PREGNANT WOMEN TAKEN TO JAIL IN ARCATA

On Dr. Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Day a pregnant woman who is past her due date was arrested by the Arcata Police Department and held in Jail.

The Arcata Police Department arrested a pregnant woman who is past her due date to give birth. She was arrested for allegedly missing a court date. She would have been forced to give birth while being held at the jail if she had gone into labor in the jail cell.

Earlier in her pregnancy, the same woman had been thrown to the ground by an Arcata police officer as part of this city's overzealous efforts against those percieved as "homeless."

Incredibly, at her arraignment in front of the judge the overzealous District Attorney/ Prosecuter demanded that she should be kept in jail, demanding that she give birth while in the custody of the Humbolt County Jail, as a punishment for missing an infraction court date by a few minutes.

Reportedly, this deputy District Attorney prosecutes child abuse cases.

This raises the question of: Whether someone who seeks to force a baby to be born into a jail cell is qualified to prosecute child abuse cases? Does the city council take any responsibility for endangering the imminent life of this child?

A community effort was put into effect when her family and friends attempted to give the urgent message to the police and the court system to free her from jail. The police said nothing could be done until her arraignment. More than 24 hours past before the arraignment and then another six hours of waiting to be released to her family and friends.

P.S. The original alleged offense, stemming from an incident in which the cops shot a taser stun-gun at the puppy that the woman was caring for at the time, was that she allegedly assaulted an officer. The cops put her in wrist constraints that were so tight that they left a mark on her wrists that was there for days and was documented by Arcata copwatch volunteers.

FOOD NOT BOMBS!

FOOD NOT BOMBS! http://foodnotbombs.net/

If distributed equally, the world produces enough food to feed everyone. There is an abundance of food. In fact, in this country, every day, in every city, far more edible food is discarded than is needed to feed those who do not have enough to eat.

The reason this is not already happening is no accident. We do not have a democratic say in how food is produced or distributed. People would certainly elect to eat. In hierarchical economies, the threat of the loss of a job allows owners to keep wages low. An underclass is the result of policies which encourage domination and violence. In our society, it is acceptable to profit from other people's suffering and misery.

Poverty is violence. One expression of the violence of poverty is hunger. Millions of Americans, almost half children, go hungry every day and childhood malnutrition contributes heavily to infant mortality rates, which are higher in parts of the U.S. than in most other nations of the world. By spending money on bombs instead of food, our government perpetuates and exacerbates the violence of poverty by failing to provide food for everyone in need. Food Not Bombs has chosen to take a stand against violence. We are committed to nonviolent social change by giving out free vegetarian food thus celebrating and nurturing life.

Food Not Bombs was recently approached and asked to cook at the Arcata Endeavor on Saturdays where there is plenty of food that would otherwise go unprepared and unserved on weekends. This is in addition to FNB’s meals served throughout the week that are cooked in the homes of volunteers. It was discussed and decided that it would be tried.

For several months now, there has been healthy vegetarian food served at 1:00 pm on Saturdays at the Endeavor (at no extra cost to taxpayers), and there are still enough volunteers to prepare and serve dinner at 5:30 pm on the plaza. Many of the volunteers now cooking lunch at the Endeavor on Saturdays were not previously affiliated with Food Not Bombs.

These events make clear that the facilities exist for those in need to be given the opportunity to help themselves. Instead of acquiring large sums of money to study the obvious lack of basic necessities, and spending lots of money hiring people who reinforce the separations between service providers and service recipients, Arcata could allow the already existing facilities to be used by those who are willing to volunteer to provide services to themselves and others. The costs of operation (utilities, supplies) could be covered by the money saved.

Not only would this less-hierarchical approach save money, and time spent to acquire that money, but it would also set an example of this historically tested and trusted method of social planning that involves less professional authoritarianism, and the actual meeting of more needs. The D Street Neighborhood Center is a perfect place to open up. Currently is sits locked and empty most of the time.

The direct action of preparing and sharing meals helps to relieve some of the pressures that create tensions in our community. Healthy and nutritious meals provide relief from the immediate discomfort and anxiety of being hungry, and prevent the long-term negative effects of malnutrition. For those overwhelmed by the cost of living in today’s society, FNB’s free meals provide relief from the competition for ever more scarce dollars.

Preparing meals together is a good way to engage our innate ability to get along and work cooperatively to meet our common needs. By addressing the issue of hunger directly, FNB also demonstrates our ability to solve community problems from within the community.

another look at the Mental Health Services Act

In the Mental Health Services Act Community Support and Services Plan put out by the Humboldt County Department of Health and Human Services Mental Health Branch, the claim is made that:
“among the estimated 2000 homeless adults, 80% of homeless adults suffer mental health issues; 90% suffer substance abuse.” (page 35)

The overlap (“co-occurrence”) of “mental health issues” and “substance abuse” is estimated at 4% in the MHSAA CSS Plan.

