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Torn police relations resist repair (The Oregonian says hardly anyone
attended a forum Saturday morning meant to promote healing between police
and Northeast Portland residents. Last August when neighborhood residents
tried to tell police Chief Moose how they felt about not having any civil
rights, police fired beanbags at them from shotguns.)
The Oregonian
Contact: letters@news.oregonian.com
1320 SW Broadway
Portland, OR 97201
Fax: 503-294-4193
Website: http://www.oregonlive.com/
Forum: http://forums.oregonlive.com/
Torn police relations resist repair
* Poor turnout blunts the effect of a forum called to promote healing
between officers and Northeast Portland residents
Sunday, January 17 1999
By Mark Larabee
of The Oregonian staff
The beanbags that Portland police fired in August at demonstrators in an
attempt to break up a rally near the home of Police Chief Charles Moose are
still being felt.
The way police handled the people involved in the rally, and Moose's
criticisms in November that Northeast Portland residents weren't concerned
with issues affecting their neighborhoods, continue to hamper relations
between the city and the largely minority community.
A subcommittee of the African-American Advisory Council to the Portland
Police Bureau held a public forum Saturday morning on Portland Community
College's Cascade campus to try to improve that relationship. The meeting
was intended as a forum for residents to express frustrations and send their
message to City Hall and the Police Bureau regarding the incident.
But few people attended, raising criticisms from one police watchdog group
that the subcommittee missed an opportunity to create a ground swell of
support in Northeast Portland for ideas that would make the relationship
between police and residents more amiable.
Most who did attend brought up their long-held belief that the city needs a
civilian police review board with oversight powers and independent
investigators who could look into accusations of police brutality. Such a
group would "hold the police and the police chief accountable to the
community," said Dan Handleman, a representative of Portland Cop Watch. The
Portland City Council, mayor and Police Bureau for years have disagreed on
the need for a separate review board.
Heavy criticism of police tactics -- such as using lead-filled beanbags or
pepper spray to disperse crowds -- came to a head last year after the city
canceled a Sellwood Park party planned by Daniel Binns.
Police closed the park Aug. 16 because Binns didn't have a permit for the
expected crowd of 2,000 and because past experience with the annual
gathering suggested that the party could become violent. The next night,
about 40 protesters gathered outside Moose's Northeast Portland home. Later
that night, when they blocked traffic on Northeast Martin Luther King Jr.
Boulevard, they were surrounded by police. Two officers fired six beanbags
after the group failed to disperse.
On Nov. 18, Moose explained and defended his officers' tactics to the City
Council but also shared his frustrations about Northeast Portland residents.
He said he was surprised so many people were concerned that police canceled
an "illegal party," yet no one seemed to care that protesters were marching
on his home. He called his decision to move into Northeast Portland "a major
mistake" and said he no longer would urge new officers to live within the
communities they patrol.
Saturday's meeting did little to mend the hurt. Subcommittee members said
they still were waiting for Moose and Mayor Vera Katz to answer questions
about the incident.
Portland's African American community has strong institutions, said Macceo
Pettis, vice chairman of The Coalition of Black Men.
"We want to make clear that this is a strong community," he said. "It's a
wonderful place to live."
Kendra Rosser, a Northeast Portland resident who was arrested during the
rally, said officers took her 1-year-old son, Kevin, from her arms. She said
she simply was trying to get into her home as protesters blocked her driveway.
"It was a peaceful protest," she said. "No one was shouting obscenities.
There is no reason it should have gone that far."
She declined to elaborate on the incident on the advice of her attorney
except to say that she is frustrated and scared. She said she may have a
claim against the city. She is facing charges of disorderly conduct,
resisting arrest and criminal trespass, she said.
Rep. Jo Ann Bowman, D-Portland, chairwoman of the African American police
advisory subcommittee, promised additional community forums and said she
would forward the messages of Saturday's meeting to the full group. Despite
the small turnout, she thinks the community is concerned about the issue.
"I've received many e-mails and many phone calls from people who could not
be here this morning but who said they wanted to be heard."
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The union of kids and coolers (Oregonian columnist Steve Duin wants to throw
a wet blanket on ski tours organized by ISTours of Seattle that take
Portland-area high school students to the slopes and spas of Whistler, 75
miles north of Vancouver, British Columbia. Alcohol consumption is a popular
part of the affair.)
The Oregonian
Contact: letters@news.oregonian.com
1320 SW Broadway
Portland, OR 97201
Fax: 503-294-4193
Website: http://www.oregonlive.com/
Forum: http://forums.oregonlive.com/
The union of kids and coolers
Sunday, January 17 1999
By Steve Duin
Columnist
The Oregonian
For one set of parents, the enduring memory of their son's ski trip to
Whistler was the opening act: two teen-agers lugging a large red cooler
across the parking lot at Lake Oswego High School at 8:30 a.m.
