1.he Worhrs' Rights Boaid, says visits by Krogerpersoon~l '~ere anl\0t1occd in·a d,•::incc, '"'Ob,•iously, Kroger ~n1pl oyees SIOJ> by the plru1t 10 inspect the V.'Orking C'Oflditions tind standards but 1he c mpfo)•ccs at ('inc.lnnttti J'>roce$lnge;IQ)lain.edd1ese ,'lSits are pltuu1ed in advanc:~;· Lhe staten1ent ~ys. ~'Mlm agemeiit tt.nd s upervisors know in advance when Kroger l.ouls l.eny, Mid\vc·s t regional manag;.:or for USD:\. says all rccordsrequestSn1us1 s o thrQugb thcagcncy,soffitlJ ill Vla.sbingtoo. D.C: " .4.ny request for records has to go lhrough 1he FOIA process." he- ~ays .. , . Ill not at.1thori7X..-d to rclcasc.anythnlg." AFreedon1oflt1fOmmtion Act (FOIA) request to USDA v.'aSll"tans\\~red intimeforthis edibo1t H-ilgeman denied tl repo11er·s reques1to lour 1he plant Kroger officials have ·not repres..~tati vesareoom111g an d. re~ponded to the con1plaint ofC:Ollt)le. nutke'Sltte e\1L>tytl1ing rc.porl by the Wor.kcrs' Rights isperfCct on those days."' Board, according co Sheanan. 'rhe. s a.nle is 1rue of Ktogetrepresentntivesdidnot inspections by the ll.S ret1im a reporter~s·cruls. Depart111ent of Agricullure (USD1\ ). nccor<lin~ I(> CiQn1ez. See you in court "'ll••Ycame in andchecked things1 but dley aJways kne\v TI1e UFCW is 1he legal before they \vcrc going 10 bai:gaiofng agent for.,.,-orf.:ers :lt coil).?."9-ies..-;ys. ••0tnn.1sv.'Ould Ci:ncinnu1ll'rocesS1ng- but10 ~ay, 'Th~y·r~ c.Q1i-1i11g: and nanlc onl)', according fo !)ill everything \vould be done Dudleyt ctirocioroforgatiizing slower. They oould cleaic" and strategic operado11...:; fot l'n)lis lcltcr. f:fil,b'<!man Sij}'S. f..ocal l 099. The union \\'Oil a the "'fulse.s1ate11\ellts'' ~>ut the cerr.i ficati0tl elecnon.ru dle1>lant c.Qn1ptu1y s.hO·uld be chet:ked more chan I0 ~ears ago~ bu1 agoinst USDA records only after n pronncled leg.al ' " ILwould be re.:kless for barlle, with the Nnti011a.l .Labo1 anyone«> rcpcator oth0cn\~Sc Relations Bo-ml impot11dingdie pUblish these false alle.&'3.t1ons ballolS tOr three:years. he says. \\ithout cht.>Ck1ng.the001np:u1y·s BY. the time IJFCW ' \/OS record of USDA oolnpliaqce,'" C·erti fie-d as the union at ("1nci1u1n1i Pn'>Ces.'ii11£., n\Ost of the lt~trer says. Asked foroopicsofUSDA 'he empto)rees originaJly 11151)\~lions, Hil!,,i.en1ansays the involved in the can1paign had c<nnp:lt1y <lot:.Sfl'1 havl! tht;:nt moved on The union never "These are kepi by the suc.c eeded in negonilling :i U"SOA, not the con1p.ai1y," he COlltrllCI \vith 1he C0 1npru\)', .,\'rites. Dudley says. n1~i.e1nentlllldhopestobegin neo~oriati:ngsooc1. ~'hen 1t co1l1es to COitlplnints against Diverse Pcl'Sf?Jlncl Co,, '''hich provides ten1porary \VOrkers fo r C1f1 ciru~ati Pr(lCl!SSit\g, Club Che ~ the Castelhn1 Co and olhers. Dudli:y says the union isn·1 ovon tryi ng ICI rccnJil members. '"'\\'e're not orgwuziog at Diverse," hesays,·•\\'e,vould JUSI Hke to hcJp th~ \VOrkeJs. I think ma)•bc thi:fC; arc things happening dtattire.1101lej;aL'" A h!gaJ fi~u onesorl Ot another is- a1most certain to O>Suh frQtn thoe~Q.~ lolbL'therit invol vos tho r:s1, fede ral regulatory ag~. nc ies or defan:\aLion luv.-suits. ln odd!1ioo to rhe threat by Cincinnati PiocessUig tQsue tJ1e SQl1dl\\~t Ohio Workers' Rights Board, that.con:ipany's ltt\''Yer:llld tbe atto1ney for Diverse Pet~ooel Co. inti111ated in let(ers to .~rec:tl'//1es thnt i1riske-.d let~I action in purs1nng 1hi's:;itozy. Jackie Robinson, \Vbo \\orked for botl\ com1>a11ie$~ or says he decided 1ospeak out in 1he bopc thrn odlcr \\'Oitcrs \vi.U b.e· spared the-death threats, seli.ual hara~1\)eo1 ~od othet problems he experienced. Be describ:eslheday \vhcn hedre\V the lino. "They ga'e me a lot of rneat,.and tl1eS1,1fx."f\;isoc looked al ntennd.said. 'You're-really a v.•o n1~u1. you' re an anin1al, you·re good fbr nothing and you've gol todo the \~'Ork that. Isay,tlintl givey<l<!,'• Rollinson .S8J'S "And ltnldhin~ 'lopk, I've seen you look a1tho \\/Qroco Youyell .mdyQu·re not going ll)yell tu me.evet beqi_US¢ in the Lrn.iledStales there's no such lhingasslavec}'; 1here·s no sudi 1bing8S :;i group ofslaves: ... 1'he ne-:<:l ti n1e that-you screain at me. J'm £-Olflg 10 f.~l a ride out of here and call the sf1e1iff *­ Thc too.frontatioo worl<<'<l - at lea.~t ternpornrily. "Everyl>ody SIOf~ied fot a nunlber of ntinur~s and 1.ooked up,:md tl1eysaid. '1batold fudt has quite~ IC.roper'- in Jfonl of evCl)'body. Then mat man stopped ti,llklrtg to 1n.e fo r Slx days... No\v Robinson Mdhis oo· '''orkcrs Say lhcy solutionthat I.as-ts. •n.. S.'trootvibt:S Subscdplians Ne yQu u:uereswd 10.bavingS!~tt1t•1/J1•.r dcl1verod toyour mall box c.ve<}( montb2 St!nd a clicek ror $25· with your nam~ and address to; .'i/rt!e/i•ibe~ LI1£ 12th SL Cinclnnati.,OH 45202 �STREETVIBES June2008 Community News 7 The Myth of the Deadbeat Dad n1oving.poorn1others into lhe wo1•kforcehasl>een 1osupporl t~Jr "''l\S'-'$ \Vllh 01htr benefits: or reliable transport ation. foods1amps,. he3Jt11 lnsuranoe $heller instab1l'il)' and lack of ru1d inSOlllt stottsreui.inuis a Englisbskills allserveasbaniers portionof1"ANFgrants as they 10\\IOl'k. Lack ofeducruioo v.~-; h>O to \\'<>l'k. for poot mothe~. ,found to bl! the n1ost oonunon Coogres'S hns sai~t. .. If you go ba.rrie.r.O\.-e.r40pe:rcentofd1e to \York to support }'o ur pOOr, nOn-t11$1jtuli.on:ilrn."<I, non- d 1Hdrt:1t, th~ yovt:m1nen1 ,v\JJ paying fathers hndn 'tobtained provide selectsupport to help }ailingpOOY• fafherS dOeSn f hel1'J anyone BY B1u .. G.,J.L\GUt:lt ( Ofl.'TRll)tITTNt1 WJUTF.I( the or.dered payn.1ents. La'vs punish c.hild-suppar1 debt by suspenditlglicenses forjobs 10 hat does a "deadbeat" heir.> produce tlh.~ ""iages n~ed look like? The popular 10 pay the debt 1n:iage ofa "'deadbeat dad" is :i Arecentstud)· ~·d1eUrlxut mandeli IUit in his refusal IQ pay lnstiruto, a Ws.shington-bascd for hts <lhildren ,-,·hil~cl earl y chi nk 1ank , determined having the ability to 1>3)' foe agsressi\'e c.011c-c11on ploy~ a d1em,Thisinlnge is oot re:tli1y. ,;1olrolempll<llinglow-inoome Consider the,re nre nlore ..black men aged 25·34 out of thait2.5 million noo-rcsidcn1 Jav.·fi1I cmploym.ent.'rhis isthc fathersin theUnired States"4-io .exact opposite.of the goal are poor, \I/Ith liTni1ed or uo MUghi h)' l>Ol1cyn1ake'rs v.·hen ability to provide support fo r passin,gpwlis.hn1en.tstatutesfor thcir chjldre:n. c:JrcunlStances, OOfl-payn1001ofchild support. banicrs imd lack of nvnjlablc Researchers a l 1hc Urb(ln progrnm1ning do 001 pro\'ide h1stirute-notethatchild.suppott hope, for incre!lsint 1he t.-ntoreernenl a..t;:St1n1es ail 1nen contributions by non-re:sideQt ha~-ed\eabilitytoptl)'. fatl1ers. ~aut son1ei1n1es n1en cao·, In 1995 lhc dcbl owed by p::.y because the)• Rrc in prison fathers \i,;·as appmxinl!rtely S3 I or don't have thtrmoney," s3id bilhon. By 2003 1ha1 figure Elaine.Sort.'flsen, a researcher uipledm S% bil.lion. Increased at 1he institute. ··child support repornngacoounts toe son1~of poticie;needtobemorefle.xible the increase, bu1the grov.•ing io di-stlnguis:h b~t\11ecn those number ofP<>Or and underpaid v.•ho \VOn'1-pay ru1d those \vtt'o citizens 111akcs pnymen1 of can't·· support incre:iSi.ngly I~ likely. l.ncarceratioo afTeclS.abou1 Seven\)'pecce111 ofIlle debt one..founhofpoorfathers\1<ho is O\VCd by n1c.n \vho earn don'1pey support .A.. n1ongf)OOr $ 10,000 n year or less . v.'Orkingfulhers,n10Srh;;,>ld full­ accortllng 10 d1e Federal C)ffice ti11iejoh.s bu1 <Lid:11' 1\"1>rk.>•ear ofCbild Suppon E'nforcemen1. round. the Urban lnstitu1e Less di an4 perce111of the debt tbund. bn <l\'l?r.lge, lhenUJ11ber is ov.•cd by men ni.aking more of "w.ks \\'(Irked \\'a50nly 29, The average earnings were th311 $40.000. (~ice 1hedeln begins, poi)r $5,570. Fac.torssuch as heahh men stand httJe chanceof ever lin1ltat1oos. linlited education, getting backeon track 10 pro\4.de lintlted \\'Otk experience, lack W "Child support policies need to be more flexible to distinguish between those who won't pay aOd those who can't." adiplon1aorGED. Welfare 10 \\fork progranlS havu con1rib·u·1od 10 th!.! inGreasing deb1· O\\'ed by 1he poot Otde.red to pa)' child s upport In 1996, \Ve.I fare ..refon11" legislation cre31ed a block grant progra1n called Temporaf)' ;\ssistance for Needy Faniilies (T.i\NF). ·rhe ·sra.tes were left to de1enn111e you c<>nttnuc to \VOrk:· Poor fathe.rs \\110 P3l-' support arenot f;tVet> n.ccess 10 these san1c: . . progrnnlS, ' ~1a1iy stalesdon't 1)<!111111 B coon 10 adju.s1 the Wl'K>unt of nm~· :\$igi1ed toa11W"1 to pa):: h1u11111y States, d1e figure Li; Sdl autontruically anheoo10uni the n1otJie.r receives fto1n v.ielfare, regardless of ubility to pa)': cl1gi~i Hty,and nlOStstates h.a1,.~ l~educt1on isp' t pem1jne.d in been rcluc1a.n110 spe1'd any of rllOSl juri~dictiC)tlS. leaving the fi1ndson programsain1ed al paynlerns uncollected and debt no11-resideo1f adl~t~ \\'0111eo in<.'tt'a<dny. ·J>oliciesfol'fu1yi\1u1s receiving v1elfttre OO\Vare or rcdue iog arrests arc required toparticip3tein \W fk · unpopul,at.ReqoestS torein~~ne related nctivitics such as job d1i'vcn;' licei.isesorproit.';$Sional trajningandjobsearch. t\13ny licenses. si1spended for nonother en1ploy111ent-related paymcsu of support. nre rl\any p.rograms that target lhe poor tltncs refused byjud~vcs v.flottrc give pnor1ry to \\'.el(are slc.k and 1ired of dads \\•ho rccip1u"ts. As a result, poor don ·1pay_/\1t'5l ooui1S ru'C:Ot:lly non-tesident futhershave Jess in1erested in seeingpayments acccss 1ojob-J"ela1ed s~1'·iccs ma·de. than poor mothers. When 3 ftiJhC~ \vhodocsn ' t Additiouali}', 1he srmregy of pa}' isprosecuted. h1secouon1ic s1ntusp.l aysn role.ntevery stage oftheproce.:dlng,s..Locally, it v.'3Sthc on\vnl1(~n ruledi.'ltbond vo'Ould be set at the amount of the art~arage. Men with resources \\'eC'e-refea~ \\ohile the poor re1tt.-Ur-od incarteratOO. ~11Ul)•<>fthc- •TKl'l 'v.ho nl3.kelx1il arepemunedton1.:tkepayme11ts on d~e Brrt!Ara_ge Jll nn atli!J11pt 10 n1i1igate pl1nishment. If successful, these n-.ei1ate lie\•l't mearccrUlcd \mile p•ymcnts arem:u!e. The: poor " 1lto at<! int:'lroerntedarealmostcertainly :;.ving ll) pri~ fol'nOn-payn-.en1 because of an inabil ity 10 n1j1ig:ate their c-ircumS1anc~. Suppor1obllgntlorLi;OOntiuuCt() mount \Vhile incnrcern1ed. utcreac;ing l11edcl:>t O\ved ,..nen released.Yl-t lhclikt;ilihoodof ntean1ngfulempl0}111ent upon rclea....:;e ltt..11 pn~11 ii; less likely d1an be.fora incarreration, 1-\ better und~~ta11 di n_g of 1ho circumSttlnces 1ha1 lead n1any of the poor 10 find dle1nsel\'es facing 1UOWlting support debt and unable 10 1n:UL1tgei.lv.ill hof)efully leBd10 rcfonn;.-dpolic1cs. EX1ool ac.<;CSS 10 educational and j ob ptogr~nlS \vouJd be. a gQQd starL Progrnms de·signed 10 address 1he leading fnctors of uncn1ploymcJ1t and undcr­ enlplo)'ll~ntareneeded. 01ild supJ)Q1'l la' vs. nec!d to petnl1L courts and adn1 inis1rators· flexibility v.i1ei1arefuced \vith debtorsv.bosesitt1:ltior1caJlsf0t reductionor fOrgive.ness WHAT'S AT STAKE? JOIN US ibr OAYS OFDIALOG UE. What better ti1ne than an election year to dialogue on the critical issues that affect us all Educati·o n May 17 OUR PURPOSE is to create an environn1ent >vherc people >vith differing vie\vs can listen and be listened to. and civil discourse can occur. \.YIIEN: Each dialogue •Vil I he heldon Saturdays from 9am to 12 noon \VH ERE: First Unitarian Church (536 Linton St) at corner of Reading - Free & Open to the Pub.I ic ­ Reservations Re.quested. RSVP lo 5 13-579-8547 w•vw.ijpc-cincinnati.org l~'!"--------::i l11111llgration July 19 �STREETVIBES Artwork and Poetry 8 Ju~e 2008 "Some of the Tools of the Trade" BY ANTONIO H ODGE STREIITVIDES V ENDOR Shutter Speed BY A l\'DREW ANDERSON FATHER J3Y D ELLA WootENS A is for Itis S1.1'0n,g lovinga1nls lluttshielded n1e fi'Otn n.11 l11Um Tis for all of tl1e good 1in1es,,<e had H 1s. for has puro kmd heori R is for real and reol he' JJ ttlw~ys bo Pul Lhe1n 1ogecher. they spell Ffltlh~,c A \\-Ord tha1 n1eu115 the ubllOS[ fO me, Cleo's Joke Corner \\~h}• did C-inderelJa get ki.ckedoutof the bMcball g"nw? Well.sbc left the ball lllld her coach ''1as a punwkin. \Vhy~<iU 1here lle\"ef ag."lin be·a full moon? In 1969 dlesc~e11tiS1S said tit.at lhe ascroonuts bn.>u_g.;1 ba<:k scimeofthc moon rocks • �STREETVIBES June2008 Artwork and Poetry 9 Abstract Ball To Will \.Vriters! ~ subn1ityour WJI poetry to Strectvibes - email your writing 10 streetvibes2@yahoo.co111 Then disappoinbnent set in llY RC1LtYP \RJ;EJt aq·i Sil he'e 1shake n1y bead oo.t10 thythnt conies 10 n1ll'1d j usa slnught·up di sapppoiJttm~I for)'OU and all n1en Istood s.!lying not aJI \vhere the same that you \\•ere iheone you lo\1ed 1ne 1 l..111~\I,' l"otsute Work Advertisement " Our" Janitorial Serivcc We believe in team \Vork You, Lhe client, decide tbe pay rate We, the cleaners. will handle the re~i Call: Harold V. Taylor 5 13 86 1.0468 00\V i <IOnt knO\Y i ask for a hug again anda!?fun till no\vthe tearsflo\v 1ru.hurtiog so c311 i please hRvca hugj ask you did no \l/TOllgyou den1and v.•hen aJI i a.~ed \ '/a(; fora linJ'eauentiOf'I a Y.'Onian i explain to you lam Berta's Art Corner a-ge.ule c:;iresscan erase Ir nJJ "',\i1cn you sflu1 \IJJ" then i-,vill you dc1nand becauseno,vlhete ishun sitting b=>...sidedis:tppoi111n1en1 tk)\Vlhis-atl ~tarted I ~oodt!ri!d d1e.n dle're it.\'<'aSagai11 1fl do LllJ!; foryou 1hcn that you \.\~ II do tbr mo no n10rereac:hing oo;-er·and_gen1le love i feel 1 first1nl~t ean1ii you den1and IK)\v \\'ilS i $0 bhnd sod.isil l u~ionedsomcho\v thendisappointn1001 set in tk)ur nftet Itour has pa.iosOO r1ow thegentleaffection and $'.IJ'Ol'lg (e..'tl';SWMCe oflhe love i thought \'lilS 1hcre no'vit'sjusl hun ru1ddisappoi11t.iite.1t "Remnant" Ovi;R-'l'HP.-RHINE �STREETVIBES Columns 10 June 2008 The Strange Story of Crack Cocaine How a single drug nearly wrecked the black community B Y l\t ICll Al?.1, H £NOON Com l\JDllflNO W RITER renlen1ber, i.n the ntid ' 80~ E nying to \W1k ,._;th ayol.llg rug dealer ,,..,o v.·as a particularly hard nut to crack. Like n1any dealers, he was a bright kid, but very dedicated to dealing. He \WS a kid fron1 the \Vest End, s mal l but muscular. very alertand 'VIDY, like afox io acotoer. L~ke Lhat fox, he \v.tS lookingfor anout l 'here \Vere three of us more or less tcamc..-d up against him. Isay 1110re orless because h1SSOCtal \VOtkerhadg.i\ret\ up and chose to check his e·n1ail instead. Out my friend Jerry and I weredetemtined to gel through 10 him. This ..vas at l·lanuhon County 's institution for de1inquenl youth, and lhis kid v.'9S asdclinqut."lltasth<..')' come. He had j ust been arrested ­ again - fordealing"t1deon a weekend pass. \Ve \Vere looki:ngfor a litt1e v.'ed~ a little sho\vofrcmorse. But nothing was getting through. It didn't rn11ttet 1hat he ..vas already adj udicated. It didn't 111atter that he \Vas looking at son1e harder time upstate. It didn't even ntatterthat his 1110ther and his yowig« broll1ersandsistel'S v.•ere about to beevicted fron1 public housing because ofhis delding. Hedidn'tbel.i O'>'O us on that one. so v.•e let hin1call he1·on the phone. I thought,"Surely. if he talks to his nlother, he \viii tOld. He \11ill adrnit he is \\<rong. He \viii give us that remorse." Sony. He hcardh<~ tcll him that. yes, itwas true that she and tlleyouoge1·children "'eteabou1 to beset out But no remorse. "You shouldn't have let thc:m in.'' he told her. So,insteadofbeingset rigjlt by a r1gl1teous. ru1g.iy n1other. th.is kid v.ias lecturing Ju:r on legalsrrategy. The social "'' orkcr continued k> tap at his conl)uter. 1'ie had been "'1()1'k1ng: wilh tl1is kid for v.<eeks. He knew. l hope son1ebody has gotten through to that kid by now. But on that da)', nothing v.'01'ked. 1'ie reS1>0nded toeach intervention v..ith a shrugoran excuse.·111e shn1g .., ias thes.:'\01e c:ach time,blrt theexcuses \"'t.'fC variations on two different 1hen1es: " If I don't do it. son1eone else v.ii.11"; or "The govetnn1e11rbroughtit in, so ho\V can they say l ' m \VTOng'?,. Neither offers much of a defense for v.11athe .,,ia,s doing. But the>•'vorked for hint administration.the Contras of At firs t. it \vas a West Nicaragua and a dealer fron1 Coast/East Coast, bigger city Los t\ ogeles nan1ed Freev.•ay tl1ing:, Fron1..,~1e<e ..ve sat, u\ d1e Ricky Ross. Midv.•est, following the news about crack cocaine \V<lS like • Cocain e used to be v.·aitingfor bad '"''Cather to roll considered a rich 111an's drug. in. As usual, the v.eather rolled But 1ha1 changed with the 1n fronl the west. In this case. emergenoeofcrackcocaineon the bad \\feather rel.led in fron1 the \\'esl coast in che '80s. California by 'vay of Detroit Crad: oocainebroughtlhepricc v.•hen Frec\vay Rjc.k roll ed ofthe product into the rangeof dov.'fl Interstate 75. A1110ng a n1ass n1atke1. II \V!lS quick et otl1et ironies here: Fteev.•ay and 1110re intense and all forthe Rick is said to have oon1e to price ofa Happy Meal. Cincinnati because his crack· Hammered by Mi chael Henson l l1e highdidi 't last dw loog, and the drug \vas highly addictive. so a dealer could g:ua1·antee d1at his custom.et V.'Ould be back soon. addicted girtfriend had family here. Freev.iay Rick set up shop Md the rest rolled out fron1 there. Children who have seen their parents, grandparents, and community elders...put themselves in bondage to a teenage dope boy do not see why they should respect any adult Did the&'OVt.'ffillll."llthave a hand in this? A lot of people, 1ncludiog our young dealer. believe so, based in pan on a series of ne,vspaper anicles v.•rittcn by ajournalist named Gal)' Webb.Webb's reportage v.•as quickly suppressed but never refuted. The articles featureour hontebO)•free,vay Ri ck and the Nicaraguan Contras and their pals i.n the Reagan adn1inistration. (You can read nlore by Googling "Gary Webb" or ··oark Allimcc.') To 111)' eye, it doesn't look l11e fi rst excuse is sadly true. There v.rere, at that ri111e -and still are today - an ani1y ofyoung dealers ready to step up like patriots, ready to fight ru1d die fo1·the cause. ( I blan1e gangster rap, but lateron that.) 111e second excuse isn't cxai..·tly tn.i~ but ithas some fact behind it, invol..ii.ngthe Reagan l11e result \vas chaos. We all knowthestol)': physical and spiritual in1poverislutle1tt ofthe addict; vioh."lloe. incarceration andearly death an100g dealers; 1.rau1na to innocent v1ctin1s; social-services systents over,vheln1ed; shattered families; shutt(,.'ft.-d storefronts ~ blighted Lives andreputations. • like a deliberateeftb11to v.reck d1e Blac.k cornmuni(y. as son1e havealleged. Ina \V3)'. it•seven v.•orse. Reagan aod Olivet North and his gangj ust didn't c.are. as long as the)• got \Vhat 1hey \\latlted. which was to wreck the Sandinista g:ovemnleot 1n Nicatagua lfit v.•recked the inner-city con\n1unity. too, dtat v.-asjust so muchcollatetal damage. It v.'1 11 take a lot ntore than crack oocaine to co1nple1ely v.•rcck the Black community. But there is no doubt that the contm.wlity ha-;been brutly hutt Oneofthe ntore disturbingand ulti1natelydeva<;rotinga<;pc.'Ctsof all this chaos '"'as the invt."rSion ofauthori()•i:n fan1ily,schooland contm.wli1y.Ouryoungdealeris more a son of freeway Rick th.10 ofhisown nlOthot. Children v.•ho have SC(,'11 thcir parents. grandparents, ru1d con\ntuniry elders beg, s teal, sell off evel)•thing they O\\lll and put 1he1nselves in bondage to a teenage dope boy do not sec v.•h)• the)• should respect any adult ioMy role. Over-the-Rhine gets a dope dealer on eve1y con1er. and Oliver North gets a talk shov.•. Doesn'tseen1 right (And don' t eveo get n1e staned on gangsta rap.) f\.ftchaet Henson is author of JU111sack, .-1 S'111t1/l l?t>f>n1 u1itJ, 1'ro11ble on My Mind, 1'11C 1Qo ofJ_onging and C1tn•· Call. This column is panofa n1onthly series on poverty and addichon. Neighborhoods Take the Initiative Against Foreclosure Buy in bulk, sell them at 't11holesale' prices Br p ,,1·R1CL\ CARRY Coml\JDllflNO W RITER th fo~oclosu.n.-s soar ng 111 2007 and ""'Shboihoodl being decin1ated by the resulting va­ cruu llOn'leS. a oom..n'li11eeoftl1e HomL'()\lincrship Prt..'Scrva:tion Groupgot togetherto1alk abo1tt ho..v toramp up effonsby corn­ munity developn1entcorpora­ tions (CDCs) 10 acquire and rehab these empty homes for re-sale toqualified fan1ilies. Most members of 1he Hon1eov..nership Preservation G1\'>1.41 ate focused on tl1ecoun­ scling and roodiation needed to W: keep families in foreclosure 1n theirhonies. Cal ling i1Self the Systen1ic Change Committee, the group tackled 1he problem: In 2007, I 00 hon1es per week 1n Harn.ilton County v.<eregoing tl11\'>ugh f0<oclosure viasllenfrs salo. Early intheyear, mostofthe homes \Vere in tl1ec11y- about 65 per week. Bytheendoflast year, dte balru1ce had S\\lung: to,vard the county. Early in 2008,nlD1tbers \verenearly 125 per ..veek. They have begun to drop back son1e\vhat al this point. Systt.'fTric Change mcrrb<'rS creaied a plM to acquire I00 homes at a tin1e in bulk fron1 bank.~ nlOttgage hot~ finan­ cial intt.'flllcdiarics- \vfl(X.•'vt.'C is holding title to the properties - and v.holesalethem rocom­ munity developmentoorpora­ lioos.othernon-p1'0fit <level~ crs andotherpotential partners. to berehabbed and returned to productive use by families in dle neigjtbolhoods. TI1enameoftl1is ptojec1 is Neighborhood Homes 1.nitiati'"' (NHI). All nine CincinnatiCity Counal men-berssupported die motion toesmbl.ishthe NHl and recently passed a motion for a contract to create the business plru1 needed to make !heinitiati-..re operational. t\ ncv.• s teering comn1inee is be­ ingcreated l'O fi­ naliz.e thedetails of day-to-day operati ons of NHI, and its re· pott 1s expected inwly fall. O.il)ina!Sy.. tern Change Con1n1ittee nlen1bers \Vere JearuieGolhhel', Cincinnall D<> velopn1ent Fund: Rick Fisher, Local lnitiaLiveSuP1>011Corpo­ ration;Matt Strauss. Price Hill Will: Don Latz, consul tllll~ Patd Rudemdler, CampWashington Conununit)•Board: and Patricia Gari)'. CDC Association of Gn:att:r Cincinnati. �STREETVIBES Columns June 2008 11 and healthy 41 milli0t1 people are \vithout an)' health care. As hospitals close emergency rooms due 10 federal and state cut backs, thepoorare leanting there is no place to go for healtll care.The r1s1ng costs of root adds to this problentaspeople \\llth 1.inUtedinconleS Sltuggle 10 pay for housing and teduce their food refusesto allov.•both contriblrtions oftOOd. \i,.11.tcrand budgets other basics if they are accompanied b}• specialists in Expandinghw1gern1e..-utS also an increasing health emergencies. The resultisclear: 14undteds ofthOl$rtcE c1·is1s a.-; people choose to ea1 ta1her than take ofpeople are dying. and n1any n10re v.111 die due to medicines that are too expensive. Nev.4y poor are this cb:;ision. unaware ofthe rules ofclinicsor una\,1ateof \vhat is Lc,'SS clearisthe \VOrld pattc.'1Tl:S ofhungerthat have needed for accc,'SS, \Vho is responding,tothisS,fO\i,.ing health crisis? Elders on fixed incon1es are suffeti.ng ftorn v,aichingdlcitnm iesshrink in ten115 of the basics. \Vhai to choose­ food, nledicine, fuel?Ch.ildte-1 aresuffeting from hunger and \viii have reduced opponunities fo r food throughout the by Steve SlUlderland s uo11ner due to 1he closing of school breakfastand lw1ch programs. In general, the Joe.al and natjonal supportoftbod progra1ns is an indicatorof arisen. Here isacapsuleversion tion1'"The Last Bite" the rising plightofboth governn1enl and the private by B. \\'ilsonin thel\1ay 19ed1lior1ollheNewY0tket: sector to rneet agro\vingsurge ofhunger, Ill health, "Tlte V.1orld Bank reoootl)• arutouncedthat 33 countries poor housing and broad·scalestress. are confronting food crisis, as the prices ofvarious There is no quick fix. So1ne citjes are tuming to stapleshave soared F'ro1n Janoaiy toApril ofth.isy<.-ar. sa'iing food that is OO\\•th.ro\m a\vay,Amazingly, "the the costofrice on the international market \Vent up Deprutnient ofAgriculn1re estin1atedthat reoovering 140 percent. Pakis1ru1 has reintroduced rat1on cards. JUSI 5 peteern ofthe food ·~...a<;tedcould feed4 n1ilhon ln Egypt. theAntl)' has started baking bread for the people a day: recovering 25 percent v.-ould feed 20 general population. ·111e Haitian f>rin1e Minister \1/35 million people; · according to "Ooe Countty'sTable Olrstedafu..,.honS,(,"f riots.The cum."lltcrisis oouldpush Sc111ps. ArothcrCountiy'sMeal" by A. Martin in the another JOO n1illion people deeper into poverty." May 18editionofthe NmvYork·r1n1es. Burma·s brutal stru1ce n11glt1 becoo1e patt ofa \VOrld What \Viii Cincionati do? \Vhere are 1he strategy to reducefood to the poor asgo,remn1ents, in govemntental and private sector planning tean1s? n1oresophisticated \V3)'S, allov.•v.-idespreadhlrlgerru1d Where ate Ille! O\iljor food corporat10r'!S in saes>piog up healthprobl<."mSto kill and \\J\"alct."11 millions ofpL'Oplc. to dUs crisis -odocsrom<.'thing, more vioh,'l'lt ha\'Cto "\Vealthy countries. as a group, cut agricultural happen before \l/C n10ve to ans\verthe questions. the donations roughly in halffrom 198010 2006, 10 S2.8 vital questions.ofour corn1nunity·shunget w:gettC)•"? billion ayearfront $6 bi.I.lion,..v.rote K Bradsherand fite\~ Sun<letlm1d. fat111e1·!y <leCNt of1}1e l.i C Colleg<' of A. Martin in ··\\'orld's Jloor Jlay Jlrice as Crop C<m11t1111111y f,·,,niiN:s anda professcrofsocial wo1*for Ille Research is Cut, in the f\.tay 18 edition of The pmt 1I )'l'!Ot.f al l.i C. tJ <lirector CNtdfo11,1ilerof11'e Pe(l('f! I ii/age. a Ch1e;1u1a1i b<ISed /X!(IC<' 1w1\l'ork fo11,1ile<I ('.fter Washington Post "The Un.ited States cut itssuppon the 1·1oiS ar1J.i <!Xpmllle<I afte1· 9 II lo \!'Ork 011 /Jf!(l('f! ar1J.i foragncullure in poorcow11ries to$624 01illioo fron1 J1eol11rg. J-Or 1110/f! 11l}Ont1a11011 OJ1 Jlt<• Peace I ill(1ge prt>­ $2.3 billion in lhalperiod." grmt1~. p/11asc "'rit11: s111Kl;:rsc(f!.."'1noil111: <(/r1 h1our oountl)•, v..e cru1only \\OOderjusthov.•strong The Hunger Urgency Will it take violence to get action? n,• sw·~ SUl''OO~tAJ-"l> CONl'l"UOLl'flNO \\'1t1f£~ The shreddingofthesafery net forjobs. housing, unen\ployn1ent insurance, n101tgag~ healthcareand pensions. has nov1 added hunger as another factor rippingthe average cirizen•s \veil being. In our como1un11y, 1he FteeStore FoodBank conti.nues to ti)' and 111eet the expanding need. v..ith 4SOn1en1beragencies distributing IOnUllion pounds offood 10 160,000 poople in our region. Whether there will be enough food on hand for ourcomn1uni1y isa very importantquestion thatboth the FreeStoreand i.ndividuals areconsidering as the eoonon1y \\Qf"Sens and fuel and food pricesdran1arically rise. The questionofho\\• 111uch food isenough for our com.01un1ty is too in1por1ant to ignore an)' longer. Reducing allocationsoffood to fan1i.l.ies is a dran1atic v.•ay ofsaying that our near cen11future is beconting morcdanS,<.'tOUS tOrindivi<h1alsand familiesv.ho have been accuston1ed co three nteals a day and now have 10 c.ut back to tv.'O less appealing meals. ~take no n1istake:The FreeStore is not a three­ star restaurant \\~ th lots ofchoices;and peopleneeding tOO<larcnot picky bot hongry forthebasic.staplcs, What happens in our com.n1unity \vhen the hoo1eless and hu1lgry are joined by the ne\vly wiemployedand hwlgl)'? Who ";uhelp people -.ho can no longer afford driving to the f reeStore or even taking thebus \i,.ith their lastmonc.1'7 ~lore isolated than ever by the suddenjun1p in gas pncesandstunned by thejwnp i1l cosas fora gallon of n1ilk or a loafof bread, the consun1er is stuck in hw1ger thatcannot be relie\•ed b).•current govemn1ent orpri,iateac..-tion. Cinciimari is a nticrooosntofa V.'Orldgettinghm,grier by tll<>mdlions. Wesee tliebrulal policy oftll<> Bumiese tho.gs \\'ho oontrol and steal the food in their reaction to the recent hurric.ane.'rhe govemntent of Buntta 0 ce Village 0 Lawyers for People Who Need Them 'Second Chance' legal clinics p rovide f ree legal help B r •.\..,·c•:J.APANCF.l.t.A CONTRJOL1f&.1G VlRJTIZR. Stes>henJohnson Groveis dledirectotofdle Ohio Justice and Policy Cenler (OJPC)'s Secood Chance Community ~d1nics. llledin.icsixovidefreelegal help at \'11..rious locations throoghoot the city. On Tuesdays theclinics nteetat Our Daily Bread. "\Ve pld up a bigsign thatsa)'S 'FrceLa\-..y(,"f for Arl)rbody v.-ith a Crin1inal Record,· and people \V:Utder 10 10 chat The nlajn 1hings v.•e foc us on are expmgem"'~ advisingand representing poopleonchild support mattel'S anddealing v.'ith paroleru1d ptobation otlicers \lihO may be imposing conditions that are burdenson1e, n1aking itclifficuh for a personto keep a JObotf:.>et housing, \Ve also have dealt \vith a lotofthe sex-offender la\VS. not because v.-e're i.n favorofsex offendj ng~ it·s more that v.•e see thai many ofLhese lav.-s arcdetrimental to thev.tiole oommonity.(Vle 00) anything dtal focuseson people \\~th c1i n1inal records out in the community tl)•ing to make a go of it and blood ' lt doc,'Sn't matter. All they care about in the n1ove for.vardv.1d1 their lives. expungen1ent lav.•is.·is i1 don1esric violence? Wl1at's the charge code?· They don·1 look in10 it any OlOre. As soonas youstartsa:>•ing, ·see, v.hathappened was -', d1egm11e'sover." Expungem<."111is probably the rno61 •'lnligjitfurward of all ofthe things l handle. It's a littlecontplicated, I JY/1t1I is r eu:t1rdi11g ''' }""'' i11 J'"''' cli11ic Jl-'tJrk ? guess. ifyou·re nol trained as a lav,yer, but it S oot overl)•con1plicated. Basical.ly,youhaveto bea fi.rst­ "T11e thing v,.;rlt legal problenlSis, ifson1ebody has tinleoffeoder, \vltich literally nleansone andonly one a bunt foot, the)•'re going to say, ·1gotea go to the otft."llSeon yourrecord-except- there's all thc,'Se do<.1or' Bui lo"Sal problemsan: the kindsofthings !hat v.-eirdexceptions. asyou can expecl front lav..yers.•• peoplesay, ·tfl thro\vtheenvelope in the trash, they v.on't find Ole.' Lee rne1ell you:Thru doesn't \VO&:. ln Jf1/1at ''re t.l:-11,,l{Jles <if<iffe11se~· t/111/ are fact, itusuolly fester.; oodp11Sde\<elops ood1hen ilentpts exp111rgcablc? into son1e sonofgross thing likea boil - and that is "hathappens "ith legal problc'111S. and that's thept'Ople ·•·rtie.ft can con1eoffif it'syouronly one. ""lostof l calk to. As an anomey v..h o caresabout social j ustice the drug crimes can oon'teofl'a~ lor1g a.-; youonly have ru1d as an attorney who cares about reaching out to one. Passing bad checks - I see that a lot: that can people \vltohave been cn1shed b}• thecrint.inal j ustice con1e off. 'Things that c.an't con1e oft~ chough, are systern and areliving in poorneighborhoods and preny anything that has to do \\~ th violence - the most ml.:hhavenotrust in anything n.~att..-d totheSCJV"-'ITl.ment extren1e violence. of course, nturder and rape, those or lav~ it's,•ery in1>01tantto n1ethatI nt:'lke n1yse1vioes kindofd-Ungs ."-ny kindofse.xual ctin-ieca-1 nevercon1e available in a \vay and in a place that·s safe, that·s off(and) domestic ,.Jolence. People v.111S3)', ' \\'ell, comfonable, that'snon-threateni.ng, \vherethey feel there \Vasn 't rut)' violence. She and l \Vere shouting, ttust- and d1at's v.11at Our Daily Bread is, rutdthat's and the police shov..'Cd up and l ended up \vith a v.•hy \\'C go there.That, and I just love hanging out don1esric violence charge, but l didn't, like, shed any v.1th Sister f\.fa1)' Beth and her dog, Coooa. 0 �12 Community News STREETVIBES June 2008 The Art of Homelessness New murals capture the many faces o..f'the struggle 8\ l.''NNl'iAL1'\.\tAN Sn\J1F \Vi~JTFJt V students '''Orkingon the mural Beneath the really g~t l t They hnv¢. htgh,vay sits an understood there are many Arnerican flag ibrant ne\v 01ur3ls different ways of being 1"'1L Seton High School, lod by ~1e Greater Cincinnati c'tptured chat in ac-r~trive, very tcachor Coalle.ion for the Hon1e1ess respec~JUI ,.;ay that'vdl help us Ari ~·1 a rgi e 1\1etz. (GCCH), to rellcl1 out to the public at c!1ose fn1n1Jy TheMonuelD. ond Rhond• lart e." Maye~ Fo1.J:1d:lL1on unveiled The n1urol '"ascrcJitcd by homelessness, its la1e.st publican projectf\·fay morl! than I00.stud.ents fron1 de11ie-tl11s, tv.•o 22. created ihrough the seven local high schools: St young i::htldrcn l'oundario·o' s High School UrsulaAcademy.LaSalleHigh playingon a tire Seivice-Leamir\g Progrom Schoo~ Seton f.ligh School, $'\\tng. A i k en Thene"· rnumls transtOnn Aiken Univt::~lt)' Bjl?h School. 1he previously non-dascript M3SOO Hjgh School, ~lL Notre U1\J\'e1'Sity I Iigh storefrontol Tl 7 E. l2tl1Street Dame High Sch~ol and SL School, led by a tean1·ofteachers iu Ov'6r-d1C-Rhinc into nn<:yc- XavierHighSchool ca.tchJng \mrkofan·dlatbonors Each high sc.hool chose a and sp011$0rs, the coalition and 11.S' quarter- the.me to represent c h o s e centmy of work on behalf of homelessness. SL Uisuln, led by ~·1rtetvihe J , Cincinnati's hon1eless cinzens.. 1eaeh~1s1\lt.so11 Probs1as1d Kutt Tnspircd by tho GCCFJ will cclcbnitc its 25tb Nicruw, cbosehoallh:issuesaod v.'Ork Of Jin1my yearofservice-in 2009. cre3tedrunepanl!ls to represent J-lead1, tb rn1er of T<:111:hi:rv unJ ~iUi.lr:nts l'n~t_,\JJ.:cu l.!ru\'Ct'Sh)' J.Llg)t Schon! p!•M' fl)r u picture In l'ruui ,1r n;e.muml$., \\oh1chJllUSlt.t1e 1dunt1t)·,nutntl0f1, l~N/A l:OS, editor ~· rte t vi he J , ibc. rnul'a l lh¢l' cret1t.ed o.mulld Jimmy Hooth :inJ ~·1rr.1ii ·il>d. Phi"'' ftr .fJJJttw~-t.11:'.rrJo'Jt! variousfacitsofbonwlessness,. pe3c.e of triiud, he.3 J1hy 1 lbc~11:i.ycrson Ffigh Sehl.xii .. (Marge projects ·Jike chis con1plen1au GCCH's llltssion ptegi1a11cy Sltld neooatal health. Students: inc.luckd a pioturc of of cduciltiug tbc public und co1u1nunity inclusion. hun1sn Heat11 ''sv.iell as a \lendorand Service-Learning Progr:'llll brlng urban and suburbru1. e n1po\vering homeless ~ouch. acces.s tohealtl1 care and acamera. p·tov1desS'l.lpport to n101-e ll\an public and pr1va1e sehools Mason HighSchool, led I>)' SO localschools \Wlases1udonts 1ogetlier where sludents share 1ncfi,11du;ils10 advoc:tt~d01· their rccovcn-. The)' also p(llntcd n .nrt teacher BeLh AJtn _Eltne, do con1111u11i1y servlc.e 10 aud le.arn fron·1each other in civil rights and hol~singneeds, I0th 1>3nel to bep laced above according to Georgine Ge-tty, thedo<,>1· chQscshclti::"r,f our hRndsclasp nonproli 1 org.llni7.atio1l $ ways in \\!hich 1hcir passions around 9..m'!'cecan help to build executj\rc director o f the laSalle.Jedby.-\nTea-cher togecher to f ran1e a scene of a throughout the.Tri-State. coalitiort MikeKnue\l-en,·chosehomeless sh~JterY..~th l11e Y..'Ords. " V1Ston '"I heprocessofcrearitlgthe bridges,·· says S te,'e Elhot. "G.ecl1n_g beyond 1he vetw.ms.Thef"lllCl $hQ\~::tcily 10 See. Faith to Believe, murnl helps students n1ake directoroftheService-Leruning .sterool}•peofhon1elessness is skylu1ein tltebackground. \"lh Cow:ig.e co.Do" "'1rappiog.Ll11: sense of the experienc-e thes• l'rogmm. have hnd dc<1.I i ng \viii) Mil}'Cl'So.n su11plicsfl•ldin_g often lhe firsr step in our\\.'Ock," ah1gh\vay going:i:nJOthec:ity 1.ha1 hands IOS)'1Tlboli1.Cshcltcr$ i\1t Notre Dame High homelessness 1n their fora11the 1naterial needed to sho sa ·s. "Tho high school turns into shaking ha11ds. cprc•.;mwo''¢> 1mn wnous S.:!(lL\ scIV1cc eg_l.'Jtc1es s~6o'" mc­ Sc.hoot. led by arL Teacher co1nn1u111ty," says Neal If. conip!e1eth~n1uraJsandh1resa 1uutuls " 'fll bleak dun'tl stCJt'O lypcs uhoo.t tlwir elJenls. ,...,.,,,,..,....,,1~ Shelly Brauer. chose do111estic M3)•eJSon, president of die local pro fessional artist to violence. 1"he pitnd dq>i ct~ a foundation. ···rite n1ural coordinatetheprojoct yQ1111gmo(hcrholding herdiild. bocomes a symbol of !heir .. r help'.st11dc.nts: refine.the breaking tl1rougJ1 chaos and ~lings and an irispi ration to imagesthey create-andkeep all be1ngpulledUJ>111toMod1erhfe. other.s 10 get involved 111 Ute seven g,1·oups or ar1.Js1~ on SL Xavier High School, k'<l •soiues theyfeelstronglyabout" track," says lead artisl Carol by 1eaL:hetTedl\·fethle,y.,.chost: Building b1·idg~ betv.'een Ann "N~\\r'Srulle c-ivn rQ:j"lts.fou:rp.;111cls illSJ!if'<XI illoscOOo Stn.·c and ihQsc. v.iJo In acklition to the 111urals at by a photograph by Ji111111y ar~seNed i·s an i1r1portantpan "GCCH,similar 1nurafs can be 1-leath sllO\VJ>l'OlesseiS .siandiitg nf Lite l\1nyetSOn pl'o<~nm. The i'ound aLo ·u r Daily Bread on in a line. l'hesh:ldO\VS formed murn.1fort.heCoalition for d1e Race Street and Peas Iee by Lhe pfotesters flow i.nto ru1 l::lonwless.is the 50tJ1public an Neighborhood Ce,nter on A·mcric1m Flag \\'ith the Bill of project completed by the Syo;uTl(>reStroct. boih In O\rcr­ Rightsin..'Clibedon 1he stripes. program. the-Rhine_ ~r'L\ Lhee-'5ter1orof h(>1n0l~ss , an d thoy h ave ........ rnterested in heJping wit{! Streelvibes? A[e y<iu a writer, poet, ar;tist o.r photographer? Do ~ou -\van:t;to he!J> $1ree:Nibes? Call SLY..421.7803 ~12 oremail streetvibes2@yahoo.e6n1 Please be sure to only purchase a Streetvibes from a vendor wearing a white or yellow badge. �STR EETVIBES Local News June 2008 13 Shifting Gears Forward Bicycle co-op wants to sendyoit on a ride 8 \ • C RF.6 O J;KIJO\ 'SK\' SlMF IVRJTER T he Mo Bo Bicyclo Cooperative is a non­ profi t O<S/!'U.<;lllOll dedicated"' provic6ngcvcf}-body in1hcTri­ S tate access 10 bicycles. mainten.!l:nce nnd education.. The volunteer-run otgatunltloo. f()utlded in 2007. is IOC1ucd in Nonhsid\.\ MoBo Bicycle Co-op's m1~ion runs nluch deepel' lhru' bi cycle di s1r 1bution. 1·1, e /)11•lgJ11 DJ'l.!r '•'t1rks ,;,, u hike m the i\'1off<1 r(>-011111 .Nor1hsi<le /:J/u1fo,i:rt111J1fly .1rn<ln1111 An<lcn«11t they <:~ut purchns·e 0 1t e of 1he togethc.t. People conle to 1he org:;u11zailon teaches h9,v to rq)air used bikes . pro,•idiog n1en100rs ~vith ~\!orkspaoe and tools. Volu n1eer!=i n1en1or n 1e1n b ers 10 th~ir O\ Yll bicycle pcojectS. MQBO do~so·1 reprut or fix bicycles fOr others. bu1 instl!ii.d provides thetools and guid.:1rtce.10 do i1y(}Urselr. It·sa ' ''3.Y of helpingothers to help then~ se.l ves . e ni.po "·e rJng people \vi1h education nbou1 bicyding 1\ S'20 annu.1.l 1nen1bel'Sh1p fee grants people access to I.he ShOJ>, tools, gre;fl,S.e, maintenance. kn O\li'l cdge~\nd n1uch n1ore. If a n1en1ber doesr-·1 h av~ their O \\•U hike, shop to l~a ro . It is nn e.ducatlonal and COl'umuonl f(lt ility ·rhc co-op is a place ,....here people suppon one anothet and d1scove1· to.Jettts they m1gbt ha~-e neverlhought d\!lt'ptO\'lde 1.h1sserv1ce. ~foBo d1eyhad.' 00.,,,' t Ill low pc.'Oplc I() drop off Sinceits inception lnstyl>ar bicycles for rep.air. ~1oflo the MoBo Bicyde Cooperruive volun1ee.rs are I.here 10 s ulde. hais had nearly 200 membeis achrtSe·and t~1ch nlembem to fix join and helped more than 65 and re pair blC)'C:(e s ror kids, Moredum 100 blke$h~v• thcn~lves. been distnlJtJtcd, and MoBo Luc.ia J>aln1nnnia is astaff has organized 15 comn1unity volunteer ~vi th die CO-OJ>, evcJUS.. " A lot ·o f people thi nk The MoBo shop nt 14 1S 'bicycle shop? Who Cate$'!''' KnO\Vltoo. A..;e.. No1'thsrde, is she says. "Out 1h-cre is much open from 6-9 pm. n1oreto it than tJ1nt. It is aboUI Wednesdnys and I · 4 p, ni. d1epeoplc leamln_garld gi'O\Vin}; SurKlay~. 01any tised bikes and parls donn1ed tl) MoBo. ~·l o B o is n•1 exac tly a bicycle shop. J f people ore u1h!res1ed ln ooquirin.g l nL5hed bicycles. the.resren1auy stores /JC'tl Hn}1 Jig/1f(~n,<: 1/Jc l 1a1'<.ffc bor:s q11 Iii.<: bike'. />!Jo1ogra11h b;·;l1nl~u· ...11ult.Jr.\'tJn FreeStore Welcomes Four-Legged Friends T0li.tnteer veterinarians teach oztt to need);JJet orvners Bv G R£C.:<.>f( v 'Ft(\NN•~O \ ' Eurrc•N. All cats a.nd dogs are not e.rea1ed e~ol\I ; so111e becon1e thecompanionsofpeople·\\.ho can ' Lpay for ve:terinaiy care. l.ast month tho.FrceStorc Food.Bonkheld its senu·annual Pet l leaJdl Day, 11tatching \.'Olunlee.r veterinarians \vith :u1i111afs thatotllt'r'1ttse.n1ighrgp v.•l thout hc~ll th care, One nieasure oftl1e need is the fuc:t d1:i1 li \<e«!xru11in ~i<.)11 s tauons and a "M.ASH lmi( ' \\•ere set up, according to vetellnorirut Zokc z..,ko ft', \Vho has coordinrued the progranrfor the past sevenyeats. M:; rut1 l·k:c11.lticl."ll(ill1\ll1li 1£1. gi:-1 bas Jos_clocc~d uut nt P~t I fcnhJ1 D.