This would mean that 76.8% of homeless adults have “mental health issues” exclusively, 86.8% of homeless adults have “substance abuse” exclusively, and 3.2% of homeless adults have “co-occurring” “mental health issues” and “substance abuse.”

These numbers exceed 100% greatly, and thus are impossible!

Even if we use the estimate of 50% “co-occurring” “mental health issues” and “substance abuse” that is asserted in the “Blueprint for Change: Ending Chronic Homelessness for Persons with Serious Mental Illnesses and/or Co-Occurring Substance Use Disorder” (US Dept. of Health and Human Services), we STILL get numbers greater than 100%!!! (40% exclusively “mental health issues,” 50% exclusively “substance abuse,” and 40% having both.)

Mental Health Services Act Community Support and Services (MHSA CSS) Plan available on the net at: http://co.humboldt.ca.us/hhs/mh/mhsa.asp

“Blueprint for Change: Ending Chronic Homelessness for Persons with Serious Mental Illnesses and/or Co-Occurring Substance Use Disorder” (US Dept. of Health and Human Services) available at:
http://www.mentalhealth.samhsa.gov/publications/allpubs/SMA04-3870/default.asp

from San Diego to Humboldt

The Slippery Slope:
from San Diego to Humboldt

The homeless “Round–Up” programs instituted in San Diego may be emulated here in Humboldt County.

FROM:
Strategies for Reducing Chronic Street Homelessness (January 2004, 384 P.)
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
http://www.huduser.org/Publications/PDF/ChronicStrtHomeless.pdf

San Diego’s Police-Based Outreach Teams
San Diego city has two innovative outreach programs developed by and located in the San Diego Police Department—the Homeless Outreach Team (HOT) and the Serial Inebriate Program (SIP).

HOT combines a police officer, a mental health worker, and a benefits eligibility technician in outreach teams operating during the day and evening hours to engage mentally ill street people and connect them to services.

Because they combine police and mental health expertise and authority, they are the only outreach teams on the streets that have the ability to remove people either voluntarily or involuntarily, in addition to building rapport and making referrals.

SIP comes into play for chronic inebriates who do not voluntarily accept treatment. SIP is a collaboration of four city and five county agencies, including law enforcement, the city attorney’s office, the public defender, the Superior Court, health care, and homeless agencies working as a team in a court context. Mental Health System, Inc. is contracted to coordinate the program. SIP follows the Drug Court model in offering addicts a choice of jail or treatment, after assuring that the community was willing to pay for treatment if requested. SIP’s focus is on chronic alcoholics who populate the downtown streets of San Diego. Police officers arrest chronic street alcoholics for public drunkenness, and bring them to jail and subsequently to court. Once arraigned, caseworkers approach each person, conduct assessments, and offer treatment plus transitional housing as an alternative to six months in jail (the maximum allowed under California state law) to those who pass the assessment. Many people eventually accept the offer, although they may first serve a full jail sentence or even two before they are convinced to try.

FROM:
The North Coast Journal Weekly (Arcata)
http://www.northcoastjournal.com/111005/cover1110.html
Judge Feeney, who presides in Humboldt County Superior Court, Courtoom 8, was born and raised in San Diego and says he has "been admiring their homeless court from afar for years."
In September, he went down to San Diego to observe a homeless court. "I was impressed," he says.
"Many homeless people have substance abuse issues and mental illness, and for those people it's more complicated," he says.
“…some infractions and misdemeanors might stem from the condition of being homeless, says Steve Binder, a deputy public defender in San Diego who co-founded the nation's first homeless court, in San Diego County in 1989.
"They (“crimes” of the homeless) are the result of their being homeless. They might be 'sleeping in public' or 'drinking in public' or 'peeing in public' -- things we do in the privacy of our homes, they do outside because they have no other options. Additionally, you'll find petty thefts [of food], because people might be looking to survive. Or you'll find people doing drugs, whether it is a way of self-medicating or just a way of surviving on the street. We're not trying to condone that."

the CHRONIC HOMELESS INITIATIVE

original article on the web at: http://www.nationalhomeless.org/chronic/chronicqanda.html

What is the "Chronic Homelessness" Initiative?

The "chronic homelessness" initiative is a campaign to target federal, state, and local homeless assistance and other resources to people who meet the definition of "chronic homelessness."

What is the Federal Definition of "Chronic Homelessness?"

from “Ending Chronic Homelessness: Strategies for Action”
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Report from the Secretary’s Work Group on Ending Chronic Homelessness, March 2003.
http://aspe.hhs.gov/hsp/homelessness/strategies03/ch.htm#ch2
The definition of “chronic homeless”:
HHS, HUD, and VA have agreed on the characteristics of persons experiencing chronic homelessness and use the following definition in their collaborations:
An unaccompanied homeless individual with a disabling condition who has either been continuously homeless for a year or has had at least four (4) episodes of homelessness in the past three (3) years.