Before the teens reached the bus, the cooler popped open, and a full can of
beer dropped onto the asphalt and rolled slowly into the sunrise.
The parents were speechless. "We thought the chaperones would surely get rid
of the cooler," said the mother, a Portland woman whose son attends Jesuit
High School.
"We found out later that didn't happen. We found out some kids were nearly
unconscious by noon."
On the morning of Dec. 20, the ISTours caravan wheeled out of Lake Oswego
for a 90-hour fiesta on the slopes and spas of Whistler, 75 miles north of
Vancouver, British Columbia.
ISTours, you may recall, is the same Seattle-based tour group that escorted
Grant High students to the famous bacchanal last June in Mazatlan, a Mexican
holiday attended by fugitive Tom Curtis.
Given the publicity that graduation trip generated, you might think someone
would have insisted on tighter reins on underage drinking during this road
trip to Canada, which attracted 600 students from dozens of high schools in
Washington and Oregon. A few parents, perhaps, or the tour chaperones.
But three students who left the parking lot that December morning said
alcohol consumption was a popular part of the affair.
"People were drinking on the bus right away as we left town," one student
said. "People were staying up all night, drinking and partying. You would
check in at midnight with the chaperones, then you'd take off again."
Alcohol "was there for you if you wanted to do it," one Lake Oswego student
said. "It wasn't hard to party if you wanted to."
Owing to peer pressure, these students don't want their names used. If
vodka, beer and marijuana were prevalent, they weren't mandatory. "It was
your own choice as to whether you wanted to drink or not," one student said.
And the people's choice? "I don't think very many people went up for the
skiing," he said.
The response from ISTours' co-chairman, Ryan Smith, is straight out of
"Casablanca": He is shocked. Shocked! "In Mexico, our hands are tied. The
drinking age is 18," Smith said. But at Whistler, where 19 is the minimum
age, Smith added: "There's a no-toleration policy with us. It's illegal. If
(they find) drugs and alcohol at the border, you can go to jail without
passing Go.
"If things like this are happening, we're not seeing it."
Join the club, Ryan. One student told me the amount of underage drinking at
Whistler wasn't much different from what he sees on an average weekend. Few
notice. Fewer complain.
Smith insists ISTours is ever vigilant. They sent 10 kids home from Mazatlan
last summer when they couldn't control them. "Cross the line," he said, "and
we'll send you home to deal with your parents."
Big deal. Many parents are asleep at the switch when it comes to alcohol
abuse, whether it's occurring at Whistler or West Linn.
"You have two kinds of parents," said Galyn Metcalf of Lake Oswego Together,
a group working to reduce risk behaviors. "You have the kind who says, 'I
know there's a problem, but it's not my kid.' And you have the kind who
says, 'I drank behind the church when I was a kid, I know what's going on,
but if they drink in my house, it's OK, I have it under control.' "
With spring break and another graduation approaching, I thought a warning
about the potential dangers when kids and coolers get together might be timely.
But I was naive. The kids already know the score. And most of the parents
are away for the weekend at Black Butte.
You can reach Steve Duin by phone at 221-8597 or by e-mail at
Steveduin@aol.com.
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Should high schools in Clark County institute voluntary urine tests for
students? (Two editorial writers for the Columbian, in Vancouver, Washington,
take opposing sides in discussing a proposal before the Camas School District
to begin a "voluntary" drug testing program for students.)
The Columbian
701 W. Eighth St.
Vancouver WA 98666
Tel. (360) 694-2312
Or (360) 699-6000, Ext. 1560, to leave a recorded opinion
From Portland: (503) 224-0654
Fax: (360) 699-6033
E-mail: editors@columbian.com
Web site: http://www.columbian.com/
Forum: http://www.webforums.com/forums/trace/host/msa70.html
In Our View: Sunday, Jan. 17, 1999
Columbian editorial writers beg to differ
Should high schools in Clark County institute voluntary urine tests for
students?
Yes: Community members, including teen-agers, cry out for ways to highlight
and reward achievements of youth. They are tired of the constant media
coverage and money spent on teens who are not making good choices.
The Camas School District is changing that for its young people. In Camas,
60 percent of seniors in a districtwide survey say they have experimented
with both alcohol and marijuana. Even more troubling, there's been a shift
in drug use among Camas teens from alcohol and marijuana to cocaine and heroin.
To combat the problem, the district will allow students to voluntarily
provide urine samples. Those who prove they are drug-free will be rewarded
with such things as ski trips or discounts at local businesses. The program
is funded by area grants and donations.
While participation is voluntary, critics say the program violates students'
privacy rights. If it were mandatory, they would have a case. Others say it
will simply reward students who'd be drug-free anyway. It will. It should.