\y, Pl1olu/(r1ip/1 1') +:11.\."'/l~'lr . l1Jd~1:f011. Anothersign ofthe need is tl1e li11e dtrus1arted fornunslong_ be.fore the doors opened at I p.nt.. "\Ve have peo1>le \vfio are lh e r~ as ·e arly as l O a.m.." Zekoli says. "There 's a big demand Typ1cally, I get fiveto ~\'t'fl vets to voh1n1ccr Forthu past three .events, \\~·ve done 220 to 250 t111inl4ls. Ove1•the years \\'e' ve kind of fi ne·n1ned iLlt's a very e1Tic1eot systen1, !llld \VC learn flomciwhcvttu:· In :tddj 1j o n to the vererinaria.ns. volw1teets frotn De lta A·irlines he l p ~ and d1.srr1bu101s of veter111-ary products oootrib~rt.e \•acc.:iiOes, Sonl~ \.'Ofwiie.ers don'1stop al \\"Orking, at Pet Health Da)' but also contributecash. Zekolf says. ..\\'chavewmcpeople Ylilo have volun!MOO oudoffored up 10 S I.000,"' hesays. Zekoff, president of the OhioAnimnl Heald1fomclati01~ sa)'S 1hnt organi<=ation has owarded two S5,000 grams to dieU.uredCoalition forAnitnlll~ v.tiich operates a no-cost or lO\v-c<>Stspay ru)dncutcrclinic on West Eighth Street " \\'~ ol \Vays encourage people1o spay orTieuter iheir pets!' lie says. •\\"e send d1e1n to the UCAN tublc and eooou:rnge.1hem to sign up." The fel! for the v~tl!.rinary care isbasedon aslidingscale. ~11 goes fto1n W'O to :zet'O.'' Ztkoff S.'i)is•."J t~s free." Realth care f(>rpelScan be 1:.x . pensjve, and \o,·ithout P~t Health Day :u the FreeStore, son1e fan.lily ~ts v.oold haveto g.o W'ltreated, ZekoA·says. '·1lJe>•reaJI)•showa lot of love and ulfec11011 for thd nnimals, :;ind SQmctimes)·oujust can' t afford icf" he sa)'S. '--f or peopte., the gove1'1111teol backs you up \Yith Medicare and ~·l t."tli ca.d. Bvt thete is 11o suc:h 1h.ing furmii nl..1IS, \\fe'r~ sl:~ to help tliem. I wish we could do more:· �Guest Column 14 STREETVIBES June 2008 The Lonely Bear B Y L ARR\. C ROSS CONTRIDl/flNG W RITTR I slatted noticing the 01an v.•hen I ntoved dov..ntov..n last year. I \VOuJd seehintstanding there on Eighth Street right across fron1theJvlain Library, about half ..vay up the block before you getto Vine Street. lt \\1<lS sun1111er. He \\1<\S dressed for \vintcr. I t looked like he had on several coats, and he always wore a ba.'°ball cap. He looked to be a little bit heavy but maybethat•s bccalrsc ofallhis coats. He had around face, black hair ru1d graying beard. His sad, big bro"" eyes looked rigl11 rlirough me. He v.·as a tall man. Beside h.irn alwa)'S \\<as a rusted o ld hand truc.k. On it v.•ere neatly folded blankets, sheets, panes and shins. Also there \Vere some boots and some beat-up books.The hlUld ttuck '"a-;v.dl sttaps>edso nor1e ofhispossessions wotddfalloff' lt \V3S clear the n1an \\las homeless I would often pass hin1 going fl'orn hete to thete dov.'lttOV.'lt. His presence on that side\valk -al~va)1s on dtat side,valk - v.·as unnerving to me. I caole to knO\\lhun io oly m.i.nd as the lonely bear. That descriptionstuck ,vJth nte - his face. the sad look. \Vhile he neversaida v.-ord to me, never v.•anted oloney or tlte tiole of day, I would son1etin1es cross thesrreet so I \VOuldn't have to v.·alkpast him, In the fall, events beyond rny control, ot so I 'vaot to think, led to a job loss. Around the san1e tinte I also lost nly home, 0..-pression that had be<."' v.•ith nle for years - but I paid Ji11lea11en11on 10 - finally took controlofnl)' lifu. l suddenly \WS in a dark place that J couldn't figure out Drinking 'vas theonl)•thing that v.'Ould help, so I dtaok a lot. I found ntyselfcrying i.n bars. I didn't care if I livedordied. Pl'(...'fcndingeverything V.'8S all right, I let a friend store nty possessions io his baserneot, including all of 111)' beloved books. As I packed then1up, I thought I v.rould never sec or read the111agai.n - and didn't really care. I also tl1ou£111 ofthe lonely bear and those beat up bookshe had on hishand truck. Wh<.-n Idid, mysiomachstartc'<l to hurt. Aoothet ftier1d 1ook me in late in the fall. He and hisfanlily gave n1ea place to sleep until l couldtigure outmyS(.offandmy life. FaJI quickly tutoed into v.•inter. Wh.ile I had a place to sleep, Ioouldn't really call it a home. J felt misplaced and un'vanted. r\.1y mind was cloudy. My depl'ession conti.nued but I tried to ignore it. I didn't knO\\I \Vhat else to do. I follld ntyse!fdov.ntov.11 a lot at the Ma111 L~braty. As I would walk up Eighth Street, family and friends. I came to "I ' ve a l\\lays e njoyed grips \vith nty depression. I f auJkner," he said as hesn1iled started 1alk ing about it. I - andtlMt"sall he said. I walked lt'a11te dtopull nl)•selfup by the away. again I \VOuld see the lonely booL~traps. 1\s we nO\V approach Counseling helpc.-d; so did another summer, I have gone bear. He \\'3S in the san1e spot, n1edication. ln takinganother full circle into fourseasonsthat v.•earing the satne coats, saole steplo get my hfe back, I found l\a\lesomehowchangedrl'I)' hfe. baseball cap and still had that four wal.ls I could call hon1e. What started out as a ne'v rusted handtn1ck adventure the ptev1ousswnmet turned intosom(,'fhingdarkand bcsidehim.Oflc"' While he never said a word hazy and hopeless- at least in rimes, it v.-ouJdbe snowing but he to me, never wanted money rl'I)' rni.nd During those 1110nths, as I v.•o uld s til l be or the time of day, I would standing there ­ sometimes cross the street SO<led dltoogh all the muck and silent, v.•ith hi s came to face realities about so I wouldn't have to walk n1yself. there \vasonly onethi:ng a rn1s crossed, past him. btavingthe cold. lhat te1naioed constant It \vas I would that lonely, hon1eless bear spendtin1e at the Iibrat)' h)•ing The friend v.•ho stored 01y standing on Eighth Stree1 \vith to read books but the interest possessions in his basement his hand trlM:k. clinging to the wasn'tthereanyn1ore.I usually delivered then1 to nty ne\V only possessions hehad in the eodOO up aJ tlte ted1 cesuel' usi.ng addtess a couple \Veekends v.'Otld theircon1puters. or I justsi.111ply ago. Tears came to nty eyes as His stol)' isone ruprobably sat and \vatched people con1e I unpacked my books. My old nevet kno\v. Maybe its bettet I friends \\ICrc back, but more don't- but ,my him and not and go. One ti n1e on a snowy intponant, l \vanted to read n1e? Why is he hon1eless? Whete ate his farnily a11d afternoon v.•hile sining ru the theo1again. I continued to w1pack nty friends? libnuy, l "otchedthe lonely bear cont.ing in fro nt the cold. \\'ith books; and as I did. I again I can't help but \\f()Odet if him \vas hi s hand truck. I thought oftho lonely bear and he·s one of the rc.'a.SOns vA1y I watched hi nt go into the the books he had on his hand had to at least try to go to the ltuck. I doo't know vJ1y, but I lighl and leave that tertible resttooo1. Several minutes v.·ent by. put a couple books aside. I darkness. I don 't kno'v the He eventually cante out His knew I \VOuld be going answet to that - no1 s mart face. bc.ard and hair looked do\\lTltov.11 the fullovMg day. c:nough to figlucitOld. wet. Son1ehow, he had gotten As I walked up Eighth What l do kno\v is \Vhen I hiolSelfclea.1ed up. Street, thete \'ias tlte lonely beat ~ hun stautingthereon Eiglttl1 I 'vatched him leave the in his usual s pot. As I Street: I \\'On't be crossing the librat)1, and l follO\\'ed hint. He approached him, I took those stteet aoynlOre. (\.1aybe I can't v.·alkcd back to his SPot on two books out of my bag. helphim much,but at lc.-ast I cm Eighth Street to stand for the He \Vatched n1e as l puton offerrl1e lonely beara heartfeh rest0ftlteday. top ofh1s hand truck a copy of srnile. As Icontinued to \\'3tch the Charles Dickens ' l)n,•id lonelybearstand in rlie coldand Coppe1fielti and 1'he ~>uncl the SOO\V,a thought crossed my n1ul 1'1e F'ury by \Vill iam Larry G'vss is tire n111hor of Faulkner. (looked at the nlan mind: lsthatgoing to be nte? Sigtlc(J. Scaled a1ki De./i,·e1t?<l' S'tories. l11e \\11ntet slowly tutned v.<e!ll'iog all dlose coats. ru1d he into spring. \Vith the help of looked at me. Entrepreneurs, Not Panhandlers: The Daily Life of a Street Sense Vendor BY J E•1'1i.R\' l\'l cNlilL Srn1nrr N E\'i'S S r:.R\'ICE 1·ve been selling Street Sense for a fe\v months and have nlanaged to save and invest01)' ll~r-ie,• i.n a small rooo1 in Virgi.nia. I v.~sh I could say thateverything isv.onde1ful and that there 'vas a big; parade for n1e fornying togetoffdte street, bul that v.•as oot dle case. Still, I never do anything v.-ithout d1eideaofbeing \'tlCld­ c.lass or the best at it. My landlord ru1d nty bill collectors don·1 cate aboul 01y troubles; the>•\\"Mt their ntone}' on rime. No excuses. I'd like to tellyouson1eof 1he reasons Isell Street Sense so people understand that v.e'renothonde.55pmh.andlers beg,g:ing for change. We arc si11.a:U entrepreneurs takingrisks and tty1ngto live theAmetican dreant We don't rely on pay checks rutd \'IC have to budget our money so that \VC can stay inbusi~ Being a S1tee1 Sense vendor is like being)•ouro\m ~ You have touseyourrin1e VCI)' \ViSCly during the day. u· anyone has evet been in business, you koowdte timeand enerro• you have to put in to n1akeends nteet. Being a vendot 1s commodity-oriented and veiy cyclical because of the f\vo­ v.•eek period be[\veen ne'v issucsofthc nc..'\vspapcr. l might also add that v.•eather and climate affec1 people's olOOds and ,vftetherthey want to buy or not Another major factor is con1petition. I can never rest because lhete's al\vays ne\\I and veteran vendors trying to enter nty n1arkets. Last n1onlh somc.'Qne doubled me in sales so like in an}' busine.55,you've got 10 be cteative and irmovative. Many areas are flooded v.-ith venOOrs nyi:ng to se:U to the same people io the same areas, like Dupont Circleand\Vhole foods. ·ro n1e, chis does:n't make anysensebc<:ausoyou kill an area \Vith excess COlltpetition. If anyone has ever been in sal~ they kl1ov.•that the key is tinding nc..'\\•marl:cts, sol am a travelling salesntan. I can sho\V up anyv.•hete. Iespec.ially like going to areas \\<here no one everheard about Street Sense. I love mc.'C.'ting ncv.•pcople and sellingto dtentfor dte first tin1e. I pay f0t Ol)' tral'lspo1tation, food and papers and have to keep records and books so I can havea profit l~ying for all thedruly expenses 1n a day can leaveyou \\~ th little at a tin1e. Like any business there's feastandfamine periods ro you have to be frugal \\~ d1 yout 01cw1ey. If I buy a lot ofpapers and no onebuys then1, l takea loss. u·I buy papers and gi\'Cthem av.'3.y for free, that's lost ntone:i,•. Likeanybl6int$, \,flt.'S1you don't sell yourinventOI"}', you take losses. Weather is another factor thatcan ruin you. When it'scold ou1S1de, it's hard 10 approach Continued on page 15 �STREETVIBES More News June 2008 15 What Were They Thinking? City turns down.federal grant to study minority health in Cincinnati Bv G tteCORV F t.A.NNtn\ ' EO!l1)< lt•s long established th at Afiic:u1Antericans in Cincinnati suffer disproportionately high rates of HIV/AIDS, diabetes, hypettension, infant rnottality andother i.llnesses. But the city ofCincinnati has turned do\vn an offer of federal flDlding to study issues ofn1ioo1'ity heallh. Las1 rnonth city counci I's Finance Con1n1irtee indefinicely suspended a proposed ordinance to al lo'v the CirlCirtnati J'ieallt1[)q>arttlleflt to accept a$69,023 federal grant ad ntinis tered by the Ohio Commission on ~ti nority Health. The grnnt v.-ould have beer1 lltefirststep in establ1sl1ing an Office of ~finori ty Health v.-ithin d1ehealthdepartntent. Now the health departmc'flt faces the unsavo()' prospect of sending the n1oney back to Colun1bus., according to Dr. Can1ille Jones, cite c ity's assistant health com.rni.ssioner. "At this point, there is no plan to bring the ordinance back," she sa)'S.. "'\Ve have to retwn d1e nlO!le)'... Oecause of deadli nes contingent upon acceptance of AJJiancc ofGrcatc."f Cincin.nari a coalition of clergy, social city ..viii alro losetheopj)OJ'(wtity servic.es, labor unions and to recei,re an additional interested citizens - expressed $200,000 in federal funding for concern about council's an Otlice of1'finority Health, decision. Jooess:sys. "The Faith Comn1unity Alliance of G r e at er "I can't explain it I'm not sure what's going on in Cincinnati. Cincinnati is discussing the Whatever the problem is, I issue and hope It gets worked out to the 1nvestigat1ng benefit of the people." the in1pact of losing th is 1'hetotal amountofmon<..y monc..')' on the hc.-althsc.nric(..'SOf we could have appl.ied for and Cincinnati," says Charlie received ..va.o; al>Out $2(i(),000,'' \\lalJner, spokesn1an for the she says. group. "We are continuing our About 45 percent of investigation and ha ving Cincinnati's population is confen."llC(..'S," Afiican-A11lericait \\l'hy \VOldd Cincinnati istheon.ly n13jor Ctl)' council tun1 do\Vn a fedetal c.ity in the state of Ohio dlat grant to study nUnoriry health? hasn't yet established an Office State officials seem befuddled. oflvlinorit)• Health. 8o)1ceS3)'S Cincinnati is the firstclty to cv"" Cleveland,Columbus, Toledo, turn dov.'fl the nX'>Oe}', acx:ording Akron, Youngstown and 10 Cheryl Boyce,<hreciorofdie Dayton haveoffices of n1inority Ohio Commission on riwtinority healdt Healtlt ""n1e direction fron1thestare "lcan't explain it." ~ says. and !Cderal llf,'<!llcies is that local "I'm not sure v..hat'sgoing on health departn1ents should be 1n Cincinnati. \\lhatever tl1e rnaking assessolents ofhealth problent is, I hope it gets disparities." Jones says. v.orked out to d1ebenetit of the Son1e council n1en1bers people." seemed to be concerned that The Faith Con1munity est:i>lishinganofficeofminority ffic initial gnint, ccunciI's rcofusal to accept the n100ey means the Street Sense Vendor Continued front 1>agc 14 people about Street Sense. Rainy days can also hinder sales. As you can see, to sell 1,000 1>91>etS a month, my approach is one person at a tin1e. l don·t go out trying to sell a cc.'ftain numbc."a day. J &'O out meeti.ng and saying "'Hi" to people. I might get 100 rejections but thosecwo or three sales n1ake all the .. No's,. v.onh..vhile. l "1iteeve1)1hingdo"nthat happens during the day to becon1e better. Also, to artrnct ne\Vcuston1e.rs and touris ts, I like to make catchy sign.s. Jvly philosophy is to hit a broad range of audiences b)' trying to get nn~tiple buyers during rush hour. Sales arc a numbers game so I like to go v..·here it is busy 10 absotb the rejec.tions. 1..vant every c us to n1er who approaches nle co have a very pleasant enc-o unte r or convers.."'l.tion v.<ith nle. TI1ere 's a s tign1a aboul homeless people and' ""ant my customers to see that Irnitijlt not be \vhere I ..vru1t to be bul I do have CXlf1fidence and character. l \\iOCk n10re hours than people v.Tiogo to jobs and some days I n1ake\ eJ)' little but I go back out again. I ratel)' take dayson· so holidays can be rough because l can' l really v.<0rk thoscdllys. Still, I ant the captain ofmy ship. I rule 0 1y O\Vn circumstances. I believe in nlysel f and 'vant to be Ij ust 'vantpeopleto realize that Street Sense vendors are entrepreneurs. not panhancUers. Weare the ultin\ate risk-takers. ThaQk you. Re1-1rinted fro1t1 Street Sen:i·e© S'troet Ne,t>s Set'\1ice: ,•.,•.,•.. stree1-1w1x:rs.org 1 "In 2004, HamiI"'° C0<mty had a higher infant monality rate d1an all other w'ban cownies in Oh.io .. .. This is nlOStly due to dead1 rates in African An1e1ican infan ts that are three times higher thait in Caucasi an~" her repott said. ln Hamilton County in 2004, \vhite infants died at a rate of6.2 pc." 1,000 live births, v.hile Afiican-Anlericaninfunts died at a mteof20.6 pe1· 1.ooo Iivebinhs, Jones' report said. 111e proposed Ofti ce of Minority Health \VOuld be focused on neighborhoods, Jor1es says. "The proposal was to establish a local Office of Minorit)• Health and go to various neighborhoods and COfl'lll\WUty COw\Cl.IS toseeiftlley v.-ere i.nterested i.n establishing v.'Orking groups on health, go thro ugh a health-needs assessn1ent for their area. do a bitofa~et nlappingand choose tv.'Oorthree issues the>• \VOUld liketo focus on,·· she S:t}'S. Ironically, April v.·as ~li nori ty Health r\.1onth, as notedb)' a proclanlabOn issued by the Cincinnati Health Depannle11t Visit www.cincihomeless.org for more information on GCCH programs and volunteer opportunities. Do you have trouble reading? Seeing people's faces? 1 suc~i~d. hc.-alth \VOuld duplicate other groups' elfons. '11\ete \VllS disc~Cf1 in tfle Finance Contntittee 0\ er v.flether this\\~ duplicationof efforts in the pri\'tlte sector." Jooess:sys. Butthe proposed ordinance explicitly states that a Cincinnati OfficeofMinori~· Healtlnmuld complement ongoing etlorts already underway - not con1pete \vid1 ll1et1\. "The Office of Minorily Health v.'Ould provide a focus for Cincinnati Health Depam11entactivitiesandV.'Ould be a natural partner for collabora tion \Vith other incerested governn1enc, community. professional and acadern.ic entities V.'Orki.ng on the probleo1s of d11ierer1tial health status and outcontes based on race, ethnici I)' and other factors." the proposed ordinances:sys. Moteover, federal ar1d state regulations specify that the grants can only bea\varded to city health departmc.."llts, Jon(..'S says. In a presenta11on to the Boord of Health in January, she outlinedsonle of cite reasonsan Office of Minority Health is needed in Cincinnati. Doing everyday tasks? There is hope. There is help. We can help you or someone you know who has: •No Vision • Loss of Some Vision • ~ Cincinnati Association for the , , ~ Blind & Visually Impaired ~ 2045 Gilbert Avenue Cincinnati, OH 45202 A not-for-profit agency For information call 513-221-8558 and ask for Adrianne. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 2008 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Newspaper Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource June 2008 Subject The topic of the resource Homelessness Description An account of the resource Pg 1: ‘We Are Their Slaves’ Pg 2: About Us Pg 3: The Vibe Pg 4: ‘We Are Their Slaves’ Continued Pg 5: ‘We Are Their Slaves’ Continued Pg 6: ‘We Are Their Slaves’ Continued Pg 7: The Myth of the Deadbeat Dad Pg 8: Arts & Poetry Pg 9: Arts & Poetry Continued Pg 10: The Strange Story of Crack Online Pg 11: The Hunger Agency Lawyers for People Who Need Them Pg 12: The Art of Homelessness Pg 13: Shifting Gears Forward Pg 14: The Lonely Bar Pg 15: What Were They Thinking? Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Streetvibes Archive Project Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Streetvibes Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource June 2008 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Gregory Flannery Greg Olkhovsky Michael Henson Steve Sunderland Ardella Woolens Bill Gallagher Lynne Ausman Angela Pancella Patricia Garry Holly Parker Andrew Anderson Berta Lambert UCFW Antonio Hodge Anthony Williams Joe Wesels Steve Novotni Andrew Freeze Georgine Getty Stephanie Dunlap Steve Gibbs Bill Haigh Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource PDF Andrew Anderson Andrew Freeze Angela Pancella Anthony Williams Antonio Hodge Ardella Woolens Arts & Poetry Berta Lambert Bill Gallagher Bill Haigh Cincinnati Entrepreneurs Federal Grant FreeStore Georgine Getty Greg Olkhovsky Gregory Flannery Health Holly Parker Hunger Immigrants Joe Wesels Lawyers Lynne Ausman Michael Henson Minorities Panhandlers Patricia Garry Peace Village Stephanie Dunlap Steve Gibbs Steve Novotni Steve Sunderland UCFW https://streetvibesarchive.net/files/original/d3a643c87f6d4d0a07d5bc2699e61a49.pdf a69c594bb03d7e98cbad19ca3c894681 PDF Text Text Vendor Artwork -page 8 and9 THE TRJ-STATE'S ALTERNATIVE NEWS SOURCE ·'Lion" by Orlando Craig www.ciucihomeless.org Children's Creative A little paint, some imagination and a lot o.ffun 8v A NDREW f REEZE that "there were not a lot of coming to create art, hang out STAFF WRITER tilings for kids to doan1ightand ru1d beoutside. not a lot of As the weatl1er cooled T t's five till 6 on a Monday th.ings that "They are never down. lnight, and kids of all ages were orga­ the pro­ bored, they stay gram moved started gathering at buddy's nizedjustfor kids." Haigh out of trouble and from Washing­ place. "What aie we painting to­ says, They ton Park to they get to hang night?" Kameron asks Josh enl isled the Peaslee Neigh­ out with other kids help of borhood CenSpring Spring, resident seivice co­ Laura and in the neighbor­ ter. It stayed at ordinator at Over-the-Rhine K a r a Peaslee from hood." Comnumity Housing(OTRCH). Mc Neel, October to De­ - Tonya [(JWieilce saw a need for "a place where who were cember and kids·could.express themselves exci ted to then moved to buddy"s place. and an outletto talk about what share their art expertise. was h<~)pening in dieir neighbor­ The resident services pro­ Theall-volunteergroupthat hood." He and Bill Haigh, aresi­ gramatOTRCH helps re..<>idents works wiih the kids saw a need clent ofOver-the-Rhine,noticed with finances, emotional assis­ for more mies and more orga­ tance, as well as nization. They started having classes on resumes monthly plann ing sessions to and inte~'iews. flesh out ideas. "It is unique to Tonva -. Lawrence has three us; · Sprin·g says. kids who parli.cipate every "Most places fulfill week. the role of bricks "They love it." shesays. ''It and mortar. We gives tl1em s.omething to do on wai1t tojoin people Monday and Wednesday in lire." nighlS." What began as She heard about the pro­ Art in the Park in grmn when it was at Peaslee July 2007 has Neigh borhood Center; her grown steadily over three kids have been coming the past year. At ever since. Her kids enjoy first, the class was "drawing and paii1ting imd love split into two seeing their work hang in tbe groups, 4- to 7- windows." Lawrence says. year-olds ru1d 8 and Many ofthe children who older. The group participate are st udents at had almost 30 kids Rotl1enbergPreparatory Acad­ every Monday and emy. Working with many ofthe II piece (Jfscrop u·oa<l work,<petfec:tlyfor (Jfl Wednesday nighi, students ''has allowed us to art pall!lfl!. Pho1~ by ~r11dre1•' 1l11cfcrson. "Poom Poom "enjoys her painting with a little as.sistance from Dierdre Gorman. Photo by Andrew Anderson. work closely on education is­ sues that many ofthe.fami lies deal with in our community," Haigh says. Lawrencesays hc.r children love coming. "It's great" shesays."They are never bored, they stay out oftrouble and tl1ey get to hang out with other kids in the neigh­ borhood." The program continuesev­ ery week. according to Spring, because "the dedicated volun­ teers religiously show up at 6 and because the kids make it strong.,, On April 21, the kids painted a chair. Next week, as they begin gathering outside buddy's place they will certainly be ask ing, "What are we paint­ il)gtonight?" lnrerested in vohrnteerlng or donofing qrt supplies? Co111ac1 Bill Ffaigh or .Josh Spra~ at 313-381 -1171. 'At Ease' for the Homeless For n1any, annual Stand Down brings relief "It's about getting help for optioas out there for so many." CONTRIBUTING WRITER people in onespot at one time," The Homeless Veteran Re­ he said. ~People who don 't integration Program of Ohio ohn Briggs has been work know they' re eligible for one ValleyGooclwill Industries hosts mgforOluo ValleyGooclw1LI thing find outthey·re eligiblefor this e~'elll each year in Cincin­ in Cincinnati forover 20 years. three tilings. There are so mru1y nati to draw attention to the One of his primary jobs is lo bring various agencies toged1er "It's about getting help for people in to help the homeless, and the one spot at one time, " - J ohn Briggs, Stand annual Stand Dov1n is one ofhis Dow n Volunteer favorite events. .Bv .L ARRY J GROSS needs of homeless veterans. While the event is geared to­ ward veterans, all who are homeless are.welcome. The phase "stand down" comesfrom an old military tenn relating to tin1e d1atmilitary per­ sonnel have to attend to per­ sonal needs. Itmeans "atease." Despite a steady. cold rain that fell all day April II , over 380 people attended Stand D0wn, held at Mercy Frm1ciscan at Sl John in Over­ tlie-Rhine. All received bagels, coffeeand donuts for breakfast. Lunch was a free chicken din­ ner from Lee's. Volunteers from more tl1an 30 service providers spent the day helping tl1e homeless- giv­ ing medical exams, checking hlood pressure. distributing free underwear mid conductingeye exan1s. See page 4 �Streetvibes l 17East 12th Street Cincinnati, OH 45202 phone: (513) 421-7803x12 fax: (513) 421-7813 streetvibes2@yahoo.com www.cincihomcless.org May 2008 Our Mission Streetvibes is anewspaper that provides relevant discussions of homelessness, poverty and other related social justice issues. It is published once a month by the GreaterCincinnati Coalition for -the Homeless. The Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless is a group ofshelters, agencies and individuals committed to ending homeless in Cincinnati through coordinating services, educating the public and grassroots organizing. Our Vendors Streetvi bes Staff Editor STREETVIBES About Us 2 STREETVIBES ' Alfred Woolfolk Anthony \.Vi Ilia ms ~. ~, ;,.. . . . . . ' ... "-~- J . Antonio Hodge Berta Lambert Cleo \.Vomblcs David Watkins Quiotion Williams J on Darby J osephine Baskerville Ne ll \Villiams Tonia Haley GREGORY FLANNERY Contributing Writers GREC OW<HOVSl<Y, Mlo-tA~L H ENSON, STEVE SUNDERLAND, ANDREW FREEZE, ARDELLA WOOLENS, Al..YSSt\ .\ 'l ark Shears Grady Cook James Bybee Juli e Walker Leonard Jackson Mark Cam pbell Raeshawn Gipson Riccardo Taylor Sam Jackson Silvia Collins Tony Drummond Raynard J ones Kenneth Stonitscb John Gai nes Terrence Williams Charles Cole Milton Hawkins James DanyoII l<ONERMANN, KATHY H OLWAOEL, LYNNE AUSMAN, PATRJOA GARRY, BILL G ALLAGHER, L ARRY CRl:>SS, BRIAN CARRY, G EORGINE GE-n'Y, JOAN TIFFANY THOMPSON, AM;ELA PANCfil.LA, C AROLYN COSMOS, 1\ND ELIZABETH BROWN Photography ANIYREW ANOEHSON, BERTA LAMBERT 6 6N L. KAUFMAN, AND JIMMY HEATH Artwork ANTOl\.~0 !iODGE ANTHONYWILUAMS 0RtANDOCRAlC Advisory Committee }OE W ESELS, STEVE NOVOTNl, A NDREW FREEZE, G EORGINE CEITY, MICHAEL H ENSON, STEPHANIE D vNLAP, STEVE Cmss Cover SINCERE AND l<AMERON WORK ON PAINTING A CHAIR DlJRINC CHD..DREN'S CRJ:ATrVE CORNElt PHOTO BY ANDREW ANDERSON. We are members of: Donate to Streetvibes Them.ore support we li(lve from the'community, tbefarther our effr>rtsJeach. Our work is pgssible only wjtb the help ofgenerous indivJduaJ gifts. Norlh American Street Newspaper Associ.ation Please consider making a contri.bution today! JN SP _/ lnf'ernational Nelwork of Streel Papers Cit:y I S.tate/ Zip: _ _ _ _ _ _ __ I I 1 : Enclosecl is .my ta".•deductible contribution of: : l $<25 $50 $'100 $150 Other $_ I Or make checks paya~lero: I I You <:<1n donate on line Streetvibes I WYt'W.cincih<Jmele;;s.org 117 East 12tll Street, I Cincinnati, OH4$202 I I Tha)l k you for giving generously.! I ~-~---------~------------------~----~-----~ �STREETVIBES May 2008 The Vibe 3 Reserving the Banks for the Wealthy New neighborhood was supposed to include all classes City Club. "The BoardofWoman's City local faith groups represented by the at GBBN ArchitectsInc. and a member Club voted on April 23 to encourage Amos Project and various labor unions, ofthe board ofthe U.S. Green Building CONTRIBUTING W RJTERS Cincinnati and Hamilton County to in­ held a press conference at the stadium. CouncilofCincinnati, worries that there e long-awaited Banks Project cludeamixed-income community in their Irvineservedon the inclusion Policy will be a place for low-income people s once again the subject of vision ofthe Banks project" Committee, which formed to write the at The Banks: Theycan work there, but eated debate. Some envision liveelsewhere. housing atThe Banks as exclusive, with "Sustainability can be measured in " ... Those that inhabit affordable housing in the only upper-crust individuals welcome to three symbiotic terms:environment,eco­ community would likely be the service workers Iive there.Others imagineThe Banks as nomics and equity," Warner says i.n an for the businesses of The Banks." amixed-incomecommunity,open to au. e-mail to Streetvibes. "Here at The - Alan J. Warner, architect What remains open for discussion Banks, the environmental component is is whose vision will be enacted in the primarilyaddressed by the achievements end - a complex debate that spans Often the recipient of venomous inclusion policyforthe Banks. Therewas ofgreening the project. As to the eco­ public policy, racism, classism and ulti­ criticism,Section8housing is also known plenty ofdiscussion to support mixed nomics component, does the business mately the ideologyofCincinnatians. as HousingChoice Vouchers. Provided income at The Banks, she says. plan for The Banks incorporate ' afford­ The Banks, an ambitious develop­ by the federal government, the vouch­ "When the Port Authorityoriginally able' housing?That is unlikely. But the mentspanning IS acres on Cincinnati's ers make up the difference between 30 planned the Banks project in the 1990s, real issue is one ofsocial equity. Are OhioRiver bank, has brokenground­ percent ofalow-income family's income there was a stipulation that it was to be people ofall demographic groups able and broken the peace, thanks to com­ and the fair market rate ofthe housing in amixed incomecomnumity,"Irvinesays. to liveand work within the commw1ity? ments from Pete Witte, a memberofthe which they live. Section 8 has served to "The NAACP unanimously passedsup­ 1bose that inhabitaffordable housing in board of the Cincinnati Metropolitan provide housing for more than I0,000 port for the creation of an ordinance the community would Iikely be the ser­ Housing Authority (CMHA). Witte has ofthe I7S,000 citizens living under the which states, 'In the residential real es­ vice workers for the businesses ofThe suggested that housing at The Banks poverty line in Hamilton County. tate developments where the city ofCin­ Banks." Elizabeth Brown is the director of cover a rangeofincomes, including fed­ "Cincinnati has lost vast mm1bers of cinnati is involved,20 percent ofrental erally subsidized housing, lmownasSec­ affordable units," says Karla Irvine, a is SO percentofthe median income. For Housing Opportunities Made Equal tion 8. veteran housing expert and housing di­ home ownership, 20 percent should be (HOME), an organizationcommittedto "I believe that all neighborhoods in rector for the NAACP, "and Section 8 at 80 percent ofthe median income.'" ending housingdiscrimination. What dis­ the city ofCincinnati should be mixed helps fill that gap." Jim Clingman, economic develop­ turbs Brown about the way this discus­ income," he says. "lfwe intend to have The board ofCMHA voted April ment chair for the NAACP, also served sion has playedout in the media isn't the a truly diverse equitable city, then we IS to urge the city and cotmty to include on the Inclusion Policy Committee. inaccuracies and faulty memoriesofthe need to work at making all neighbor­ acomponentofaffordable housing in The "This country has fought long and politicians, but the hatred ofaffordable hoods safe, clean environments for all Banks. It met with resotmding criticism hard to stop segregation (by race and housing in the general public. income classes to live, work and play. from Mayor Mark Mallory and many class) in housingand in scl100ls," he says. "This is a policy issue," she says. With the huge publicsubsidygoing into county commissioners and city council The Banks, it would only make sense members, who claim that this demand "This is a policy issue. Unfortunately, it's also that this new large-scale development was too late and that they were "blind­ an issue of hate. The media in this town is sided" by it would be open to all incomes." demonizing the poor... " Mallory has been a supporter of - Elizabeth Brown, Director ofHOME mixed-income commtmities in the past. Check the history What makes The Banks different? Regular citizensare chimingin. The "We don't need to start the conver­ "Creating an exclusive community on "Unforttmately, it's also an issueofhate. Cincinnati Enquirer blog posted more sation regarding low-income housing The Banks is tantamount to returning to 1be media in this town is demonizing the than SO pages ofcomments, most of with the Banks project," Mallory says. the days when there was legal segrega­ poor, and not just in the form ofpublic them negative, about the inclusion ofaf­ "There are plentyofaffordable housing tion. The results are the same." commentson the Enquirer's blog.They fordable housing in The Banks opporttmities throughout the city." are also printingletters to the editorand On the other end of the debate, He then cited CMHA's failure to Welcome to work only guest editorials that present the poor as mainstream civic groups such as the complete the City West project - tm­ ' scum' and 'vennin.' We need to beable After the NAACP 's 2006 press to have a public policy discussion with­ Woman's City Club have offered their occupied storefronts, displacement of support formakingThe Banks a mixed­ people from Lincoln Homes and Laurel conference, the Affordable HousingAd­ outdegrading to this level." Also at stake is the issue ofsubsi­ incomecommunity. Homes- as well as their destruction of vocates (AHA) - a group ofhousing "Wefonned in 191 S,in part, to work English Woods and failure to replace providers, advocates and consumers dies The Banks has amassed quite asum dedicated to the goal ofensuring good, ofsubsidies in the form ofgifts ofland, on housing issues," says Kathy those units. Helmbock, board chairofthe Woman's The numbers for The Banks num­ safe, accessible, affordable housing for free parking garages and several other bers are already run, and that CMHA is all people in Southwest Ohio - voted " perks" that come directly from tax­ Mayor Mark Mallory. Photo courtesy too late to be a part of this conversa­ to support the NAACP's vision and payerdollars. ofcity ofCincinnati. formed a committee to look at tion, Mallorysays. "The Banks should be inclusive all "I'm opposing this becauseoftheir inclusionary housing in111e Banks. The the way from the workers to the owners timing and appropriateness," he says. committee included DonaldTroendle, of the businesses to those who live "Others are in opposition to Section 8 then director ofCMHA, as well as rep­ there," Clingmansays. "The developers Housing and I don 't agree with that" resentatives from The Banks. AHA was are inclusive as to their sources of rev­ Buttimingshouldn't bean issue.After repeatedly assured since 2006 that the enue, wh ich comes from all ofus tax­ all, the 1999 concept paper by Jack inclusion ofaftbrdable housingw0ttld not payers across the board, so they should Rouse, the business leader who devel­ be a problem. be inclusive as to who benefits from the oped the ideaofThe Banks, envisioned What wasn' t discussed in as much finished Banks project." it as "a mixed income neighborhood." detail were the complicated details of Brown points to the glaring ironyof Further, in 2006, the NAACP got how to make that happen. Optionscould the debate. " It seems strange that people don't involved with makingsure the develop­ include w1its being purchased and main­ ment included minorities.At that time the tained by CMHA for their low-income mind taxpayer dollarssubsidizinghous­ NAACP also expressed its dedication clients (project-based units) or the use ing forwealthy people, butthey do mind to The Banks being a mixed-income ofvouchers. taxpayer dollars subsidizing housing for neighborhood. The NAACP, as well as Alan J. Warner, principal architect poor people,"she says. BY BRMN GAR.RY Ti & GEORGINE Gl\TTY �4 Local News STREETVIBES May 2008 'At Ease' for the Homeless continued from page 1 ··we had awoman come in who had lost her gla'lSes,"Briggssrud. "It's.a Iittle hard totind a job when you don' t have your glasses. We got her a prescription that day:· Nurse Lori Blackburn ass isted the homeless who have diabetes. Shetested blood sugar levels and got insulin for those who needed it. uDiabetes is a majorproblemfor ihe homeless," 131ackbum Said. "It's not al­ ways possible for them to be eating the kinds offood they should. Donuts are easy to come by, but not always fruits and vegetables." Another service provided byStimd Down is assisting in finding housing forpeopleout on tl1e street. Martl1a had been home­ less Since early Jfilluary. She and her 1S~year-old daugh­ ter, were staying at th e YV.lCA Battered Women·s Shelter. Martl1asaid her boy­ friend broke her daughter·s ribs and she ·•wanted to get away from tl1atsituationfast" On Apri l 11, because of Stand Down, Martha is no longer homeless. She's found housing and now lives in Price Hill. "TI1is is a god-send," she said.'Tmso glad Icame here today." Love Anderson is a vet­ eran who gotout ofthe ser­ vice in 2000. She has two children, ages 3 months and 7 years. " Ineed to figure out how not 10 be home less," she said as she entered Mercy Franciscan. "I.ve been homeless for about a week." Tall, wllh slicked-back black hair. she had acell-phone receiver in her ear. " I know I don't iit the typical pic­ ture," Anderson said. " I can·t explain how this happened to me, but I didn ' t see it coming." For those auending Stand Down, being homeless means notbeing typical. Participants came from all kinds of backgrounds and in all colors, shapes has been so wort11wh~e.·· and sizes. Most could walk.Some were Asked whatservices he's interested in wheelc.hairs.A few had anns or legs in, he laughed. missing, and one ofthem had his ann in "1 need it al l," Page said. a sling after being shot on a downtown ~10 .find but 111ore aho111 the ,\'t!rvlr.:es (Jj' Strl;!el. Ohio 1/(11/ey Goodll'i!l lmlustries /11 Ci11ci11­ Page didn' t offer his last name but nn1i, \'isit u·u·w•. «incbutqttgotJchvjll.ctnn, was clearly happy to beat StandDown. Despite having a damaged Jell am1. he was all smiles. Sumd Down bring.y a sense of ·'Jt's nice to talk to people l'ace to COl/llllllnity. PluHON hyAndrt'll' face," Page said."[l's much better than AufltirS«)ll. trying to get help over the phone. This No Wonder the Jail is Overcrowded f{an1ilton County likes to lock 'em up Bv L YNNEAUSMAN STAFF WRITER r the past two years, campaigns o build a newjail and campaigns o halt those plans have been un­ de1way ia HamiltonCounty. The first campaign,spearheaded by former Cotmty Commissioner Phil Heimlich, was a plan to build ajail­ brick5 and bars only. Ln November 2006, voters defeated tl1e quarter-cent sales tiu< increase to pay for a newjail, by a margin of 57 percent to 43 per­ cent. The second campaign, led by com­ missioners Todd Pomme and David Pepper, proposed a comprehensive public safety plan that included a new jail butalso created more specialized treatment and re-entry progrnms. ln .May 2007, voters turned down the sec­ ond newjail proposal. During both campaigns, a new po­ litical action committee formed to op- R pose the tax levies lo build a new jail. The No Jail Tax PAC waged a grassroots campaign to encourage vot­ ers to turn down botl1tmdevies. Activ­ ists held Signs oa streetcorners, partici­ pated ia neighborhood parades and col­ lected signatures to put a repeal ofthe sales.tax,, enacted by Po11tmc and Pep­ per, on the ballot. The.Justice Policy Lnstitute, a pub­ lic-policy re.search institute tliat advo­ cates alternatives to incarceration, re­ cently released astudy, "'Jailing Com­ munities: The ImpactofJail Expansion and .Effi:c,tive Public Safety Strategies." Using data from the U.S. Depart­ ment ofJ ustice, ihestudy examined the 50 largestjails ia the UnitedStates. One ofthem was tl1e Hamilton Cow1t)' Jus­ tice Center. HamiltonCountyis the59tb largest co1mty in the nation, but has tl1e 46'" largestjail population. Thus the Jus­ tice Center ranks amongsome ofjails in the nation's large.st metropolitan com­ nnmities, such as New York, Los.Ange- Jes and Chicago. 