By definition, the "chronic homelessness" initiative excludes the following groups of people:
CHILDREN (with disabilities and without disabilities) who are homeless with their parents;
PARENTS (with disabilities and without disabilities) who are homeless and who have children with them;
YOUTH on their own with disabilities who have not been homeless long enough to fit the federal definition;
YOUTH on their own without disabilities;
unaccompanied individuals with disabilities who have not been homeless long enough to fit the federal definition;
unaccompanied individuals without disabilities; and
unaccompanied individuals who are unwilling to be declared disabled.
Press releases, plans to end homelessness, and news articles are using the terms "chronic homelessness" and "homelessness" interchangeably, as though they were one and the same. In this collapsing of categories, all people experiencing homelessness are either pathologized or made invisible.

The "chronic homelessness" initiative fails to address the ROOT of the problem, POVERTY, and the affordable housing crisis that underlie homelessness for all populations. To separate homelessness from poverty and housing is fundamentally to distort its causes.

sorry kids, "comment moderation" is in effect

Due to the excess of off-topic irrelevant personal and insulting comments on this blog, new comments will now have to be approved before they appear.

Have no fear - almost any thing will still be published! (even the mysterious mean little diatribes of "anonymous")

This blog coesn't get checked all that often, so please be patient and continue to comment!

Healthy Plaza Initiative?

Just thought I'd open this up for discussion - let you folks do all the work.

HEY FRED! NEW POST

just a little posting-action for Fred. Thanks for checking up on me, buddy. Stop in anytime.

Mental Health Services Act FRAUD EXPOSED!!

City of Arcata Council Persons:
Michael Machi,
Dave Meserve,
Paul Pitino,
Harmony Groves,
Mark Wheetley


Re: Chronic Homeless con game

At the request of a majority of this council, I am furnishing a more complete discourse of the facts and figures presented by Humboldt County Mental Health Branch as if truth. The statistics presented in Humboldt County’s “Mental Health Services Act Community Services and Supports Three-Year Program and Expenditure Plan,” October 7, 2005 (MHSA CSS Plan) are a gross misrepresentation of the truth. Not being limited in my redress to 3 minutes, I hope to not only prove that a pernicious fabrication has been intentionally inflicted on the poor, but to also bring to light what the underlying purpose of such a lie might be, especially when compared with the suspicious lack of “chronic homeless” numbers in Humboldt State University’s “Arcata Homeless Services Plan.”

The “Chronic Homeless Initiative,” or what you refer to as “continuum of care, or “case management,” was undertaken because the percentages of “chronic” homeless persons are small and therefore seen as an achievable goal. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development and Veteran Affairs all agree that an individual must have a disabling condition to be identified as “chronic” homeless, and that the total number of “chronic” homeless nationwide is about 200,000 persons, or approximately 10% of the homeless. Humboldt County’s MHSA CSS Plan’s estimated number of “chronic” homeless individuals not only exceeds federal “chronic” homeless numbers by 4000%, but actually exceeds the total number of homeless in Humboldt County.

The State of California Alcohol and Drug Program’s “Blueprint for Change” (publication No. (ADP) 03-7072) breaks down the 10% of homeless that are “chronic” into 3 separate classifications. One of the classifications, physical disability, is not an issue of this thesis because genuine illnesses are clearly discernable by empirical observation and less likely to be fraudulent. The other two classifications, “serious mental ‘illness’ (SMI)” and “substance use disorder (SUD)” are topics of the “MHSA CSS Plan’s” fraudulent number padding.

“Blueprint for Change” states that 20% of the chronic are mentally “ill.” If 10% of the homeless are chronic and 20% of the chronic are mentally “ill” then 2% of the homeless are mentally “ill” (10% ÷ 100% = .1, 20% ÷ 100% = .2, .1 x .2 = .02, .02 x 100% = 2%). Likewise, “Blueprint for Change” states that 40% of the 10% chronic, or 4% of all homeless, have SUD. When we combine the two classifications we get a maximum combined SMI/SUD group of 6% of all homeless (2% + 4% = 6%), however, “Blueprint for Change” states that an estimated 50% of homeless adults with mental “illness” had a “co-occurring” substance abuse “disorders.” This means that half the 2% (mentally “ill”) are also counted in the 4% (substance use) group, the combined mentally “ill”/substance use group is 5% of all homeless (4% - .5(2%) = 3%, 2% + 3% = 5%). Thus we see the number of combined SMI/SUD “chronic homeless is one out of every 20 homeless.

Humboldt County’s DHHS Mental Health Branch in their MHSA CSS Plan comes up with extremely divergent results. In fact, not only do their numbers defy logic, but actually defy physics. The county claims on page 35 of their MHSA CSS Plan that “among the estimated 2000 homeless adults, 80% of homeless adults suffer mental health issues; 90% suffer substance abuse.” The maximum combined SMI/SUD homeless in Humboldt County would be 170% of the homeless (80% + 90% = 170%). It is both mathematically impossible and intuitively illogical to have more than 100% of anything!