And it may help more teens stay clean.
-- Elizabeth Hovde
No: "Voluntary," as the U.S. Supreme Court has noted more than once, can be
a very deceptive term when applied to public schools.
No child ages 8 to 16 -- the years covered by our state's
compulsory-attendance law -- is in school voluntarily. Throughout
adolescence, peer pressure can be nearly overwhelming. That's one reason
teen sex, drug use and violence are such persistent problems.
Prevention programs rightly seek to counter peer influences and encourage
kids to make smart, healthy choices. Encouragement turns to coercion,
however, when teens are promised ski trips or discount CDs in exchange for
surrendering their rights to privacy. And what's a teacher to think if a
student refuses to "volunteer" to pee in a cup? That the kid's acting on
principle? Or that she's hiding an illegal addiction? So much for
presumption of innocence.
Replacing peer pressure with adult bribery and the promise of instant
gratification is no way to put teens on the path to responsible adulthood.
- Michael Zuzel
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Pot law's vagueness concerns activists (The Olympian, in Olympia, Washington,
says Thurston County law enforcement officials have vowed to follow the
state's new medical-marijuana law to the letter, but local activists say
patients should not be subject to arrest or jail simply because of vagueness
in the new law. Fred Mayer, an Olympia man whose wife uses medical mariuana,
said he is concerned that the initiative does not define what a 60-day supply
is. Some patients may need more marijuana than others, he said.)
From: "Bob Owen@W.H.E.N." (when@olywa.net)
To: "_Drug Policy --" (when@hemp.net)
Subject: I-692 does not specify how patients can get med pot
Date: Sun, 17 Jan 1999 19:19:42 -0800
Sender: owner-when@hemp.net
The Olympian
1/17/99
By Rebecca Nolan
Pot laws vagueness concerns activists
* No Guidelines: The new law does not specify how patients can obtain
marijuana for medicinal use.
THURSTON COUNTY - Patients who use marijuana to ease pain and discomfort
should not be subject to arrest or jail simply because of vagueness in the
state's new medical marijuana law, local activists say.
But area law enforcement officials have vowed to follow the law to the
letter. And the mainstream medical community has been reluctant to take a
stance on the controversial policy.
"Everybody's playing it very low key, digging in to see how it plays out,"
said Dr. David Edwards, medical coordinator for the Washington Hemp
Education Network in Olympia.
The law, which took effect Dec. 3 after voters statewide approved an
initiative in November, allows patients with certain illnesses to use
marijuana and possess a 60-day supply of the drug.
People claiming the right to have small amounts of marijuana must have
documentation to be exempt from prosecution.
The law also protects a patient's primary caregiver, the person responsible
for their housing, health and care. The patient must designate the caregiver
in writing.
Though advocacy groups like Seattle's Green Cross Patient Co-op in the past
have asked law enforcement to turn a blind eye to medicinal marijuana growth
and use, Olympia Police Chief Gary Michel said his officers are sworn to
uphold the law.
"It's not the police's position to interpret the law and pick which ones to
enforce and which ones not to," Michel said.
However, both Michel and Thurston County Sheriff Gary Edwards said law
officers will use discretion when dealing with possible medical marijuana
cases.
"If we come across somebody looking like they were sick, if they had cancer
or some problem, we're going to look at that," Sheriff Edwards said. "But if
we come across someone with 50 plants in their basement and they say their
doctors want them to smoke dope, we're not going to buy it."
Though Thurston County has not yet had a test case, law enforcement leaders
said they will rely on the County prosecutor's office to determine the merit
of medical claims in marijuana cases.
However, newly sworn-in county prosecutor Ed Holm said he will count on
police officers to use their judgment when making arrests, and the courts
will decide if those arrests have merit.
"Because we don't have any history, I think what we're going to do is
enforce the law to the letter," Holm said of his office. "If it needs
change, then someone else is going to have to do it."
Fred Mayer, an Olympia man whose wife has used medical mariuana for the last
3 1/2 years, wants county officials, law enforcement leaders, the medical
community and patients and activists to establish a consistent set of
guidelines for medical marijuana use.
"Nobody here is advocating drug usage," said Mayer, who said he knows four
local doctors currently advising patients to use marijuana. "They're
advocating good medicine and safe medicine."
Under the law, physicians cannot legally prescribe marijuana, only advise on
its possible benefits. And the law establishes no legal method for
distribution.
"Nothing has really changed, it just has probably raised more questions for
the public and the doctors," said Susan Peterson, director of the
Thurston-Mason Medical Society.
Peterson said she has received one call from a local physician asking how a
patient could obtain marijuana, but otherwise, local interest has been low.
Mayer said he is concerned that the initiative does not define what a 60-day
supply is. Some patients may need more marijuana than others, he said.