111e average national incarceration rate is about 256 per I00,000 people. Incarceration rales in New York, Los Angelesand Chicagoare al lwell below the national average. Hamilton County's incarceration rate is 291 per I00,000 people: above the nationalaverage. The report points out that high in­ carceration rates don 't translate into low violent-crime rares. In fact, the oppo­ site is true. New YorkCity, for example, has the secondlargestjail system In the county but has one ofthe lowest incar­ ceration rates-and a declining vio­ lent-crimerate. ·'These countiesjust cannot afford to invest tl1e bulk of their local pubIic safety budget injails, and we are begin­ ning to se.e why-the more a commu­ nity relies onjails, lhe less it has 10 invest in education, employment and proven pubIicsafety strategies..,says Nastassia Walsh, co-autl1or ofthe report. Forthe2008 Hamilton County Bud­ get, 71percentofthegeneral tund is al­ located tojudicial administration and publicsafety.The 2008 Budget in Brief reports says. 'Though the county funds numerous acti vities that intervene proactively to address the root causes ofctime, the majority ofthe general fund is related to the consequences ofcrime: theprosecution crfcrimes (prosecutor's, public defender's and coroner's omces). tl1e adjudication ofcrimes(county courts and clerkofeourts) and ll1e dete111ion of inmates (sheriff's oflice)." The county has only b(1dge1ed 0.9 percent of the general fund for social services and 0.3 foreronomicdevelop­ ment Thestudy by the Justice Policy ln­ stitutedoes give us someoptions to con­ sider, such as addressing ~'Time at a com­ munity level, releasing-more individuals while they await trial.and freeing upjail space by reJerririg mental ly ill and ad­ dicted individuals to community-based servicesand treatment. Finally, thestudy suggestsreal locating money to help fund "education, employment, and housing. Research has shown that education, employment, drug treatment, healtl1 care, and the availability ofaffordable hous­ ingcoincide with lower crime rates." �STREETVIB ES May 2008 Local News 5 This Thing We Do Advocates .for the horneless take stock and recomniit Bv GREGORY FtANl'IERY Eo1r OR d~ed progress and the urency offighting on were the emes attbe annual meetingof the Greater Cincirn1ati Coalition for the ffomeless, heldMarch27 at the Church ofthe Redeemer in Hyde Park. Last year tens of thousands of people in Greater Cinciru1ati learned aboutll1est111ggle against homelessness, according to Georgine Getty. executive directorofthe l'Jomeless Coalition. KeynotespeakerMargoPierce, a staffwriter for CityBeat, reminded the coalition of the Iile-and-death nature ofits work. "It's usually not malice orgi·eed that we ligh~ butignonmce," Gettysaid. ··we fight comfort. Wefight against complacency and people who don' t see, because they don't have to. Aud we know we can win this fight, because wasn 't there a time when we were all there, blissti1lly ignonmt, burwith a nagging in our gut that toldus there was something wrong? Weren't we all !here until someone nudged us, switched us on? Don't we all continue to grow 1md learn'/" That, ofcourse. is the central missionoftl1e HomelessCoalition-to help the larger soeiety learn about the complexities ofthe crisis in housing. Getty detailed thateffort: • ln 2007, the Voice ofthe Homeless speakers bureau reached 5,500 people at 116 speaking engagements in 2007. • The Homeless Curriculmn, de­ signed by a teacher for teachers, is now in use by more than 40 high schools, colleges and organizations. • Vendors sold 38,000 copies of Streetvibes, the coalition's monthly newspaper, last year- and the growth continued in the first quarter·of2008. "This month also marked the very first month in the historyofStree.tvibes where we actually sold out ofpapers," Gertysaid. • A new program coordinated by the Homeless Coalition. Cincinnati Ur­ ban Experience, gave college students analtemativewaytospendspringbreak. "Instead ofdrinking until they puke in Fort Lauderdale, college students come to Over-the-Rhine for a foll week ofvolunteering and reflection.... The results have been overv1helmiugly posi­ tive, with students promising to take what they've learned back to their home communities," Gettysaid. Pierce, too, tatked about worl..ing to educate the pubIic, descnbing the role ofadvocacy journalism. She opened with a terse description ofihe last days and hours ofan Ohio prisoner about to be executed, then talked about the need to tell readers about the issue. ln case the point were missed, she talked about the link between poverty mid Deatl1 Row. "I haven ' t had the courage to look at the statistics to find out how many people on Death Row were homeless at the time of their conviction or who have been homelessatsome pointin their lives," Pierce said. "1don't know ifthat infomiation is even available. but I will find out. What 1do know is that mostof the people on Death Row, the majority ofwhom areAJiicanAu1erican men. fall into tlie category of· indigent.' "A conunent l 1ecently heard from a senior about to graduate from law school sums up ihe situation in achilling yet ac­ curate way: ' Capital ptmislunent is for those who don'thave capital.' " It is for those who don ' t have ac- i\1argo Pierce. key11ote speaker al tlte GCCH Annual Meeting, discussed advocacyjournalism as a tool 10 educale people abo111 !he realities of1he world we !J've in. P/1010 by Be11 L. Ko,,f 111c111. Georgine Gelf)1, executive director qf GCCH. recapped the year and reenergized the group to cominue theirfight. Pt1oto by 8.:n L. Kal!fi11a11. ccss to drug treatment. It is for those who don't have access to mental health services. It is for those who don't have access to adequate food. clothing and shelter. Capital punishment is for your clients, and that is beyond pathetic. It's inexcusable." Ofc.ourse, homeless people ex1>c­ rience the tyranny oftl1e criminaljustice system in little ways. too, according to Getty. She discussed the study "CriminalizationofHomeless Individu­ als in Cincinnati," release.ct by the Home­ less Coalition lastyear. "The study identified 840 people who were homeless and involved in the jail system," Getty said. "Seventy-two percentofthe charges againsthomeless individuals were misdemeanors includ­ ingsitting, ' dumpster diving,' spitting, public urination, Iittering, loitering, pan­ handling, lreSpas:;ing and disorderly con­ duct. The bigwinner ofbomclesscrimes is open flask, accounting for 50 percent of homeless arrests." Ignoring that phenomenon comesat a high cost ··At a cost of$65 per night in jail, the report tracked 53 individuals who were arrested six or more times during ayear and estimated that ll1escindividu­ als could have cost the county $4.2 mil­ lion dollars," Getty said. Both speakers closed by thankiJ1g the people and agencies who serve the homeless- and urging them to carry on. "I wish tl1ere were no need for ad­ vocacyjournalism," Piercesaid. "Butas long as there is and long as people Iike you who do what you do. I 'II continue to do my damneclesrto get the words of your clients in front ofthe people who need them." Thegoal?Tomakcthework forthe Homeless Coalition a thing ofthe p!!St "'We may be tiny and grungy and grassroots and loud," Getty said. "But we're al l diat toged1er, walkiJJg towards a solution so that our children, grand­ children or maybe even great~grandchil­ dren can ask us with wide eyes, 'What was that th ing you used to do? Homelessness? What the hell wasthat?" Do you have trouble reading? Seeing people's faces? Doing everyday tasks? There is hope. There is help. We can help you or someone you know who has: •No Vision • Loss of Some Vision • I/"; Cincinnati Association for the , ,'-' Blind & Visually Impaired ~ 2045 Gilbert Avenue Cincinnati, OH 45202 A not-for-profit agency For information call 513-221-8558 and ask for Adrianne. �Community News 6 Crazy Justice Expecting tougher laws to reduce crime is insane B Y B ILL G ALLAGHER CONTRIBUTING WRITER ome have defined insanity as continuing to engage in the same behavior but expectingadifferent result. This definition would allow every taxpayer to label our criminal justice system"insane" as it confronts theworld ofdmg-related offenses. Ever-increasing penalties, increased incarceration rates, longer sentences, removal of prison programs and property forfeitures have had a major impacton the numberofpeopleentering the courts and prisons for drug-related offenses. Nationally we have over2.2 million people incarcerated. We have the greatest incarcerationrate in the world. In December 2007, the Ohio Department ofCorrections surpassed the 50,000 mark for its incarcerated population. It now is slightly below the 50,000mark but there is every indication the number wi ll continue to rise. Ohio has the seventh fastest-growing prison population ofthe 50 states. In Ohio,allfelony crimes are placed in one of five categories of severity. (Murder has aseparate classification)A "felony one" has the greatest level of punishment and a"felonyfive" tl1e least. Most nonviolentfelonies are found in tl1e felony four or five categories, where prison may be possible up to 18 months. Rapes, violent offenses, serious drug offense, burglary, robbery are generally found to be at the felony two or one levels, where prison is generally S mandatory and may reach I0 years for a single charge but can exceed one's natural life ifmultipleacts orcrimes are charged. The widely held beliefis ourprisons are filled witli violent offenders who need to be removed from our midst. The increasing rate ofincarceration is aresult ofa never-end ing escalation ofviolent behaviorthatmustbemetwith increased severity. But this is not factual. Violent crime has beenon the decline locally and nationally for more than I0 years. In Ohio, over 55 percent of all personreceived into prisonin 2007 were for felony4 or 5offenses. Dmgoffenses account for over 33 percent of all persons incarcerated. This does nottake into account the offenses committed while intoxicated or seekingto satist)1a need for drugs. Sixt)'-seven percent of all persons currently incarcerated in Ohio are serving a sentence ofless than one year. The cost in Ohio to run the DepartmentofCorrections in 2007 was over $1.7 billion. It cost the taxpayers of this state over $25,000 per inmate incarcerated in 2007. The rate ofviolentoffenses has been on tl1e decline in diis stateand nationally since 1991, yet the number ofpersons in prison has grown by over 50 percent in that time. This has an impacton more than just the inmate, but also on their families, the community and the surrounding area. Less than one-half of the inmates released last year were employed at the end of 2007. After dra ining the state of resources for incarceration on a nonviolentoffense,less STREETVIBES May 2008 than one-half ofthose released are in a different approach. In order to qualify, position to contribute to the general funds one must have a low-level, possessory of our cities, counties and country drug offense. There must not be any through employment,taxes and taxable history ofviolence.This is true even if spending. the violence weredmg driven orclearly The refusal of policy makers to symptomaticoftliediseaseofaddiction. recognizethe tmevalueofdmgtreatment In some cases, the prosecutor has veto in placeofincarceration is insane. While powerover entrance into the program. the inlmediate inlpactofincarceration has A person dealing insmall quantities to its effect, there is little long-term benefit. supportahabit is denied admittance into Study after study proves conclus ively drug court, as are the petty thief and what we know in our hearts: Treatment vandal. works. Long-term,supervisedtreatment The insanity of our policies is more than a cheaper alternative to concerning low-level nonviolent incarceration. It is also an investment in offenders is ever-present Recently, ourcommunities. State Sen. William Rand Corp. Seitz (R-Green Study after study studies in the Township) 1990s estimated introduced a bill, proves conclusively SB320, wh ich that every $1 what we know in our invested in would increase the hearts: Treatment treatment led to penalties for collateral savings persons convicted works. of stealing more of$7 to taxpayers. A sober person is than $500 in a more likely to work, pay taxes, commit year. This bill aims to confrontorganized fewer ifany crimes, not be incarcerated rings ofshoplifters but is not limited to and requ ire less medical attention. them. A person who shoplifts over a Incarceration has no positive impact periodofmonthscan now face I0 years other tllan forestallingcriminal activity in prison with no possibilityofprobation. during the time one is locked up. What used to carry six to 12 months in The refusal to alter policy in jail now might result in adecade.Sane? "Tough oncrime" is a saying used in addressing drug offenses and drug­ motivatedcrinle has additional collateral everyelection to indicate a candidate is damage. There is the erosion ofcivil serious about crime and the effects it has liberties, the increase ofdrug-related on each of us. However, once elected, harm such as HTV infections and the there is never aserious discussionon how effect on the famil ies of those to properly address the crime that allects incarceratedas aresult ofa failed policy. us the most. The "tough" discussion Ohio has in place "dmg courts" as a involves understanding the problem, mechanism to address offenders in need identifyingsolutionsthat work and then oftreannent This program,started in tile instituting policies that will achieve mid- l990s, has had a positive impact success. on many who have passed through it. Bill Gallagher is chair ofthe However, these"specialty courts" come Indigent Defense Committee ofthe Ohio Association ofCriminal nowhere near handling the number of offenders who could benefit from a Defense Lawyers. Making Birthdays Heavenly at Our Daily Bread B Y JOAN TIFFANY THOMPSON AND ANGELA PANCELLA When Our Daily Bread first began, and when the population ofpeople we served was smaller, once a month we made a large birthday cake, enough to feedeveryo1ie. Those who had birthdays that month were first to be served and received large pieces. Today, with 350-400 guests dai ly, it's been a challengeto provide recogni­ tion Iike that, but we don't want our guests' birthdays to go unnoticed. We know the birthdays ofthose of ourguests who fill outour twice-a-year surveys. David Carlson, a longtime vol­ unteerand neighborhood resident, makes amonthly poster listing tllose birthdays we know about The poster is up right by our front door, so olten our guests will write their birthdays on it ifwe' ve missed them. In our last newsletter, weexplained that we wished to honor ourguests in a new way, and tllat we wanted help. We included a quote from the Hasidic Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson: "Be­ cause time itselfis like a spiral, some­ thingspecial happens on your birthday eachyear: thesame energy that God in­ vested in you at birth is present once again." Then we asked, "Are you the birthday angel who feels called to help us with this project?" Six wonderful friends ofOur Daily Bread have respon ded: Ruthie Brunsman, a longtime donor; David Carlson; Katie Klug, who has been vol­ unteering since she was a student at Purcell Marian High School- she's now rearranged her work schedule so she can come volunteer every week; Lela Foley, a parishioner at Bellarrnine -she got involved withanother project ofours, a fundraising cookbook, after seeing anote in her bulletin;, Bev Miller, whose late father, Clete Baumer, was a devoted donor; and Leanne Waid, who works full-time but loves crafting and watercoloring-she'Ube workingfrom home on cards for our guests. Here's how our "birthday angels" projectwill work. We' ll coUect surveys from ourguests about their birthdaysand a few other pieces ofinformati on. On the firstTuesday ofevery month, start­ ingJune J at 12:30p.m. - before Bingo - our birthday angels will pass out jumbo frosted cupcakes with a candle on eachone. We' ll give a personalized birthday card and a small gift as well. We will all sing "Happy Birthday" and ask our guests to make wishes as they blowout theircandles. We hope our guests will feel asspe­ cial as we think they are. �STREETVIBES Community News May 2008 7 Attacking the Hate crimes report showed increase in 2007 Bv GREG O LKF1ovsKv STAFF WRJTER 2007, 16 1l1omeless people were iolently attacked in the Un ited tatcs, resulting in 31 deaths. The number ofattacks against the homeless increased 12 percentfrom the previous year. Last month the National Coalition for the Homeless (NCH) and the Na­ tional Law Centeron Homelessnessand Poverty released Hate. Violen,·e and E Deathon Main Street USA: A Report on Hate Crimes and Violence Against People Experiencing Homelessness 2007. Th.is annual reportbegan in 1999 and continues to serve as both an in­ valuable source ofinformation and an honest rem ioder oftbe unfortunate re­ alities ofhomelessoess. On August 7, 2007, Cincinnati ex­ perienced what ~\1as classifiedat the time as its first documented hate crime in two years. Geraldine Beasley, 62, shot 44­ ycar-old Donald Francis in the face.al: ter he asked her for a quarter. But.pros­ ecutors later concluded the l1omicide resulted from adispute over panhandling tenitory. Last month Beasley received nine years furvoluntary manslaughter. Between Febniaryand May2007, young men with baseball bats and pipes beat at least six homeless people in Cleveland lo early April, teenage boys anued wiU12x4 piecesofwoodsavagely beat, robbed and set ablaze the camp ofa39-year-oldhomelcss pt.'fSOO sleep­ ing under a bridge. On May 11, sLx meu bmtally attacked a homeless couple ru1d stole their puppy. In Akron on July 21, two people, ages 19 and 22, were arrested for throwiog rocks, shooting BB guns and setting the clothes on fire oftwo home­ less men, age.s 50 and 68. Eradicating homelessness is the mis­ sion ofthe National Coalition for tbc Homeless, which is comprisedofho.me­ less people. formerly homeless people, advocates, activists, community-based and faith-based service providers. Foui1ded i:o 1982, the NCH is ..com­ mittedto creating 1hcsyste01icand atti­ tudinal cbanges nea:ssary topreventru1d endhomelessness.'' Tbe National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty (NLCHP) is the only national legal advocacy orga­ nization com mitted to ending homelessness before it starts. 111e NLCHP sends attorneys into court­ rooms and speaks to legislatorsto pro­ tect the homeless and tbcir rights. Lack ofaffordable bousing, over­ crowded shelter space, lacko(jobs and low payingjobs are many reasons wby people sleep outside. nie homeless who optto spend the night outdoorsare most vulnerable. Forty-four percent oft:bc homeless are unsheltered, according to 1he U.S. Deparuncni of Housing and Urban Development. Some cities andstates have helped the homeless by enacting harsher pun­ isbmcnts for attackers. Butmany other cities and states have implementedlaws speci.ficallyagainstd1e homeless. Laws across the country include measures that have ''restrictedsleeping, sitting, storing property and asking for money in public." Such laws dehuman­ ize 1he homeless andsuggest that crimes committed against them wilJ not be treated seriously. Hate crime.~ against the homeless happen all over the UnitedStates. How­ ever, 51,)me st11tes reportedJnore attacks than others. In 2007, Florida led every state, with 32 attacks. 111 second place was California, which had 24 homeless attacks. Nevada reported 14 attacks, ranking third. Ohio, with 13 attacks on the homeless, was fourth Last year. An overwhelming majority ofthe predators are young men between the ages ofl3 and 19 and are respons ible for63 percentofreportedattacks. Kids as young as I0 have engaged in ahome­ less attack. An alarming 86 percent of U1ose who have bee11 accused or con­ victed.were 25 years and younger. The most chilling a~pect ofthe hate cdnkl$ repo1t is the conunon motives that the perpetrators ofter. "The attackers repeatedly cited dleir motive ofattack as boredom, commit­ ting U1e crimes for the -dll'ilr or ' fun,' because the victim is homeless or per­ haps even more harrowing, because they simply ·can,· " the report says. 1-1ieJ1ate crimes report proposes: • supporting H.R. 2216 and H.R. 2217, two bills before U1e U.S. House ofRepresentativesd1atwmtld add home­ less status to the HateCrimes Statistics Act and U1c Violent Crime Control and Law EnforcementAct • supporting state legislative ef­ forts to add homeless persons as a pro­ tected class in hate-crime statutes. • engagingin publiceducation ini­ tiatives in schools to educate young people about homelessness and to hu­ manize homeless neighbors;and • advocating for more affordable hOLL~ingand pem1anentsuppnrtive l10tL~­ ing to bring an end to homelessness. WHAT'S AT STAKE? JOIN US for DAYS OF DIALOGUE. What better time than an election year to dialogue on the critical issues that affect us all Education May 17 OUR PURPOSE is to create an environment where people with differing views can listen and be listened to, and civil discourse can occur. WHEN: Each dialogne will be held on Saturdays from 9am to 12 noon WHERE: First Unitarian Church (536 Linton St) at corner ofReading ~ Free & Open to the Public ~ Reservati.ons Requested. RSVP to 513-579-8547 www.ijpc-cincinnati.org 0 �STREETVIBES Artwork and Poetry 8 May 2008 Cleo's Joke Corner There wa5 Mr. and MrS. Carrot walking down the garden patch. Awatem1elon came by·and knocked Mrs. Carrot over. They went 10 the garden hospital. The doctor said to Mr. Carrot, "T got some good and some bad news. The good news is Mrs. Carrot is going to live. TI1e bad news is she's going to be a vegetable the rest of her I ifo." Mother BY ANTONlO HODGE Bv ARDELLA WOOLENS S TREETVlBES V ENDOR Vendor of the Month ­ Antonio Hodge What do you like most about selfing SYreetvibes? I get to place my artwork in the newspaper so others can see it. I also enjoy letting other people know what is happening in Cincinnati and elsewhere. M is for themillion d1ings she gave me 0 means only dtat she's growing old T is for the tears she shed to save me H isforherheartofpuristgold Where tlidyou grow up? I grew up in Cincinnati and have lived here all my life. E isforhereyes with love lightshining How tlid you become ltome/ess? My mom passed away and my family was done with me. so dley put me out. l have been homeless for the past year and a hat f. I am staying at die oro·p Inn Center and working on getting my apartment·by working with a case manager there. R is tbrrjgbt and right she' ll always be. Witat are some ofyour hobbies? Ienjoydrawing. writing, walking, observingpeople, conversingand listening to music. Someofmy fa~'orite musicians are Led Zeppelin. Prince and John P. Coltrane. Wltat wouldyou say to your customers? Lappreciate you buying the paper from me and staying informed. I also e1tjoy conversing with you. Shutter Speed Put them aU together, they spell mother, a word that 111eans the world to 111e BY BEN L. K AUFMAN �STREETVIBES May 2008 Artwork and Poetry 9 Abstract Ball To Peter Writers! ~ subn1jt yotu­ "i!!IJ!I poetry to Streetvibes ­ email your writi ng to streetvi bes2@yahoo. con1 RY A NTAONY \V 1.Ll.JA.MS ''Lion" Bv ORLANDO C RAIG Poem - The Big Blue Bag Bv A NTONIO B.o»Ct The big blue bag has contents therein ofgreatsubstance. Lookingat the big blue bagon the outside one would tend to think that it isjust a big blue bag. The big blue bag holds two meanings to the carrier. One that it holds contents that is essential 10 him ancVor her persevering i111he.irdaily life in society. Se~ondly. the big blue bag holds thesymbolic meaningofcarrying the cross. as Jesus Christ carried his cross on the earth. Tosome individuals' eyes the big blue bag is of a burden to one's sight. bui to the carrier ofthe big blue bag; ii is a pillow to the shoulders of the one whomcarry it. The big blue bag holds the contents ofa day ru1111er, legal papers,clothing, l'ood. etc. These arethe main things that help oneselfsustain himselfand/or herselfin Life's twists ai1d 1ums of negative and positrve to reach the heightoftheir achievement. The big blue bag to the owner is just like the cross of Jesus: it holds great value as the cross holds great value to the Christian. The cwss represents the burdens oftbe people that did not believe in a livinggod: lo wit: it he.Id the blood and body ofd1e savior and all the l)urdens oflhis world! The big bl ue bag, so precious to all who carry it. as the cross is to the believers. Much love, many blessings- by Antonio Hodge. Berta's Art Corner "Gradation of Light: About to be Destroyed" C INCINNAT I, O HIO �Columns 10 STREETVIBES May 2008 The Poverty of Culture It 's much easier to love the poor on stage Michael Henson is author of Ransack, A Small Room w ith Trouble on lvf.y Mind, The Tao of Longing, and Crow Call. This column is part of a monthly series on poverty and addiction. pie talk ofthe cultureofpoverty. It is much-debated concept, with merit on each side. I discussed my view ofit in a column last month - that what we think ofas a culture ofpoverty is really a description of what happens when poverty coll ides with ad­ diction, resulting in a mutually reinforcing pat­ tern in wh ich each helps trap the addict in the other. But that was last month. What lam con­ cerned with now is the povertyofculture. Jn particular,[ believe there is a poverty ofCul­ ture with a capital "C." I believe there is a poverty ofCulture that is set in motion when Big C culture collides with poverty in a com­ munity. It stems from a poverty ofcompas­ sion, an inability to envision in a realistic way the pain ofothers. l shou ld know better by now, but l still keep thinking that one outcome ofan expo­ sure to the arts is supposed to be an increase insensitivity(or, ifyou are afan ofJane Austen, sensibility) to what others suffer. But it seems To revitalize something means to bring new life to it. But Over-the-Rhine was never dead. It just didn't have any money. thatwherever BigCultureencounters the poor, there is a disconnect. Thegrandsensitivity that the arts are supposed to generate somehow does not translate into effective compassion for the poor- especially ifthe poorget in the way ofBig C Culture's plans for development and expansion. • Last month I went to a performance of August Wilson's RadioGolfat the Ensemble Theateron Vine. This is a play by an African­ American writerwho is oneofthe leadinglights ofthe century. It deals with a conflict between hmnan values and property values, in which a real estate developer confronts the reality of the people he intends to displace. These are less than perfect people, but they have a com­ munity and diey have nowhere else to go. Does he proceed with the development? Or does he side witl1 these people that he has learned to appreciate? The sympathies of the play­ wright are witl1 the people ofthe community. The play ends a5 the main character makes a decision to sacrifice his political career to side with the poor. Everyone applauds, and we walk out of die theater. And d1ere is Vine Street and tliere isOver­ tl1e-Rhine, where every day or so we lose an­ other unit ofaffordable housing to develop- over his shoulder picking blues. There was a thriving Doo-Wop culture. Kids were fonning and refonning rock groups. None of th is small-c cul­ by Michael Henson ture got a write-up in the pa­ per, Not one of these people ever got a grant from an arts agency. Some of them have ment of theaters and other arts institutions died sad, difficult deaths. Some of them wliere we can go to more plays about tl1e plight struggleon. Oneofthe Doo-Wopsingers who ofthe poor. had a tragically beautiful voice was living un­ It makes me a Iitde crazy. der a bridge the lasttime l saw him.The stoops where people used to play bluegrass and blues I write here about Over-tl1e-Rhine be­ are now the stoops where crack dealers hit cause Over-the-Rhine is what I know. Radio their licks. The small-c culture ofthe neigh­ Golf is set in Pittsburgh, but it could be any­ borhood has been battered, the people who where, in any city in the country. There is ev­ created it scattered. erywhere a drive to replace low-income hous­ l don 't think Big Culture cares. ing witl1 BigCultural institutions. * • But when you address the issues ofthe BringingCulture into acommunity is said people ofthe neighborhood, small-c culture to revitalize tl1at community. We started hear­ begins to flourish again. Under a partnership ing abouttl1e need to revitalize Over-tl1e-Rhine between the Drop Inn Center and lrlkTank, 30 years ago or more. there is a monthly open-mike reading ofpo­ 'lb revitalize somed1ing means to bring new etry by people who are notsupposed to make Iife to it. ButOver-tl1e-Rhine was never dead. poetry. They read strong poems about pain It just didn't have any money. Therefore, if and recovery. This is what small-c culture is revitalization means to bring money into acom­ all about. munity, it mLL5t follow tl1at, to adeveloper, Iife ButlnkTank is struggling to keep the doors is money. open. And everyone knows what Big Culture ·n1is is tl1inking at tlie level ofdie dope boy. thinks oftl1e Drop Inn Center. Here's tl1e problem. Money is not life. Life * is people. Aneighborhood is not tl1e buildings. I am not against culture, Big C or little c. It is the people. Revitalization people talk But what we do to create culture makes no about the buildings but riever abouttlie people. sense. We solve the problems ofa neighbor­ I remember a slideshow presentation on revi­ hood by moving tl1e people oftl1e neighbor­ talization tl1at showed only the buildings. Not hood somewhere else. Are tl1e projects a problem? Tear down the projects. 'Ilie re­ We solve the problems of a sult? The people of neighborhood by moving the people of the projects take their the neighborhood somewhere else. problems to their new neighborhoods. So asoul appeared in any oftl1e slides. There was the people who had problems with poverty a lot oftalk about Italianate architecture and and addiction in Over-tl1e-Rhine and the West tl1e good olddays wlien tl1e neighborhood was End now have problems with poverty and ad­ German, but not one ofthe current Black or diction in Price Hill and Westwood. The pov­ Appalachian people who lived tl1ere showed erty pockets ofthe East End have become tl1e up in the pictures. poverty pockets of Mount Washington and But at tl1e time those pictures were taken, Amelia. We cannot solve the problems ofour tl1ere were a whole lot of people who lived society byconstantly pushing tl1em to comers tl1ere and they created agreat deal ofsmall-c where they can safely be ignored. culture. On Main, between 12'' and Liberty Want to fix the problems of Over-the­ streets, were five bars and five storefront Rhine? Address tl1e problems oftl1e people of churches, and at various times tl1ey al lrocked Over-tl1e-Rhine- jobs, treatment, education, with gospel, country, or bluegra5s. I recall a health care, housing. And culture, Big C and storefront church on Main Street, where an littlec. inter-racial congregation sangHank Williams' The poverty ofCulture is that we learn " I Saw tl1e Light." On Vine, you might see a compassion in the theater, the art gallery, the man walk down tl1e street witl1 a guitar slung concert hall. But we don 'ttake it to tl1e street. Hammered Interested in helping with Streetvibes? Are you a writer, poet, artist or photographer? Do you want to help Streetvibes? Call 513.421.7803 xl2 or email streetvibes2@yahoo.com Please be sure to only purchase a Streetvibes from a vendor wearing a white or yellow badge. �STREETVIBES Columns May 2008 11 Sounds of Peace Are Getting Louder Students lead the growing chorus in support of equality and justice Bv S TEVE SUNDERLAND CoNTRJBUTING W RJTfR ounds ofaction are brealdngthe silence : had fallen across our city. Perhaps S shock about the latest loss ofjobs or the continuing threats to home ownership or the rising and astoundingcostsofco-payments for medical and drug expenses had temporarily and reasonably taken our voices and breath away. The average person has seen what looks like the complete shreddingofthe American Dream and has fallen into a ldnd o stupor. It's as if we are asldng, "Which disaster should l focus on? What should l protest?" Turning to schools and colleges,the citizen is dazed by thejump in tuition at public colleges and private and parochial schools. Who can pay these fees - and for what? What is the "hope" for education that the pubI ic imagines is worth any cost? As crime statistics rise in suburbs and city, the resident asks about the loss of public safety and the inability of government to either control or contain violence. Related to this fundamental and growing local insecurity, the wars in the Middle Eastdefy comprehension: Why are wefighting andsacrificingthousandsofAmerican and Iraqi lives withouta serious and publicdebate? We are all worrying that the price offood will mirror the price offuel. Will the average fam ily continue to be faced with choices of which food to sacrifice along with whetheror not anyone canjustdrive to the store, to school orto the hospital?The conceptofa family or individual budget has been replaced with nightmaresoflatest, worse conditions: Do V we cut backon medicine, food, fuel or meals in orderto pay the mortgage,the child'stuition, and/or the car payment? Cutting backon food is agrowing common experience for the American citizen as more and more of our community turns to the FreeStore FoodBank for help. There is nowhere to turn for tuition assistance, mortgage help, fuel vouchers, guaranteesofa reasonable job or for schools that are either affordableorhigh quality. 'Critical difference' Young people in ourcity, particularly in the Peace Village, are facing this bleak reality in brave and creative ways. Young people are accepting that the unfairness ofsociety must Steve Sunder/ond, can break the barriers formerly dean ofthe separating people who UC College of have "disabiliti es" by Con11n11nl ty working for inclusion at Services and a every level. He pr(!fessor ofsocial by Steve Sunderland reminded us that those work for the past 21 years at UC, is with intellectual and director and physical disabilities are founder <!