In the MHSA CSS Plan they make the following statement as justification for the excessive numbers: “Rates generated by the 2004 sampling of 339 homeless persons for AB20234 contacts, estimates 590 homeless suffer from serious mental illness, 200 suffer from substance abuse, and 24 from both.” Using the 24 “co-occurring” to 590 SMI AB2034 estimate as a ratio, the co-occurring” estimate for 2000 homeless would be 65 people (24÷ 590 = C÷ (80%x2000), C=65), or approximately 4% of SMI also have “co-occurring” SUD. The combined SMI/SUD group then becomes 166% ((80%-4%)+70% = 166%) or 66% more than the total existing homeless numbers. Another way of stating it would be if we have a total of 2000 homeless in Humboldt County then we have 1333 more mentally ill and/or substance abusing homeless than actual homeless. If we use the 50% “co-occurring” rate, from “Blueprint for Change,” Humboldt County’s combined SMI/SUD group STILL exceeds 100% of homeless at 130%.

On the Surface it might appear that lucre is the motivation behind these obvious fraudulent numbers, especially in light of the game show type of hysteria displayed by local poverty pimps and grant whores before councils when “free” tax money is at stake, but upon deeper reflection, the history of psychiatrists, psychiatry, disease theory of behavior and pharmaceutical brain chemistry cures tend to paint a picture of genocide, social control, and vivisection, way more often then any type of cure or improvement is ever noticed. Mental health for the homeless will consist of poorly supervised regimen of ant-psychotics that produce aggression, psychosis, violence, suicide, permanent neurological disease, sudden cardiac death, and addiction as “frequent” side-effects, while showing only trivial improvement over placebos in test trials.

Bertrand Russell said, “I think the subject of which will be of most importance politically is mass psychology…although this science will be diligently studied, it will be rigidly confined to the governing class. The populace will not be allowed to know how its convictions were generated” (The Impact of Science on Society). Media, schools, and organizations are obvious sources of propaganda and social control, but don’t neglect to factor in the accumulative effects of food additive chemicals, water flouridization and the trillion dollar pharmaceutical industry.

Though I have investigated this subject most thoroughly, I haven’t assessed when I will be “round up” because of my concern that my government doesn’t have my best interest in mind, or, in psycho-babble, “paranoid delusional of the social reforming type” (USSR Ministry of Health term for political psychiatric prisoners Fainberg and Borisov, 1971). Regardless of whether I get “round up” with the 160% of the homeless, or with the political dissident like many of you, the Mental Health Services Act is paid by big money (people earning over a million dollars) to do the bidding of big money (gentrification). The “system” will not be “sunsetted” when a “final solution” to the homeless “problem” is “found.” No, it will continue until it has devoured everything that stands against it, and then like the “witch hunters” and the “nazi psychiatrists,” it shall even devour itself as it outlives its usefulness.

Love eternal
tad

cc: Humboldt County Board of Supervisors

HSU student assaulted and battered by police in downtown Arcata

HSU student Assaulted and Battered by police on the Plaza

It was July 4, 1987. The Statue of Liberty had just under gone a face-lift and “Proud to Be an American” was the number one song. I was eight years old at the time and I remember being so proud to be an American, so safe and free. Ah, the rose colored glasses of childhood. Throughout the years those glasses have become clearer and clearer, but on June 19, 2005, they were ripped off, thrown to the ground and stomped upon.

After exiting Toby & Jack’s Bar on the plaza, I was standing in a crowd of people, trying to locate my friend. A man handed me something: a pipe. I did not want it and was giving it to the person standing next to me when two police officers stepped into the crowd. They flashed their flash light into my eyes and asked me for my identification. I was a bit startled, having never been involved with the police before so, I asked them to please take the light out of my eyes so I could see. I then began reaching into my purse to retrieve my ID for them.

The next thing I knew, the officers had grabbed both my arms and slammed me up against the brick wall. I began crying, asking them why they were doing this, telling them that they were hurting me. I had never experienced such pain. Little did I know that there was more to come.

The two officers dragged me across the street and slammed me onto the hood of one of the police cars. I lifted my head off the car for a second to see if I could see my friend Ryan, and an officer, with his forearm, slammed my face back into the hood of the car. I was handcuffed and thrown into the back of the police car. I asked the officers repeatedly what they were doing, where they were taking me and why I was being arrested. They just looked at me and never answered any of my questions. I was just their chosen rag doll for the night.

They drove me to the Arcata police station. When we arrived they asked me to get out of the car and get into another police car. When I asked them why and to tell me were they were taking me they said, “If you don’t get out oft his car and get into the other one we will physically pick you up and throw you in.” I did as they said for fear of more injury.

We then arrived at the Humboldt County Jail, where an officer came up to the car, opened the door and basically pulled me out, giving me no chance to get out or even walk down the hall that he pulled me through. We came to a small room and the officer pushed me face-first up against a padded blue wall. Behind me stood five officers, three male and two female, all of which were wearing plastic gloves. I was petrified at this point and no one would answer any of my questions. I did not have handcuffs and with my hands at my sides, staying close to the wall, I began to turn around to look at the officers while saying, “You don’t have to do this, just tell me what’s going on.” Before I even turned a quarter of the way the five officers jumped me and dragged me into another room where they pulled off my shoes and socks, my earrings and necklace. The pain they were inflicting on me was tremendous and I felt so powerless.