(The often an " invisible" Peace Village. a be changed, whether it is in Cincinnati or in group that are poor, underemployed and Cinci1111ati based pet1ce 11etH1ork Uganda, Darfur or at Walter Reed. demeaned by all sectors ofsociety. founded after the About l00 high school and collegeyouth "We will not be forgotten or neglected if riots and expancled recently gathered in the3rd annual "Peace or you respect us," he said. after 9111 to work Hunger?"conference ofthe Peace Village to on peace and discuss and become involved in the reality Home, sweet shanty healing. For n1ore /11forn1otio11 on the facing homeless and hungry people in Peace Village Cincinnati. Teams of students visited and I recently attended a peace-signing progra111s, please provided service to the FreeStore FoodBan.k program at Nativity school in PleasantRidge, w1rite: by sortingtons offood and preparinghundreds as students from Finland and Chinas igned an swdersc@emoil.1c.edu of boxes of food for a state of Ohio food agreement with students from Nativity to program. continueto exchangevisits overthe nextfour Another team ofstudents went to Joseph years. Nativity is the leader in ourcommunity House to hear about the growing plight of in peace programs that involve visiting by homeless vets, perhaps one-half of all elementary and middle-school students. The Cincinnati homeless; another groupwent to the studentsmarched together to the signing table, Drop lnn Center to meetandserve homeless seriouslytaldng the responsibilityofthe future adults. Groupsfanned outto meet with service on theirshoulders, as the entire studentbody leaders at Tender Mercies and learn about ofNativity waved paper flags ofChina and what is being attempted for mentally ill Finland. homeless. Finally, young people and their teachers Agroup visited with ProfessorTom Dutton are comingtogetherfor the first time to have a ofMiami University to gain his perspectiveon why there is a widespread attack on the most Young people are accepting that the fragile people and institutions. A large group unfairness of society must be changed, ofstudents ventured to the Freedom Center to seek historical understanding of the whether it is in Cincinnati or in Uganda, connections between hungerand slavery. Darfur or at Walter Reed. Later in the conference we heard from pioneering high school programs at Moeller, Sycamore and Loveland thatare raising money citywide"Shantytown" in October. Under the to build schools for orphans in Uganda. A guidance ofSteve Elliot,service learning and delegation ofstudentsand teachers is heading peace guru, teams ofyouth from dozens of to Uganda this summer. Connie Ring, math schools will live in cardboard boxes on the teacherat Moeller,says she is inspired by the sameweekend to call attention to the growing youth ofher and other schools. needs ofthe homeless. A Cincinnati Peace "This entire project is driven, organized VillageShantytown will stretch outtheir hands and nurtured by the students,"shesays. "They and caring alI across the city. Will this end are maldng the critical difference." homeless and hunger in Cincinnati? No, yet A group from Wyoming High School hundreds ofyoung people, citizens of our spoke eloquently ofa citywide high school democracy,will bevoting for adifferent world effort to support a Darfur relief effort. A for the homeless that night. This vote is as representative from St. Xavier High School importantas any paperslipped in a ballot box. devastated us with a film on human slavery and The work, never more difficult, continues. what local high schoolscould do to buy people l bow to the youth leaders in great respect out ofslavery. and gratitude. May they fmd shelter, peaceand Robert Harris,Peace Village consultanton hope in our Peace Village. inclusion, raised questions about how youth Peace :Village Natural Neighbors: Rebuilding the Bridges Bv P ATRICIA G ARRY CoNTRJBlTllNG WRITER The Community Development Corporations Association ofGreater Cincinnati (CDC Association) is partneringwith the Commw1ity BuildingInstitute at Xavier University to rebuild the close ties and relationships that used to exist between schools and developmentgroups in Cincinnati's neighborhoods. The commw1ity learning centers now beingcreated in the Cincinnati Public Schools are meant to be inclusive of the entire community and to provide services, classes and access that a particular neighborhood wants. During the growth and development of many CDCs in the 1980s, school ties with the community were close, with each group knowing what the other was doing - community councils, business associati ons, CDCs, schools, other groups - and providing needed supportto one another. In the past 20 years those partnerships have weakened. Using a Powerpoint presentation created by the CDC Association's Sarah Hayes, visuals of housing and development projects, listings oflocal contacts and infonnation on where to go to get help with foreclosures is now easily available, targeted for various communities. The CDC Association, wh ich is the trade association for regional communitydevelopers,and the Community Building Institute are bringingtogether CDCs and school commun.ities in seven areas ofthe city during thespringto begin the rebuilding process. �12 STREETVIBE S National News May 2008 Graveyard Shift Leaves Nowhere to Go Not enough shelters help night workers who have no homes B v C AROLYN COSMOS STREET N EWS SERVI CE Donna is trying. She works as an inserter at The Washington Post in College Park, Md., from 11 p.m. to 4:30a.m., the so-called graveyard shift. As for her belongings, shesays,"Everythinggoes with me." Donna, who didn't want her last name used,stays at a downtown shelter on her two days off. The rest of the week, shesays, "I catnaphere and there during the day." Donnais among many homeless resi­ dents in the D.C. area who work night­ time hours but Jind it ditlicult to find a shelter where they can sleep during the day. Most shelters accept clients only for overnightstays from 7 p.m. to about 7 a.m., although a few are beginning to accornn1odate night workers. Michelle Durham, program director at Rachael's Day Center for homeless women,says there are more joboppor­ tunities at night for herclients. But a lot ofshelters still stick to their traditional evening timings, which don' t meetcli­ ents' needs, she says. Durham estimates that about I0 of the clients who come to her day center work nightsas home health aides, child­ care workers or as cleaners for small companies wh ile spending their days sleeping on the streets or staying tem­ porarily with friends. Ruth Cummings, homeless and working nightshifts, is one ofthe lucky ones.AgraduateofDCCentral Kitchen and New Course Catering, she gets kitchen jobs through the Food Team employment agency- and has a bed waiting for her at a northwest D.C.shel­ ter for women when she leaves work. "At John Young, they allow you to sleepthere (during the day) ifyou show a pay stub. They'll keep your bed," Cummingssays. Onceshe finds a room she can afford, she'll move out ofthe shelter, she says. Most shelters accept clients only for over­ night stays from 7 p.m. to about 7 a.m., al­ though a few are begin­ ning to accommodate night workers. Donna, the woman who works nights at The Post, also wants to find a place ofherown. "I' msavingmoney,"shesays. "But D.C. needs to come up with more af~ fordable housing, not only for families, which are a priority, and that's good, but also for those of us who are single." Then there's a woman who was sleeping in UnionStation. "I heard of a night job at a book store doing inventory, but I didn't apply because I had no place to stay during the day," she says. She doesn 't want to be identified. Michael Stoops, acting executive directorofthe National Coalition for the Homeless, puts it bluntly. "Most shelters are not 24 hours a day, but homelessness is," he says. "Agencies who kick people out during the daytime are preventing them from getting offthestreet." Some overnightshelters allow em­ ployed residents to claim a bed after curfew butstill require them to leave early in the morning. Forexample, the 90-bed La Casa Men's Shelter, open from 7 p.m. to 7a.m., can sometimes accom­ modate "regulars" who get a job and come in late, according to a staff mem­ ber. However, the 350-bed overnight shelterformen atSt. Elizabeth's Hospi­ tal doesn' t do that, says Charles McCrimmon, the program manager. The 25-bed Calvary Women's Shelter will sometimes '110ld dinnerand a bed" past curfew, Durham says; and the N StreetVillage women's nightshelter, with 31 beds and a I0 p.m. curfew, "works with employed residents on an individual basis," according to Kristyn Carrillo, nightshelte.r manager. "Shelters are beginning to accom­ modate the working poor who are homeless, and mostshelteroperators try to be supportive," Stoops says. "How­ ever, historically, most have done shel­ programmanager,Ke.nyaua T. Brunson. "There's no difference between night jobs and day jobs." Open Door is another pioneer that offerssupport for night workers. "It's a trend I'd like to see continue, but some don't have the capacity or staff," Durham says. The Community for Creative Non­ Violence (CCNV) shelter does. It has a 2 a.m. curfew and bed check, and resi­ dents can remain inside during the day­ time. With caseworker approval and proofofemployment, agraveyard-shitl worker is welcome, according to David Mincey, program director for the men's lloor. "You want to give residents hope," he says. "Suppose that's the only job they can get? You tell them they can't workat night-youbreak their spirit." "Every shelter should loosen up its rules soall its homeless are able to both work and stay in the faci lity," Stoops says. "Ajanitor, a security guard could oversee daytime sleepers, or a vol un­ teer, a forn1erly homeless person. lfwe "Suppose that's the only job they can get? You tell them they can't work at night - you break their spirit." - David Mincey, program director CCNV ter and food, and not that many have are evergoing to end homelessness, we taken on an employment focus." need to help those able to find work." Catholic Charities' programs such as theJohn L. Young women'ssheltersup­ port nightemployment, Michelle Durham says. Reprintedfrom Street Sense "If a woman is working, I accom­ © Street News Service: www.street­ modate her," saysJohn Young's senior papers.org Four Decades of Opening Doors The 4(Jh anniversary of the Fair Housing Act and HOME B v ELIZAB ETH BROWN CONTRIBUTING WRITER In 1968 the Fair HousingAct made housing dis­ crimination illegal in the United States. In the same year HousingOpportunities Made Equal (HOME) was in­ corporated to ensure the new law was enforced in metropolitan Cincinnati. Theenactn1entoftile federal Fair HousingAct on April 11, 1968, came only after a long and ditlicult journey. From 1966-1967, Congress regularly con­ sidered tile fair housing bill, but failed to garnera strong enough majority for its passage. When the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968, however, President Lyndon Johnson used the national tragedy to urge the bill's speedy approval. Since the 1966 open housing marches in Chicago, King 's name had been closely associated with the fair housing legislation. Johnson viewed the law as a fitting memorial to the man's life work and wished to have it passed prior to King 's tUneral in Atlanta Senators Edward Brooke and Edward Kennedy ofMassachusetts argued strongly for the passage of this legislation. Brooke, the firstAfrican-American to be elected to the U.S. Senate by popular vote, spoke personally ofhis return from World War II and his inability to provide a home of his choice for his new family because ofhis race. With tile cities in turn1oil like to no1~1 inate for Vendor of the Month? Please send vour non11nahons to streetv1bes2cavahoo.con1 or - Streetvibes, 117 E 12th St. Cincinnati, ()11 45202 513.421.7803 x 12. A...":J Do you have a favorite Vendor yot'. ~..... b't-Q ~v \Vc~ul d after King's assassination, the HouseofRepresenta­ tives passed the act and, without debate, the Senate followed. Johnson signed it into law, all within seven days. Today, HOME continues to receive calls from people who believe they've experienced illegal dis­ crimination becauseof their race or because they have a disability or because they have children. In 2007 HOME received 500calls ofpotential illegal discrinli­ nation in GreaterCincinnati. HOME helpsclientsgatllerevidence andexplains how they can enforce their housing rights. It alsospon­ sors the Housing Mediation Service to help resolve problems without the need for legal action. HOME services are free. �STREETVIBES Columns May 2008 Streetwl.se By 6re9ory Flal\l\ery Evet\ C.tt\Ctt\t\ati lst\'t That Meat\ hasn 't been that long since Cincinnati was nmked sixth in a. listofU.S. cities that are meanest to the.homeless. But even Cincinnati was never as mean as the mayor oflndianapolis makes us out to be. The lndianapolis Star last month reported on a proposal byMayor Greg Ballard for "ending" panhandling. The article quoted a mayoral aidesaying,'"Cincimiati requires panhandlers to have a Iicense that costs$400. lt seems to be effi:ctive in decreasing the numbers." That's nonsense. In 2003 city council passed a law requiring panhandlers to register-I ike criminals checking in with thesheriffor lepers made to carrysigns saying''Unclean"-but it was free to register. Facinga lawsuit in tederal court, city council repealed the registration law last year. But even more disturbing than the inaccuracy ofthe Indyofllcials· comprehension oflhe details is the falsity oftheir conclusion. In a letter to .The Star. Georgine Getty, execativedirector of theGreater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless. refuted Ballard's theory. ''·Rcgistrntion j ust did not wor k," Getty wrote. "Over 190 people were rurested the first year ofthe ordinruice. The majority spenteight hours in our over­ crowdedjail (at a cost of$65/day) mid were immediately released,,just as pooras ever mid still needing in panhandle. City council. as well as Cincinnati's dowiitown improvementdistrict, wereforced to admit lliat.tbis was simply not rui effectiveuse ofpolicetimeorjail space. "What did work in Cincinnati was the introduction ofa downtown outreach workerwho focuses his time on panhmidlers. Since2003,dozens ofpanhandlers have been moved offthe streets and into pemument housing. This has been the only approach that has reduced our number ofpanhandlers ruid met the humane standards of those ofus con~med with civil liberties mid the preservation ofthe First Amendment,. I But the Supreme Court ls The three-poison recipe used to kill prisoners in Ohio, Kenrucky and many otherstates isn'tfit for putting down mangy dogs. That's not hyperbole; it's the literal truth. Veterinarians havetestifiedthat they wouldn't use pru1curonium bromide to euthani7,.e animals because it's inhumane.1l1edrugparalyzesan inmate, rendering him or her unable to cry out if the anestheticisn't working. TI1e result is thatsome inmates arc conscious while being suffocated by the paralyz.ing drug and experience the pain ofthe third drug, potassium chloride, which stops tlie heart Even so, the U.S. SupremeCourt ruled last month that using th is devil's brew doesn't constitute cruel and unusual punishment. Now Ohio and otherstates will resume poisoning prisoners. The polite tenn, ofcourse, is "lethal injection": the poison is injected via intravenous tubes. Octthis: Some doctors actuallyparticipate in this process, pronouncing prisoners dead on behalf of the state. Here's an idea: What if they gave an execution and no doctorsshowed up? Would they go through with the killing? 13 In The News Ed,vardsville, lllinois Teens P.lead Guilty to Murder in Seer-can Beating Two miil6isteens, l 7-year-old Jos~ph Lee Rafoes.aod 18-year-oldBran­ -don Carql J3ouck, fac.e up to 20 years in prisen fo~ the futal beating ofa home­ less moo over acan ofooer. They have pleaded guilty seeond-dl(gree murder, ·and io exchange, preseeutora dropped'first-i:legree murder charges. The teens told a friend they panelled and kic.kedThomas Muffler IastOetober when Mu f­ iler, who was experiencing homelessness, refused tp buy the teell§ beer. 1\fter beating.him, which resulted inMuffler suffering.broken ribs and,a pllll.ctured Iung, they stole hiS'24-ounce can.of beer. A sentencing date has notyet been schedule.ct. GAP, Boston Reraid, 4i4') San Diego, California Homeless Man 8 eaten to Dea th with Own Cru tch Around midnight intlieCore-{/olumbia neighborhood; an ru:gume.nt between 4J-year-oldGregaryWillis and zqcyear-qld:Ross Ivy escalated, resulting in·tlie death ofWillis. Police said Willis, who ~uttered disabilities and was experiencing homelessness; was beatto deatlrwith his ownerutiih. Paramedics attemptedt.o revive hi m, but he died ata trauma center about one hour later. Ivy has bee11 ·arrcsteda11d will be booked on one count ofmurder. (KTLA,4/.16) Philadelphill, Pennsylvania Women Starts Running Group for ttom·eless Aveteran mari1thon runner, Anne Mahlum deci'ded to n111 \vith- rat[Jer1l1an pas~-the men living in Philadelphia's homeless.sbeI.ters, She.began the "Back On MY17eef'running clu~ i.n 2007with ni11emernber$ on a mile-Ieng nm; tooay, there are throe teams with atotal of54 homeless members andover2SO volun­ teers who have.Joggetl more than 5,000 mi.les. In order tojoin, individualsm·ust livein affilffiliatedfaci!ltyand beclean andsoberfodO days. Membersreceive' ne\\is))o~ and running clothes, and tean1s run together three time..~a week be­ tween 5:30 and 6·a.m. The groupof n111ne.rs is diverse, ineluding doctors,jani­ t9rs, studei1tsand shelter reSidenfli; bm1hese distincti(.lns aren' t appatent "All you crurtell is who'sthe fa<>t'est,".says Mal1lun1. "Yotican'tte.11 who's homeless ·and who' s not." Baek On My Feet is more than a running:club; they a:re "a comm1:111ity oHuppo.rt:; love, respect." (CNN, 4/3>) By the Numbers - In Cineinnati, the Fair MarketRent (FMR) for a two bedroom apartinent is $726, in Oh io $680. - Ln Cincinnati, 34°/o of households are r enters as compared to 31 % in Ohi0. - A unit is considered affordabJe if it costs no more Weitd Memos than 30o/o ofthe renter's incolile. Sometimes press releas.es are deliberately vague and incomplete. especially the kind that.oomeftorn governmentofficials. Last month Cincinnati Police District One. the department's headquarters. underwent more renovation. The department issued astatemenl sayingthatfront desk ru1d lob.by fonctions had temporarily moved to a "mobi le command van" - cop talk for "trailer" - parked in front of the building. But what we want to know is whether the police were installjnga hottub for ChiefThomas Streicher Jr.. who recently had his pri vate oft.ice bathroom renovated. The statement released by the police department gave no details about the work beingdone inside. But it closed with this useful observation: "This temporal)' relocation atfo.cts only the lobby and front desk functions ofDis1rictOne. Al Iother District One and pol iL>e depar1ment administrative oltices loc.ated al 3 10 Ezzard Charles Drive are operating as usual." That, ofcourse. is the problem. Then there are memos that tell you in concise language al lyou need 10 know about an organization. Consider this embarrassing announcement by the Greater Cincinnati Professional Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists: "Tt's been unusual! ycrazy in recent weeks.so we' ve extended the contest deadline by one week. ·nie new deadIine for entries is April 22. Please see attachments for categories and entrance fomis." Aren't ''professional journalists" supposed to be able to make deadl ines'/ - In Ohio,. tbe1uinimum wage is $7.00 an h.our. - In Cincinnati, the annual inco1ne needed to afford a two bedr9om FMR apartment is $29,040. -An individual who works a 1n.inimtnn wage job1nt.1st \.\'Ork 80 hours a week, 52 weeks a year in order to afford a nv·0 bedroom FMR apartment. -2 fulJ ti me jobs at mini.intun wage are needed tQ afford a FMR ap&rtm.ent in Cincinnati. *li<All infonnati.on from 2007-2008 National Low lnsome Housing Coalition annual report, Out o]Reczch. �Guest Column 14 STREETVIBES May 2008 Jimmy-Magic Seeing angels in Over-the-Rhine, ofall places Bv K ATHY Ho1,wA oE1. CoNTRmUTING WRITER events. Or he'd come lo Rubbish, Jnk:Tank's perpetual yard sale and support the cause with purchases JimmyHeathdied in December. and recent he probably didn't really need. issuesofStreervibes have explored his legacy Sometimes,after I' cl left voicemails through the heans of people who knew him atal l h.is phone numbers and tried for b<:tter than l did. Butwhen Mike Henson e-mail, I' d end up chasing l1im asked me to writea column about poverty in down the street to comer him in a Over"the-Rhine and how itintersects with my doorway and ask for help or lite, I kept going back to the story ofJinuny advice. The last time l sawhim. he and what1leamed from him. wassitlingon abench in Covington Jimmy was famous in Over-the-Rhine. 1 with Brenda. l11e sun wasshining, started to hear about him almost as soon as 1 it was warm, and the two ofthem arrived. fresh from asuccessful20-yearcareer looked so happy. I Ii.kc that in corporate America. I was trying to start memory best 1.nkTank, a writing center to connect people Anyway. after I'd been in the through their stories, and I didn' t know neighborhood for a.couple years, anything about anything then, sol spent most and after we'd closed Rubbish. 1 oftl1oseearly days listening. didn't see Jimmy as much anymore. ·'You·ve got to meet Jimmy Heath." Besides..1had my ownexperiences everybody said, and maybe they'd tell me by then, thrceyears ofMain Street about the pictures he made or the Literacy neighbors askingfor bus fare. did 1. ThroughPhotography program hi:. started. need any help or want my car The first time ImetJimmy; 1was very mde. was hed. could they use the On the way to the room he used for meetings, liathroom or the phoneor would I vve passed through his reception area. set up take them to the hospital to sectheir as a gallery of recent work. 1 couldn' t mother, did 1haveanything t0cat'I concentrate on him or our conversation. I I came to understand how the couldn't stop looking attheimages. l cotildn't privileged could get crabby and talk. Thesimple black and white ofLines and tired in Over-the-Rhine. Some shadows was more compelling than anything days the bollomless pitofneed was exhausting. Heasked like he'd been savingup the question we could ptrt into words. Besides. Jimmy's viewpoint seemed alittle for a long time. And the only answer Icould Eventually wedid make itto the table in naive somehow. The 37th time Mr. English come up with wasn't an answer. "l have no idea," r told him then. And laughed. We botJ1 laughed. "...poverty, like the people who are a part of it, is such a f Still don't know exactlywhat I was doing tricky, complicated issue. I do know you have to be in Over-the-Rhine, why 1look for ex.cuses to come back even aner I've le'f:t InkTank and very careful with it, keep looking even after you think Jimmy Heal11 is gone. 1still don't know much you've seen everything ..." about anything else. But poverty. like the people who are a part of it, is such a tricky, complicated issue. Ido know you have to be the back room. messy with stacksofs1uffand showed me lhe check stub from his disability piles. My guess is we sat down and he told check and asked for another loan for art very careful with it, keep looking even after me the same stOI)' he lold everybody else, the supplies he'd never repay, I remembered how you think you've seen everything there is to one aboul tl1e years when he was drinkingand Jimmy called him aS<lim-"an angel on earth," see. You have to pay close allention to the how he came to the Drop Inn Cemer where he'd said more than once. Mr. English is qualityofthe light and how it falls, what to put buddy gray told him lOgo document the Iives probably a bit confused and periodically he'd in lhe frame, what to crop. 11's so easy to of people in Over-lhe~R11ine and how that lose another toe lo his diabetes. But he was foeus on the wrong pieces,just the pretty or saved his life. It's a very serious story, tUll of no saiat. Even Tknew he drank. LlioughJimmy ugly facts in a composition. But if! have to choose-and in the end tragedy and heartbreak, but there are two assured me 01herwis.e. On Final Fridays Mr. things lhal stand out to me now: His quiet. English Sal in the back of our shop on the we all do, ifwe're going to gelourmind around mind-blowing patience-and how much we pretense ofart. dowaing our supply ofbeers lhe big things-I choose to look at poverty through Ll1e richness ofJimmy's eyes,eyes that laughed. UllliJ J' told him he had tO leave. What could we have been laughing alxlut Jinuny was arecovering alcoholic who had saw the magic in me and everybody else in exceptthe total and complete ignoranceofyet lived on the stre.ets. He had to know better Over-the-Rhine. To him 1was jus1 one more anoiher wel l-intentioned white woman in his lhan I did that drugs and alcohol were partof mysterious angel, yetanother saint on earth, a ne ighborhood? When he laughed hard ­ the problem, and yet he still forked over a bold little dandelion struggling through the cracks of the sidewalk like everybody else. and he did ilquiteollen-he' d pu1hishand couple ofsingles whenever hesaw him. up to hide bis smile. self-conscious about how Fairly well into my knowing Jimmy,one On my good days, that's what I was doing in his teeth looked. but he never once made me day he asked out ofthe blue. "What are you the neighborhood we both adopted. On good fe.el anythiog butcompletely comfortableabout doing down here?" By"down here,"he meant days, when lhe light was just right, Jimmy whoJwas. Over-the-Rhine. Re meant poverty and race Heath was leaching me how lo see. After that, we met at we ird lnkTank and all theotlier big proble.nis witli.outsolutions. Photo by Jimmy Heath. Kathy Ho/wade/. this months g uest columnist. is the founder of lnkTank. the worldft1mous inner-city writing program. and an unindictedco" inspirator of many other projects. In Memory of Jimmy Heath, dedicated activist and artist, who served as a Mickey Leland National Hunger Fellow with the Congressional Hunger Center in 1999-2000. Thank you for sharing your passion and wisdom with us. You will be greatly missed. The 6th Class of Hunger Fellows �STREETVIBES May 2008 Opinion 15 Take the Whole Mess with You, Jackson middle- and upper-income households guard changes, howeve.r, we have an tothctuncof$122 billion. Since 1981. opportunity to restore HUD to its former cax benefits for homebuycrs have been intended glory, ifwe compel it to do so. ure, Alphonso Jackson gets to greater than HUD's entire budget as The next head of housing in th is leave. He walks away from the federal Department ofHousing There was a time when the federal and Urban Development(HUD) wich a government's role in building communities by fat wallet and fatter cronies, a portrait on the wall and the seemingly requis ite supporting housing for the poor was cloud offuture indictments overhead. respected and supported. It would be nic.e ifhc could rake the department's po.licies with hi.rn. But at least for the time being, it appears we' re low-income housing programs have country could actuall y rcframe the stuckwith thesame institution ofexploit­ been whittled away. Since l996. HUD nation 's housing agenda around the idea ing housing as a commodity for devel­ fundingfornew public housing bas been that housi ng is a human right and that opers and speculators. zero, even as more than I00.000 public poverty and homelessnessweseeon our Thal'swbalHlJDhas become dur­ housing units were lost to demolition or streets didt1 't always exist and doesn 't ing the pa~t 25 years. What was in­ sale. As a result of HUD's tennination have to anymore. There is an opportu­ tended as a departmentfor supporting ofcommunity builder, we have ll:ie docu­ nity here to restore a balanc.e in com­ housing a~ a foundation to strong com­ mented rise of modern-day munities that U1e housing market has munities and economicdevelopment has homelessness. raken toex1remes, leadingall tbewayto Alphonso Jackson wasjust the lat­ U1e current subprime-mortgage crisis become a facilitator to snbsidi7.e an in­ dusll)', not ourcommunities.h's Ille dif­ est authority figure administering bad that, again, is beatingdown hardest on ference between funding low-income pol icy and perpetuating homelessness, minorities and low-income homeowners. There was a time when the federal housing at about$30 billionand fimding and we can expect his replacemem to mortgage deductions and tax credits for be cut from the same cloth. When the government's role in buildingcommuni­ By Sh·eet Roots Editorial Sta IT Street News Service S NYCHAY "'~( ties by supporting housing for the poor was respected and supported. It can be that way again with leadership that is prepared to. look frankly at the conse­ quences of the government's abandon­ ment ofatfordablc housing. That will also mean destroyingthe stereotype that providing public housingfor people wilh physical or mental disabilicies is a bur­ densome handout but subsidies for people buying $500,000 homes is the taxpayers' obligation. HUD, nccdsto be stipped ofits ul­ terior motives, along with the deception that progress is being made by shifting the demographics ofhomelessness or targeting the extremes,while ll:iesyslemic problems are left to coutinue unchal­ lenged. Itwil l lake leadership, and ad­ vocacy. to make the changes needed. and thesupportofa wiU ingadministrn­ tion. a far difforent administration then we've seen for past25 years. l?t!pri11b!tl.fru111 .~·1ret.~f I~oOJ!l~...1 .'i1ree1 /Veu~s ,\'i.~r•1icc.·: \11\vu1.,''"trec1-11apers. org Letters to the Editor My daughter gave me a copy of a recent issue ofStreetvibes because she knew I would be interested in 1he article about the DeafSocce.r te.am from Iraq. J me.ntioned yesterday another article impacted me in that issue as well. but could not remember which one. After going backtothe office ofCommunity Services ofll1e Deaf and finding 1hcir copy pinned to the bulletin board, l immediately remembered the other articlclhatstruck me. Itwas your editorial regarding the "Bodies" exhibitat the Museum center. After just reading the headlines, I was surprised at your opposition to the exhib.it because I knew you were a Professor at tlie University ofCincinnati. JalwaystheughtoflJCas an instinrtion in ll1eforcfronrofmedical research and knowledge and Iassumed anyone associate.cl with the University would support the exhibit. Alter reading the.article, however, your reasoning for wanting ro suspend the exhi.bit unti l "evidence is shown ofhow the bodies were obtained and whether pen11ission was given from the individuals and their families" was convincing. You changed my opinion on 1he matter as well. In February, my son;s parochial grade school scheduled a field trip to seethe "Bodies'· exhibit. The day before the outing was scheduled, .it was canceled due to the objection ofthe ArchdioceseofCincinnati ro the exhibit. My reaction at the time was "Oh brother. the archdiocese is always making a big deal over noth ing, rguess l'll have to take my son mysel fto see ll1e exhibit., Fortunately, l read your article before we made our journey and now am going10 waitand see ifthe Museum Ccmer is able10 come up with proper verification ofhow the bodies were obtain~. Ialways try to think the bestofsituatio11s, but I also know die facts aboutthe Chinese government. TI1is became very evident ro my husband on a recelll business 1rip to Shanghai in January. One morning, my husband watched in horror as an elderly man crossing the street was hitby a car and kil led. For the next three days, the dead body lay in the streets as pedestrians continuedto step over ir. Obviously, rhe Chinese governmelll does not have the same rcspecl for human Iife as we do in the United States. Once again, it was a pleasure meeting you and thank youfor all your contributionsto our community. Kacey Schmitt Sign language interpreter and Sfreetvibes fan "h 's a mu/ti,racial neighborhqod. but only until the help goes home." � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 2008 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Newspaper Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource May 2008 Subject The topic of the resource Homelessness Description An account of the resource Pg 1: Children’s Creative Corner ‘At Ease’ for the Homeless Pg 2: About Us Pg 3: Reserving the Banks for the Wealthy Pg 4: ‘At Ease’ for the Homeless No Wonder the Jail is Overcrowded Pg 5: This Thing We Do Pg 6: Crazy Justice Pg 7: Attacking the Weakest Pg 8: Arts & Poetry Pg 9: Arts & Poetry Continued Pg 10: The Poverty of Culture Pg 11: Peace Village Pg 12: National News Pg 13: Columns Pg 14: Columns Continued Pg 15: Take the Whole Mess with You, Jackson Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Streetvibes Archive Project Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Streetvibes Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource May 2008 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Gregory Flannery Greg Olkhovsky Michael Henson Steve Sunderland Andy Freeze Ardella Woolens Alyssa Konermann Kathy Holwadel Lynne Ausman Patricia Garry Bill Gallagher Larry Gross Brian Garry Georgine Getty Joan Tiffany Thompson Angela Pancella Carolyn Cosmos Elizabeth Brown Andrew Anderson Berta Lambert Ben L. Kaufman Antonio Hodge Anthony Williams Orlando Craig Joe Wesels Steve Novotni Stephanie Dunlap Steve Gibbs Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource PDF Alyssa Konermann Andrew Anderson Andy Freeze Angela Pancella Anthony Williams Antonio Hodge Ardella Woolens Arts & Poetry Ben L. Kaufman Berta Lambert Bill Gallagher Brian Garry Carolyn Cosmos children Columns Elizabeth Brown Fair Housing Act and Home Georgine Getty Greg Olkhovsky Gregory Flannery Hate Crime Jails Joan Tiffany Thompson Joe Wesels Kathy Holwadel Larry Gross Letters Lynne Ausman Michael Henson National News Orlando Craig Over-the-Rhine Patricia Garry Peace Village Stephanie Dunlap Steve Gibbs Steve Novotni Steve Sunderland https://streetvibesarchive.net/files/original/87dbe37abddde66659961dcc25f51e2d.pdf fe5a2441d0a4187f4874fd8b7149d92f PDF Text Text Empty Shirte. LostUves" $·f THE TRI-STATE'S ALTERNATIVE N"EWS SOURCE r=tNSIDE :; THlS ISSUE ,Local News Ne\V'hotline number saves homeless families time when looking for shelter. - page4 Community News One more thing the poor can't afford is a visit to the courthouse, l...paoe 7 "' ' Columns A culture o~ poverty? CM ichael Henson discusses the controversial theory. ~page 10 l'{ational News Veterans of Iraq and Afglrnnistan hope to reprise Vietnam-era event. I - page 12 Students Help on CUE Volunteering could be the best spring break of all Bv A NDY F REEZE STAFF WRITER W hile many college studentsgo to die beach or go hom e for spring break. a small percentage volunteer their time on an al!emative spring break. Many collegesand univer­ sities around the country have· groups ofstudents who spend spring break giving back lo communitiesand learning about social issues. This is the first year the Greacc.rCincinnati Coalition for the Homeless has hosted stu­ dents from around the country to help them learn abou1 issues of homelessness and poverty. Cincinnati Urban Experience (CUE) is a weekloug service­ learning program. Students spend their days work ing at agencies in Cincinnati, and in the evenings they leam from speak­ University ofPennsylvania swdenls vol11r11eer with Joseph House while 011 c1 service trip ro Cincinnali. residents while i:elaxing. Thegroup trom 1he Univer­ sity of Vermont helped at Over-the-Rhine Comm unity Housing, work ing to clean an apartment that someone had recently vacated. Afewstudents from Lehigh helped Over-the­ Rh ine Community Housing organize and clean its ware­ house to get ready for the 45 volunteers expected the follow­ ingmoming. "It wasjust little stuffto help the staff run ll1ings more effec­ tively,"s.1ys Mike Chu, a student at Lehigh University. Sec CUE page 6 New transitional hot1sing is step away from substance abtlSe Bv L vNNt:AUSMAN STAFF Wi\ ITllR ver-the-Rhine Commu Scott Goebel looks nity Housing (OTRCH) into a recent Enquirer unveiled new transitional hous­ a1ticle on the Drop ing 45 and 47 E. McM icken fnn Center. Si. on March 27. The agency collabornted with tht: Drop .--page 14 O Lies my governemnt told me. ~page 15 ersand activities about the di I~ ferent face-s ofhomeles.~ness. The Homeless Coalition hosted three grnups ofstudents from Lehigh University, 1he Uni­ versity ofPennsylvania and the University ofVermom.Thestu­ dents spen t the ir brea k volunteering at organizations such as the Drop Inn Cemer, Joseph House, Wa lnut 1-Jills Soup Kitchen and Over-the­ RhincConununiry Housing. At the Drop Inn Center.stu­ dents from the Univcrsi1y of Pennsylvan ia helped sort clothe.s in the storage room. While at the Walnut Hills Soup Kitchen, students prepared and served meals; after lunch, they helped by handing out bags of groceries to individuals and families in need. At the Joseph House, stu­ dents helped paint a fence as well as an inside wall but took time to interact with some ofthe A New Way to Live Guest Golun111 Opinion www.cincihomeless.org Inn Center, the Model Group and the City ofCinci1111ati on this pr~ject. Last yea r the Drop Inn Center negotiated with Ci n­ cinnati Public Schools and the city ofCincinnati, agreeing to sell transitional housing units on the corner ofEhn and 12'" streets, in order to accommo­ date the new School for the Creativeand PerfonningArts. In return for selling the transi­ tional housing, the Drop Inn Centeracquired an equal num­ ber of units on McMicken in a refurbished and upgraded " This is such a pivotal moment for the OTR community and shows what remark­ able goals can be accomplished when community leaders work in partnership," -Sarah Allen, project managerforOTRCH. building. The city helped to fa­ cilitate the agree ment by supplying funding for the re­ development and relocation of the housing units. "This is such a pivotal mo­ ment for the OTR community and shows what remarkable goals can be accomplished when community leaders work in partnership," says Sarah Allen, project manager for OTRCH. Transirional housing plays a hu ge role in end ing homelessness. The most re­ cent Housing and Urban Development progress report on Over-the-Rh ine·found that 90 percent ofpeople complet­ iag the program moved into permanent housing. Transi­ tional housing is often the first step to self-sustainabi lity for a fonnerly homeless individual; clients are still eligible for homeless assistance programs while they improve on the lrfe skills needed to manage per­ manent housing. The new units are conve­ niently located across the street from the former NuBlend Paint Building. The building houses the Drop lnn Cenler's Homeless Individu­ als Partnership Team - an intensive case-management See HOUSING 1>age 7 �Streetvibes 1l7 fa\s t 12th Street Cincinnati, OH 45202 phone: (513) 421-7803x 12 fox: (513) 421-7813 streetvibes2@yahoo.com www.cincihomeless.org STREETVIBES About Us 2 STREETVIBES April 2008 Our Mission Streetvibes is a newspaper tha t provides relevant discussions of homelessness, poverty and other related social justice issues. It is published once a mo11th by the Creater Ci:nci11natiCoalition for the Homeless. The GreaterGncinnati CCJ'aliti0n for the homeless is a group of she! ters, agencies and inclividuals committedto ending homeless in Gncinnati through.coordinating services, educating the public, and grassroots organizing. Our Vendors Streetvibes Staff Editor Alfred Woolfolk Anthony Williams Antonio Hodge Mark S hca1·s Grady Cook J ames Bybee Juli e Walker L.eonard Jackson Mark Campbell Raeshawn Gipson Riccardo Taylor Sam Jackson Ke011etb Stonil'sch Jotm Terrence Gaines Williams Ber ta David Lambert Cko ·wombk s Watkins Quinlion Williams Jon Darby J osephi ne Baskerville Nell \ Villiams Tonia Haley Silvia Collins Tony Dnimmond Raynard .Jones Charles Cole Milton Hawkins James DauyoII G REGORY FLANNERY Contributing Writers M1CHA~l H ENSON, S TEVE SUNDERLAND, ANDY F REEZE, CREC 0 LKHOVSKV, H OLLY PARKER, ALYSSA KONERM•\NN, Cl.ro WOMB~ES, Scon COF.BEl., CYDNEY GILLlS, NJ\NCY STONE, ADAMHYLA, L YNNBAUSMJ\N, ROilE~TTRAlll'MAN Photography A NDREW ANDER.<;();~ A NDY F'REEZE B ERTA LAMBERT L YNNEA USMAN l<AVO'A V INEJ<AR Artwork ANTONIO H ODGE i\NlllONY W ILL11\MS Advisory Committee fO E W ESELS STEVE N OVOTNI ANDY F REEZE G EORGINE GETTY MICHAEL H F.NSON 5 TEPHANTE DL"NLAP S TEVE GIBBS Cover S TUDENTS VOLUNTEER AT WALNUT H11.1sSouP K ITCHEN WHILE ON CUE. We are members of: 75 cents goes tlirectly to your vendor 25 cef/fs pays for pri11ti11g costs No rth America n St reel Newspaper Associal'ion JN SP ./ lnt'ernational Network of Street Papers Readers! Do you have a favorite Vendor you would like to non1inate for Vendor of the Month? Please send your nontinations to streetvibes2@yahoo.coni. or Streetvibes 117 E 12th St. Cincinnati, OH 45202 513.421.7803 x 12. �STREETVIBES The Vibe April 2008 3 Shutter Speed By the Numbers - li.u lOO Ameticausare t10wbebind bars --1.6 million adUltsare JiO\V in prison with another 70-0,000 in local jails. ~TI1e imprisoned population has tripled in the"past 30 years. ....onein 15Afri<>an American males are behind bars ~The U.S. imprisons more p~ple than any 0the:r GQllntry in the world (both by Sisler Lynne Staken, Alison /vlerce1: and Sis1er Leslie parlicipale in Emply Shirts. Lost Lives in Clifton. Pbotograhp by Andrew Anderson. percentage and sheer o.un1ber). Mr. and Mrs. Homeless Downtowner i\'lr. Homeless Downtowner l\ilrs. Homeless Downtowner Name: Edward Johnson Hometown: Cincinnati, OH Neighborhood: Over-the-Rl1ine Favorite interest:: Helping people I can ' t stand ii when: I can' t.get any work lfl won the lottery I would: Donate to the church, help peopleou1, and then treat myself The one thing I would change aboutthe world would be: Nothing, it is perfect lfl could have done it all over again I wou ld have: Went back to school Lo"e to me is: Paul, Corinthians, and the Bible Name: Phyllis Hometown: Cincinnati,OH Neighborhood: Downtown Favorite in terest·: Readingand dancing I can't resist: Seeing a crowd and being nloved by it I can'tstand it when: People look down on the poor justbecause they don 't have money If I won t·he lottery I would: Invest in youth development programs such as education for the youth. The one thing I would change about the world would be: Misplaced values l ove to me is: Unconditional ,...The Unjted S~s imprisons more people thanebina (l.5 nrillion)~ a.inuch Lnore p9pulous (and autocratic) country. -States now spend $44 billion on correctipns (a 127 percentincrease since 1987). FromThe Pew O:ntei;;qn the Stiltes. (~----------------------------------------------------~ Donate to Streetvibes : You eaa clonate online 1 The more support we have from the con1munity, the f!:rrther our effors.reach. Our w0rl~ is possible only with the h.elp of generous indiv idual gifts. : Please consider making a:contribution toaay ! Enclosed is my ta,»-deductabfo contribution of: : WW\¥.cincihomel~s.org N ~me: I _____________~ $25 _ $50 _ $1QO _ $150 _ Otber $_ I I Onnake cheeks.payable LC:>' Streewibes 117 &\st 12th Street, Cineinnati, OK 45202 Address: -------------- City I State/ Zip: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ J Tllank you for dtjn1 ienevously! I I I I I ~-------------------------------------------------------~ �STREETVIBES Local News 4 April 2008 Shelter Just a Phone Call Away for Homeless Families BY GR£·C 0LK!IOVSKV STAFF Wrul'ER T t's now much easie~ f~r ho.meless J.fam1hes mGreaterCmcmnati tofuid shelter: Just call 381-SAFE (381-7233). The new Central Access Point (CAP) hotline will serve as a one-stop clearinghouse for informationonspace availabiljty at the area's five family shelters. CAPwent into operationMarch 17,launched by tl'le Cincinnati/Hamilton County Continuum of Care for ihe Homeless Inc. in collaboration with the FamilyShellerParu'lership. The previous system required homeless families to c:ontact nearby family shelters to see ifthere was any available room. Jfthe shelter were full, families had to test their luck al'tl1e next shelter. This process often resulted in missed calls,gamesoftelephone tag wil11 theshelters and constantlytrying to find vacancies. CAP is a major improvement becauseofits convenience. Families can now call one numberand be connected 10 a homeless preventionspecialisl The specialist will place families into ashelter based on bed availabitiry, household structure and history with the family sheltersystem. Thinkofit as booking a flight: The specialist will search the database and assign a family 10 one of the five shelters. TheSalvationAnny hosted a Feb. 29 presentation on the oew CAP program. Speakers included Jacqueline Thomas. social services director for the SalvationAm1y; and JoAnn Mcintosh, theSalvation Arm's emergency shelter supervisor. ··we ate all extremelyexcited to be serving tile homeless inan innovali.veand effective fashion,'" says Sister Mary Stanton, ex>-ecutive directorofBethany House Services. "The CAP program underlines the outstandingcollaboration among social service agencies in our city." TheInterfaith Hospitality Network, SalvationArmy,Mercy FranciscMat St. John, YWCA and Bethany House, serving as the lead agency, are the participatingorganizations inCAP. Specialists will answer calls at381­ SAFEfrom I0 am. to 8 p.m. weekdays and f:rom I0 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. During offhours,caJl.e.rs can leave recorded messages. Surviving Is Not Enough Women Helping Women combines service and advocacy Bv ALYSSA KoNNERMAN STAFF WRITER Drwomen who find themselves tile victims ofsexual assault, domes­ ticviolence and stalking, it oftenseems t11ere is no place to turn orto escape. This sense ofhelplessness is exactly what Women Helping Women aims to change. The agency serves people in Southwestern Ohio, providing crisis intervention and support services for both direct and indirect victims of tl1ese crimes. In addi ti on, the c'enter takes a leading role in educating the comnnmity, promoting awareness and seeking to help prevent these types of abuse. r Until recently called the Rape Cri­ sis and Abuse Center, the agency has reverted to its original name, Women Helping Women. The agency provides a variety of services, allowing it to assist victims in diverse situations. First, the center operntes a 24-hourcrisis line, connect­ ing women witl1 specially trained staff and volunteers who perform crisis in­ tervention and make referrals to other community services. Women Helping Women offers hospital accompaniment in order to support rape victinls and operates sup­ port groups. The agency is active in victims' advoca<..