The officers then brought me into a cell and full-body slammed me face down into the ground. The officers then got on top of me and were pulling my arms behind my back. It felt like they were going to pull my arms right out of their sockets. They also had their knees going into my back with what felt to be their entire body weights.

I was then left in the cell for three or four hours when they let me out to sit in the waiting room. There they continued to be verbally rude and when it was time for me to be released, I had to ask them four times to call a cab for me. I spoke with my friend Ryan who was a witness to what happened, “After I watched them throw you against the wall and over eth hood of there car I was afraid for your safety. I walked up to one of the police officers to ask them why they were being so rough with you and where they were taking you. The officer immediately raised a tazer to my eyes and said if I didn’t step back she was going to taz me. I wasn’t coming at her in an attacking fashion I simply was trying to find out where they were taking you.”

They charged me with resisting arrest and possession of marijuana. They beat the crap out of me and charged me with resisting arrest! This is what our police force is here for? Their here to scare the crap out of good a biding citizens? Yes, I was holding a pipe and a ticket should have been issued but a beating was nowhere warranted and should never be. The police of Arcata seem to be bored and on a huge power trip. In the weeks that followed this incident I would freeze up every time I saw a cop behind me when I was driving or just walking down the street. I had always thought of them as protectors. Now I just don’t know what to think. I sure as hell know that I hate it when people call them “Peace” officers; I mean what kind of load of shit is that.

The other day a friend went up to a police officer and asked him if he was walking with the power stance to scare people. His reply was “What I don’t scare you?” as he took a step in her direction. I’m sorry but I didn’t realize that the police officers job was to scare the public. Maybe that is a new addition to the job description.

Now I am not saying that every police officer is bad, and I know that there are some officers that are truly trying to help the community but when situations like this occur it gives them all a bad name.

In the past few months there have been many incidents of police using aggressive force and nothing is being done about it. I spoke with Greg Allen, an American Civil Liberties Union lawyer based in Arcata; he informed me that mine was not the only instance that he knows of and because of eth sensitivity of the cases the names of these people were left out. “In February 2005 I was contacted by and represented a woman who had an incident with a non uniformed officer from the Dept. of Forestry, she was pulled over at Samoa Blvd. and V in Arcata. After being instructed to produce her driver’s license and registration the victim complied and was looking in her purse. Without warning, the officer sprayed her in the eyes with pepper spray, dragged her out of the car and threw her to the ground. She was charged with speeding and resisting an officer. I went to court in March, and the District Attorney had declined to file.

Greg Also informed me of another instance that happened on the Plaza that was witnessed by a local shop owner. “One evening while looking out the window at the corner of 9th and H he saw three young women who appeared to be students walking north on H adjacent to the Plaza. He saw an Arcata police officer run behind the women and kick the legs out from one of them. She was taken to the ground and arrested. The women offered no resistance, and the violence seemed to the shop keeper to be unjustified.”

The ex-boyfriend of one of my friends was also beaten up outside of Toby and Jacks Bar. I spoke with Tyler Brown who was the bouncer at Toby and Jacks that evening. Tyler, “I watched the officers grab him by the shoulders and slam him into the ground. This was done after he was simply speaking with the officers about something that happened earlier. He then said he was going to just go home and took one step back and that’s when they grabbed him. They used over excessive force in the situation.”

I tried getting a hold of the Arcata police department for comments as well as statistics as to how many complaints are made against them each year but I was unable to get a response. Also it is not mandatory for these types of records to be available to the public. A government entity needs to put it into effect that the people be able to access these documents.

I asked Greg if anything was being done to get something happening in this community. Currently there is a group of people from different organizations in Humboldt such as the Human Rights Commission, the American Civil Liberties Union, and the Civil Liberties Monitoring Project, as well as the Green Party working together to get something in place that monitors the police.

These people have formed a group called the Coalition for Police Review (CPR). What we need is community support so that the local government will acknowledge what is happening in our community. “We are not trying to attack the police; however it is difficult to expect them to investigate themselves. There is a small conflict of interest.” stated Greg Alan. If you are interested in helping with police review or would like more information please call the local branch of the ACLU at 707-215-5385.

We can not continue to let our government try to control our actions through fear of bodily injury. The police are being paid through our tax dollars. We are their boss’s not the other way around and its time somebody stands up and does something about it. We can not just talk about it we need to act on it in order to make a difference.