-y in courtand with Jaw enforcement, accompanying victims to court. l.n its work with victimized women, Women Helping Women rec­ ognizes the absolute importance of privacy and takes special care in mat­ ters regardjng personal mformation. Women Helping Women also works to educate the community about sexual assault, domestic violence and stalking. Central to thls mission is the Date Rape and Dating Violence Pre­ vention Program, which the center offers in local junior and senior high schools. The program explains to stu­ dents the dynamics ofdate rape and dating violence, focusing on identify­ ing potentially dangeroussituations imd providing them with tools to protect themselves. The agency also offers training programs for tlmse who work directly witl1 victims ofsexual assault and do­ mestic violence. Women Helping Women began its work in I 973 and since that time has consistently provided assistance and advocacy for women victimized by these crimes. "Women Helping Women provides the Cincinnati region impressive ser­ vices and support to assist people in healing from intimate-partner v io­ lence," says Jennifer Wies, director of Xavier University Women's Center. Women Helping Women is at 215 E. Ninth St., downtown, and can be contacted al 513.977.5541 , or www.rapecrisisandabusecenter.org. The 24-hourcrisis hotline is 513-381­ 5610 or toll-free at 888-381-5610. ISSUES 2108 WHAT'S AT STAKE? JOIN US for DAYS OF DIALOGUE. What better time than an election year to dialogue on the critical issues that affect us all Education May 17 OUR PURPOSE is to create an environment where people with differing views can listen and be listened to, and civil discourse can occur. WHEN: Each dialogue will be held on Saturdays from 9am to 12 noon WHERE: First Unitarian Church (536 Linton St) at corner of Reading ~ Free & Open to the Public~ Reservations Requested. RSVP to 513-579-8547 www.ijpc-cincianati.org mm lg ration July 19 <> �STREETVIBES Local News April 2008 5 Peace Activists Turn Out in Force B Y GREGORY FLANNERY STAFF WRITER ive yea rs o·a , th e peace movemen t got a measure ofits support in Greater Cincinnati when activists planned to line Clifton Avenue with T-shirts representing American soldiers killed in lraq. lt could have proved embarrassing. The cold and rain seemed likely to limit turnout March 19, not to mention the kind ofdiscouragement that can set in after five years of struggle. But neither the weather nor moral fatigue were a match for the enthusiasm that greeted Empty Shirts , Lost Lives, a commemora ti on of the fifth annive rsary ofthe U.S. invasion of lraq. Organized by the lnte rcommu.aity Justice and Peace Center (JJPC) and MOVEon.org, the non-violent demonstration drew more than 700 participants, according to Kristen Barker, a staff member al JJPC. " I am fee ling so encouraged about the peace movement in Greater Cincinnati," she said in an e-mail after the event. "As we' ve said, wars don ' t end by themselves. Yesterday we saw the ty pe of commitment, the persistence and the visible. creative action that keeps the pressure on the politicians to do the right thing and end war." Empty Shirts. Lost Lives was part ofa nationwide series of anti­ war events March 1.9, including non­ violent civil disobedience in other parts ofthe country. Pe,ople stood along Cl ifton A'1en11e from McMillan Street to Ludlow Avenue, with a small break in the Burnet Woods section, holding T-shirts in the cold rain. Bui they weren' t the only people who helped, Barker s ays . Even passe rsb y showed their support. F 111e cold and nasty weather could 1101 keep Randy Bruins.from lining C(fiton Ave. in pro/est ofthe wt11: Photograph by Andrew Anderson. "Tlranks to those of you who honked," She wrote. "Thanks to those of you who attended the interfaith prayer service, to those of you who vigilled with MOVEon. Thanks t0 all who prayed or made phone calls to legislators. Thanks to 1hose who wrote letters to the editor. A sincere thanks for al I you do to end this war and bring more pea.cc. to our world." The peace activists' efforts prompted widespread news coverage, including a mention in The New York Times ·and stories in Cincinnati's dai ly newspaper and on three local TV stations. Within days of the anniversary, the United States announced the death t011 for its troops had Nached 4,000, with more than 29,000 so ldiers injured. The Pentagon claims nor to count the numbe.r of Iraqi civilians killed in the.war. Peace Village Joins San Francisco Peace Protests Bv STEVE SuNot.RLANJ> Coi<tr.R.IBUTING WRITER housands of' people met at 7:30 a.m. March 19 in a fog-swept inner city neighborhood to start a day ofprotesting the fifth year ofthe war in l raq. A very large crowd gathered with great costumes, musical instruments. and great spirit to walk in the rirs1 of many protests throughout the city. I joined an orientat ion and heard the important words ofthe organizers to ..Keep it Non-violent." In th e corner at Sansone and Market. three street actors dressed in masks of Bush, T Streetvibes Subscriptions Do you have trouble reading? Seeing people's faces? Doing everyday tasks? Are you interested in having Streetvibes delivered to your mailb()X every ffi()nth. Send a check for $25 with your name and address to: Streetvibes 117 E. 12th St. Cincinnati~ OR45102 Cheney and McCain danced to Hip Hop whi le a large and smiling aud ience converged. A be autiful gro up . Brass Liberation Organization (BLO) finished LUning up and led the march at 8:20 a.m. up and down the hills or San Francisco. We chanted. sang, and raised ou r vo.ices to the grey skies. Thousands or pol ice marked Lhe way and led the march and withom incident. The Peace Village was deeply moved to be a part orsuch a great day. Peace had taken over the city, 1he cable cars and 1he sidewalks. This was a day to remembe.r. There is hope. There is help. We can help you or someone you know who has: •No Vision • Loss of Some Vision • ~ Cincinnati Association for rhe , , ~ Blind & Visually Impaired ~ 2045 Gilbert Avenue Cincinnati, OH 45202 A not-for-profit agency For information call 513-221-8558 and ask for Adrianne. �Community News 6 STREETVIBES April 2008 CUE from page 1 In the evenings, the kamingcontin­ ued as groups heard from a variety of speakers about the iss ues of homelessness and poverty. On the first night, each2roup heard from afonn.erly homeless individual from the"Voiceof the Homeless" speaker's bureau. One of the speakers was Mark Teegarden, a formerly homeless indi­ vidual who spent three years livingon the Ohio River bank. He talked about the dit'l:icultyofmaintaining work.so he and his friends could survive. He shared his story ofovercoming his bouts with substance abuse and fighting for the homeless in the city ofCovington. He challenged the students, saying, "Stand tq>, suit up and don'tshutup ifyou know Mike Chu and.fellow swdemsfrom Lehigh University prepare.food ar what you arc talking about'' Over-the-Rhine Soup Kitchen. The studem volunteers stayed in apartmentsowned how friendly their stayanywhere else.·· Elyse Gambardella, a Vermont stu­ by Over-the"I would like to make neighborswere. Rhine Community Jill Engels, a dent who helped plan the trip, says she senior at Lehigh, wassurprised how friendly and genuine Housing nc.ar people more aware and Washi ngton Park. encoura.ge them to says she enjoyed the people were. in Over-the-Rhine. Manysaid staying help out in our own "gelling to live in The last reflection thestudents took inOver-t11e-Rhioe communities." Ove r-the-Rhine part in was a discussion of ways they was one of their - Amanda Chary and really seeing could get involved in the light against favorite parts of and experience the homelessness and poverty in their own CincinnatiUrbM Experience because of community. I would nothave wan.led to communities. "We are excited to take action and create change in Burlington. Vermont," says Maggie Donin, a Vcm1ont student. ·'J would lil'c to make people more aware and encourage them to help out in ourowncommunities.'· says Amanda Chary. Mostofthe students enjoyedspend­ ing their spring break doingservice and learning. "It was the best way I could have decided to spend my spring break; · says lfe Oydele, a student at the University ofPennsylvania. Xavier University isoneofhundreds ofschools that send students to various parts of the. country and the world 10 learn about social issues and to volun­ teer their time. During this year's spring break, Xavier's Alternative Breaks club organized 22 different trips to all parts ofthe UnitedStatesand five international trips to Ukraine, El Salvador, Domini­ can Rcpubl ic, Jamaicaand Mcx.ico. For more infonnation on alternative breaks, cncck out the national organi­ at zation. Break Away. www.altemativebreaks.orgorcheckout the Cincinnati Urban Experie.nce at www.cincihomeless.org/contentfcue.hm1l. Standing Up to Assembly Line Justice One more thing the poor can't afford is a visit to the courthouse nvG RitGOR\' F t.ANNl ; RY STAFP W RITER awyers are un iquely situated to relieve the suffering of poor people, but1QO often they don't try hard enough. ll1at's the messag.e a grolip of law srudcnts heard March 25 at Northern Kentucky University's Chase School o:FLaw. Stephen .A. Bright, president ofthe Southern Center for Human Rights, reminded the audience ofafact too easily ignored. "The criminal courts deal almost exclusively with poor people ... Ifyou go to coun, nom1ally whal you're going to see is a procession ofpoor people," he said. Bright spoke about what it's like to be poor, in trouble with the law-and represented by a public defender. "Beinginjall is terrible,"hesaid."IL's dru1gerous. Peopleget raped injail. Tiiey get beat up injail. A few days in jall can niin your whole lifu." Then he gave an example: A man suffering from schizophrenia was arrested on a warrant for loitering. The warrant \Vas deficient-but he spent two weeks in jail before anybody checked. ·wlien tl1e man was released, he found his possessions th.rown on a curb, andlle'd lost his job. "Here.'s this guy living barelyon the edge," Brightsaid. "He's trying to make L it. He gets arrested, and now he 's from Ke.nton County, remarkable homeless and now he's living in the. because it featured a defense lawyer woods or on a park bench or in a who had 1ro law office. whose business cardboard box.He wasn't convicted of card listed the phone number for a bar anyth ing - but he sure was punished." near the courthouse and whose law 111e Southern license had been Center for Human " In this country today, it's suspendedseveral Rights, in Atlanta, times. When the better to be rich and challenges defendant asked guilty than to be poor unc.onstitutional the trial judge to and innocent and conditi·o ns and appoint a dffterent practices in that's not equal justice,'' lawyer, the motion - Stephen Bright, lawyer prisons ru1djails. It was denied. After his also works to improve legal representation ofindigem conviction, the man appealed on grow1ds clients. ofin.clfectivelegal representation. Buttlie Bright cited cases that, he said, U.S. Siklh Circuit Court of Appeals, suggest we should sandblast the words seated in Cincinnati, turned down the engraved on the U.S. Supreme Court appeal, concluding that.. because the man building: "Equal Justice Under tlie Law." had been " unc-0operative" with his "In this country today, it's beuer to lawyer, he had practically represented be rich and guilty than to be poor and himself:That me.ant he couldn't claim he innocem-and that's not equaljustice," had inetl'Cctivecounsel. he said. In another death-penalty case, an Bright decried the inadequate appeals court mled that having a pubIic t'unding for legal c.ounsel for poor defender sleep during part ofLhe trial people, invoking the phrase o'll.en used wasn ' t grounds for bvertuming the 10 describe the way some publ ic com~ction. defenders work: "lvleet 'em and plead ··1t's a disgrace to our profession, 'e111.n and there's caseattercaseatlercase like "Literally, J talk to public delenders that:· Bright said. "We' ve had people who don' t know their c'Jients' names," executed because the lawyers didn ' t he said. "Are we representing people, make the filing deadIine:· or are we processing them?" Racism also influences Lhe The law students heard a litany of administration ofjustice, according to horrorstorie.s, including a capital case Bright. ··we know beyond any question that a person of color in this society is more likely to bestopped by the police, more likely to be abused by police during that stop, more likely to be arrested and more likely to bedenic.il bail a few days later, more likely to be convicted and morelikely to begivenaseveresentence at the endofthe process," he said. Last 111ontl1 d1e U.S. SupremeCou1t overturned a death sentence in a Louisiana case argued by Bright. The court niledthara prosecutor in Je1forson Parish, La., had eliminated all black jurors because of Lheir race· ­ unconstitutionally prejudicing the ease against theAfrican-American defendant. Vlhile some call such rul ings ..technicalities." Bright t1rged the·Jaw students to remember what's really at stake. "I hope, atler you graduate from this lawschool, that you ·11 never let ru1yone tel lyou that the protections in theBill of Rights are acollectionoftechnicalities.,'' he said. Bright called for increased funding for legal representation for indigent clients. "\Ne' re talking about a country tl1at can afford to send a trillion dollars dropping bombs on Iraq," he said. ·'Surely we can afford a few million dollars to make sure everybody gets justice: · �STREETVIBES April 2008 Community News 7 Housing from page 1 program for chronically hom~less in­ for Over-the-Rhine Com­ div.i.duals - as well as McMicken munity Housing,thecityof Dental Clin ic and a FreeStore/ Cincinnati, the Model FoodBank program. The NuBleod Group and others who Building is also the proposed site ofa have co Ilaborlltively non-profit labor hall and new offices stepped up to the plate in for the Interfait h Workers Center. away thatbenefrts the resi­ The new transitional units on dents," says Pat Clifford. McMicken will house individuals who general coordinatorofthe have recentlygraduated from the Drop Drop 1nn Center. " ! am Inn Center's substance abuse pro­ very excited co see the new gram. 1l1e building boasts a spacious facility, and I koow the fu­ interi.or Iiving space, abundant green ture residents arc eager as space and highly qualifie.d ar0tmd-the­ well." clock support. Located at the comer Split between two buildings. all. of of 12th and Elm, the Drop the un its arc efficiency apartments InnCenter is in the middle ranging from 350 to 568 square feet of redevelopment orga­ each. With bamboo wood floors and nized by the Cincinnati tile i.n the kitchen and bathroom. these Center City Development w1its look more like luxury apartments Corp., better known as than trans itional housing. Each apart­ 3CDC. These new trans itional hous­ Above: Cu111rt1c101':f put the ji11/shi11g Wuc'h"° 011 a 11t1w apar1111e111.for the Drop !1m Cu11N!r~~ trau.\'itinnt.1{ /i\·ing. 8e/1nt "Fl1i! 1ra1u·ltin11al housi11g i.o:t located at ./5 and -17 E. ment has its own full bathroom and an ing un its are only the first steps in a Jv/c1Vlicke11 S1it!1H. Pho1ographs by Lynne Ausman. equipped kitchen with a stove. refrig­ long lineofimprovcments occurring at erator, and circulating hot water pump. the Drop Inn Center. Each unit also The center is has two closets "The Drop Inn Center is making a concerted and rcsident­ effort to be good grateful for Over-the.­ c on tr o 11c d neighbors as they Community Rhine heating and begin planning for Housing, the city of cooling. The ca1>ital improve­ Cincinnati, the Model ments with Miam i units arc wel­ coming, with University arch itec­ Group and others who many windows ture students. which have collaboratively thatbring in lots stepped up to the plate in would move the front door. create ofnatural light. a way that benefits the office spaqc in the In add ition residents." basement and con­ to these ameni­ ,,._ tie.s, the units - Pat Clifford, general coordinator strucr a courtyard of the Drop Inn Center for residents. The also have some impressive se­ Drop Inn Center is curity features. Strategically placed also expanding its services to iucl.ude I cameras wi.11monitor the entire prop­ on-site ease management for longer­ 7 erty. Each unit is also equipped with tenn residents. double-hung windows that open from Overall, it seems that moving the the top, allowing air to circulate but transitional housing units is a win-win preventing anyone from easily fall ing situation.The new school will be situ­ out - or climbing in. In addition, ated on the entire block from Race to ") ,., rather than a trad itional metal key, the Elm and Twelfth to Central Parkway, ·~ entire building is equipped with key and the new transitional housing is lo­ cards, such as those used in hotels. cated in an upgraded faci lity nearother On-site staff wi ll program key cards. services needed by the new residents. "The Drop Inn Center is grateful 1 : - I _j - ·I Place Your Ad Here! Come and have a cup of coffee and enjoy a relaxing atmosphere at 1506 Elm St. Monday - Friday 5:00 pm - 9:00 pm Saturday 8:00 a m - 5:00 pm Sunday 12:00 pm - 5:00pm Phone # (51 3) 381-3368 With sales ofStreetvibes continuaJJy on the rise, and circulation reaching 5,000 monthly in the Downtown and Clifton area, now is the time to advertise. Rates are as cheap as $50 for an advertisen1ent this size. Discotu1ts available for non profits and paying up front. Streetvibes is sold by vendors which n1eans that nearly every paper we print gets into the hands of readers Interested in advertising with Strectv ibes. contact 513.421.7803 x 12 or email Slfeetvlbes2@yahoo.com �8 STREETVIBES Vendor Artwork and Poetry April 2008 Where do I go? uv Hou,v P,rn1<1:11 promise afterpromise ihcar some did draw me near o1fi ran rightotl'rhctrain otl'thcbus into what i 1hought was a friend's heart my boys i brought with new hope knowing no matter whm we could cope justto get there whileeveryonedid stare to find outjoke for i1 was all broke you ciu,.tstay ra11gall 1hcway lo the homeless sheller for no1hing better now what where do i go. whm do i say. Cosmic Star BY ANTONlO H ODGE S TREETVJBES V ENDOR Cleo's Joke Corner There was a Christian lady, who quoted scriptures day and night One night athie:f came into rob her, and she said Acts 2:38 five times. So the thieffroze in his foot steps, a little while later a policeofficer showed up and asked thethief why he didn'lleave. The thiefsaid I thoughttheold lady said she had an ax and two 38's (guns). Cleo selling at 5th and Wa/11111 \Nhen I was six years old, I was in my mother's kitchen. I was staring at ajar of orangejuice on top ofthe table for 10 hours. My brother asked me what l was doing, Tsaid can't you see I am looking at the jaroforangej uice on lop of thetable. He said yeah, but why I0 hours. Tsaid can' l you re-ad the label on the jar says " I 00% <.'Oncentra1e., There was a Christian who went into tbeforest to shoot a bear. \~'hen he spotted a bear he sliot him th.rec times but it did not die. He took off running and the bear chased him. When he foll hesaid, ·'Oh God let t11is be aChristian bear." TI1ebear fell on his knees and said "Oh God tbank you for this food.,. There were 3 1omatos - mamma tomato, daddy lomalo, and teenage tomato. They were walk ing up ahill and teenage tomato always kept getting out ofline. Daddy 10111ato said ifyou keep doing that l an1 going to give you a whipping. He did it again. so daddy 10111ato look a stick and smashed him all over the place. Daddy to111a10 said now he will catch up. �STREETVIBES Vendor Artwork and Poetry April 2008 9 Abstract ball To Scott BY A NTRONY \V 1.LJJAMS Writers !~ submit your poetry to Streetvibes ­ email your writing to streetvibes2@yahoo.com r:a:JI The hunt is on .... UY llOLLY pAllKER 111c hunt is on.... roofi mustflnd tecls Like looking foragold mine no car can ' tgo too for two littlemen in I.ow which wav, do we "0 "' promise this promise that tl1ey say then it"sjustgo away so where do we stay in school theysay kids must be whalaboutme ifi don 'ttojail igo but address i must have paper this ru1d paper that to prove here i live somed1ing no one wants to give a Faith in God i must hav.: for no othercan deliver anew place new face just a part ofthe hwnan race promises were made be.fore we came now il's just a slmme for now homeless we are............ Berta's Art Corner "Ohio River Skyline" CtNClNNATl, 0 HJO �Columns 10 STREETVIBES April 2008 A Culture of Poverty? Controversial theory has some usefulness for addiction ack in the '60s, peopl e be_gan to kick around a concept known as the Michael culture of poverty. The notion was that Hen.son is the poor. because of the ir condition. live aufhor of a se_parate 111anner of existence fro111 the Ransack, A rest of society, that poverty creates i ts Small Room own culture and the dynamics of that cul­ with Trouble ture can be identified and measured and 011 My Mi11cl, that th is culture is identifiable across what Tlze Tao of we th ink of as cultures. Longing, and According to thi s notion, you might Crow Cal.I. look at New York City and Mexico City This colu.mn and see, in the ghetto and i n the barrio, is part of a the sa111e essential dynamic i n spite of di.f­ mo11thly fere-nces in the larger cu ltures. Poor series on co.m111unities, the theory said. arc poor in poverty and the same way; poor people-, th e theory addiction. said. are Iikcly to relate to each other and the wor ld in the sa me way, north and south. east and west, if they arc part of the cuIture of poverty. lt makes sense. i f you consider th e notion that rich pco1,1c, too , tend t o op­ erate in the same manner worldwide. that there cou ld be a l'arallel culture of wealth , which would help explain why people fro111 cultures as disparate as Texas and Saudi Arabia can get along so well. why George Bush and Prince Faud arc such great pals. The term was created by anthropolo­ gist Oscar Lewis. who studied poor comm unities i n New York, Mexico, Puorto Rico and "When you have that Cub\l. In spite of combination of addiction obvious differences in relig ion, social and poverty, it is almost structure. econom­ impossible not to feel ics and language, powerless, marginalized Lewis found that and helpless , because in there we re strong!y some measure, you are." similar patterns in each community as the poor struggled to survive. " The people in the culture of poverty;· he said. " have astrong feeling ofmargin­ al iry, of hel plessncss, of dependency, of not belonging. They are like aliens in the ir own country, convinced that the existi ng institutions do not serve their interests and needs. A long w i th lh is feeling ofpowcr­ 1essnes s is a widespread fee ling of inferiority, ofpersonal unworthiness. ·'This is true of the slum dwel lers of Mexico C ity, who do not cons titute a dis­ tinct ethnic or racial group and do not B Poverty and Addiction by Michael Henson suffer from racial discrimination. In the United States, Lhe culture of poverty of the N egroes has the additional disadvan­ tage of racial discrimination. People wiih a culn1re ofpoverty have very little sense of history. They are a marginal people who know only their own troubles, their own local condi tions, their own neighbor­ hood, t.hcirown way of life. Usually. they have neithe.r che knowledge, the vision nor the ideology to sec the simi larities be­ tween their problems and those of others like themselves elsewhere in the world. I n other words, th ey are not cl ass con­ scious. although they arc very sc,nsitive indeed to status distinctions. ·· v.·11en the poor become ·class con­ sci ous or members of trade union organizations, or when they adopt an in­ ternationalist outlook 011 the worl d they are. in my view, no longer part of the cu.1­ turc ofpoverty although lhcy may still be desperately poor." So111e of thi s might sound l ike gross stereoty ping, and Lewis and his culrnre of poverty thesis have taken a beating over the years from critics who consider hi m (and others who have taken up rhe notion) as blaming the poor for their pov­ erty. Lewi s, they said. focused on rhe tlaws ohhe poor rather tban on the struc­ nires of society that demand rhat so111e be made poor so that others be made rich. Lewis was a man of the l eft, though. and his sympathies were w i lh the poor. He is notable for the way he presented his research. More often than not, he gave us the stories of the families he studied in their own words. His wr i tings are more like novels than anthropological srudies. I recall , for example, the story of a young secretary in Mexico City and her beloved typewriter. Lewis comes offin these writ­ ings as compassionate and non-judgmental. People who might oth­ erwise bavc no voice tell their own stories Interested i11 helping with Streetvibes? Are you a writer, poet, attist, orphotographer'? Do you want to help Streetvibes? Call 513.421.7803 xJ 2 or e1naiJ streetvibes2@yahoo.com through his work. Lewis also sta ted clearly that not all who arc poor are in the cu lturc of poverty. The secretary with her typewriter. for ex­ ample, wou l d be among those who arc ..no longer part of the culture ofpov­ erty although they may still be desperately poor." He found that in Cuba people were desperately poor. blll they were cn.ergized ai1d empowered and not at all in the static, discmpowercd culture ofpoverty. So what can we make of all thi s? We have a cl ose student of po verty with a great empathy for the ir cond ition, yet many thinkers dispute his principle notion as t1awcd, stereotypical and judgmental. Herc·s where I go w ith it. I don ·1 bc­ 1ieve Lhat such a thing as the culture of poverty exists. .l bel ieve that what Lewis was looking at was the intersection of povert y and addiction . If you substi tute theterm " people in addiction" for " people in the culture of poverty." you don' t get a perfect match, but you get one close enough to get you think ing. The addict or alcoholic feels power­ less. unworthy, marginalized. though he or she might appear to be the most social of all humans. Add the obstacles of poverty into the mix. and it can seem that people are em­ bedded in their poverty. l n one of his essays, Lewis srrings a long list of char­ acteristics of those in the culture of poverty, and yoi1can sec an almost onc­ to-one match with fain ilics and individuals struggling with alcoholism and addiction l fthere is such a thing as poverty w ith dignity. it can only be when the fami ly in poverty is nol impacted by alcohol and drugs. w·hcn you have that combination of addiction and poverty, it is almost im­ po ssible not to feel powerless. margi nal iz.ed and. helpless, because i n some measure. you arc. Not totalIy - - no oneever is. But fro111 this point of view. there is no real culnire of poverty . There is on ly poverty im­ pacted by addiction. There need never be an y such thing as a seeming cu l ture of poverty if we as a society cou l d develop the capacity to address poverty and ad­ diction together. Please be sure to only purchase a Streetvibes from a vendor wearing a white or yellow badge. �STREETVIBES Columns April 2008 11 Plenty of Fear to Go Around rifice.d? T h e spread of fear through­ out the nation is c rodi ng Sunderland our l10pe for a predictable American fu­ narc. In every m:\jor city, average citizens, going to work, face outrageous fuel prices 'tor their cars on top of ridiculous heat­ ing fuel prices. · Anyone going to the grocery store knows that the cost of food has jumped to high levels. In every neighborhood, any citizen knows that people are just walkirrg away from their homes, unable to pay their mortgages and unable to bear the reality of dramatica ll y falling home prices. The newspapers and TV news say chat the worst is n'CH over. Banks, with or without federal help, might Peace Village by Steve T he. events of the past weeks, days and minutes are downright scary. Who is in charge of our economy when U1e banks fail? Who is in charge ofour universities wbea American students are blocked from getting financial aid? What accounts for the failure of the employment sector to generate jobs for average people? Can the c.an d id ates for president do anyU1ing exeept add to the fear that U1e world cannot be led by an American? On the fi~b anni­ versary of the wa r in Iraq, can anyone clearl y say why one more Iraqi or American life should be sac- not stem the slide toward confusion. The basic question comes back to this: Who will stand against fear? Now is the time for local leaders to come together and face the housing, heating, college cost, unemployment and leadership crisis affecting every community. The bottom has been falling out for some time. Middle-class people, 47 million, have been without health care for quite some time. TI1c mort­ gage crisis has been serious in our neighborhoods bu t who has taken it seriously? Poverty and hunger are up in our city, an d the FreeStore FoodBa.nk has been trying to meet the need with every creative ea m­ paign it could launch. But the lines are getting longer and the pcopl·e more frustra ted. College students are graduating with ·tens of thou­ sands of dollars of debt. Ne'ither national leaders nor local officials have attended Lo this de.pressing news. Our situation is dire: The middle and poor classes are now in the same boat, and it's leaking. Now is thctime to stop fear from spreadiog one more block. Instead, a new leadership coalition of business, col­ leges, banks, neighborhood groups and city leaders must come together to lead a way through the minefield ofdanger. ll1ere can be no peace in such a sin1ati on if it is unattended. Leaders, awake! Dr. Sunderland. fo rmerly Dean of the UC College of Community Services and a Professor of Social Workfor the past 21 years ~11 UC, is Director and Founder of The Peace Village. a Cincinnali based peace network fo unded after !he riots and expanded after 9111 to work on peace and hettling. For more information on !he Peace Village programs. please write: sundersc@emaiI.uc. ed11 Lack of Leadership Deep-Sixes City Sweeps Policy The city of Seattle's sweeps policies are 1noving toward finality. Now the state, not to be outdor1e, is getting into the act Bv AOAM H YLA SritEST News SERVICE It was a ma5ter case ofbad timing. Persistent questioning by Real Change revealed th is month that the state of Washington was working on guidelines to make sure the kind ofaccident that killed Tsaac Palmer June 2 didn't hap­ pen again.When they outlined what U1e.y were up to, people at the Washington State Department of Ttansportation (WSDOT) were upbeat Here was the agency on whose watch U1e rotary blades ofa brushcutter stnrck Palmerin tJ1e head. killing him in­ stanlly, as he lay out ofsight beneath 1-5 on Sat. June 2, 2007. Palmer's death by machine was a horrid instance ofwhat happens when aggressive policing pushes the poorest members ofourCQ111munity outofsight 111cscguidelines, released eight monlhs later, were supposed to be evidence or lessons leamed. On Feb. 14 WSDOT called to say the guidelines were ready. Then, that same momi11g, U1eycalled back. Another homeless man had been killedon thesite of a freeway project. Ralph Edward Vantine, 61 , of Snohomish, was crushed under a 60­ toot man Irft- dcad, said the Snohornish County Med ical Examiner, ofhead in­ juries. Another homeless man killed this yea r by WS DOT neg Iigence. Disturbing news. The guidelines, re­ leased a fuw days Imer. didn 't make me feel any better. r sbould have known trouble was coming when WSDOT described the city of Seattle's recently drafted en­ campment clearance protocol as its model. Mostly,the agency is telling contrac­ tors involved in construction work in areas where homeless people are known to camp to post signs 72 hours before work begins. Social-service workers need not show up; ihough the city and local shelters will be contacted. there 's IitUe reason foranyone Lo walk up to m1 underpass and get to know its inhabit­ ants. Where would they tell them to go? City officials and social-service work­ ersalike know-though the fom1erhas spent untold time denying this - t11a1 there ·s not enough s.helter. There is also the obligatory pickup-truck sized loophole. "Crewscheduling,emer­ gency repairs mid removal ofnuisances" will send advimce notice sailing out the window."'Sites where maintenanceoc­ curs on a frequent but rm1dom basis will be posted ·No Trespassing..,. Tnmslation: Never mind the Fourth Amendment protection against the sei­ zme ofyour things or the state law that provides for the storage and reposses­ sion ofproperty ·'abm1doned" in public spaces. We' II take your stuff when we foel we need 10 . ll1e NoTrespassingsign spray-painted to thisco11erete abutments is waming enough. Which th ey already do. Real Change staff witnessed one of those operations Feb. 12where1-5 cuts un­ der Pike and Pine s treets. as court-assigned community service workers took and loaded into unmarked trucks poor people's survival gear. Mat­ tresses, sleeping bags, pillows, clothing and otl1er personal effec-ts went into the tuunarked trucks. No signs ofany kind had been posted to warn people ofan upcomingsweep. Everything went to lh.c landtill. A little north ofthat spot, a "clean­ ing" crew had been d1rough twicea week earlier t<> oust a group of campers. Amon.g the bunch were t\•O Real Change vendors, both ofwhorn wound up hospitalized for health problems re­ lated to exposure. Department ofCorrections (DOC) personnel have expressed some moral ambivalenceabounhis work. Throwing away personal articles is ·'ki nd of a waste," one staffer told me last year. If itsticks in the DOC's craw, YOlJ know it's adirtybusiness - andone that, one can't help speculating, took smnc toll on city 1-1 uman Services Department head Patricia Mel nturff, who announced her reiirement Feb. 22. Mel nturffhas been the city's desig­ nated shit-taker on the beete.d-up sweeps protocol that's moving toward its final iteration. It was a ham-handed and sardonic move by Team Nickels to putihe kinder, genilcr vis.ageofthe city's social-service bureaucracy in nominal charge ofwhar"s basically an actoflaw enforccmcnL I suspect Mel nturff is try­ ing to exither 30-yearcareer with a whit ofintegrity and has omoaded the taskof issuing a new policy ofcriminalization to someone with less to lose. Mclnturtrs departure highlights the absence ofother publicly designated voices ofconscience.Absent prominent public criticism, tl1e cicy is being propped up as a standardbearer for a process that WSDOT wi ll soon enact across the state. The silence ofthe Committee to End Homc.le&~ness makes th is possible. That's a searing reminder that ending homelessness is a task for al Iofus. The message from city and state agen­ cies as prosaic as City Light and WSDOT, as they develop their '·proto­ cols" and their "guidelines," is that unshelt.cred homeless people are now on the map: Homelessness is not a break­ down of our commonwealth but an impediment' to be worked around, a (to use Team Nickels' preferred phrase) public health and public safety hazard. A thing not to be ended, but managed. Reprintedfrom Real Change Ii,) SlrrJet N!!ws Service: www.sireet-papers.org �12 In The News New Hampshire: National News STREETVIBES April 2008 "Winter Soldier" Converges on Washington Veterans of Iraq and Afghanjstan hope to reprise Vietnam-era event nv CvDNE\' G11.,1,1s Homeless Man.in·D umpstcr En·d sup in T.rash..Iruck sonalilies in our plaroon who were they were lnJpefu l," Manzel says. regu larly being brutal with regular ·'After months of no runn ing water, citizens,'" he says. Soldiers "were it became clear to them that (the in­ &hQmeless man whoi.1ad been uring March 13-16 2008 , beating up people on the street for vasion) was a sham, that we were s.leeping in a'C0ncord dumpster for Winter Soldier: Iraq and Af­ n·o reason." not going to rebui ld Iraq and had no lwo-,vee.ks>was.suddenlyawakehed ghanistan , a first-of- its-kind That's j ust the start of what intention ofdoing so. That's when as he was being tossed into a trash­ conference·oflraq Veterans Agains1 Manzel has to say about what's they turned aga inst us.,. compacting truck. P:oJjce s:ay 41­ lhe War (IVAW) took place near wrong with the U.S. occupation of One task that Manzel's unit was year-.old Guy Stevens had been Washing1on, D.C. Veterans gave Iraq. Manzel flew tcra college near assigned to didn ' t help. With gaso­ sleeping i11tbedowntown dumpstef lestimon ies on various panels, to be Washington, D.C., to give testimony line in shortsupply, many Iraqis wait for about two weeks, and he,had thus streamed Iive on th e Internet and at Winter Soldier: Iraq and Atghani­ in line and fill up c·onrainers to resell fii,r managed~o:getoot Qi:jfuretlieirnck reco rded for later presentation to stan, named after a historic I 97 I gas on the street, providing some arrived. This particular morning, members ofCongress. gathering of Vietnam veterans in cash in a nation running. at 70 per­ however, it arrived early. Stevens· The conference aimed to open Detroit. cent unemployment. But the suffered n:iinor Injuries and was American eyes to Plans called black-market sales weren' t legal, so spo~ed limping.d6wn thestreetafte't the regular and for 100 IVAW in Mosul, ·•rt was our job to make " After months of no jumping aut ofthe truck. (Concord systemic atrocities members to sure people didn ' tdo !hat,.. Manzel running water, it Aifonito.r. 31 L) lhat soldiers com­ speak, including says. " We would go andlell them to became clear to them Man ze l. An- stop scllin.gg·as·and put ho les in the mit in Iraq - acts lhat are commit- that (the invasion) was other l 50 gas can, but after a whi le people a sham, that we were California: 1ed by soldiers planned 10 at­ were doing this habitually and (some tend as soldiers) started getting brutal." Google to P.rovide Free Phone trying'to survive not going to rebuild an urban guerilla witnesses be­ In a couple ofsituations, he s·ays, Numbel"S and VoicemaiJ for Iraq and had no war that the fore var ious stray bullets tired by soldiers killed Romele$S intention of doing so. United States is panels. civilians. Another rime. "They took That's when they Like the a kid and poured gasoline on him Projeet CA RE, ereatedin 2006 . involved in only turned against us." for private profit Viecnam veter- and were threatening to set him on byGrandCentral COmmu1\icatioos­ ans before him, fire. sinee aequired t>y Google-works and needs to exit immediately for its own securi1 y Manz.el hopes his words he lp open ..Tc's not as though the people to provide·pe1111anent phone numbers Seth Manzel isn' t a bad man. He. American eyesto the atrocities that doing th is were bad people - they and voicemail services to the homeJess. Craig Walker, a· senior was just a soldier caught up in a bad so.ldiers commit in Iraq. Such inci­ were all good guys, they had fam i­ projecl manager .a.r doogle, war. That·s how the 28-year-old dents are notthe isolated work of lies - but they were being misused. recognizes this as "one way that former Army sergeant regards the " bad apples,,. he and others say, but When you· re having soldiers who've GramiCe ntral can help San violence he says someofhisfellow part and parcel ofsoldiers 1rying to been tra ined to fight a conventional enemy and you put lhem in basically Francisco'shemel'essstayconnected soldiers inflicted on civilians in Iraq, survive an urban guerilla war. "We make more terrorists every­ a law-enforccment·situation, this sort with family,:friends,,social workers, where he served from November health care providers and potential 2004 co Sep1ember 2005 with the day," says Manze l, a Tacoma ofthing happens." security guard who says he joined ''It's a narural consequence," he employers." Google !auncbed·a Web 25th lnfantry Division. After being sta1ioned in the city the Army because he was out of adds, of a war being fought not ro siteth(ough which homelessshelters and agencicsariross the citycsan create of Tali far - where he says lraqi work and had no way to support his rout Al Qaeda terrorists - who are few and far between in Iraq, Manzel new accounts an<! ultimately hopes"to rebels outnumbered U.S. troops 600 wife and child. Neither do most people today in says - but to enrich contractors provide the5e.invaluableservieest0 · to 200 - lhe men on his patrol c:ities1111<1 shelters·across theieountry." didn't have the luxury ofdistinguish­ Iraq, where he describes horrib.le such as KBR and Halliburton. ·'Even if yo u're for the war," he (Soott C301pooll, Chan11elWeb, 2f19) ing between friend or foe and had conditions: cities with I ittle eleetric­ curned brutal with every Iraqi they ity, hospitals with few doctors or says, ..there's probably more active encountered. supplies and people bathing and A I Qaeda in New York City than in It really showed up, Manzel washing dishes in what are essen­ Iraq:· New York: says, when he was transferred to the. tially open sewers running down Subway Ad Campaign SaysNo much calmer city ofMosul, where streets and ravines. Reprinted.from Real Change to Spare Change for Homeless he and others experienced a sudden "When we first got there, people \~) Stree t News Service: www.street-paper.1'.org A new ad campaign displayed in "reality check" that "there were per- were positive about us being there, tile eity's subways rells New Yorkers not fo giveaoy spare change to the SO I TOOi( (QMfl(JTER 1MADE $Z2 PER HOl,JR (I.ASSES ANO NOW I 110n1eless, butratherto call 31 I. Mayor IN THE STEEl Mill VNTlL EARN $7 PER HOU~. Bloombergsaid, "Ci ivingn1oney to a I WAS LAID~OFF. panhandlermay ~m compassionate, Learn but (is-) really not helping,that person long-term:· There ·has been a 12 about -percent decrease in the number of other street homeless people on the streets and subways, though many of'the new newspapers shelters,thataccoum for this decrease l''v'E A(J.llE'v'Et> SOON A MORE SOPHISTiCATEt> have been created in illegal at STATE-OF-THE-ART­ (QMfl(JTER Will 'boardinghouses. In reality, "the only UNEMPLOYMENT. ELIMINATI MY JO~. WWW. genuine soluli0n ... is the creati011 of additional -permanent supportive nasna housing for homeless New Yorkers." (K:l'isten'Danis, Daily News, 315) .org STRP.ET N EWS SP.RVICr: D �S TREETVIBES Apri l 2008 International News All In the Mind: Who Cares? ll\' NANC\' STONE STREITT N EWS SERVICE ancy Stone is exhausted and des perate. Why? Her husband bas bi­ polardisorder.She wants to dispel some myths about mental illocss. The word is ' carer'. Sounds kinda ... caring, doesn 't it? lt's a five-letter word thai describes someone wilh a nurn1riog soul, saint-like patie.nce and buckets ofpositivity. Well,"f'm sorry to breakthe myth but itjust ain' t likethat. As ·it isfor lhose under ourcare, we car­ ers fo1d ourselves thrown into a bowl, covered in shit to the pointofdrowning aod tben,justwheo we think we've risco to the surface to take some air, we are gobbled up bysome otherdrama We are nonnal peoplc.ll1eones you probably work next to, the ones you consider your friends, the people you ti.link you know. Not everycarer has his or her life on display and attends open supportgroups. ll1e.re are maoy"closet carers"just like me, and by die way r·m not elderly aod nor do Jstay at home all day ·'caring."