(for a picture of one of the injuries see: http://www.indybay.org/news/2005/11/1782998.php)

New England Journal of Medicine - TASERS!!!

http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/353/9/958
Volume 353:958-959
September 1, 2005
Number 9

Ventricular Fibrillation after Stun-Gun Discharge

September 02, 2005

original article by Alex Berenson

A shock from a Taser stun gun caused a teenager in Chicago to go into ventricular fibrillation, a usually fatal heart disturbance, according to a letter published yesterday in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Tasers are pistol-like weapons that fire electrified barbs up to 25 feet, immobilizing people with painful shocks.
Dr. Wayne H. Franklin, a pediatric electrophysiologist at Children’s Memorial and one of the letter’s authors, said that the teenager would have died if he had not received immediate care. An electrocardiogram or heart rhythm test, administered to the teenager, proved that he suffered fibrillation, Dr. Franklin said.
About 130 people have died after being shocked by a Taser, including 70 in the past 12 months, according to Amnesty International, which has called for a moratorium on the use of the guns.

http://www.medpagetoday.com/Cardiology/Arrhythmias/tb/1654
By Neil Osterweil, Senior Associate Editor, MedPage Today September 02, 2005 “An adolescent was subdued with a Taser stun gun and subsequently collapsed," "Paramedics found the adolescent to be in ventricular fibrillation and began performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation within two minutes after the collapse," wrote Paul J. Kim, M.D., and Wayne H. Franklin, M.D., of Children's Memorial Hospital in a letter to the New England Journal of Medicine. The letter was accompanied by electrocardiogram tracings showing the boy's heart rhythm before and after defibrillation.
At a meeting of the Academy of Forensic Sciences in February, electrical engineer James Ruggieri made a presentation in which he said that the electrical output of Taser's M26 model succeeds the fibrillation threshold for half the U.S. population. Primary source: New England Journal of Medicine

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/27/AR2005092700706.html
By BETH DeFALCO
The Associated Press Tuesday, September 27, 2005; 5:30 PM
The Securities and Exchange Commission inquiry into stun-gun maker Taser International Inc. is now a formal investigation with an expanded scope, the company said Tuesday.
Shares of Taser fell 96 cents, or 13 percent, to close at $6.35 Tuesday on the Nasdaq Stock Market, slipping below its 52-week range of $7.11 to $33.45.

Class Tensions and the Falsity of “Choice”

CHOICELESSNESS
Class Tensions and the Falsity of “Choice”

What kind of choice is working 40 or more hours every week just to spend over half of that money on rent for a place to sleep, eat, and have privacy, only to find out that you barely have any time to spend in this expensive place? What kind of freedom is conditional upon submission to the noxious reign of capitalism and private property to legitimize membership in the community?
What other choice is there but to withdraw from this sinister con-game that fools us into participating in our own demise, just to meet our immediate needs?
There has been much speculation in Arcata lately about those who “choose to be homeless.” For most homeless people, if not all, being homeless is not a choice. Most would prefer a safe warm place to sleep and to keep their stuff. Even the highly politicized research recently done by Humboldt State University makes this obvious. Even those who “choose” to be unhoused do so because their other options are too fucked-up to realistically consider.
The capitalist economic system, with its grip on space as private property to be paid for, demands scarcity. While buildings sit vacant with “For Sale” or “For Rent” signs, people are harassed off of cold concrete storefronts. Meanwhile, a vocal bunch of house-owning and business-owning individuals make excuses for this inane system, and blame the homeless for not doing enough to house themselves. Most of us are a paycheck away from being homeless ourselves, but as long as we stay obediently out of sight in our paid-for private dwellings, we will not be bothered.
If it hasn’t already been brought to your attention, perhaps the local debate on homelessness reveals the state of our freedom in this country. Those who choose to either boycott the rent/private property paradigm, or who simply cannot operate within its domain, are expected to hide from public view, and are harassed or cited for sleeping wherever they can. Some have been assaulted by the police with Taser stun-guns, which have been found to be LETHAL (New England Journal of Medicine, September 1, 2005 http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/353/9/958).
Does the community approve of the tax-funded police-enforced policies of keeping the poor and homeless living in fear and out of sight? Does the community know how much tax-money is spent on enforcing these policies compared to how much tax-money is spent making sure that everyone has enough to eat?
How much does the non-homeless community know about those labeled as “homeless by choice”?
What kind of choice do we have?

FREE SPEECH, the police, and the McKinleyville statue

FREE SPEECH, the police, and the McKinleyville statue at Food Not Bombs on the plaza
McKinley Quick Facts:
Under McKinley’s presidency, the United States invaded Cuba, Guam, the Philippines, Puerto Rico and Hawaii.
McKinley claimed that the invasions were humanitarian in nature, but instead inflicted suffering on the people and seized control of their LAND.

On three separate occasions, Arcata police overseers have shown up on the plaza when a man climbed the statue of McKinley (supposed to be in McKinleyville) and spoke in opposition to the current U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq. All three times, police overseers have tried to intimidate the free-speech performer, but were halted by on-lookers who did not approve of the police mis-conduct.
Arcata police overseers Ron Sligh and Kevin Stoneberger attempted to intimidate those who spoke out publicly against the genocidal war that the United States and corporate co-conspirators are waging in Iraq. Their efforts went unheeded.
Arcata police overseers leave the plaza.
Why were they there in the first place?
Who called them? Why?
Why were the police trying to get the identification numbers of people who speak out against the illegal genocidal U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq?