(Why d~ everyone tl1ink ti.us?) My husband and l arc bod.1 in our late30s and we hold demandingjobs, but my husbaodsuftcrs from bipolardis­ order.1-lis condition swings up and down as we.search for the elusive mixofmedi­ cations that actuall y work for him, and tliere's tbestruggleofaccepting d1e fact that hccan' tselfmedicate as hes;,-es fit. Some carers. like me, are not an­ gels- far from it. As tbr patience, mine runs out frequently and is replaced with anger, tears and a head that spins faster tl.1ao Unda Blair's in The Exorcist. Oh, but 1'm notsupposed to admit that, am l? l' m supposed to be a cahnfog inilu­ ence with the poise of Florence Nigbtiogale as J care for my charge. I hate tO dispel lhe myth, bui caring for someone with a mental ii lness such as bipolar is a ~hecr fuck.ing nightmare at the best oftimes. Far from having the patience ofa saint, I have often contem­ plated tlic amountofspace in my freezer and the typeofmacbinery 1wouldneed to dismember my husband. Thjnk I' m joking? Toften wonder whether it's me or b.iJn wid1 the mental iUness. Because ofhi.s condition, my hus­ band swi.ngs from depression to a state of mania (a bipolar high). when he be­ lieves he is trulygifted aod will dinewid.1 pre.sidents. Many "bipolars" can feel ti.icy are Cltrist-like figures. But I can be the same. l honesti y believe l 'rn gi:lted evenjustto survive a day. After all, 1' m the one who keeps tl.1ings on track, who goes to work, gets him to work, keeps the day under con­ troland keeps tilings moving. Bipolars, when "cycling" through their moods, are often useless in daily life. Fortunately, my husband is able to work without anyone noticiogb.is con­ ditionor how it migh1 be impacting upon h.is work.. But for me, the care.r, there is the const11nt worry and the anal <mnver­ N sations that dissecteach day to ensure up. I"mexhausted and mentally fucked he is not threatenir~ his job. So much before I leave the front door. for·' Hi honey, how's your day?" Acarer It's a painstaking climbfrom "I just doesn 't even get that much. When my can't seethe point in living" to ''Yeah, husband is beading i.oto mania, be will today wasn'ttoo bad." AJJ in all we Iive a good I ife, good sleep less and manage to do ri­ holidays, agood mix " Some carers, like me, d i cu I o us Iy offriends, two great unproducti ve are not angels - far from petS that we.love,so stuff such as it. As for patience, mine there is so much for vacuuming the runs out frequently and my husband to Iive garage, but he for. is replaced with anger, can't be practi­ Therein Iies rny tears and a head that eaI enough to conundrum. I-las spins faster than Linda deal ing with his make the bed or Blair's in The Exorcist." mental illness made wash the dishes, letalone contrib­ me just as mental? ute to a'·' nom1al relationship." As a carer, 1often d1ink I've tipped over The sad tb.ing is that wbcn be is u1 a tbc edge. I have days wheo l can be state of mania, he is able to do things optimisticand think wewrn find die an­ oorrnally beyond his abiUty- liencc the. swers and my husband will 1.iveafulfilling attraction ofwanting to come offmedi­ life and that I will gel rewarded for my cation. He can read a menu and loyalty in sticking by h.im, watching bi rn remember everything we 've ordered, get better and stay better. ingredients included: he is able to hold Butthoseare tlie positivelycharged intelligent conversations with peop.le. days and they are interspersed widi die TI1.is, ofcourse. makes him foe! llke lie is negative, down-the-fuck.iJ1g-gurgler an interesting person and tliat peoplelike days. llie days that youjust don 'thave h.iot Tmet 11.im wbeo hewasslightly de­ tbe energy to fight anymore. The days pressed, butas he cycled iJ1to astate of when people unlmowinglysay,"Smile, mania I teU in love with hlm ancl although precious, tbe world won' t end today!" I knew about his illnes,s, I had no idea And you srnneextravagantlyto shutthem how much he was affected byselt:medi­ up when you actually want to traosplant eation. So, in reality, l maiTiedsomeone them instantly into your lifeto 1ive with a I dido't really know. It's ironic because. self-medicatingfruit loop and see how 1tumcd down several other.greatguys well they react because l thought he was ' tbc right one' So why do I stay? Well, after six years I' m having a hard time finding a ... Sowho's thc.fruitloop then? Patience d.irough h.is mania is as ex­ reason. Ts .it because J hate failurc.and hausting as it is heartbreaking. He will won' t give up, or am I just bloody stu­ ask me to "'hang lo diere with bim," tell­ pid? How dumb is it to stay with ing methrough the tears that"he knows someoneyouhave no controlover whil.e bestand th.is time will be different- be tbey arcshaping- and ruining- your has beaten tl1e illness." As the carer, J lira? know too well that, when th.ings turn People oJtcn say, "\\'here there 's again, I ' II be needing a secure patiem life, there's hope." Butwhat kind oflife room i.1.1 the ..closed ward." and there's arc they talking about? TIJ.is is not the the fact d1atthei:earcn'1enough beds at kind ofl ife I had pemicd for myself. A11 any given pointin time.And what about l know is that I feel raw paio aod guiJt the mortgage'! And what about keeping for having hated my husband lately­ hisjoh? Oh, the Jjes 1've told (ilus and really hated h.inl - for what be has put other nasty dilemmas), but not"sorry, 111Cand hisfamily through. Butdie heart­ my husband has a mental illness .. . 1'm breaking thing is be hates bimsclfmore ~urc you 'll understand" because,sadly, than any of us could. I know they won 't. Sadly, most of us Mental ilJJ1ess breaks more than don' t. minds; it breaks hearts and makes Fortuoatelyfor me, Ill.istune.arouod dreams disintegrate. It destroys hope (his cycles are appro-ximately every six and ruins fam.ilies. Iknow there arc very months - maniaand then depressioo few pt.'Ople who could give my husband andaroundagain likedie fucking mcrry­ the future we originally had in mind, and go-round from hell) l have the support eveu fewer with the stamina to keep of his family. We weren'i always onthe going. sao1e page, but now we are, d1ank God. [would .like to have ended on a Although my husband has only been positive note. Bunoday, Iike many days hospitalised tour times (twice sincervc as a carer, I just don 'tfoel positive. and been with him) the last time really took Tdon't care who knows it. its toll and 1· ve realised how exhausted and broken I am. * 'Nancy Stone' is a pseudonym; Atthe moment my husband isgoiog all else is rca.I. through depression, and it's debil itating for bothofus. He struggles to sec area­ Reprintedfrom The Btg son to get out of bed and I spend my Issue Australia time trying- gently at first, pleading, © Street News Service: crying and then screaming- to get him www.street-papers. org 13 In The New s - Cont Louisiana: "Homeless Czar" '.iburs New O cieans. Prom,ises No Funding For tbeJitsttime'since Hurrie:ruie Katrina, the Btt~h administration's '·HomelessCzar"- Philip Mangruio, executive director of the U.S.. Lnterage1icy Co·uncil 0 11 Homelessness - visited New Orleans. 1-Jetoµred astretclrofaventie· wbere roughly !Sb homeless 1mfo1iduals have beenlivingintents for several months. May(Jr RayNagin ru1dme!11bers ofcity council metwith Mangano to dis:Cuss their plan tobouse tliecolm)y in bar.rack-style living quarter:> that would provide beds, meals andcare as a step in (ecuperation from the devastation ofHmricane Katrina. Mayor Nagin advocates this plan_ beJievi11g_" the.s e are our mos t vulnerable-citizens. and they have to be1reatcd fairly,"espcciallydue:to tlie :fuctd1atthe city's homeless population dpubledas·aresult ofthe:burriCl!lle­ There are now an estimated 12,'000 individual$ experiencir,ig '10111e.lcss1X:SS in New Orleans. Despiteseeing the devastation and need for a5sistance firsthand_ however, Mangano promised no· immediate increase in federal funding_ bnt rather only 9omn1itfed to investigate.the use ofthe money that has been11.umelecLii;itqthe region.since· Katrina (John MorenoGonzales, AP, 3(4) Cl\lifornia: \Vere Targets or Criminal Activity Hornele~s Atkr afour-rnonth investigation into homel.ess camps, Fresno Police arrest ed 25 people who ware tarnet ing the homeless. The investigation begai1 in August \Vhen po.Iice noticed an increase in robberies aud aggravated assaults. Fotl rtcen of the 25 peeple ehar.ged were arre:sted on the suspicion of drug p0ssessioi1 and seJIing drugs. These non-homeless street people who were taking advantage of the homeIess were busted during an investigation on GaliforniaAvenue·and G Stre.et and Montereyand H Streelll. MayorAlanAutry fullysupported the investigation, \Vhich aimed to protect the homeless. Autry said, "Quite hon~tly, in thepolitieal world and everyday life. 11ieoften ig11orcand do not putemphasis onthe public safe.ty for the homeless ... We are here today to make a stateme11t~1at the cjty offrcsno believesevery one ofour ci.ti7.ens is preciou~, including our homeless, and are deserving of public safety." (Vanessa Colon, The Fresno Bee,3124) �Guest Column 14 STREETVIBES April 2008 Enquirer's Hit Job on Drop Inn Center nv SCOTT Go:E11E1. Scott Goebel lives i11 Campbell County, Kentu cky. He is a poet and CoNTR.IDUTlNG WRJTER s 1he Drop Inn Center A cclebra1cd its 30th anniversary a1 2lh and Elm streets, article, "Drop I Lhe In.fl Dropping Out?" by Jane Prendergast appeared in the.Jan. 12 landscaper. edition of The Cincinnati Enquirer. She asked readers to consider how the Drop I.on Center fits with the redevelopmentofOver-the-Rhine. The article assumes readers und e rstand tensions in the neighborhood and infers increased tensions once the new School for the Creative and Performing Arts opens and redevelopment proc<ieds in Over­ the-Rbinc. lt suggested the Drop Jn.n Center holds a primary responsibility to "manage its clie11ts." In suggesting the real issue was whether the Drop Ino Center should vacate Ovcr-the­ Rhine, Prendergast's article was a journalistic failure. An objective article would have presented a topic(redcvelopmcnt) and dis·cussed the issues - new jobs, housing, cultlua l tensions and gentrification ­ from both sides. "The use of language, The Enquire r selective sources and article was not purposeful omissions obj ective. Not show a remarkable bias only d id favoring redevelopment Prendergast forces at the expense of ignore the real the Drop Inn Center and ropic, she clearly came down on Over-the-Rhine the side of the residents." Cincinnati Center retired c t y Development Corp. (3CDC): The best way to el iminate problems in Over-the-Rhine is to "economical ly cle.anse'' the neighborhood (gentrify it), and moving the Drop lnn Center is a good start. The targetaudience for this article can be div ided into two sub-groups. The secondary audience is readers predisposed to sec redevi;lopment as a primary solution, and the primary audience is suburban readers who, though aware of con.tlict. lack a complete understanding ofits nature and depth. The secondary audience is keenly aware oft:he cultural tensions i.n Over­ the-Rh inc as well as a history of controversy surrounding the Drep Inn Center. Their prevailing view toward the Drop lnn Center is negative ­ seeing it as ·enabling homelessness, a.lcoho.lism and drug addiction. It is this audience to whom the article speaks directly - those who see no value in the Drop lnn Ce.nte.r's missinn. They identif)' with 3CDC, and the question ofwhether the Drop Inn Centershould move is a rhetorical one- itshoul-d. The primary audience has a casual understanding ofissues in Ovcr-the­ Rhinc an.d little understanding ofthe Drop Inn Center. The article appears to give insight by quoting voices from the center, Cincinnati City CounciI and 3CDC. While the article's secondary audience has an opinion and is unlikely to change its mind. this primary (and larger) au.dience is seeking infonnation to form an educated position. Jfthc secondary audience is the choir (who don't need to be preached to). then 1he primary aud ience is the congregation. particularly chose sitting some distance from the pulpit (the suburbs). Mo.re important is the audience that is ignored - the residents of Over-the-Rhine, the homeless and empathetic readers who support helping the homeless through the efforts of the Drop Inn Center and other social-service organizations. Understanding this. we begin to see the article has an agenda less to inform readers and more to swaythem to sec the question ofrelocating the Drop rn.n Center as legitimate. The use of language, selective sources and purposeful omissions show a rcniark'able bias favoring rcdevc lopment forces at the expense ofthe Drop Inn Center and Over-the­ Rhinc residents.The article is carefully crafted to be devoid of empath y, particularly toward the c.liems ofthe Drop Inn Center. rt uses much space quoting three redevelopment sources, the Ovcr-the~Rhine Foundation·s Mike Morgan. Councilman Chris Bortz and 3CDC President Steve Leeper, and gives only brief rebuttals from Drop Inn Center Director Pat Clifford. Nowncre are neighborhood concerns discussed. The article emphasizes the Drop Tnn Center's history of raising hackles at City Hall. and the text gets more colorful when describing ihe move lo its ctITTent location as being "'under the cover ofdarkness." While the Drop Tnn·s co-founder, buddy gray, has been dead for over I0 years, he's described in langt1age such as "'controversial," "protests," "allegationsthat he blocked redevelopment." The use of such language has negative connotations co a predominantly conservative reaclersh ip. As well, the text contains the words " development" and "redevelopment" six times- positive terms for her intended audicnce-s. As further proof that it is crafted to ignore readers inclined to defend the Drop Jnn Center and the social concerns of currentresidents. nowhere is the term "gentri:ficatipn" used. These choices serve to sway the primary audience to believe the sh~lter is either incapable or unwilling to make an effort to fit in with a redeveloped ne ighborhood. This leads the audience to conclude tl1e viability ofthe Drop Inn Center's current location should be "Clearly, the editors questioned. are looking for a The art icle knee-jerk response, also suggests the. not a carefully Drop I 1111 's role in considered one." ass istin g the downtrodden is less important than how it fits in with redevelopment efforts. Quoting the homeless Jacquie Eaton. the only homeless person in the arti~l e, would have been a prime. chance to show some empathy. Instead, she is quoted, "J hide in the alleys, anywhere to keep out of sigh1 so I don ' t go to jail." Eaton ·s own words are used to suggest that being homeless is itself a crime. Editorial actions indicate a pandering to the paper 's ta rget audience and an e.ditoriaJ slant agains1 the Drop Inn Center. The subtitle. "Some wonder if homeless shelter hurts Over-the-Rhine development'· invites readers to question the Drop Inn Ce111er's existence. Additionally. the paper 's Web s ite places a comment Iink righr atlcr tli.e text, asking reader ifthe Drop Inn should move. While this seems legitimate. che link appears before the ques tion is discussed. Clearly, the editors arc looking for a knee-jerk response, noc a carefully considered one. The article succeeds in prompting readers to a.grec that the Drop Inn s hould move by depending on testimon y from the force.s of redevelopment and by removing empathy from the discussion. It is effective in presenting 1he Drop Inn as a problematic institution that can only negativel y affect Over-the-Rhine's redevelopment. Its obvious lack of empathy prompted a number of in telligent responses, most notably Torn Dutton·s commentary (republished from the Cincinnati Beacon), which asked readers to consider empathy for the homeless as essential to understanding the complexities of the Drop lnn Center's role. r-------------------------------------------------------~ I I I I I Streetvibes ex ists as a foru1n for the express ion of the views and opi,nions of our readers and suppo11ers. The opin ions expressed here in are not necessarily those of the Streetvibes staff or the Greater C incinnati Coalition for the Hon1eless. I I I I I ~-------------------------------------------------------~ �STREETVIBES April 2008 Opinion 15 Lies My Government Told Me This war, as everyone now knows. was based on a series orlies: vo landmarks present themselve.s Traq possessed weapons ofmass de­ at the start or spring 2008: live struction and threatened world peace. years o.f war in Iraq and 4,000 dead Traq was in the process ofdeveloping American invaders. We find ourselves, nuclear weapons. Iraq had a hand in aner all this time and all thiskilling, with the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11 , 200 I. nothing at all to show for it-and no Now. five years after we attacked apparent way out. this poor, deJenseless nation, other Iies George W. Btlsh's remarks on the are being exposed. These lies Involve deathofthe 4,000th American invader all the basic services we've been told were a lie plain and simple, framed in our country can't afford. the kind oJrhetoricaJgrandiosity that Reports on the cost of the inva­ serves as a faux truth for a nation long sion and occupation oflraq tend to comfortable with hearing lies r:rom its hover around$ I trillion. leader. Imagine lrsomeone hadproposed "One day, people will look back spending one-tenth ofthat amount­ at this moment in history and say, $100 billion to eliminate ' Thank God there were courageous homelessness in the United Stat.es. The people willing to serve, because they notion would be laughed off as reck­ laid the foundations for peace for gen­ less spending. erations to come,·" Bush said. Imagine irsomeone hadproposed Does anyone actually believe that? spending one-tenth ofthat amount­ Bv G 11EGORV F LANNERY T $I 00 billion - to provide free col­ lege education to those· who can·1 afford it. The idea would be cons id­ ered preposterous . Imagine ifsomeone had proposed spending one-tenth ofthat amount­ $ I 00 bill ion- to provide health in­ surance for all Americans. There's no way we could afford it, they 'd say. The great lie ofour time is that this richest, this most powerful ofnations cannot afford to house, educate and care tor all its people. What the war in Lraq shows us is that this nation can damn wel l afford what it sets its mind on. We can come up with$! tri ll ion for acruel and pointless war if' we want it badly enough-or get suckered into it. The National Priorities Project (NPP) tracks the cost of the war and puts hin numbers we can more readily digest. So, for example, taxpayers in Ohio's Isl Congressional District have paid $924 mill ion for the war so far. The same amount ofmoney, the NPP says, could have: · provided 327,623 people with health care or • built 84 new elementary schools or • constructed 8,62 1 affordable housing unilS. It's important to remember, espe­ cially now that the economy is about to take another downturn, that the government has I ied all these years when it said we.cannot afford food , housing. education and health care on equal tenus for all. The problem isn 'I having enough 111oney. TI1e problem is how it's spent. Meanwhile in Cincinnati it's a struggle to getcity government to com­ mit a mere 1.5 percent of its budget to human services. War is hell. Book Review: Modern Day Slavery By Rober tTr autman Street News Service i e mass taking of slaves ended wiih thebanningoftheAtlanlictrat: ficking in humans nearly 200 years ago and, in the United States, legal slave•)' was abolished some 50 years later. But just making something illegal ·doesn' t necessarilyend it. Veteran antislaver Kevin Bales writes that even today. children aresent away into bondage to work 1.6 hours a day so we can have beau tiful rugs in our homes, and women are sold or ren ted forsex. ln"EndingSlavery: How We Free Today's Slaves" (University ofCalifor­ nia Press, 2007) Bales says, " Behind closed doors,in remote places and right underour noses, the slavery ofsome 27 million has continued, making people rich, reeding our liJ:estyles, and buming upourlives.,. But with positive economic trends worldwide and the growingacceptance of human rights, ·'if there ever was a tipping point when slavery cou ld be brought to a IUll stop it is now," hesays. Bales knowsorwhat be speakS. He ispresident ofFree the Slaves, the U.S. sist.er organization ot'Britain's Anti-Sla­ very International and author of " DisposablePeople: New Slavery in the Global Economy." People. by far children and young women, Bales writes, become slaves for money, money to support them­ selves and their fami lies, but little or noneofthemoney they earn goes into their own pockets. lnst.ead. it lines the pocketsoftheir holders. The parents ofa poor filmier arc approached by afactory owner and told hc has ajob for one of the sons; the T child will be cared for and will be able to send money home for rood and medi­ cine. Or a young rural woman is told of awel l payingjob in Ll1e city. which tums out to be that ofa prostitute. They are ill treated and threatened with violence if they should try to run away. They be­ come today'sslaves. Balt:s writ~ that this is notjust hap­ peningin lheThird World. but in ihe First, as well. We have all heard ofthe young girls brought to Tokyo for its ·'eniertain­ ment" industry - read prostitution:or nationalsbrought to Washington to work in embassies but theo virtually locked and stripped oftheir passports: and of Cen tral A111e1icans isolated in the farm fields ofCalifomia and Florida. Bui it is far worse in the Third World. Bales says, "Almosteverywhere you I.incl slavery iJ1 the developing world youfind policeor govemmemoflicialson Uie take or tuming a blind eye." Slavery is being fought by his orga­ nizalion, but far more needs to be done to end this by promoting education, health ruid good govem1m:nt. These are long-term solutions, but fornow. Bales callsfor: • Publicizing U1e work ofanlislavel)' forces in the Third World, which are ot~ ten persecuted or murdered. · Giving the antislavery forces the tools they need. Send money to the lo­ cal antislavers to buy bicycles or Jeeps or cell phones so they can communicate and getaround as quickly us the slavers. Do1i'tgo there yourself or as a group. as you might to help the victims or Katri11a. You younself cim ' Lfight a cor­ rupt bure;iucracy in Africa or Asia. • Makingdeveloping nationsaware ol'lhe extent ofslavery in U1eir countries, and lielping them to write laws to fight it and the tools to prosecute it. When a local liberntor can tum 10 the police and in theUnited States, but it came about point to acl ear violation orantislavery less than a hundred years later. law and when police know exactly how Bales sees thc end ofslavery com­ to enforce that law. "the flow ofslaves ing and quotes Martin Luther King to freedom will dr.imatically increase." Jr.when h.: was asked when equality · Training police in the developed mightcome: countries to step upenforcementoftheir ·1·fow long? Not long, becm1se the own antislavery laws as they have arc of the moral universe is long but it stepped up the prosecution of'narcotic bends toward justice." and computer crime. An estimated .17,000 people are traflicked into sla­ Reprintedfrom Street Sense very in the United States every year. © Street News Ser11ice: www.street­ ·Finding how lit."t!dslaves have been papers.org affected by their captivity and U1en find­ ing ways to trea t them. There arc treatment cen­ ters for victims of torture, but none for freed slaves. Bales may be overly opti­ n1istic that his way 10 encl sla­ very wi ll succeed, but he comes to l(•.11l k~lfitl.1I·" ,,,.,i:i;t;al ollld ll~plt .Jq the cause with b111JI; ,U!il )Vil W1!1 wide experi­ f1f';t'l1\lf::• 1!00 (hll ence, and any i:..-.1'11 hn•:i1 tn IU 'U.t l) tlD HI IU solution 10 a seemingly in­ 1r act ab I e problem must begin w ith a dream. He writes that none of these tasks is beyo11d us and notes that in 1776 few people envi­ sioned the end of the slavery ,\\l(llJ � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 2008 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Newspaper Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource April 2008 Subject The topic of the resource Homelessness Description An account of the resource Pg 1: Students Help on CUE A New Way to Live Pg 2: About Us Pg 3: The Vibe Pg 4: Shelter Just a Phone Call Away for Homeless Families Surviving Is Not Enough Pg 5: Peace Activists Turn Out in Force Pg 6: Cue Continued Standing Up to Assembly Line Justice Pg 7: Housing Continued Pg 8: Arts & Poetry Pg 9: Arts & Poetry Continued Pg 10: Poverty and Addiction Pg 11: The Peace Village Lack of Leadership Deep-Sixes City Sweeps Policy Pg 12: National News Pg 13: International News Pg 14: Enquirer’s Hit Job on Drop Inn Center Pg 15: Lies My Government Told Me Book Review: Modern Day Slavery Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Streetvibes Archive Project Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Streetvibes Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource April 2008 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Gregory Flannery Greg Olkhovsky Michael Henson Steve Sunderland Andy Freeze Holly Parker Alyssa Konermann Cleo Wombles Scott Goebel Cydney Gillis Nancy Stone Adam Hyla Lynne Ausman Robert Trautman Andrew Anderson Berta Lambert Kavita Vinekar Antonio Hodge Anthony Williams Joe Wesels Steve Novotni Georgine Getty Michael Henson Stephanie Dunlap Steve Gibbs Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource PDF Activists Adam Hyla addiction Alyssa Konermann Andrew Anderson Andy Freeze Anthony Williams Antonio Hodge Arts & Poetry Berta Lambert Book Review Cleo Wombles CUE Cydney Gillis Drop Inn Center Enquirer Georgine Getty Government Greg Olkhovsky Gregory Flannery Holly Parker housing Joe Wesels Kavita Vinekar Lynne Ausman Michael Henson Nancy Stone Peace Village Protests Robert Trautman San Francisco Scott Goebel Seattle Slavery Stephanie Dunlap Steve Gibbs Steve Novotni Steve Sunderland Students Washington https://streetvibesarchive.net/files/original/04e122fcac4e8839b1187abc44c971b1.pdf c9c7fc3640af08341fc47b212fcf9718 PDF Text Text How does Ohio stack up in the death penalty? page 6 TH E TR I-STAT E'S ALfERNATIVE NE\VS SOURCE INSIDE THIS ISSUE Local News Sleeping bags donated to the GreaterCincinnati Coalition for the Homeless. are distributed to people sleeping outside. page4 Soccer team perseveres Deaf Iraqi players brave violence to play U\ SAIJ~ fOUAJ) STREIIT NE\\'S $ F.R\'ICE BAGHDAD M )'One bon1deaf and mute aces a challenge playing in asoccer tean1- it's hard to con1n1unicate on the pitch, playerscannot hear the n.f'croo's v.tiistle and fewooaches knov.• Slgtl lan.guage. Community '.'lews Our DailyBread. soup kitchen in Over the Rhine, receives many blessings on Valentine's Day. page 7 Columns Michael Henson talks about addictions and the language people use to d iscuss it. page 10 National '.'lews \\l"'''-<'incihonlclcss.o rg Add the risk ofbeing shot or blo\~ up on the \YaY to training in Oaghdadand Jrll(]'S soccer tean1 for deaf-mute playe<s could be forgiver1 for Stlying hon--.e. But the squad is set to compete in a_n international townament in Kuv.·ait in April, an.d ltainel'l·ILSSein al-Shafi 5a)'S he is deten11ined the tean1 v.ill do their best. A forn1el' local league footballer. Shafi uses sign language he learned fron1his brothc:r, thcchainnan of a sports association fo r handicapped Iraqis, to ttain. a squad of 15 players. He also trains a 12­ strong deafchildren's side. " It's tough, but J feel spiritual.I)•bound to 111y players. It's my duly to 1nake sure they succeed." Shafi told Ret1ters. as yoo1g ntenbehind hin1 botutced ballsoffthc.-irfec.'t, gesturing to each other v.iith hand signals "11er1 they passed lheball. \ ljolence has dropped in Iraq, but bon1b blasts and gunfire stil l echo across B3!'1>dad. That ha.-; n'l.:'l.de Ii fe hard fot the ph1)•ers and son1etimes interrupted practioe. first. Ipanicked. but eventually ..11·s d iff1cult 10 attend they \vetlt dov.'l'I. \Vher1 the training~ions v.tien there are shooting stopped and they got glU1fig)us andbl3stSeveywhere. up, they still thought it \V<tSa I'm afraid to co1ncout,'' said ne\v training drill,... he said. Mohan1n1ed Ja\.vad Yusif. 20, talking in. sign. language through his coach. "Son1etimes there's no tra nsport because of roadblock~" Yusif s.."'li.d one oflUsfriends, also deaf, "vas killed \.Vhen glllmen opened fire on a car he v.'3S travelling i1t "Jt sappod my SlTc'llgth IO play for a V.'hile." he said. Shafi recalled \.Vhen a gWlfight bef\veen rival n1ilirias oncebroke out near the training ground. The players cooldn ' t hear the gtUlfire.so hesignalled fol' them toh1t the ground. "They <lidn' t understand at See Jraq Soccer page 13 The attack on dignity will not prevail to restore some s h red of dignit)• CONTIUDUTINO WIUTEK to suffering fan1ilies. Ho"'~ver, the attack on djgnity continues.. " Body parts ror sale Outside ofthe Cinc~ooati lvithout per111iss ion ~~ OYS'l'lt\'t SU1''0tRJ,A1''1) about them Vle do not knO\.\' if the bodies \vere prisoners, slaves, political victims, or donated \Vith the pen11ission offa1nily nlembe<S. " Bo d y 1>a•·ts take-n T Amanda Wolfe discusses growing up with a different kind of povcny expenence. page 14 lroq1s love their football. The countf)' v.•as the surprise \vinner of last year's Asian Cup oompcririon, The victol)'brought rarej oy an.d mity IO thesl:1att«ed rk'lbon, v.~ th Shi'ites. Suru1i Arabs and Kurds pouring into the streets tocelcbratcthc:irtca1n'sunJikely 1-0 win over Saudi Arabia in Peace at the bodies exhibit An article from Street lvithout per111iss ion ~~ ''Body 1>arts used fo r Sense, where a reporter learns what it a rtistic purposes \virhout permission!'! is like to live with schizophrenia. hese three headl ines page 13 should bevel)' familiar to Guest Column Passion for soccer C1ncin.na11ans. Ovet the pa.<;t fe,vyc-ars. Hamilton County has paid close to $30 n1illion dollars to families that have suffered as a result ofthe prior coroner·s actions with the misuse of body parts. v.Tiether selling then1ortaking pictures v.>ithout pcnnission. Laws have been changed due to class action la~vsuits that have successfully sou,g;ht Peace Village by Steve S1mderland Museun1 Cence.r a sn1all group of protesters have continoed to n1ake clear that the e..xhibit on " Bodies.. is unaccep1able because it defi les homan digniry. People·s bodies have again been taken \.vithout pem1ission ofthe fami lies. The bod ies a l'e fro1n China. and that is all ""''C knO\.\' l'heMuseun1 directot, lvlr. Douglass f'litc Donald. soo,g;ht to assure the public about the exhibit in a recent opinion article in the Cinci nna ti Enquirer. "Despite the invaluable learning experience ··Bodies...The Exh1bi11on·· offers. \Ve understand the nc.'Cd to offer it in a respectful and responsible n1anner. At Cincinnati l\<fuseum Center. v.·e' ve alv.•ays believed s uch ru1 e.xhibit1on- 1nvolv1ng real human bodies-should be handled \vith extraordinary scnsiti\•ity and consideration. Before agreeing to host the exh1bi11on., ..ve asseo1bled a team of area doctors. unive rsi ty professors, phi losophers, thcolo,g;ians. medical ethicists and legal expects 10 help eos ul'e the exhibit ion upho lds the n1useun1's ethical standards a_nd furthers its educational mission. After much discussion and reseorch, this group, alons v.•ith the Jv_luseum Center leadership, unani n1o usly agreed that the ex.hibition \Vf!S See Bodies page II �STREETVIBES About Us 2 STREETVIBES Street vil;es n 1 liast 12th Street C incinnati, Of-1.45202 phone: (513)42 1·7803x 12 March 2008 Our Mission Streetvibes isa newsp.1per Ihat provides relevant cliscussionsol homelessness, pove1'ly andolher relat«I socialjustireissues !1 is published onrea month by the Greater Cincinnati Coalition fo r lht' Homeless. ·n"K?Gl\:......-it1trCincinr~ati Coalition (or Lhehornelcss is a g:n)upof shelL-ersJ agenciesand i11divit1uals •'Ommitted lo ending homeless in Cincinn.atl through ooordlnating.servk'ES. educating !he public, and g rassrootsorganizing. Our Vendors fax: (S 13) 42 1-78 13 streetv1bes2@}rah00.('0m \VV.'~v.cindhon)t'}es..c;..org GCCH Staff E.Xr.cut1VEOIRECTOR GeorgineGetty AtfO\<I \\roolfolk An1hoc1y \ViJJian:t.11 Antonio lf udgr Bt>rta Cleo Ooi"id L'Uu.bc.-rt \Voulbld \\rntkirtS A0ti1INJS1'fl,\T.lVE COORDU-.~'fOR SusanSmith EOUCATIONCOORDlNA'l''OI~ Andy Frc"e7.e 1\J\IP..RICO,Rrs \tJS'ri-~S Lynne Ausn1an, Greg Olkhovsky, '11ffo ny Hannon M:u·k G1mly Ja~s Jaml's Shc.::srs Cook Bybee Oan)'Oll Jon Dnrby Bas.k t.rviUt Julit' ~1arl< l\'1UI') ' Nett 10ni1• WnJJ;,,r Uoniu'CI .J=icks:on Citmpbctl ~1u~ll~r '\ \'illi11n1s 1-lnlf)' RacshRwo Rir-cardo S1u11 Si.l\'la Tooy Rn): llnrd Gipson T..'lylor ,Jac.f.ison COiiins 011nt1fll0f1d Joseph111e A~IAPRO.JECTMANACEll Ken.,eth Cheriyo I RECEPTJONLS'l'S Melvin WiUjantS, EleUa \Aloolevs Streetvibes C01'"fRIBlflU"'<G\ \IRrrERS Cl'\i; OlkW••iSk)·, C\.fich11cl l•lc1~l\n, St\:\-.: Sundcrl;,nrl,. Andy Frt.'"?~'• /\lys::<a K(1n.,: rm"ru1, P..fari: Sl \1..~ltrS, 0.."4.• \·Vu1n blt.~. Julie: l'rl'yby~ r.. /\ngL'll11 1\,u '<l'lltt, Qi.101.1tlc \'\>'right, J1.•ff~r O-,t111rn, O;i,•id l-h1rrt.., l\.16hammcd Ali, Su1:a11114!' l•l ,'\1111(~)', Am t1ndt1 \\t('\ft•, f\f,indy ~l eA n n ll y1 r-.t.1uric~ King, t.1n Grif(n..-r ,I ones OOlCN!i •UUl : .11 Pl·JOl·ocnAPllV/AR'l'\\'ORK Anrl y FllX':tto, 1-\ nton i(1 Hodgl', 1\ nlh<.' n)' \.Yillian1~J 13crta Lambert, --~ ;12 . J, , ,. : Ct-.ISTlil! --··­ ...........12 <-'OVER (' l")''I' ~\;t:rd'-C.' during fl lrninlng ·~~Sion for 1r:llf$ ~(l('C\' r lo.!.1m , f'h01<• by REUTER.S/CN"n\ an .Az l?_ 75 ce11/.~ gt>eJ.' ,/Jrtctl)• ltJ J'OIU' 11e111lt> r 1:'i t:e11/.1' pu)il' ,{or prblliftg ( 'tJS/.)• We are members of: - No11h Antrri<::ln St r'\~1 Newspape1·;\.sso-tiation IN SP ./ l11tert1atio11al Ntl\vorkof Street PaP<r• Reat.i ers! Do yo11 have a favorite Vendor you would like to non1inate for Vendor of the Month? Please send your 11on1inations to streetvibes2@yahoo.com or Streetvibes 117 E 12th St. Cinciru1ati, OH 45202 513.421.7803 x 12. �STR EETVIBE S The Vibe March2008 3 Shutter Speed By the Numbers Frum lbc Bro6klugs lo.stitulo's ongoin~Jraq inde.~; th,e laresc l'ele~ed ·oecerober 2 1. - 111e numb'eroinewly disploce<I pcoploio lrvq, intoruolly 'Md abroac\, ran·between 60,000 artd 90,000 pet mon1h beet weeo Jnnuary and August~of 2007 In 'N<>vem.b~(. 40~000 peopre wer~· nowly displocc'd - Since th~ s:wc of 1be wnr 1n 2003. 124 Jouni:ilis:ts ~oveb.