Food Not Bombs! has chosen to take a stand against violence. We are committed to nonviolent social change by giving out free vegetarian food thus celebrating and nurturing life. Poverty is violence. One expression of the violence of poverty is hunger. Millions of Americans, almost half children, go hungry every day. By spending money on bombs instead of food, our government perpetuates and exacerbates the violence of poverty by failing to provide food for everyone in need

BRIBING RANGER BOB

Humboldt Property Management recently bought Arcata police department’s ranger Bob Murphy a $1600 bicycle to make his gentrification-enforcement efforts more comfortable and enjoyable. (See Arcata Eye 8/30/05)

Humboldt Property Management surely expects their business to flourish as the well-equipped ranger Bob drives away any individuals that might pose a threat to property values.

Is it immoral for a property management company that stands to make a significant FINANCIAL GAIN from ranger Bob’s routine VIOLATIONS of the CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS of unhoused people to give him a $1600 bike as a gift?
Of course it is!
But is it illegal?

LET'S BE BLUNT

LET’S BE BLUNT

During the October 5th Arcata city council meeting, president of Humboldt State University Rollin Richmond spoke out against medicinal use of cannabis, contradicting most scientific findings and traditional wisdom.

His goal? To convince the Arcata city council to remain silently complicit while the University Police Department enforces HSU’s “zero tolerance” cannabis policy on targeted segments of the ARCATA population (not just campus).

Some notable quotes from Oct. 5th
Arcata city council meeting:
“We will not tolerate medical marijuana on campus and we will discipline students who have it and remove it from them.”

“One of the things we would hope to do is work with your police chief and your police force to collaborate more effectively than we already do in the use of our joint police forces.”

“I cannot ask the police at the university to work with the police force in Arcata if my police people cannot enforce the laws in the same way they do on campus within the city of Arcata.”

“We brought before you the other evening a Healthy Plaza Initiative, which is supported by the university, a number of business organizations in the community and a number of business people.”

He has also spoken at Homeless Task Force meetings, saying that some people just don’t fit into his idea of what society is.
Richmond suggests more police.

where's the "chronic"?

where’s the “CHRONIC”?

HSU professor Jane Holschuh and president Rollin Richmond at a task force meeting.Humboldt State University’s president, Rollin Richmond, has been attending Arcata City Council meetings with the purpose of blaming homeless people for declining enrollment at the university. In spite of his flimsy story, the HSU consultant team to Arcata’s Homeless Task Force has devised a plan for labeling people “chronically homeless” based on questionable and vague standards, and forcing mis-treatment on them, based on the presumption that they are “mentally ill,” have a “disabling condition,” and are a danger to themselves or others.

The definition of “chronic homeless”: http://aspe.hhs.gov/hsp/homelessness/strategies03/ch.htm#ch2
HHS, HUD, and VA have agreed on the characteristics of persons experiencing chronic homelessness and use the following definition in their collaborations:
An unaccompanied homeless individual with a disabling condition who has either been continuously homeless for a year or has had at least four (4) episodes of homelessness in the past three (3) years.

The Homeless Services Plan (available at http://cdc.humboldt.edu/ahtf/), written by HSU representatives, to be enforced on the Arcata population, refers a number of times to “chronically homeless” people, but keeps the definition vague and broadly applicable. In fact, the federal definition, which includes having a “disabling condition” as a qualifier to fit the label, was REMOVED from the plan.

This definition was available in the 7/21/05 version of the plan (available at http://cdc.humboldt.edu/ahtf/), but is absent from later versions of the draft. After concern about the vagueness of the definition and broadness of its application (and seriousness of its implications) was brought up several times at task force meetings, HSU professor Jane Holschuh said that she would include the federal definition in the plan, but it is still not in the most recent version. Why not? Why was it removed in the first place?

The implication of the vague and broad use of the term “chronic homeless” is that every unhoused person could be labeled as being in need of involuntarily receiving the heavy-handed help of the State, including forced drugging and confinement in a mental “health” facility.

SELF HELP MAKES STRONG COMMUNITIES

SELF HELP MAKES STRONG COMMUNITIES

Food Not Bombs, a radical direct action group that serves free vegetarian meals, was recently approached and asked to cook at the Arcata Endeavor on Saturdays, where there is plenty of food that would otherwise go unprepared and unserved on weekends. This is in addition to FNB’s meals served throughout the week that are cooked in the homes of volunteers. It was discussed and decided that it would be tried.

For several months now, there has been healthy vegetarian food served at 1:00 pm on Saturdays at the Endeavor (at no extra cost to taxpayers), and there are still enough volunteers to prepare and serve dinner at 5:30 pm on the plaza. Many of the volunteers now cooking lunch at the Endeavor on Saturdays were not previously affiliated with Food Not Bombs.