~n killed. IQ2 ofthem Iraqi Of 1hl>sc, 84 ~·•Iii~ were by n1u1:detnnd'AO by ae·ts of' war. [(___roe(lio wo1·ket~ such 1\S delvers aud inte~reters-are c9ucited, 1b.e numberreacbes Ib8. - The coali11on uoop s1reogth U1 lr;ui was 173,000 Jn !vla,r 2003(U.S. "1th ISO,O'o0. all ot,lrer~ not lrnqi. 23,0DQ). As of OeCt1J'1bcnhc tOol js do\viJ sli~hdy to l 70, 96 1 (9,S. wnh 169,.000 alloihecs 001 rraq1, i'o, 9'6 1). 1'hennnual Honteless J\tart11on ,.,.as broadcast from Nashville tl1isyeaL lt \Vo1·ks to prontote dte issuesofbou-.elessness ::ind poverty /1 l1or,; '1J•/l ffuJ!'" , 8n1w11 -'As 6f Deoembcr, thcre'wcre an esumated 25.,000 de1ainees­ n)·U.S. custody lniraq'$ prisons U.S. andJraql t,t0vtmmeru offl'c i:ils rapomha1 ""' cstimntod 44,000 - 65,000 Mr. and Mrs. H omeless Downtowner suspected l rriq1 msurg~nts or ~ectar1an kJllecs<letnJoed 1c11taq have been released .s_iiJ,ca March 2003. Ci~ed reasonsinchlde prison O'•Crcrowding. 'SL6bal poljti.cs-and·corroption tn the Na1ut: Ky le:\yner Ho1nch1,VJ•: Cleveland,OH Ncighborhood: A''Ofldale Fs.vorife intti.1-est: .<\.ltplru1es, listun,g.Md JUstoiy I r.an't 1:esist: Staying \\•arn1 and a:good bot meal I cau 't stand it " 'he11: t>eople \\':1.lk right l>)i n\eand ignore rue~ When people think d1ey arebe.rter than nu~ Ir '''''on the. lot tel'")' 1·,vould: Buy my O\VJl airp'lane and travel the \v~nrd Tl1e one thio2 l '''ou1d chan2e about the 'vo11d \\'Ould be: Findinga cure torcancer a.ad otherilJnesseS Jf I c:ould hll.V~ done it all over again I " 'ouJd hn,·r: Ne\'~r gotcen i1110 drugs 1 l'l\.q•ju~11c~-sx.ste.it:L - NC)lrly 4,000 U.~. soldiers biivc diod rl> f;oq Love to lllt is: F.org1veness l~----------------------------------------------------· Donate to Streetvibes 1 T~e morl!'supwn we h11;ve from th,e community, the f1utherouretfotsreacl:). 'You cni't don·aie.onl'ine -\\'\Y\'i·, ei'rrcilJo·n\eless.ofg . ' 1 Our work is possible only with tile he.Ip ofgenerous i11dividual gifts. : !?lease consider making a c0111rThu.tion 100ayl Et1cl0sed is my iax-deducl11bl<!'co111nbuti<>11 o( l $50 >$ 100 Others_ I I I Or make chooks payable to: S.treetv ib<-.s 117East 12th St:reet, E:'i ncinnuti. OH !15202 Addnlss: - - - - - - - - - - - - ­ T hank you for giving generously! e'ity I S\'ate/ 2!ip: - - - - - - - - I I I I . ________________ ______________ ______ __________ ________________ .. . _. . . I I �STREETVIBES March2008 News 4 Sleeping bags reach those in need Toledo inmates participate in comn1unity service, make bags and blankets for the 111ost vulnerable One hc;>1)1eless persoo srud 10 l'ue that geuji1g the b~ Wa.5 agtc'Uhelp, Thc'Y only hlldone9Tlall blonkctMd nov.•theextr:a \\'llmlth helps a lot. ,o\ separateperSOo 1 ()n Wednesday Februaty 13' \ I.he Grea1et said that 1he ~provided exera supr1<)11 fol' tlleirback Ciocinnnti Coali1ion for1he ~to nu~l ess received I00 issues.'' donruedsleepu1gbags Md 101es. Both the homeless 1-\ ltllough thetna1n goal is 10 get people off tJ-1e and communily outreach \\Urkcrs have Visited 1hc slrcctsAodsuccessfully placed intohOu$ing. the 1t.-ality Coalition daily ro colJeer theslee1>ing b.a,gs for eiiher is lhaton any given nigl1t in Cincinnau L,300 people pel'So11 al use, or to v.~11 behotnc-Jess and l't1any \viii sleepou1Aide, on th!.! "Although the main goal is to get ri..~istribute to hon1eless riverbook. under badges or i.n abwldoned bu ildi~ U\ ' GRr-:c; OLK UO\l'SICl. S'l'l \fF \\rR.m~ people off the streets and successfully placed into housing, the reality is··that on any given night in Cincinnati 1,300 people will be homeless" wd1vidullls \.;110 may oot have the means toget the bags dtentselves. The -slc~ping bags were doo•tedby the Bags ~111<JBtanke1 pn.)gi<un li'om the Ohio Oepann1llnt of Rcilc"lbihtruion nnd Comction (OORC). ·n1eBagsand a Blanke. ptograot is OORC's comtnunity si.::tvice corunlitme.11 to parmerv.•j1b organiz..'ltic>ns that ne~d help lo 1>rovlded seN1ces 10 sup1>0rt-die homeless. Cincinnati isn•11hconly city lhKI has benefited from the donations. OD'RCprovida-sleepingbags and roll.~ to ci1ies 1htough6tJ1 1he state to help hon1elt.'SS org..111lzal1oos during th~roveriloM'season. The ptoduCti(ln ortt:ieactuaJ bag,~ Md t0l<!$ lhftt tho GCCH.rccei \'Cd cume from the commmicyseivicc inmates at the 1bledo Correctlonnl Institution. .o\11 of the f-abric u:;e-d to produce th~ ha-i~ ar1d tolt!::i·\lo"ete don.ated nt.."l!erial One of Cii1~1!Ut:th ·s outrc:te:h \VO.l'ke.rs, Chico l~Qck ha" , shares. " I ltilkc.d lo~ lot of people \vho received the blrutkecs and dley \\1Cre ~finitdy thrutkful. Please be sure to only purchase a Streetvibes from a vendor wearing a white or yellow badge. ISSUES 2 WHAT' S AT STAKE? JOlN lJS for DAYS OF DIALOGUE. What better tin1e than an election year to dialogue on the critical issues that affect us all OUR P URPOSE is to create an environn1ent where people \vith differing vie"vs can listen and be listened to, and civil discourse can occur. Economic Development March 15 <> ' <1><) 'i¥flEN: Each dialogue \Viii be he.I d on Saturdays h .... E.... d_u_c_a_ti_o_n_, frou1 9a1n to 12 noon Wl:lERE: first Unitarian Church (536 Linton St) at corner ofReading ay17 - Free & Open to the Public ­ Reservations Re.que$ted. RSVP lo 513-579-8547 wvvw.ijpc-cincinnati .org <) �STR EETVIBE S News March2008 5 The state of Massachusetts releases five-year plan to end homelessness ll\' l,\ N G 'l,OFl;o;\1\K Srlla:r N1-:v.7' SliKVJCTi O\'en1or De.var P3triCk \\1ll atti:lmpl G to 11n1>l~menl n 1>l an 10 end homelessness ii'1 1hc Comn.1Qn\VC11l1h ll1e plan lmsbeal given a bodg,'tof$ I0 rnjJhonovet fiveyears, \'••iicll \\~II be b~\sedon n reportfiled in Deoen1berb}' the M.assachuse11S ContnlL~1 on 10 End Homcl-cssncss, 1'heoonu1:tission•s. repon proposes: to end hon1elessness fol' both fanulies and indi \.idtKtls ~~pro,1ding affordable hoUSlng. p1'0.\iet1Ll0£ d10$C !11l'lsk rrom bcingcvic:.t'-xl or di~'pl ncOO. Rlld roding in nsse1 develop~nt 1\ccording to smte 1cpresen1ntive AngeloJ.Pupollo Jr.. there"ill be.some diflerences bet\Veei1 the ("~·ven)()C ·~plan ~nd 1ho<:ommis.sion's n:porl l:.-J<.1'-'vvcr, "a significantportion doesoverlap,..he srud "1he Govemof?s·pJan isin line ,,.jth ou1· ~m 1·n1s.oe;.io n... said P'upollo, Q mcml')C'fof~1c CQmmi~<.lll He<b:hnc<I to c-01nn1enton the difli!rei1-ces bernre-n d1Cl\.\ i0. The repon recomntends 1heuseof cash and tlOn-C3Sh l'esources 10 p1'1!\!esn displaccmcn1 and cvict1on, including re-u1por.uy cash assismncl!.for rentand utilities. The CQ O tJl lis.~ion also reoomnlends \1iurking \\<itb tltose about 10 be disch:1J'g¢d. ftoin prrso.11 10 li od pcnnanCn1"hQusi.1Jg.. l'hec-0mn1isslo11 's.plan to proVlde per1nauen 1 housing fol' the C.onunon,,'ealtft >s ho1nelesS begins ''41.h n10~·111ga~v<l)' fl'01n d'k!tiscoFeit ll'1get-.cy shcltcrsasdcfuctohuiising. The nombcr ofshelters in Mass. will be reduced bin 1101 a.l t-0ge1her don~. awily with. According 10 Joe Fin1t, C'xec.uti,,e director of the -~'Jnss. Housing and ShcllerAll1anco(MMSA)ond :1member Qf1hc«lmn1iss1o.n, shcltcrs \\'Ill b\!U51;!d only forsl1on-rern1emergoocy stays, Jtot housing fot the duonicolly homelosi wid diS3bled. "Shel te<s: '''1JI be used~ diey :u·e mcanr tQ be." said Fron Gail £runru1,. e~ec uti ve. clir~tor of CASPAR (Can1biiclge and SbmeJ''"lle Program for 1\ lcohQI and Drug Rehab1l1tat10.11). ~01nn1ended 1be commissioo and 0q,,crnor Palrick f'o r proposing 3 pla n to help the homeless but she clojnts the plti.n does 1101 adequately deal \vilh non-economic l'easons JOr hontL.-.fessn·ess~such as 1nental iJJ nessc;; and substanCI.! midiction.s ''ih~ probleol ofhon1elessuess is 001lq>lex,..said EnnlM'1l1ei1·solu1ions \viii \VOrk for so1ne people .butotheJS \vtU 1101be able 10 keep their hou.~g;. ~ For this rcnson En n1~m 001 icvcs shcitMS.. especiaJJy ~lose th::tt deal \\'ith. s ubstance 9.buse. v11ll continue 10 be necessary despiw the plan to end homel ~'>llt!SS. Srud Unman. '"'There,,;JI al'\ln)'S be a place forshe1 ters. especiaUy fo r the populn1ioc1 \\iese1ve, thepopula11on \vith aoriveaddictions. The community \liill al\v.l,YS \Vlllll IQS~porropponun1ties for thu• populntioo," Sana ~adel. Director of Public Pl:1lic;,· fol' Ros(e's Placea Booton-brtSed \VQnten 's shelter, Is nlore op1imistic about tliepropoS<d plruL ~add cited the focus en 1hc di fferent needs of the h.;;im~l css RS o pQsih\rc asp<XI of thc repon. Fadel illso :tpproved of 1J1~ tl:po1t's :ltlecn pt to add.J·e~ djf'fetl!nt C.'l.USes ofho1nelessness and 1he focus oofinding 'o;ay:sofincrms111g.dte 1ocoine or a~s ofthe hon1ctcss. "1tlunk it's r....Jly grea~" said f'odel ••11'sn n'rulti.focuSi.."'d plan.·· TJ1e repor1 seek.s to reduce lhe Sb.Ue·~ 1'el1ance on s:hcln.>tSl;,:r• 1ncreasu1g: thi::produdion oflo\v-in..:omohous.lng u11hs and the add1tioc1 ofnlore housi1lg vOuchers. 11aJso c.alls Ibt producing a torn!of 1000 Single Person Occupancy hous1og. UIUIS and 800 lb.itUJy units O'Vel' the plann~d five years.r ive h1Jndrcdof the fim1ily lllJIS \\ouid be COOSln1ctOO Ul privitte de,ielop1nents \vltl!e300 ''IOuJd be oonstn1cted in ne\vpublic housing 11le repoltn1so hsts k>1.,\!1111g 00rr~ers th..-u prcvcnt 1hc homelc-ss from ncqtrim1g exisnnghousiJtg.asa !,."OaL The plan ,v;11 ~,r~)ltlotc: an t."'Tl d to hon1elessoess notonly in dle.Bos:ton area bu1 tbtoughou1 Lhe Con1nlo11\veaW1 Geraldine ~~cC'afl'erty, 1hc Deputy Directorofthe Onjce of HousLng :u1d the l!it) ' ol'Sptin~ietd·spoinl 1Jersonoo homelessness. slates that Sptinb<field is ~dready \\Otk1n,gID oi.'lkecluuiJ:,>ess11u1l3J· to cho5~ suggested in die .;omm1sslon's reporl such as tOcusing on crc?.afulg nifordablelX>using.for die homeless. ..Springfield is \VOrking to make the saolfl ch.aogeso\re1·1hep"3! )'ear ol~$0," saidMcOilli:rty. ).'l c.Caffer.ty belie\les: that 1.h ~ C"JO,rcroor·s proposed SI0 1nilllon 1,vill help ~eJernte 1he cities efforts to 11\Cl\.->ase lK>Using. "Wearespecifically looking to cn::ilo 250 unitsQfsupportive housirtg." said rvlt.~feny adding thn1 the resoucces pc~ b)1thel:ovetnot1.v1U hastendie JOyearexpectancy oftheplru1. To solve the e(;011ornic causes of' homelessness the roport rcco.1nmcncls ptovidin_g reSources and c.teating progtatns 10 allow those at tisk U) n1axjn1iie lheir inco1l\e and become econonuc.a lly stable. T1lere are also proposed progrums 1hat \'fill provide skill training and en1ploy1nent as \\<ell as SlJ!poqjve en\ploynllmt oppn1tuliliiSfor lhoSe \\<ith ntental illoessesorsubstance ab\IS.e problenl$. Acconliug 10-Pupollo. 1hc- ti rs1 step in 1nsti1uongthe co1un1ission·sreponis· funding.Tlte (;ovetnor. has proposed a budget of$10 million dollarto f101d the goal of enduig ho1nelessnes~ 111 the Comnlon1.vcalth Finn said that approXJmately $1.8 mlllion of tl1e proposed $10 nlillion " ill f;OIO MliSA. and dreotherSS.2 million ..;n go to the Depanment of l.lo~ing :ind lJrban Development (HUD). ·rhe Govc?mor's plan snJI 111us.1 be 1~iss.ed tltrousfl Sfate legislature before it can be instituted Ke\'irt Hun1ey. a hoo,eJess 1natl h\f1ng on t.heStteets·Of' Boston, has fui1h 1hcGovcrnor·s p)BTI to end honlelessness v.;nsucceed. "I lecould do 11 I dunk."said liumey. "lt~s thesmart thing todo. \Vith all the hQ111elessness.-0u1 dtere it' s a big priority." Re11ri111cdfiv111 .S1x1re <"':h<1nge f.'. .\~J;!CI :Ven'.~ ~t·n·ic(f: UTUTU',,\'frC'l'I • /k.1/JCl's.o rg f\.1issed a copy of ,{}freetribes. Check out the Street1•ibe.\· nrchive on the Greater Cincinnati Coalition l<.1 r the Hon1eless· \\'ebsite at http://\V\V\\.ci nci hon1eless.orgicontent/street vi bes.ht111 l Do you have trouble reading? Streetvibes Subscriptions Seeing people's faces? Doing everyday tasks? Are you interested i11 having Street11ibes delivered to yt>ur mailbox every month. Send a check for $25 with your name and address to: Streetvlbes 117 E. 12th SL Cincinnati. OH 45202 There is hope. There is help. We can help you or someone you know who has: • No Vision • Loss of Some Vision • \ Clnclnnad Association for the ' ' '-' Blind & Visually Impaired 2045 Gilbert Avenue Cincinnati, OH 45202 A not.for·profil 'lgency For information call 513-221-8558 and ask for Adrianne. �Community News 6 STREETVIBES March2008 Moratorium now! Many states rethink capital punishment laws, not Ohio B r .IULIF. PRZ Yll\'SZ CONTR.IBUTING VlR.IT~ R F a111ous a uthor and longtime death penally opponent, S r. Helen Prejean. OSF often describes support for lhe dealh penalty as, ..a rnile long and an inch dee1>." \Vhy is that? Often that one inch of su1>port is based upon easily c.hallcng,cd beli efs sue.It as - the death penalty is reserved for the v.•orst of1he v.•orst or that it deters crin1eorthat eveiyone receives a fai r 1r1al of 1he1t peets. Yet. digg ing beyond that f irst i nch, surprisi ng real i t ies a re discovered. that over 3,3 50 people sit on death TO\VS in our nation, that 126 innocent persons have been exonerated fro m death rO \\IS, the role of racial and geogra phic d isparities 1n death sen tences, the all-too-con1mon story of ineffective assistance of co unsel, to nan1e a fe \v, As these facts and tl av"s arc slo,vly exposed, the enti re d eath penaJty syste1n n1us t be caJled into question. So, ho'v d oes Ohio stand up? Ohio to execute innocent person Of the 126 nten exonerated fro nt death ro..v, five of them were fro m Ohio: Gary Beeman, Dale Johnston, Timothy l·lo..vard, Lamar Jan1es, and Derrick Jamison. Altogether, these nte.n spent over 80 ye.ars in1prisoned 'vrongfully and ri s ked bei ng executed for crimes they did not innocent people. \Ve arc thankful that ~Ir. Richey did not have to lose commit. Beyond these five exonerations. his life due to the nawed policy and countless others have been ntoved ineffecti\•cness of Ohio 's death o ff death row or granted ne..v trials penalt)•. Wearethankfulthat he,vas due to trial errors and ne\.\• e\•idence able to return home to Sc-o tland to that called the fairness o f their be \Vith his n1other fo r the fi rst ti111e convictions into question. The most 10 over 2 1 yeatS." T\vO days fo llO\\•ing Kenny recent exan1ples are Kenny Richey Richey's release, and John Spirko. K e n n y "Across the co untry, John Spirko a Richey, a native more and more states received to co m1 n u tat1on of Scot la nd , are beginning to l ife ""i thout \Vho "'as rethink t heir capital parole front convicted of the punishment systems, G overno r Ted 1986 murder of recognizing the Strickland - IS Cynthia Coll ins days prior to his irreparable flaws ." spent O\•e r 20 sch e d u I e d years on Ohio 's execucion. Jo h n Spirko had been death row. The en tire tin1e Kenny 111aintained his innocence. Concerns convicted of the 1982 n1urdet of over the entirely c1rcun1stantial Bett)' Jane r\.1ottinger and s pent nature ofevidence that \\'&$ used to a ln1os t 25 years o n death ro\v convict hin1, eventually led to a ne ..v d espite no incriminating fore nsic trial being granted. \Vi th lacking evid ence. In November of200S, the State confidence in the justice systen1, it is oflittle s urprise that Richey pied ofOhio began conducting extens ive 'no con test' fo r lesser charges and D NA test ing to obtai n any to be released for tin1e served at the conclusive evidence that "'<>uld have linked Spirko to the crinte. l n over beginningof2008. Sister Alice Gerdentan, who two years, no evidence was fo und. gre..v up in Putnan1 County, Chair of During the investigation, Spirko Ohioans to Stop Executions said received a record 7 reprieves (five ··.,ve have kno\vn for years that the fromfo rmcrGovernorTaftandt\VO death penalty ri sks execut ing front Governor Strick land) , receiving a ne ..v execution date each ri111e. Come and have a cup of coffee and enjoy a relaxing atmosphere at 1506 Elm St. Monday - Friday 5:00 pm - 9:00 pm Saturday 8:00 am - 5:00 pm Sunday 12:00 pm - 5:00pm Phone# (513) 381-3368 d ispariti es. a nd i nsuffi cien t protection for in111ates with 111ental d isabilities. \Vhethe r o r no t someone receives the death penalty c an depend upon the race ofthe victim. The ABA found that those that kill 'vhite victin1s are 3.8 t1rnes n1ore likely to rec-e ive the death penalty than those " 'ho kill victints ofcolor. \Vhethe r o r no t someone receives the death penalty can also depeod upon what s ide of the state thecrimeoccurred. Only IOout of 88 co un ties acco unt fo r ·14o/o of Ohio's death ro\v, And, those \vho co111n1it capital cri111es in Harn.i lton County are 2. 7 tin1es n1ore likely to be sentenced to death than in any o ther county. lo regards to 1he ineffective assistance of counsel, the ABA found that indigent defendan ts do not have eq ual access to v.•ell­ qualified ano111eys and that anomeys representing those who may have 111ental illness need to have n1ore s ufficient tra ining in order to recognize these mental disabilities and recognize the in1pact o f the disabih ty on their client's defense. Lastly, the risk of wrongful inc.arcerarion continues to occur due to a lack of p reservatio n o f biological evidence , lack of documentation o fi n1erroga1ioos. and frequent fa lse eye\.\•it ness identification. Study demonstrates need for moratorium A changing tide In September of 2007, 1he A nterican Bar Association, j o ined t he 130+ organ iz ations and institutions in Ohio \vho have called for a n1oratoriun1 on the death penal ly in O hio. T he ABA conducted a 30 -n1onth in-depth study o f Ohio's death penalty and fo und that o f the 92 standards of fairness set fo rth by the ABA, Ohio failed to meet 93%ofthe s tandards. In addition to concerns about innocence, the ABA reported on inade<1uate legal counsel. unfai r j uiy practices, racial and geograph ic Across the country. more and n1o re states are beginning to rethink their capital p unis hment systems, recognizing the irreparable flaws. J ust 1n 2007. ·rennessee implemented a study. Illin ois continued its lvtoratori1u1t, Ne"' York choose to not reins tate its death penalty, and New Jersey abolished its d eath penalty. \Vhen .,,,ill Ohio li sten to the n un1erous groups c a l ling for motatotiuo1, 1nclud1ng the Cincinnali City Council, and begin to ad dress this issue? �STREETVIBES Community News March2008 7 Valentine's day brings many gifts Our l.!<11/y lJ1•ad Is a)Qod a1uJ 110.l'j>irnli i}' 111l1ri.1·U'J' 1J\' A1'<it:.J,,, P.iis~"t'.A.LA Cor..'T«1nunl'o WxrrEM Ou1·Daily Bread celebrnlcd Vale-iltlne's l)ay fully thisyo.'IT. Hem1-sh:ipedsugwrookies covered \\ii.th 1>ink icing front ·Larin Club of M.oooi.n1 High Scbool set the tooofor lbc day. Masy Beth Pefers, our ExecutiveDirector. lulf'lded lhe1nou1to people and \' 1::Ult0£. rot the .serving1ine io open, 1be celebrnt1on continued ,vflen. an 1he rrtlddJ e of Iuu<.:h. ~ truck pulled up·1:1r Ql(r back door, wluch IS located nghtdo\\'1 tbefirstalley offElder a.1\et the lntersecCJoo '"1th Race. The door \velcon1es and 1hanks chose bringing do.nario.ns 1.vilh thl.!' \.\'Or.ds -aoo ll l..ESS U'"spray-paimcd bcSidc ic Ourof the truck can1eagro~ of\IOIunteas \\1to b1ought1n boxes u1:>Qn boxe$ filled \v1th foo<l, toiletries, blankets iu1d more. 1bis wasOjleralion Wann-Up. ex1>lained l~ l i ~bcth, a 1114.lmbcrofthc crc\v, ·rite Elil lel Jewish Student Center at the Univers1t)1 of C1ne:1nnaHh3:$·1X!en $i)Ollsonng I.his wu~u!ll e\lenf since 1996. II is not, hO\\'ever,just a one day atTuir. for $Cvcral m011ths pri6l', volun1ccrssolk.it bUSlnessesfordon:irio11s, \\hich dley then bnng to vnnous.sheltel'S,J>Mtnes., mi$$1ons. ruldsol.4) kitdiens. Maiiy UC students are invol ved; "yeso.:rdS)• mu b.undrcd vohmlc.'C~ bc:Ip¢d OOg upall that wascoll<eted," Eh2'1beth said,"we had eight tl101L$attd b~. ·•AdddJonally. the Cincinnati f\1on1essori Secondarv Teacher Education l'r9gran1 provided s.is of our u1 01 ·c~r-1/J'i!-R/1i11c, C inc:i111m1i JJ'e .~c.>t,'t.' (I f ll}t/-</(( I' 1111!'1l li1111un: 1i1a1r 500 iluil1rh/11nl.s c 1°'l.''J' ,f(JJ ~ A1(11ula)t tflJ"Vllg/J f;ritlOJ' rti· pro,·hfc. )1•a rur a t-0111j(1nnhl1: /Jfacc j i1rall 11·J1(1 C(1111e. lt ;s o.·11/nc:c u•/Jc1r.· 11// 1111!'11.\ ;,, arv in1·111.·1/ 1a hv a f ll1'" ~fa ttJ1111J11111i1}' 1ha1 ix CMSTE.P \o'Olunll!Cr$ in th!.! kitchon at Our D~lly Rn..-ad. l'brJ10/rt1111 !'1 1s7·51~ Sdf\•ln_g..fine volunteer.; for the da>'· This trniiti11g course tQr, middle school teachers included a.serv1ceoon1ponent, and they c.u1no n.ot only from lndiann and Ohio. butalso as foras Washington. Florid."l, Tux.., Md l\tlichtl}&Jt "The- idct1 is to help us learn ~1-0\V to 1ntroduceoon1nlun1t)r service-to our 1111ddle ~chool students.... ~pres;c~ Rcbc<:ca, one of theCMSTEPvisitcrs. lnorder to ex,x'Yit!rtce Cinci.tmari's'various soc'ial SCJYicc agencies> the group $pCn1 time ·'ill f'easlee Ne1~borhood Center.. \ le n.1ce on n'. ft-e l '1i! t1h·,·11,L<'S looki11gfi1r 1'()/11111ccirs anti literacy pro.g,rBn1, learned aboul social t l (11HJ1i(1n.f ofn o1t­ enterprise.Sat \ 'coiccoq \ 1ine and lcaftlcd tho /k'ri,\'}rnblefoods. valueof\!•TInng and refl ecuo11at InkTank. !'/ease _gJ1.-c ~IU{111 or Tuna-tl.sh-saladsnnd"~ches \-\'ci:oservcd Kmh }' u ct1l l '1t up and greetings or-'Bappy \\1lentine~s Day" \'1/f!{i:.¢.XCh:U\_yedb e!Y>'Cen t\l.L The Spidtof1hc dt1J \\'l\S thick in the u.ir• ooeof'our guests gave \\obite rosesto those of' us on 1hc stuff. Slt'ts of stickci:s. lollipops. .stuffed animals, and cards v.;;~lre exchanged. and hugs 'vere fm..-.ty givt'1'1. \Ve havo a fricnd·v.i10 likes to givf:. us all h~~ shecan1e 1n ~a)' ai111oun.c.ingshe bad sp~1:d v.ilentine's Day hugs \\:~. did not turtt V1n~m1d lnk Taitk. They \\Urf.:ed \\ti th (;hildren in the,.Peasfee her do\.\'J"t Well put together c IL\ RJ.01-n: \VRJGtrr Co.,'1nun1.rrrNO \\'R1TER h is n(>tveiy often that you areplacecl in a facility "'here you can say you liked the entire staff, l an1a client at 1he Center for Respite Care. h is·a -fucilil\.· pr'OVided to hel1, ho1nefess people reco\ie1'physically. 1m>:ntnlly ru1denlOtinnatlY: It also prcp3rcs yo\1to be ready to go back toe·vcrydny living, I have bcitm heresince februaiy 5, 2008. \Vh!!n Icrune here I \Vas.extren1el)r depre~and close lo suicide. I c-0uld have never been placed 1n a better place. h is n very homey n1nl05phere. there is 5o1neone to help evel)·one. Who ever is respo1ts1ble fOr the sraffh'el'e.did fill C'>celle-n1ioh. The\' ••o the e.X"cra tt\1le to ~ help the clients boh:tpp)' and splrit stroo,g1hroug,h thc1rrt:eo\reiy, On da~·s when you are blue at least on~st3fl' perron care enough.to brighten your day. They aclually ,;'lrc lllcy make n.'00\'Cringcasy, no matter \.\•hat)'Our illness all ofourneeds are met$ lhey• are requlred h is asj.feandc.lean enviro1unenl You o ev·~r g,o to sleep 91 night feehng:b'1ld. 1t,s 1heir goal -You :tro prov1dc'3 \W-ll balnnc01.i meals :lnd O•lo snack CRch day. 1\ ll of)·ourmedic.ation is there nsneeded. Yourcloth1ngand personal needs are 1hcre as 'vcll Wehnve-indiVidual acri\rilies lha1are reqlUrOO ofus each ''ieek as ,velJ as gt0of)t1clivi1ies . .'-\11of 'vhich i~ hclpful 1othe clienLI\. [...'lStbu1·001 loast \\o'C have fl.m and do a !_01oflougtung, ltJt1$l goes to-SbO\\' you that being sick is not so bad after:UI Lt'saH about pos:inv.e 1hj11.king. Look at - 'IA'ha1-it did fur me. I. mris.ure I \1,ill recover in n1ore \\'3)'5 than one,no m:itter hO\.\rlong IS1ny heri!. (>oe thing I kllO\\' is nl)l lifeorhon1eless:ness iso\~r. Dtlesrepat a 01ne. l-:lat.'$otT10 the-cli1..>t1tS arldStat'f-ofRcsr>itc. \\1c.\vork ,w-11tog1..1hcr. lb1s 1sour safe-havoo~ ourhon1e.ooril \\lf,l. get our 0\\1l. 1Y<ill definitely \x•, \'Ol1.S1tCC11ngsomcof1ny h1neoncc Ism rclc.'IScd. Th3nks Respite for3ll ofyoursuppon, ·' t '111--r11g. s11pporli1"tt, ,1111/ 11·elao111i11g. 5 JJ..62 J..f,Jf>./ fl) j i11d 011/ llUJll!. ()11t' /,'J(1il)•1Jn:f1t,f i:: /r)clJ/1.~tl lll J 73() liacc .\'11't'..:t, ('inci111tt1ti OH, 45102. Give credit where credit is due f.I\' J\1, ' 1,,R.K S.0F.J.1t-, ST1ia; rv1ues VENDOR Pi~1of-all, I V.'OU.ld like10 tha _nk God for havi.n,g_me here in sow1d hfatthand fOC'havingrny Fits1 Lad)' -trl)' n1on1- in my Life: Mrs Eliz.abclh PCJU"IWaller~ -my in.spinttiOOI 1\\UU!d ltlso like tO thru.1kAndy Freeze from $11YJe1v1bcsand a host ofothet'S; .Ijus-t found<>ul lhal I 2u11 VeodoroftheW1on1hl I would like to thank my ftiend !Tom Clay Su..1that feeds me, (ireg Ross from "Mc110" Jetf11'0 1ll Rhil\os, Bill Bawn ffotn lJtban Sites, and tho M:worM•rk Mnllo1y. Yos,l helped pass out Aye"' for you years ago before you become nlayor. I '111proud ofyou! ·rQyou, thu1f1bs up, You uri::.doin£ fl greatjob 1A1th Ove1·d10 Rhine, As far as I an1 con.cemed, the6ad lhings here are the individuals that break 1n10 cars. r ·rn a rat! If you ttre hrea.ki1lg.in, J an1 relling! Rc!lOOn bciog, I \Ya-')h pc.'Ople'seurs The carthat yoo decide.to break 111 could have.beeo1l\)' nlOther's, so stop that! l anl ptoud 10 say a good thing nbout (rrn. is Str~ecvibes.ruld its man}' suppone-rs Md en1ployees, Ofthe businesses here Classical (jlass fol.tnder Mr. Davicl b ufflla.o; boon hllinspiffition i.n ~1y life for }'ears .Rc-carc.s abou1poopfc. Ph:~c support his business; he is a stained glassex'Pert Alol)g \Vlth·re.rry and nty long t101e fnend1'on1. Jim l'ronl Luc:_y Blue·s Pin-a and 0$11y o1hers I lhink that I \Viii close forno\v 111is is.Ill}' _llrst rinte \"ritin,g,, ro if you like It, buy ru.11ssuc fronl 11, e Md tel 111e krlO\'J! I v.-ould Inter like to \VTitc about"my po,sition in the riots·Of OTR. t hankYou! Mark ,.\nd1ocly 1 �Vendor Artwork and Poetry 8 STREETVIBES March2008 Homeless in N.Y.C. InJail Tiii tile suits \\loreotr J S!l.\V)'Oll On Swid:Ly Ad:iy ofresi BeJOn: Freen1nrket fot.aid more ere.vices ~lelp:!d n'liObili7..chaJfnmlllionpeople Bunwarolf Did >'OUnot Si;Ulding pratJd Loolangcmzy FrQn1 asJtksoc1ety Nine fingera ru~l;ed in One str~tch~ Tojudge '10 your residence On th~ streitt Ye:~~j udt;!i 1a1t To n.-devclo1> Yeah, II wasAugust29. 20-04 When lJ1lilOO fol' Peace aodJusiiC"e Bo.Sng l11e republj ciw' 001\\'e11uon Jn i1 city Notho1.rang e\'ef)'OOI! In t'i cit)' \vhete Touristshurdle l11e honicless and gari)af;e bags On theside·wulk. NofgaJblb>e bags in asense of'tiltl1 Bulg;:ubage b~1gs 1.u 1;\ settSe of duplicity Doubling LtS a n\9.kesilift pillo\'/ t\Jlda ho1dcrofonc•s ,....orld Aholderofevetytlungom1ed Pet~l::il l 1emsortl1lnJ;S cntried And held OOI() Even,,;thoutalu>fna E.vt11 fron1 TI1ecalm Ofhn] f t'I m1Ilion pcaccmnkc1"S Not lotO\Vlng y.•hat to 1uakeof .i\ ~~vcn fbot soarly .1ti :w \.\'ilhout ahome '"' seven fooi SRMly nuu1 WiriK>utquil r\ sl?\·e11fuotsn;u:ly ni..w Rftis111s hJ!S vol~ Wid1 anleSsage But themh>S 10 be Sontedung \\'T011g ''1.lh you You have 10 bosick Too sick To ftu'1dll)Jl Jn aClvili-7,1.-dsoci<..'ly The Wolf #lbday \WIS different N.Y.C htld u makeOvt!r BuiuU IJ1 ~ c.xpht.at1vi: 'rhe hon1eless disappeared In tJ1.:v.-orld For the \vee.keod \\'t).ufd be 11euphef11jsm You "~~re U1elasi Too bold l•lotncle:SS n1:1t' Sltul.tbug TO<.lU!!l)th The oops deporred Thep"ll"' n\etf:!)•es6rd·s Ofd10 TothooutSkins 1\nd1>u1l.be-resr C'.nlm or}'Our C:()Ulttldt:'$ Cleo's Joke Corner Peuce_ Berta's Art Corner \\ft1at did ~jlrs. Vo[c.anosJy to Mr. volc<UlO. Do you lava n1e7 \\'h:it did 1.heoc.ear:l say to 1h~ s.eashoJ'e'? Nothing, i1just v,~ved. \\lriters ! ~ sub111il your liftlJ!J poetry to Strcetv ibes ­ e1nail your writing to streetvibes2@yahoo.cou1 " 1828 - Miami & Erie Canal - 1920" PAINTING llY ?vllCHAEI. J. Bl.tlNKENSHIP 28 W EST C ENTRAL PARKWA V �STREETVIBES March2008 Vendor Artwork and Poetry February dream 9 Abstract ball Last nigluT dreru1u ofpeeriogthrougl1 a \'-indo\\• ofa gray stone cottage, the room \\ri t}un. suffus~J v.-idt \\~rmglG\\<iogligbt .;.\Jong the '"-all~ pastel ballerinas strerched and l\Vlsced their l i 1hcbod1,~, A fieldstone fireplace h~ldanes1 ofcrackling. dancing Bames. Istood, paroJyzl'd.by indecision and desire just before thew;,lootne mn1, sunnunded b)r l,lS \VirJ QfSJ)(.lV.{)(l.ke:;l My leO fronl.(X)ekel \\'JS v.ei,ghted do\\jn v.1diajangJy fiS1ful of'$hiny keys. Aou1nbpaw ·yrutkL"tJ thCltt (onh nnd Jtried chem, one by one, rod1oneaneager tongue tl1ur m1gh1 fit du.: lock .. llk! satvecone slippoo in butdidnotrum: a coppe.rone \l\':1'5 re1cctcd~ "ss-,r.~fk!j ftc,v ag3(nst coldmetal. 1lv..istedru1d tw.;;ged keys time.and time again :is:\\'3Jlt1d1 v.-hhin bcckone<.i .. 1tried a .final kc:y. shin)' and black; 1t caught,~dO\\ll)• ttillted and 1hc1h1c.k Qak door aeakedopen lazily .. my sentleprod•. Then Iv.'Oke and brushed a frosty 1hree-ind l drift J'ron1 d1erough bcr1ch that formed my bed, fronl my icy b<>dy. Ireachedimo my left lrootpocket Jbrnl\.'J ciflu otkt.."""S: .,, ' l found them nil. except the one. soblacknod shiny !\lot opencd tho door ~ Universal love OOn ' t lt.-tncgtttivcclcmc11tS in life Confuse the issue anddestroy yoor nlind Rccof,'Tlize all 1hcevJIS00..usdone toyou Then realize-v.flat do . it is lh.at}'OUhaveto . .Leanl tJu~ sec tt.1$ of tl1e wu \1c1sc T() ~ti er tmc1cn.1andy()ur lifCon earth Becon1e.a panofall cre.ation Only the.n c:.tnyou sucQL~fUl ly Nh: anntion Be the poople \\1boyou \vere<:reated 10 be TI1c aiai1111lgtcdi.e att11$0dety Cause evcl)' m1n11to counts cvcrysccund tOo Cause any niinu1eany seCondyour lifecan bethru Door( \V'3$(C)'Our life by v.·:istingyour n n1c Progress. achievecultivate )' Our 1nind .Li\IC~-..-iesyda)• a.sdinllf;i1 tt "•erey0Utl~1 Plan fQr the fi1ture. learn from the pASt l:teed 1hescriptures \vith 3sieuthfUIey1e Try 10 find lhc answer to dtequc~ioo .. \,fly?" Wakeup and see-\\TIO you rea:JI)• are God's i'iness e:re-ru:ioc1 unde:1-.)e~ the.$1Ql'S Search for 1-hc mnh, fight fQr\-vhi1t's ri~1 i Don'tS!op until they see dle}igh1 Because God Jooks: a~ cvco•body here as l~anhJ1ngs So forge11hestatus quo, let'sbehuman b~ngs Cause Unive1...-.al is "11-uu 1·1u speakin· One (iOd, <~n o planet, nahu11lly One lo vu or 10 \V1UT1llh, lle/Jri11rc<l.fr<1111 SJreer s..~n.\'(~ ("$1.rtet Nt'\t·s .yt!r~·Jce: 111111u'.slree1-pnpers 01g So Jl)aJl)' diffcrl.'11.t pc..'Oplo·in 1Jte \vorld today It's bard to tmderstand all the roles.they ploy lnsi l;J1ifjCai11fl.'i: lltU!!)' $00111 llvoiybody h11$ a purp\JSO f\>r l><!ing 1\ndit's tin1e Man.kind }'OUbe<:onlea\vnre N<>-OnQtS l)O}' bctror thnn :lnybody bcrc No nlan isgreater than another man So v.-hy 1~ it SCI hard 10 w)dl!rs1and That the day youdie son1cone else is b<Jm Bui life goeson and on andon lt ·docsn't \v-ait tor me. it don· t \WUtforyou 11goes on as it \WS pJanned to do See eve[)•body is soniebody is \\<hnt we bebeve No rrtrulet what race. 1,, 1ha1 coh)1 or creed EcononUcstatus<loes:n~1 make.a hu1nan being J11s thed.i\'ioe conlhtn::ttu,)ll ofso n\Bny tlilng.~ It's tho goodnesspf 1hc hcar1, it's thcsl-rt.."Oglh <.lf the mind Jr>s an individllal \.\'i.10 iss}liriruaJized Universal Lo\le is \\fiat I' It\ spc!akin' of One God. one planetoan1rall}' one love PCOjllc arc ditTCR.'111 bu1 \vbo is to bhlnlc ·rharnot bot! living soul on the Earth isthes3Jl:ie Cau.i;e evetytin.e J tum atound \\-ba1 do l see · Nothing. n6 person thar's thesame.as 1ne -\ \'ell 11'sobvious tbeonJy d:ung I can co:ncJude ts lhtHthere has to be purp<.lSe for this 1111tural rul~ \\'here nothingjs.identical on theplanereiinh From d1eti1ne it is00t1c:e3,«1to1hetin1eofi1·s birth And d1e d1ing 1hat aJlov.'5 t!Vef)•thing to be bont ls tl1esnn1epov,-ersow·et: th.at turn..<; C\retytltlngoo Yes. \VCnrcdiffercn1 yes 1hisis (fU9 BUL}'OU.got to understand how this relates:royou Eveii though \\1e.'1-e di ft~t (lC'Je fQCt still ten1ai1is Titat \vhich gives tis life, in all it is thesam·e Un1vel'Sal l ove 1$Y.4u1t I'n\ speakin• Qf One God. <.'nc pl~1net nah1rally one love Cultiv.:ueyow· in.ind soyoucan reoogt\i.:r.c The evil one in f\111.d:isguise .Thenobroi.n lhe kJlO\\•ledg.e Qf tlte uruverse So youcan rule di\rincly on planet earth S~k OU[ the truth :ind you \\/ill find There ate oo li1n.itatimls to tl1egtO\\oth of 1he.rniod All the people !lave to cbis understandone tiling They·renot bea<isorthe lieldsthey'rehumon bcinss. And thohum11:n i~bom \\ith thequal 1 ti ~1ti on ·rharen.ables us lo ruJe allof ~r~ruion And in the inUtgeofhe ll1ru. createdyou So should tho planet Eonh beruled C'..ause UnivctSal is \..hair n1-SJ>eaki1:1' or One Goel, <.'n~planct, naturnlly,one love �STREETVIBES Columns 10 March2008 Language of addiction The words used reveal, more than we might think 1\'1ic:lll1el 1'l e11so11 is author of Ransac:k, A S111ttll Roon1 u1itlr Troul1/4? 011 My Mind, ' 'ery n O\\' and then, to shake thi ngs up, I' ll ask a group in therapy or in E a school 10 list for n1e as n1any \VOtds as the)• can lhink of for getting drunk or getting high. Some of 1he ..vords are like 1his: Sessed Poverty and Addiction by Michae l Henson Getting a wake up The Tao of crwtk Lo11g i11g, a11d ge111ng soo1e c.andy trippin' getting an eye-opener offco your final trip, you' ll be lifted fo r sure. So n1aybe these are a stretch, but is t>tJrt of 11 blazio· a sphf take a look at the technical tern1 itself, 111011thly These \\'Ords testify to the intoxication. \vhich on its face seems series 011 clinical, neutral, unthreatening. 1>leasurable side ofintox1ca1ion ( 111t1ke­ 1 poverty uu1i ) "I'· ca1ulJ or to the transc.c ndent. o ut­ But Strip lhe \VOrd dO\vtl to its root, adtlict ion. of·the-ordinary nature of intoxication and \Ve fi nd that. tucked in bet\veen (tri/>pin ', C}'C-opene1; u·akc-up) ot to a prefix and suffix (ren1en1ber this stuff desire to sound unique, odd, or from grade school?) \VC fi nd the different ( sesse<I. crunk, bl<i=in ' 1ha1 poisonous \VOrd toxic . .tplif) Consuo1e enough of a n1ood-al1er1ng But n1ost of the v.·ords are like this: chen1ical, and you are said to be intoxicated, in·to.t ic·aced. \Ve have taking a hit blasted Poisoned ourselves. We might not think hammered of it that v.'ay, but that's the v.'ay it is. blowed The 01ind rnight be clouded. but the toasted bod y knows. And the body rebels . it \\laSted von1its; it coughs; it shrinks against the v.'l'ecked needle T he body \viii even shut itself f- kedup d0\\11'1 so \Ve can no longer pun1p the These arc v.·ords of violence, \\IOrds Sluffin. ofde.ath, dan1age, and destruction. The bod)• knows this, but the 111ind, in addiction, is clouded. lt'ssontething Son1e group·scan go on and on ..vi1h these v.»ords. I ha,re gotten as many as \Ve knov1, but vie hide it behind this finy-six 1n a single session. If l had kept screen of \VOrds that reveal and hide at al I these lists. I might have hundreds by the san1e 1in1e. 11·sonly v.•hen v.•e stop nO\V. and think about \Vhat the \VOrds are The consistency arnong these lists is saying that \\IC really get it. ren1arkable. Nine out of ten of the " lt•s like I \Vant to die v.•hen 1•m ..votds or phrases using, .. an addict in treatn1ent recently \\IC commonly use told me." If it ·son the street and " If it's on the street and for intoxication son1ebody says. \\•hat this one's got is somebody says , what this in1ply violence to all right, but this ocher guy'sstuffis one's got Is all right, but the self. k1lla. J' m gonna go for the stutl' that•s t his other guy's stuff is These include killa. Killc1: l1ca<i·b11sfer. bo1t1b, \Vhatever, I 'rn gonna go for 1hat.·· killa, I'm gonna go for the '"ords v.•hose references c o So these \\'Ords reflect, as stuff that's kil/a, Killer, ntetaphors, the fact that v.'hat \Ve do death. dan1age. head-buster, bomb, and destruction \vhen vie drink to cxc.css or use drugs in whatever, I'm gonna go for ate not a certain \Vay is to poison ourselves. that.'' ilTlJllcdiatcly I s uppose this is 1he J)lace to note obvious. "f'ake that small an1ounts of alcohol have been chilhn' or cool. These come up pretty s hov.'ll to have health benefits and that often on these lists and seen1 pretty marij uana has been sho,vn. in proper dosage, to be nledicinally useful and innocent. So I ask the group. v.•hat happens that rnorphine and n1e1hadone have \\!hen you die? An1ong other things, you sin1ilar beneficial uses. But \\lhen \\IC talk about addicrive ..viii drop to rooo1te1nperatute. Then, a little later, they take you to use, \vhcn \Ve speak of intoxic.ation, \Ve the 01orgue and stick you in a are not talking about sn1all an1ounts or refrigerator \vhere you•n be chilled and proper dosage. \\'e ate talking about cool for sonte rinte to con1e. HO\V about use to excess and \\<:ithout n1edical /ifteif! When the pall bearers pack )'Ou justification. We are talking about the Crow Cull. 1'his t:ol11111n literal poisoning that these \VOrds reflect. \Vhy so n1any ..vo1·ds? The only other life function I can think of that hassuc.h a rich and fluid vocabulary is sex. And 1t seen1s 1here are ne'v \\'Ords being made up every day and old words being retooled for the purpose every \veek. One reason for the nuntber of \vords is 1ha1people ..vho ate fao11liar \Vi th a topic ha,re ntore \\'Ords that relate to that topic. Someone \vi th no interest in carpentry probably knov.'S there are things kno\vn as nails, but he or she n1ay not kno\V about cleats, comn1on nails, finishing nails. shingle nails, rooling nails. panel nails. or the various penny sizes ofnails. People \Vho are into drugs have a whole glossary of v.·ords relating to drugs because they have an interest. People \vho don't. don•t (When l go inco a school and fi nd that the class cannot con1e up with 01any ..vords 10 put on the board, then I kno\Vthese kids are probably okay, If there is one kid out of the c.l ass v.•ho knov.•s a lot of \vords, then l knov.• co talk to hint or her after class.) \\' ho con1es up with these v.•ords? I have not kept a close tally. but most of them have come from African­ An1ericans and IO\V•incon1e \Vhites. (\.1aybe 1hat's because of ..vho I have v.·orked with for most of my career, but n1y 1otally unscien11f1c guess is 1hat if I \Vere to do this cxcrc.ise \vi th the drug abusers of sonte \Vealthy suburb, I would not get such a list. r\.1y totally w1scientific guess is that n1arginalized people, in general, are more ac.tlve in \\'Ord creation than the nlainstrean1 population. \\' hy? I think. because \Vhen you're do\\'ll, \Vhen you•re on the 111argins, you experience dislocation and pajn. Poverty, \Ve have said in an earlier coluntn, is not just an econon1ic shortfall; 11is a ..vound to the psyche. \\'ounded, v.•e look to \VOrds that express that pain. Blues, tap, bluegrass, arc all )>Oetlc forms that come from people at the econon1ic ntargins. All of them coo1e frorn peoJ)le in pa10 . And so, the street poets who come up with these ..vords for getting h1gh, \vho have this constant drive to create ne\v \VOrds for abuse, are trying, in their way, to tell us of1hei r pajo. Ir-------------------------------------------------------~ I Streetvibes exists as a forurn for the ex pression of the views and opinions of our I I readers and s upporters, l ' he opinions expressed herein are not necessarily those of I I I I the Streetvibes staff or the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless. I I ~-------------------------------------------------------~ �STREETVIBES Columns March 2008 Bodies, from page 1 an in1ponant and valuable opporn1nit)• for the co1nmunity." Nov.•here in th e article does r\.1r. ~le Donald discuss the fear tha1 the bodies """'illegally obtained Dr. RaymondG\o,...-, c,hiefn1edical director of the exhibit, in a differe nt a rticle. says: "We v.rould never curate an exhibition v.•ith contents v.re knew ·~veteobtained illegally or unethically... \Ve have thoroughly investigated evel)' aspect of \Vhat v.•e are doing. \Ve feel very co1nfo11ablc that the bodies v.·crc obtained ethically(Pulse, 1/16/08)." Yet. there are n1any 1n Cincinnati ..vho kno'v that serious questions ren1ain about hov.•hun1an bodies are treated in and out of public \ciev1, The key to resolving, this issue is sim.ilar to the earlier <:oroner issues: the ~1useu1n should pl'Ov1de evidence ofhow the bodies were obtained and \\•hether pem1ission \1/35 gjven fron1 individuals and/ or their tttrnilics, The "educational .. and "'spiritual.. 1ntentjons ofthe f\1useuo1come only aftel' we kno\v that people and.for families chose to pa11icipate in this exhibit. History doesn't help Sadly, Cincinnati's history \vi th misuse ofbody parts did not setve as a ..va1·oing to the Jvluseun1 Center. Over the past 7 years, the publi c has repeatedly read about ootrageoos ose of body parts or \11holc bodies \vithout the pern1ission ofgrie,.ring fantilies. Now. efforts are in the courts to change the practices ofcoroners so that this kind of abuse s tops 11 Nor did the national ongoing n'IOven1er1t \VOnder and beaut)•ofthe hun1an bod)' can to ha,•e n1useun1s return the bodies and orlly be n1eaningfully w1del'Slood in a context body patts of Native t\metic.ans to their of resPonsibility. We can be amazed at the appropriate nations and their burial grounds 'vays in 'vhich the bod)1 has been developed aft"'ect the f\.fuseun1. as long as ..ve koov.• that the bodies \Ve Not d id the "Th is exhibit continues a experience \\iith the ate looking at ate not long pattern of arrogantly the victims of illegal taking and assum ing that human dignity religious or political no\v returning of art can be violated with persecutjon. objects fron1 impun ity." \\'e can see 14oloc.a ust v1ctirns alter the r\.fuseu.111's spiritual lessons io the creation ofcells. muscles and bones as 1>0lic1es and decisions. Thisexhibit cootinues a long pattern ofarrogantly asso1ning, that long as \Ve are assured that pern1ission to hun1an dignity can be violated \vith intpunity. exao1ine the 1nost ptivale parls of our anaton1y has been gi'ren freely. \Ve cru1 corne a..vay fton1 Lhe 01itacle of Peace issue hu1nan physical development as long as v.-e kno"' that social, nloral and eth ical The treatn1ent of the huntan body is a devclopo1ent has em.braced the exhibit. 1>eace issue. Societies have tecogn1zed how the bodies of the deceased are treated, contrib utes to a respectful and Answer the questions psycholog.icaJly healthy coping ..vith death. There is no ..vay ofjust "viewing.. the Disn1pring the grievi.ngprocess equates v..ith bodies "'iithout th<.-'Sc moral concerns being viola11og the petsonal and social peace understood. 'rhe Peace \ tillage urges che process ofindividuals and com1nlmirics. ·111ere is a long and grueson1e histo1y of rvtuseun1 to not only pause in tl1eirshov.•ing using bodies to denote vic.to1y. hunuliation., of this exhibit until the vital questions of and pseudo superioriry. Displayingthe bodies choice ofthe people is decided. but to also or body parls is n1eant 10 con1m.unic.ate a undertake a community hc.aling about the fierce and ugly message about the "'<>rth of injury ofour public standards ofdecency. one hun1an being over another. Bodies and Few \VOuld Cl'tticize the rvtuseunl for body patLs have been patt of"ttoph1es;· or realizing that it acted too quickly if the ntade parts ofe.x.h.ibits for as long as people rvtuseurn shows it can bring Lhis exhibit10 a conclusion that r<.-'Spects the meaning ofthe have created museun1s or \va.ts. An indic.ator ofpc.aceful relations, the bodies. 111e local and national con1111unity restoration ofcon1passion, and the healing ,vouJd 1aJce r10teofsuch a hun·wutarian focus. process. has been 1he return ofbodies or If the Museum does not act. v..·e need to 1'eo1e1nbet the Rev. f\•latt111 Luther King. Jr.'s bod) parts during or at the end of \\•ars. \Vhat ate the spit1tual and educational \vaming: "Our lives begin to (,'11d the day v.-e "lessons'' the communif)• is learning about becon1e silent about things that n1atter." the ..body" ofleaders at the l\1useun1? 'The Dr. S1111tlerla11tl. for111erly Dea11of the UC College of Co1'11'111ni1y .Ser1.·ices a11tf a J>ro.fcssor of ~·ocial JYt>rk,for the J.'ast 21 J1ear:; at UC. is Director a nd /'!(.)1,,uler of TJ1c l'ea(:c Village. a C'i11cinnt11i basetl pcat.:e netu ·ork fou1uled after 1/1e 1'i<)tS a1ul e.,·rx111tlecl after 91 I I 10 '•'Ork t>ll pence nnd henli11g. For1t1ore i1if<)r111a1irJ11 on the J>cace Village 1>1vgra1us, please \t'rite: S11t.ktS<l.i!Jmt'lil11c.txlu 1 Vendor Profile - Hustle man IN1'F.R\' l t: \,'F.I) U\'•. \t.\'SSA K ONNRR.\1..\N STAil' WrERN I ..va.o; in the US Am1y. I ..vent 10 Fort Jacksor\, guy and Ididn·1 1ikehetan)' more. I niet aoothor South Carolina for basic training,. After graduation, I had advanced individual rraining in Fott Lee. Virginia. r...1y pe1·01anent duty station \\'35 in FortHood,Texas.. There, I \v.tS Lhe all atlll)' boxing ch.an1pion. From there. I \vent to Ne\v JerS(..')' and became the Nev.• Jersey CJolden Glovechantpion. f\·la&: has been sdhng Streetvibes since the middle o f last Oc."Cembcr. H_e \1/3.S picked by rliestaffto be vendot of the ntonth for his help \Vhat did you do after that! around 1he offic.e, l.-'SpCCially tOrhe.ofping shovel the ~TI0\11 aftc.'1' the In Ne\vJcrsc,.'Y, l had my tirst son. and l v.·as recent stonltS. the fi rst black supervisor for the People ExJ)tess Airlines 1n Ne..v Jetse)', Notlh 1 Ten1tinal. I got eng.iged. but didn't 1113rry her. \\ he1-e djd you ~ro"' up! l11en, I can1eback to Cincinnati. I 101ned the l gre\vup in f \'MSton lt v.·as peaceful ~ it "'<as army reser\•es again. Jn 1988 , I v.•cnt to productive. I used to cut grass, tunlble. and Honduras, in Central Anterica. in ''[ask force &'<> to rvtr. l·latty·s store. I ..va.o; a preuy average 16. That's v..hen I got sl1ot 1n tl1eleg. Befote I kid. Then, \W nlO\redto Bond Hill, and I \\'eflt got over there, the} shot me up \\<ith r\.falaria, 10Cres1 HillsJuniorhi£handWoodward High and I haven·1 been Lhe same eversince. School, where I gradualcd in 1978. From there. I \Will onto then1ilitruy. How did you beton1e hon1ele-ss! young lady and \V3Sstaying \\llthher. blrt \\iht.'ll I \VOuldn'tbecon1ehec enabler for using beer aoddrugssheshov.'ed rnetl1e Mor.so I \\'Ould rather stay outside than deal \\<i th al I of that. H ow did you become invol\ ed with 1 Strectvibes? Jimmy. I used to talk to Jinmty all the ti.n-.eand he .., ias telliog me. ''you're agood husLlel', v.t1y OOn•t yoo come and sell nevo'Spapersand make nlOne)• that \V'J'j?" And l did. I nlisshin1, n1ay he rest 1n peace. I respec1hio1. \\'hat ad\·ice would you give to others! To cry co let go of dte past, \vllich J'nt dealing with right now. And to catty on. 1 " I would like to get my own apartment and have my own key for it, so I can invite my son over and cook for him." \\'hat " ·ould you like to do! I \vould liketogetnl)' O\"O apannlef'ltand have Ill)' O\\fO key fo1·it, 90 I CaJl invite Ol)' SOr\ ovet Ca_n you te.11 n1e Back inCinci1mari, l Y.'35 living v..ith n1) son's and cook for hint And I \\'Ould like to go to about youl' tin1e in lllOO'I. aod v.'erlt lojail fotchdd support When Disney ''()lid. the military? I f.'Ot back out, she \llSS pregnant by another 1 �12 In The News Canada: 12-year-old girl sells red s"arves to help homeless Twelve-year-oldHannah Taylor visited Winnipeg's Parliantent Hill to urg,e Members of Parliament to purchase and v..-ear red scarves to raise awareness for homelessness. Despite her yowig age, Taylor has created the Ladybug Foundation, which sells the $20 scarves to raise mooey for the homelessas'"'" as"to show the homeless people in Canada that \\'e care about them." Taylorsaysshefound herpassion when she was five years old; she recalls seeing a homeless man eating from agart>age can. Ever since, she has worked to showpeople that they ·'shouldn't be afraid of the homeless because they arc people j ust like anyone else but with 'sad hearts.'" lns1ea<I, Taylor insasis, "they should betre:ated like they arefumily....You wouldn't letyour brother or sister eat out ofa garbage can or sleep in the street." (CBC Ne"•, I/30) New Jersey: Homeless removed from Hudson Trail A number of homeless people havecalledthepenmeieroflheHensy Hudson Trail home for years, but Monn10uth COl.111)' plMs to elint.inate this an:a as a possible residence. The county had announced its plans to clear the homeless from the area, and v..tien they arrived at the tent city to deliver the equivalenc of eviction notices. thC)• found that its residents had already abandooed their home. Deeming the remaining items garbage, the county workers threw away al)' belongin~ren-.ainingat the sjte. (Kevin Pen1on, AP, 218) Maryland: Senate passes homeless bate "rime bill In Frederick, Maryland, a homeless man recently found assaulted in an alley has died ac a Baltiimrehospital.William Sigler, 49, of Frederick was arrested and charged eatl1er in the day with attempted first-degree murder and tirsi:-degreeassault. Since thisevenc, The Masyland Sonale has voled for a measure to expand protected groups under the stare·s hrue crimes lav,s to include homeless people, and the bill passed on a 40·4 vote. 11te hopeisthatlhisbill will bolh prevent and pro,.Jde harsher prosecution for violentaasofhatecommined"!ll'inst those experiencing homelessness. (WJZ 2/15, NBC 4 2121) National News STREETVIBES March2008 Chicago receives record $49 million to fight homelessness Chicago programs to end ho1nelessness will have a record $49 niillion in federal funds this year, up from last year's $45 million. 8V S UZ.ANNF, H_A~NF,V Only I in 5 homeless persons arc addition, Continuum grants fu nd chronically hon1eless. but these in1portant services including job people use haJ f of all e n1ergency trajoiog, heaJth care, n1ental health .S. Oepartn1ent ofHousing and shelter resources, so getting the n1 co unsel ing. s ubstance ab use Urban Developn1ent Secretary into pern1anent housing has been a treatntent and child care. Alfonso Jackson announced the federal and Chicago priority. Once Emergency Shelter Grants ($3.7 grant - the lion's share o f n1oney they receive stable housing, they also ntillion of \Vhat \Vas announced last spen1 IO\vard Chicago hon1elessness can receive support - from \Veek) provide f unds for the - on JanuaJ)' 29 as he toured the substance abuse to e 111ploy111ent operation of local shelters and fund training - to heJp related social service and hon1eless ""largo an d Harold Schi ff " On ly 1 in 5 homeless t hem stay prevention programs, T hese fu nds ntay also suppon essential services Residences \Vith housed. perso ns are rvtayor Richard said including job 1raining, health care, c hro nically homeless, the Daley M. Daley. A ne\V foc us d rug/alcohol treatn1ent, child care but these people use on ..pern1anent and hon1elessness preven t ion Single Roon1 ha lf of all emergency Oc cu pa n cy solutions. not activiti(..'S . Al locations v.•ithin Chicago (SRO) building at she lter reso urces , so sh o rt• t ernt strategies;· ha.-; include: 124 4 N. getti ng t he m into Clybourn A,re. , led to progress •$16.S ntill ion to SO projects perma nent hous i ng the Schiff has been a federa l and in elin1inating that prin1arily serve fan1ilies v.•ith Reside n ces homelessness. children Chicago priority." opened last year ''We' r e • $ 13.6 ntillion tO\Vard progran1s a11d \Vere funded changing front a for hon1eless people wi1h substance in part by the federal go,•emn1ent. systent based on te111porary shelters abuse problen1s; ·rhe H·u·o ntoney \ViII support into one that n1oves people quickly • S9.5 n1illion CO\Vard housing more than 150 homeless programs i nto pe rmanent ho using \\•it h and support for th ose v1ho arc in Chicago and \Vas av.'arded on the extensive support services, such as severely n1entally ill and at high risk basis of ann ual, co mpet ilive JOb 1raining, literacy and subs1ance ofbeing cJ1ronically hon1eless; applications. Programs encon1pass a b u s e • S8 73,898 the full spectrun1or ..conrinuunt of trea tn1en t ," " We' re changing from t O\Vard care" for homeless indi,,iduals and Daley said. programs that a system based on fan1ilies- front street outreach and Since 2003, prin1arily serve temporary she lters into en1ergency shelter to ltao.sitional and 1he C i1y has do n1es1ic per111anent housing. ln addition, the a dded 2,500 one t hat moves people \riolence ,.Jcrin1s: fu nding \Viii provide ..supportive units o f quickly into permanent • S349,694 SCf\'iccs" such as job training, child perma n ent housing with extensive to projects that care, substance abuse treatn1ent and housing city\vide su p port servi ces, s uc h target hon1eless n1er1taJ health. fo r the horneless as job training , literacy veterans; This year, HUD hon1elessness and nO\V has a T he largest and substa nce abuse funding v.•i l l go to,vard 8 1 total of111ore than reci pi en ts and t reatment," Daley said . perma ne nt supportive housing 6. 100 un its of h c r progran1s in Chicago, as \Veil as 40 s up por t i v e approxi ntate transitional hous.iog progralllS and 22 housing for its horneless residents. grant totals are: 1he City ofCh1cago In 2007, 758 units of per111anent Oepart111ent of Housing, $3.6 1 supportive sef\•ice progran1s. f or cite third year in a ro,v, housing v.'ere added, DalC)1 said. ntillion; Cit}1 ofChicago Depann1ent Chicago has recei\•ed t he HUD "Jn our effort to end of Human Scrvic.es, $2.05 m i ll i on~ San1aritan Initiative A\vard to serve hon1elessness, one of our n1ost Hea rtla nd Hun1an Care and chroo1cally hon1eless individuals in cons1ant and 11~1po 1·tan1 partners ha.-; l>feartland J'iealth Outreach, $6.46 pern1anent housing. This particular been the Oepart111ent ofHousing and 111illion; Thresholds, $2.61 m.i llion: fu nding, \Vhich is av.•a rded to Urban Developn1ent," he added. Housing Opponunities for \\'0111en, successful programs. has helped add Since 2001 , HUD has a\\•arded Sl .89 mill ion; Featherfi st. $1 .82 450 units of pern1anent housing for nlore than S294 n1illion in funding to ntillion; Catholic Charities, $ 1.6 chronically horneless. 1he City ofChicago to support the n1 ill ion~ Deborahis Place, S 1.08 Thi s yea r, Jvlercy Housi ng ho usi ng and ser,rice needs of 111ill ion: Residents for Effective Lakefront, \Vhich developed the hon1eless individuals and fan1ilies. Shelter Transitions (REST), $1. 04 Schiff resi denccs. \\•ill rec.e i\•e the HUD's funding is provided in t\\'0 million: lnner \ 'oicc. $ 1 03 million. San1a ritan A\vard fund ing: $4.2 v.'ays: 14UD 's Con1i nuu1l1 of Care n1illion for tv.•o yeats, all of which \Viii be spent on programs to help progra111s ($45.3 I ntillion of the the chronic.ally hon1eless. Part ofthe n1oney announced Jan uary 29) J?e1>rinte<ifro1t1 S'trectlfise © Street money ""i II go tov.·ard development provide permanent and transitional Ne 111s .Se r ~·;ce: •v,•·111. stree1­ housing to hon1eless persons. ln /N.1pers. org ofa ne\V SRO in Engle\vood. STRElT NE\\'S SERVICE U Visit \.VWW.cincihon1eless.org for n1ore information on GCCH programs and volunteer opportunities. �S TR EETVIBES March2008 International News Iraq Soccer, from page 1 the final inJakarta in July. Witll the natjonal teams as their inspiration, the deaf·ntute squad qualified for the regional chan1pionships of the Asia Pacific Oc.a f Games in Kuv,.ait Shafi founded the teat11 in 2003, shortly after U.S.-led forces toppled Saddan1Hussein. At a ~rts club onc c.·v·cning. hcmc.'t a group ofyolmg deaf men v.•ho v.·ere l>O\vltng, S\"1nuningand bod)'budding. He suggested the>•pla)' soccer. h1 training. he \VOrks v.-ith tv.o other coa<:hcs \vhO do not kno\11 sign Iangu$f.oe, but -.ho do the physical training. Shafi teaches the various n1oves. tactics and strategy. "Ph)•sical training istn1cial, but it•s notenough. You need son1eooe '"ho can communicate ideas ''~ th the kids. especiallysomethingtechnical." he said " Ifs Sbll difficult- '"'th sign lang uage youneverget the v.~1ol e idea across... Despitethechallenges- the referee has to \\lave a Aas instcadofblO\\ii.ng a \vhisde and each tean1 's trai.nersits on 1.hesidelioes ttllt'ISlattng his decis1or'!S 1n sign language-Shafi says the games are as good as any other. The playerssay so1,,.1imcsonly half the squad turns up to train.ing v.+.en 13 In The News - Cont security is bad. Those \vho do often travel are in fearofbcingk1dnappedor killed on lrnq'ssrill dangerous roads. But \\<ith anacks across Iraq do\1/11 60 percent since lastJlme, thanks to an additional 30,000 U.S. troops, Sunni ne1gld>outhood patrolsand a ceasefire by a feared Shi'itemilitia, the tea111 now n1Mages nl0rerrauungsess1ons. "The 'tiolcncc has cr<.-a.tcd a lot of problen1s for us." said Adel KJ1alef ~lahn'IOud, 20,also LL~ngsign Jru1guage. "But \\'e nWlage." CtJurtesy ofReuters Cl ..."itrtet Ne•vs Servi,·e: 1v1v1t" street-J.""1J.Jers org Hearing Voices: My Hour of Schizophrenia O regon : Teen gers 70 months for beating a homeless man Sh•"" After 16-yeor-old Soldier Glancy and ""'other"1derage young mensolicited a43-yeor-old homeless man, Andrew Gonzalez., to buy them beet, they planned to kill G<>nzalez fo r the thrill ofit and then steal his backpack and bicycle." Gonzalez barely survived the beating, and the stabbing. which \V:.tS only stopped because a homeless v.'Olt'Wl camped neruby scared Glancy and the others away by yelling that the police were coming. (KO!N News 6. 219) 00 Hawaii: Homeless evicted from homes on bea<:h Approximately 300 homeless individuals lived on the Nani Kai portion ofUlehawa Beach Parl< and 0\' J\1J\ l'(l)V l\rl cA~'1.Al.I,.'' level rises as l "•'OIT}' about performing emcrS,t."lll.)' room. the nearby Surfer•seeach area, but Srrrutr N EWS St RVlCE ,velJ on the test. The voices are quiet no\\~. but I' nt Logan reviews tlte test orally.The nervous about ans,ver1ng questions. are now being forced to leave. City voices make it hard to hear her but I The intervie\ver seentS detached. She officials claim to be only temporarily an1about to learn firs t·hand \Vhat kno,v l did poorly. At least l ' nt not has a blank expression and she is closing the parks for ntaintenance and aski ng me repairs. but the homeless living,there life is li ke fo r someone \vi th the only one. Out schizophre nia . People v.•it h of I0 questions, " The voices grow p ointles s suspect they will not be v.·elcomed back. In recenl years, the homeless sch1zo~1ren.iaofien heat intemal voices tlte n1ajority ofd1e quest1ons. louder and more " Who were have befriended the porlt rangers and and experience hal lucinations. class gets about vicious. They are yelling delusions or other relaced syn1ptonts. three correct. the last four U.S. helped to keep the beach clean, often obscenities, commands, president(? \\1hat picking, up trash and evendeaning the About 50% of the homeless suffer I tell 111)'$CllT IJ bel ittling c riti cisms fron1 mental health problenlS, and rebound on the is the point of restroom£ As this process tal<es place at me now." your visit today? on more beaches, the many homeless about 2So/o of them have serious tootltpick act1v1ty. mental i lln~ includingschizophrenia. This activity Ren1en1ber these ore being furtherand further displaced. according to the National Alliance to sho\vS v.hat a patient ntight do in a day v.'Ords and re.peat then1at the end of 111.is, hov.-ever, does nor seem to be a End Homelessness. the intcrvie\\•: umbrella, app le , concern for the city officials. treatmentprogram. complained Tony Kamahalo, "'they I join about 30 people, son1e v.ho The ' 'oices grov.•louder and ntore bicycle.'' have fan1i ly and friends v.•i1h vicious.. They are yelhng obscen1ties, 11te voices dt0\\111her out Ihave al\va.ys push us aroundjus1 because sch.izophrenia. in a Bethesda church to con1mands, belittling criticis111sat nte to ask her to repeat the questions. v.-e're homeless. It's not fair. v.·e're take part in an unusual v.<0rkshop. no\V. ..Look v.hatyou'vedone! You're "J,lease spell ·\vorld' backv.iards. hwnan too, you know." (KlTV,2111) "Do not remO\'e your c.arphones stupid, You'rcshit, You're ''<>rthless!" Repeat the follov.•ing numbers in the Texas: Homeless shelter correct order: 64 -53 · I2-24. What during the next hour," Joan Logan, a the voices say. takes in s tranded chinese f\<(y agitaltOn increases \vith the v.•ere the words you v.•ere a.s:ked to pohce onicer who coordinates the Crisis Intef'\renrionTean1 in ~faryland 's intens il)• of the voices. Plus I can't ren1ernber?" she asks. a crobats read the instruccion sheet to ntake She puts a yellO\Vsticker Montgon1ery County, tells us firntly on nty once \VC are seated \vith our portable shapes \vith the toothpicks. Arc those evaluation. \\1hatdocs that mean? Did A group of 18 Chinese acrobats MP3 players in hand nun1bers or letters on the paper? ls it I pass or fail? I don't ask. I go to niy arrivedon one-\vay rickets to Dallas, "Over the next hour, you 'viii hear n1e or are the instruc1ions 1llegible'! seai to do a cross,votd puzzle untjl dle Texas. onl)• to find thatthe man v.+.o voices, son1e will be quiet and son1e (Logan latertells us that the instn1crions rest ofthe class finishes. had planned their nine-month are intentionally The\•oices have v.111 be loud,'' she says. l put in niy illegible co evoke a returned. ·111ey' re performance lour had run out of telling me l'm stupid l don't complete money and could not ta.Ice care of earphones and tum on the recording. reaction.) Hosted by the National Alliance on I fee l fr us trated and a l ittle a single ansv.•eron the puzzle. thent With no English skills and no Mental Illness ofMontgomery County, paranoid. I v.'Orty tha1 everyone will Finally, Logan tells us to turn off plans. the ac.robats were without the inte ractive ''Hearing Voices" think I'm incon1petent, even though the ' 'oice playe r to discuss the options. Heoringoftheirpreclicomenl v.'Orkshop \\laS lastheld fouryears ago l 'nt not sure v.'ho "'everyone.. is. experience. "f' he group appears Bill Thompson, executive directorof J\.lean,vhile. the ' 'Oiccs continue rclic-.·ed, J\.lanysay the voiocs leftthem the Union Gospel J\•lission homeless to educate the c-o mmunity about schizophrenia. 111ercilessly. "You stink! Evel)•one can be\\<i.ldered, depressed, anxious. even shelter in Dallas, stepped in to help. Logan tells us \Ve v.•ill read an sn1ell you. They· relaugh1ngatyou00\\1 exhausted and nauseated. He is allo\li\n.g team to take residence article and answerquestions, perfonn and talking about you. You better run I agree. I leavethe workshop \\<i.th in the homeless shelter under his a task \Vith toothpicks and take a a\vay fro n1 then1. Run and hide son1e perspective on \vhacit's like to leadershipuntil theirfutun>-whieh is mental health evaluation. yourself. Hideyourself un do~ thcb<'<l." li\'C \vith a mt."lltal illness. very much in the air-can be I begin the article and the voices I v.•ant to turn offthe recording. I resolved. Hisgenerosity has notgone on the recordjng sta1't to v.•hisper. I·m n1ove on to the menia l health l?e1>rin1ccl fronr 5'1rcc1S'enserb uinotiocd; "they made me-h them a lictledistracted but calni. Then Istart evaluation. This sin1ulates ,vflat a Street Ne iv:; Service · ll'll' IV.Street­ to SOY. •thank you.' to say to the Union to have trouble focusing. f\ity s tress patient nlight be adn1inistered in an J>apers.org Gospel staff,- f\·ls. Yeung, a director of research for United Way. said. (Holly Yan, Dal lasMorning NO\\s,21 Learn about other street papers at www.nasna .org 13) I �Guest Column 14 STREETVIBES March2008 My Mother's Promise Growing up with a different kind of poverty ov A\IL\!\1),\ \\'oLrt Gu£S1' COLU~ INl~"T' don't knowPoverty per><>nally. but I do conte fron1 a fantily only one f,'COeratiOn n?lllO\-ed from it My mother, along with herthirteenbrothers and mo sisters, grew up crammed into three bedroomsofan old fa rmhouse. They stilI had to n1akethe crek to an outhouse years after everyoneelse had obtainOO the miracleofindoorplwnbing. and 1ny mothet reme,mbers goingto school in dresses made of old feed sacks. Sho also recalls being kept a"iake at night by thescratching sounds the ralS made I as they crawled in between the floorboards. Sheandhersisters al v.ays madesure to tuck in the blankets sothe rats \VOuldnor be able to clin1b into bed v.iththcm, So she ntade a pron1ise (Oherself that any childofhetS "uuldneverknow poverty. She took me. to the denrist religiously because her fant.ily couldn't afford dental care-until as a last reson they hadthe teeth ptdled. She took me 10 restaurants lO eat because all she ever &'<ll wasbiscuits "'d 8Jllvy and milk &om the CO\VS. l attended the ciry schools, v.+iereas hereducation up h) theeighth grade was in a one-roomschoolhouse. lcanseetheelfectsofd1is~giog in difiCrent v1ays in my aunts and uncles as \\!ell. Son1e hoard their n1oney like they may neverseeanotherceru in their lifetintes, and others spend it like they are nUUionaires, as ifdtey needto get rid of it before somoonc realizes their n1istake and takes it a\vay front thent. One thing almost all of them have in co mmon is that they are e ither successfully se1f-en1ployed or \VOrk at very \\<Cll-payingj obs now, On the surface, n1y fan1ily alone seems togive some "'eight 10 the vety co1runon opinion in myho1netov.11: rhat people \\ieTe poor because they \Vere lazy and "ouldn 't v.'Ork, because-they A1nm1</a ll'olfc, g11cs1 col11ft11ri$Ifor 1/ri.s 11Wlt! ur(l.j a t in1e iss11c. is '' 200$ gra<luate of ,f(1vicr IYhe11 a n1an u'a-'· n king Uni~\~rsil)\ a 11:rxtbook Ci­ litor by tr<N.k, ""'' ifhe ou111eci a poe1 bJ' wt~·ictio,,, A11 oldbro"'" detenninedto riseabove theirbinh and make something of themselves. and through hard \VOtk, they v.·ere able to aocomplish that goal. Those Iazy peoplc no,vad3)•s \liho don' t niake it sin1ply aren·t willing to try hatdenousfl. But ifyousrop to think about i ~ really think about it, as l feel so ntany people don' t. you v.'Ould notice that my self­ e1nployed uncles are things like demolitioniSIS, electricians, mechanics. '"1dtJootrimmors. Youcouldn'tjustpicl< any ofthosed1ings up in thepresentday \vithout training and licensing and 1­ don't-kno,v-\lihat-all. The others. who work for once p<OGpCrOllS tacruries, got theirjobs "ben a man couldj ust v.•alk in andstan v.'Ork that day. Those factories are no longer as stable, and nev.•\li'Orlc.ers are often in Lhe first round of llk)•offs. I' m sure it \V3$n'teasy for my unclestoget to ,vf:icrc they are today, but l 'ntequallysure it's even harderno\v, I con'thelp but "'°oderifthe people 'vho hold those opinions that the poor arcjust lazy havedeluded themselves into believing that poverty isnot all that bad, l kno\v that as a child, it v.ias alntost a thing oflegend to me, like a fairy tale. I heard my mother's stories, the few tintes s he would talk abo ut her childhood, and J also lea mod about a greatwt<:leofmine\liho,vasapoet. He leA a handwrittenbinder fullofstoriesof his childhood; in it he wrote.ofpasting ne\vspaperon the v.•allsoftheshack he lived in to keep out the cold, and of traveling milesdmxl!!h a bli2Zll'CI "; th his one mulejust to keep his family ftom starving to death, But he.somehow 111anaged to keep fai th and be<:ontent \vi th vihathe had. There isone particular poem ofhis dtat standsout i11 1ny nt.ind: just wantedto abusedteS)'stent, and dtat they CQuid change things if they wanted, "King" but they chose to bepoor. One oooldlook 31 my family and S3)' by He111')1Gil/11n1 they are proof of this, They \vere Place Your Ad Here! With sales ofStreetvibes continually on the rise, and circulation reaching 5,000 monthly in the Downto\vn and Cliflon area, now is the time to advertise. Rates are as cheap as $25 for a business card size ad. J.nterested in :id\'ertising ,,11h Strcer\'ibes. c01ux1513.42 1.7803 x 120-reruail stroetvibes2@)·nhoo.oon1 Streervibes is sold by vendors which meaos that nearly CVCl)' paper we print gets into the hands of readers. n111/e IJ11/l 1ongue 11/Q111 hoe a11d rake A bluetick Jwund calleci D111111 A t1t'O l'Q()nted -'·l1a<:k to call ho111e A little •~0111an t<) call /1is Q>vn ./11s1a sntall gnnlen 1J(Jtcl1 1•vo or three c/,;/drt11 1t'itlr n1outl1s agape Looking ''I' fQ this big 111an they call Pap A double-barreled amt oldflintlock A11 oldbell 00111 out on the slope A .fe"' heJts 0111 back in a Ct)Oft JJ'itlt all this uicalth IYhy cottl/Jlnin For he alroady has Aln1<>St t!\'i!f):thing.' (It's an interesting fac1 that Uncle Henry wrote all his poems about living in poverty l!frerhe \V<tS n10re financially secure and retired in Florida,) I don' t think lever really thought aboul ""31 those children "with mouths agape" felt-.hen they didn't get enough to ear at night. l kne,vtl1e poore,'<isted in Chillicothe. v.i:ierc I v.ias born Md rrusect. but I never kne\Vthent It nevet occurred to me thru the old veteransthat Lingeredaround the 1nental health facility ordie guy aslcing forchange outsideMcDonald'smightbohomclcss, So l v.<:1nder ifthose v."10, likc me, don't kno'v\lihat itis notto ha"e enough to eat, or a place to sleep, maybe unconsciously retainth.is ideali.?£d vision of poverty in d1eirminds, believing dutt maybe some.people have to scrape to get by, but that it all works out in the end, happily-ever-allet. Noodless to say. \vhen I moved to Cincinnati forcollege, l v.•ll'S clueless. I bought into rumors l heard that you absolutelydid not go to Over-the-Rhine forany reason, andthat, ifyou did end up there, youshould drive like mad to get out, ignore stop lights and all, and j ust gun it. Wow, I thonght, that must be the \VOtSt place on earth. So I avoided Lhe area tOr a long time. I don't remember anyspec:ifics fron1nl)' first ventures into OTR. but I do recall my impressionsof the people I ntet on the street. Those whoasked for changealwayssaid thank youifyougavethem anything. andifyou didn\moreoftenthan llOI, they still said God bless you. I did not fuel thre31ened; I didn't pick upon any undercurrent ofangerorhate. And J'wsl o"~Y come to rea1;,.,, that the poor in Cincinnati are the san1eas n1y family was. ~·ly mothe,·s family ..vas fortunate enough not to have to beg for ntoney, because of the farn1, but other.vise they v.·cre the same. just ordinary people ''~10 have run into hard times and couJd usesomehelp instead ofjudgntent fro1n people v.00 have no idea ''~1at tlu.¥ 'regoing througlt Just a couple.ofv.<ecks ag.o during a visit hon1e, I heard tlutt san1eold point of view expressed that lhe poor have chosen tobe that way. I held my toogne. l 'vi sh I hadn't, but the fact is, l'n1 still not info rmed enough to make a oonvincingarguntentodlenvise. l'n1sure that there are those whotakeadvantage ofthe syste1n, but for the 1nost part, I don'tbelieve that anyone choosesto live in p0vcrty, Ifanything. I thinl< tho system has failed theni, and as nluch as l v.ish I did, I have no solulion for theproblem. But I do strongly believethat at least a'vareness is a step in the right direction. Interested in helping with Streetvibes? Are you a writer, poet, artist, or photographer? Do you want to help Streetvibes? Call 5 I 3.42 I .7803 xi 2 or email streetvibes2@yahoo.com �STREETVIBES Opinion March 2008 15 Our papers are out of order 8\' $TA.11" \VRITXR smmr'"-s SJ:Jn.'1CF J t's frigjnooiog......;, comes cm•n 1he pok~ Ourlargdy ~-oppomredS..,...,,.CounJUS11ces"..;,hmaa dociS10ll dull <Ould U1S1JftJIJONlu:e1he~ Ind cis<nf11nohisemcr11 of""'1desspo1<11ooJ ,,,.... In lhiscase.1he poor, ""' elderly and""' yomg. The<l1oll<11S< bef0<eo..-hjJll>esl court os..,.,. lndur1a·s,._ ida11ilioarion la"\ considmdlhesrriCl<St in lhelond. ><ltidl r<quim anyone ""inS roptt$Cf11 a cuncn1 80"'""""'' pllo4o Io 1rvoters do not ~ ooc al !he polls, lheir ..,... ore p10V1si01111, "liodl me311S the volers must presen1 their ID ar an appropri a.te p·emment office \Joithin I0 days, or lhe'\.'Oles do nol C0'8'1 t \Vidi Mt1ci palton or 1he highest coun's affi mwion oflndim's Iaw. statesnre preparina 10 ramp 1.4> theirov.n 1dentifianion rcqu1ren'IC01:S to ll04 only regulate voting. bu1alsoali11111hemsclveswi1h the federal REAL ID Ac~ 1n essence creating a national identificB00.1card. But \vl't.at is rrKJrC disturbing ls thestatement by Justice 1-\ nthony Kennedy, v.tio, in the lndiana l3w, said. "You w:u1t us IO invalidate n statuteon theground that it's a 1nill()r1neonvcnicncc to a sn1n!I percentage ofvoters?" lf Justice Kennedy sa\v thepeople '"'\ Md n1nny social service agencies see- those v.<ho cannot &ct into housing gee thohoahh cnrc ordisability benefirs they'reentitled to for lockofidentification - he would not be so callous 10 call it a minorinconvenience. There arte pt.-ople v.flo arcslet.'Pingoutsidein thooo!d 1onigh1 because they do not have the n1oney 10 1mnsfer birth ce11ifica1es1 or procure papers toget Social Security cards, to docun1cn1thorn.selves as valid hu1nan beings by govemnleflt s1Md3rds.. Md therefore access services. You can include in that 1lsa \\01nen \\'fiOhavecsca1>ed dleirprevious identity to escapeabuse. along \\<ith thopoorWld homeless inour oomnnsiity Mio facedailyslogofdocun,..11i0ll th"11selvesac""'5 stateLines and thro.,gh myriad hops. This"small perc:er111141e" of voters inolucles die gJOwing numbersofhousod poor. "l>o storicllly chan~"addresses morefrequcndy man tho5c"1lh means, and"'"' eaoh """'"comes dieohatgeof keepingdocumcnis up to date Bonom lineis, procuringidenrificarion isa oosdy and highly o"'...i S)'Slelll. "rough' "idi barriersofnme. distance and mere aooess (or U.S. c:itiz<m. And polls showdw Ille pcople 1#ge1cd by lhese laws tend., lean 10ward die vi""s of!he Ocmoeraric Piny Thesuict idenlificatioo lav.s.,. bein: by h<nlded by propooeois os a""""""., !he i""dlous '"""'fmud undcm11n11111 ourpollingproces.<. and indeed. our el<cronl pride. oraued "i111 all die vittiol as 1fweaponsof massdeslruoooo were 111he polling SOies. Just like the WMD's 1histhrca1 does11t «ist Evidence sho•'5lha1lhese10 laws will no< doone>•hit 10 curb 1-'0ttf fraud. lbere's no kno~11 record ofS1yonc bc.ngprosecuted for impersonating someoneelse ttt the polls. nor doe.s 1he rede:rnJ govemmen1 keep any statisticson such crimes. Thoseaffct1ed, i.n the words ofJusrice Kenne<ly. nreasmall perceruage, prec.isely because lhe perce111111...., has neverbeen measurodoraccounted for. It is a"minor inconvenience"' because it hasneverinconwnienced those in poYo'Cr. The nttirudcs rcflccrcd in Kennedy'sstatement are steeped 1n v.tute, niiddle-clnss privilege. frompeople.v.tio never knewa dny \vhen a $30 docu1nent tmnsfcr fee n1eai1t foregoing food, or rent, or \\lnSll' 1cvell in the ooonon1ic equation of survival. Do \\<e v.·ant univers3Jsuffrngeornro v.-o content to lei manipulative la"ischannel d1evo1ersofvnrying favor to and front dle polls? Money would bobcuersponl ro facili1a1c membership 10 the rhisgreat county, in itselec1oral process, and its citia."'llry. \\'e CM fearfear as k>ng \~ l et ourscJ\rcs, blrt v.-c can choose es1e,:ig.c in progressandgovernanceonly as k>n.g as \Wd'-"11and it. TI1ere·s nothingmul(H'about it Re11rin1ed,fron1 .'iireet J(oot f P .~reet /'lcu•s .~n'fcc; www stn:et·/"1/JCT'i' <>rg ·:.iccording to our calc11/ations. we can make it ij' "-e become a .'ii:r-i11co111efa1ni(1 1. " Movie Review: Sweeney Todd rall1er nlelaneholy Mrs. Loveu, tu no point i,11 the tilm 1s h erhairproscntobl ~ and het sin,ging leavesson1cth1ni: to be /lpe thing is for certain: "Swealey desired. VTodd: The Demon Barber of Alan Rickmon plays dieevil Judge Fleet Street.. is not a story for Tul'j)ln 1nos1oonvinc1ngly. Sasi,3 Bnron everyone·sta>1cs. AstOI)' redolent Cohen givesa most cnlertaining "-idl blood, cannibalisn1and gore, se1 perfonnanceas 1hecharla1nn Adolfo 10 otusic that borders on opera. it Pirelli;he isone of 1he fev1 ac1ors enjoyed a short runoo Broadway ond 'vhose voice is dubbed, and that f mcc is an aborta \'C tut an London. but iI stiJI indtcated ul the final crcdlIS.The v.'()n numerousTony awards in 1979. performances of meocheraclOrsare Theoriginal stageproduction was forgenable for lhe mo"' pan. sovtty operatic that it v.as difficult to Perhaps Bunoo was uying IO imagine howdiroaorTrm Burton could aeaiea film lha1 seemed less d...mcal rransferlhe play 0010 diescreen and morerealt$1ic by oc1lining the "'flour losing asiglilioantamoum of chorus, but much.,.. far"id1 die d181l1Cter oflhe v.od. hisom.iWons. Somemocshaveat11 Afterseemg lheftlm, I oonduded lamented dw the film v.115made1n10 a 1hat my ~cioos u-ere aauate musical mall ln a \\11)', I c.. under$l3nd d'ICt r because """'a bit ofdie spin• or""' original died indie transition.. die feelings Sweeney Todd IS screen.. leaving the \ie-.'-ersao seean ~y • mUSl<:al.ondS'f O"erty ""£>C resull """""'10ludelhefOC11Sludrcrous. l1 People "ilo °""'rsawlhe stage """'d hovebeen "isef10 h..."O \'etSK>n ate not likely to nob.ce the included all lhe musical numbers Ind., omission of!he manychoral l"'SS'IS<S ~ fomd """1ti'"" ways m hondle lhat rell lhe sroiy oorare they likely 10 diem r.ty recommcndiuioo?The feel shoochanged some oflhe major musical nwnbers areleftout. Entenainmen1 Ch3Mel 's version of Ho\\<ever. someofthedelettons SweeneyTorkl1s avtulableonDVD 11 result in obscurestory lines.such as \VOn three Emmy awards in 1985,Md lhe romance be1ween An1hooy and it delivers lllOSl of11leongi1llll srnae Johanna. ln the stage version, musical version. \Vha.1ls mo~ o.JI ti~ accOtS nwnberssung bet\\ieen the couple sing theiro"fl pans. lt'sa teal explain diedevelopmen1ofdie performanoe an<l is v.orth the n'IOney rel ati onshi p~ in the 61m. thctv.'Q poid. exchange not a word, and the audience is expected 10 believethat Mauri<:e Ki'1g lra-r bc:c1, ,11r11inR JohMna is ready to rlDl a'vay v.1th a sailor 'vhos1ood outside hetwindow fi>r 5~rect 5'c11sc !-.'Ince .Jtruutrl)1100./. one day P1ausible thcsituation isn't. Joie is afs,> a ""'xician u·ho last and1"im Bunonshould h.avekOO\Vll 1>/0J'e<Iin a stage 11ro</11ctio1, <>f .S'reeuey Todcl II. 111trll J1i1u at· better "hen he \VllSputbn_ghis movie IOgerher. be11<1da111(j/;cJ>bc nlucle.con1 hl1ufor Johnny Depp"sperfomunceas details. Sweeney Todd isas brooding and morose as thepan requires. and he Reprintedfrom Srreet .St-1,sct s·1~cr News &n'iCl': u·u'u1.s1rec1­ singsadequatel)' for his role. Helena Bonham Carter romes across as a papers org HY l\IAURI CF. KING S'rRv,J;:r Nl!.'\\'SSv,Rv1cv, he""'" "it"' � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource 2008 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data Newspaper Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource March 2008 Subject The topic of the resource Homelessness Description An account of the resource Pg 1: Soccer Team Perseveres Peace at the Bodies Exhibit Pg 2: About Us Pg 3: The Vibe Pg 4: Sleeping Bags Rea h Those in Need Pg 5: The State of Massachusetts Releases Five-Year Plan to End Homelessness Pg 6: Moratorium Now! Pg 7: Valentine’s Day Brings Many Gifts Pg 8: Arts & Poetry Pg 9: Arts & Poetry Continued Pg 10: Poverty and Addiction Pg 11: Columns Vendor Profile Pg 12: Chicago Receives Record $49 Million to Fight Homelessness Pg 13: Iraq Soccer Continued Hearing Voices: My Hour of Schizophrenia Pg 14: My Mother’s Promise Pg 15: Our Papers Are Out of Order Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Streetvibes Archive Project Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Streetvibes Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource March 2008 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Georgine Getty Susan Smith Andy Freeze Lynne Ausman Greg Olkhovsky Tiffany Harmon Kenneth Cheriyot Melvin Williams Della Woolens Michael Henson Steve Sunderland Alyssa Konermann Mark Shears Cleo Wombles Julie Przybysz Angella Pancella Charlotte Wright Jeffrey Ostrum David Harris Mohammed Ali Suzanne Hanney Amanda Wolfe Mandy McAnally Maruice King Ian Griffner Berta Lambert Anthony Williams Antonio Hodge Melodie Fickenscher Jimmy Heath CMSTEP Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource PDF addiction Alyssa Konermann Amanda Wolfe Andy Freeze Angella Pancella Anthony Williams Antonio Hodge Arts & Poetry Berta Lambert Charlotte Wright Chicago Cleo Wombles CMSTEP David Harris Death Penalty Della Woolens Georgine Getty Greg Olkhovsky Ian Griffner Iraq Jeffrey Ostrum Jimmy Heath Julie Przybysz Kenneth Cheriyot Lynne Ausman Mandy McAnally Mark Shears Maruice King Massachusetts Melodie Fickenscher Melvin Williams Michael Henson Mohammed Ali Ohio Peace Village Poverty and Addiction Soccer Steve Sunderland Susan Smith Suzanne Hanney Tiffany Harmon Valentine’s Day