These events make clear that the facilities exist for those in need to be given the opportunity to help themselves. Instead of acquiring large sums of money to study the obvious lack of basic necessities, and spending lots of money hiring people who reinforce the separations between service providers and service recipients, Arcata could allow the already existing facilities to be used by those who are willing to volunteer to provide services to themselves and others. The costs of operation (utilities, supplies) could be covered by the money saved.

Not only would this less-hierarchical approach save money, and time spent to acquire that money, but it would also set an example of this historically tested and trusted method of social planning that involves less professional authoritarianism, and the actual meeting of more needs. The D Street Neighborhood Center is a perfect place to open up. Currently is sits locked and empty most of the time.

The direct action of preparing and sharing meals helps to relieve some of the pressures that create tensions in our community. Healthy and nutritious meals provide relief from the immediate discomfort and anxiety of being hungry, and prevent the long-term negative effects of malnutrition. For those overwhelmed by the cost of living in today’s society, FNB’s free meals provide relief from the competition for ever more scarce dollars.

Preparing meals together is a good way to engage our innate ability to get along and work cooperatively to meet our common needs. By addressing the issue of hunger directly, FNB also demonstrates our ability to solve community problems from within the community.

definition: GENTRIFICATION

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gentrification

Gentrification refers to the physical, social, economic, and cultural phenomenon whereby working-class and/or inner-city neighborhoods are converted into more affluent middle or even upper-class communities by remodelling buildings and landscaping, resulting in increased property values and in the outflow of poorer residents, either through displacement or succession.

TASK FORCE ARCATA

TASK FORCE ARCATA

The Arcata city government’s Homeless Task Force, without any “homeless representatives” (since they resigned in disgust), is in the final stages of putting together
the “PLAN” for Arcata.
The main focus of the plan is to keep unhoused people out of sight, and manufactures FALSE JUSTIFICATION for KIDNAPPING us off of the streets, forcing DANGEROUS PHARMACEUTICALS on us, and MANDATORY INTRUSIVE CASE MANAGEMENT that violates our rights to privacy and self-determination.
Drafts of the PLAN available at: http://cdc.humboldt.edu/ahtf/ (see main menu and Agenda for 8.4.05 pgs. 24-72)

SOURCES: Police Abuse and Psychiatric Repression of the Homeless (story from Arcata)
http://www.thestreetspirit.org/July2005/repression.htm

FDA warnings about anti-depressants
http://www.fda.gov/cder/drug/antidepressants/AntidepressanstPHA.htm
http://www.fda.gov/cder/drug/advisory/mdd.htm
http://theplazoid.blogspot.com/2005/08/fda-warnings-about-anti-depressants.html

Prop 63: Psychiatry Plundering The Golden State to Abuse Children
Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) http://www.cchr.org/prop63.htm

Psychiatric Drugs: An Assault on the Human Condition
http://www.thestreetspirit.org/August2005/interview.htm

Zyprexa: A Prescription for Diabetes, Disease and Early Death
http://www.thestreetspirit.org/August2005/zyprexa.htm

Psychiatric Abuses and the Homeless Community
http://www.thestreetspirit.org/August2005/psychatric.htm

The PLAN is based largely on the biased interpretation of the results of a biased SURVEY, conducted while most students were out of town on summer break, and interpreted by the Humboldt State University consulting team that lead the TASK FORCE.
Other “rectally extracted” data dictated the PLAN, including an interview with Arcata’s chief of police who concluded that “urban anarchists” are Arcata’s “#2” public health concern.
see the interview notes at: http://www.geocities.com/solarimix/AHSPTF_arcata_police_chief.pdf
see also: “Arcata's chief of police and McCarthyism” at:
http://theplazoid.blogspot.com/2005/06/arcatas-chief-of-police-and.html
The SURVEY, which polled the opinions of some Arcatans (homeowners over represented by 300%) and non-Arcatans (20% of respondents don’t live in Arcata, see pg.18 of the August 19 version of the plan, internet address above), used leading questions to push the ideas of “mandatory case management” and “required volunteerism.”
(see questions 11, 12, 13, and 17).

Survey available on the net at the end of the task force agenda for 8.4.05, pg 68-72: http://cdc.humboldt.edu/ahtf/
Survey results also available (incomplete) at same internet address. Notice missing data, including
question #26: “Annual income” of respondents.

RACIST ATTACK BY BLUE LAKE POLICE

RACIST ATTACK BY

BLUE LAKE POLICE

On May 16th, 2005, the Blue Lake police, including chief Gundersen, launched a racially motivated attack on a homeless mother and her children. The woman was shot with a taser electro-shock gun, forcibly medicated with the dangerous pharmaceutical Haldol, allegedly abused sexually while unconscious, and taken to jail. She was told by police chief Gundersen that she was not allowed in Blue Lake due to her race.

“Do you know what it feels like to fight for your life and kids lives and in a flash it’s taken from you for no reason, No reason at all?”

- from the diary of Yvonne Phillips, memo log of arrest.
Full account printed in the Humboldt Advocate, August 24-30, 2005, pg. 8.