Many patients are too sick to grow pot for themselves. So some turn to
street dealers if they cannot find a more legitimate source, added Joanna
McKee, co-founder of Green Cross, which provides marijuana to the sick.
"We'd like to see some politicians buck up here - sit down and give the
doctors some guidelines," Mayer said. "This is pretty much a nobrainer."
Rebecca Nolan covers law enforcement for The Olympian. She can be reached at
754-4226.
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Tiny North Coast town site of unusual public hearing (The Sacramento Bee
says residents of Humboldt and Mendocino counties in California's "Emerald
Triangle" marijuana-growing region are still angry at prohibition agents'
tactics during "Operation Greensweep" nearly a decade ago. Under the terms of
a federal lawsuit settlement, residents are gathering in Redway for an
unusual two-day public hearing to begin Monday, complete with a court
reporter to provide a stenographic record and a retired appellate judge with
the authority to issue findings. The Drug Enforcement Administration and the
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms are required to come up with
environmental guidelines governing future raids on outdoor cannabis stands,
and the hearings will take testimony about the public's concerns.)
Date: Sun, 17 Jan 1999 22:24:56 -0600
From: "Frank S. World"
Organization: Rx Cannabis Now!
http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Lobby/7417/
To: DPFCA (dpfca@drugsense.org)
Subject: DPFCA: US CA SACBEE: Tiny North Coast town
site of unusual public hearing
Sender: owner-dpfca@drugsense.org
Reply-To: dpfca@drugsense.org
Organization: DrugSense http://www.drugsense.org/dpfca/
Source: Sacramento Bee
Contact: opinion@sacbee.com
Website: http://www.sacbee.com/
Pubdate: January 17, 1999
TINY NORTH COAST TOWN SITE OF UNUSUAL PUBLIC HEARING
REDWAY, Calif. (AP) -- Local residents in the heart of California's
marijuana-growing region, angered at pot raiders' tactics during "Operation
Greensweep" nearly a decade ago, are gathering for an unusual public hearing
to advise drug agents on future raids.
Organizers of the two-day event, complete with a court reporter to provide a
stenographic record and a retired appellate judge with the authority to
issue findings, want residents to have a say-so in a new handbook that
authorities are writing to govern agents' conduct.
The book will serve as a bible for authorities during the annual raids
targeting marijuana plantations in California's northern coastal hills,
particularly in Humboldt and Mendocino counties. The two areas, scenic,
rugged and isolated, are the richest marijuana-growing areas in the nation.
Federal authorities, concerned about security and other issues, were
uncertain whether to attend the hearing, which begins Monday on a federal
holiday.
But the Bureau of Land Management said Friday the period for public comment
had been extended to allow testimony from the hearing to be included in the
official record.
The hearing is the latest legal wrinkle in a lengthy legal battle over
"Operation Greensweep," a joint federal-state-local campaign in August 1990
that included agents with semiautomatic weapons, low-flying Blackhawk
helicopters and Army troops that traversed the hills hunting down marijuana
plantations. In one area known as the "Emerald Triangle" authorities
reportedly seized 1,100 marijuana plants and more than eight tons of
cultivation gear.
Shortly after the raids, which received national attention, local residents
backed by civil liberties groups said in a lawsuit that the raiders violated
federal law by conducting warrantless searches, used excessive force,
damaged the environment and illegally detained suspects. They also contended
that use of Army troops violated the Defense Authorization Act.
Two years after "Operation Greensweep," U.S. District Judge Fern M. Smith
called the allegations "serious and troubling" and allowed the case to
proceed. Over the years, the constitutional issues were partly resolved, but
the question of the raids' environmental impact remains.
Last June, Smith approved a settlement that requires the federal government
to be sensitive to environmental concerns during raids on BLM land in
Northern California.
The Redway hearing stems from that settlement, under which an array of law
enforcement agencies that participate in the raids, such as the Drug
Enforcement Administration and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms,
will be required to come up with formal guidelines governing future raids.
A related action filed last year in state court in Humboldt County contends
that the use of state funds in marijuana raids violates California
environmental laws.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Rehab Parents Lament Loss Of Kids (The Oakland Tribune says officials locally
and elsewhere in California and around the nation are wresting children away
from supposedly unfit parents at a much faster rate than before. This is
happening because new state and federal laws - passed in response to an
alleged flood of abused children from drug-addicted families entering the
foster system at ever younger ages - emphasize finding good, permanent homes
for the children as soon as possible. In California, the number of children
in foster care by the end of 1997 had soared to more than 92,000, after
climbing an average rate of 6.2 percent in each of the previous five years.
Stepped-up adoptions have failed to keep pace with the supply of kids. The
term "legal orphans" has been coined to describe the unadopted children.)
Date: Sun, 17 Jan 1999 21:51:16 -0800
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US CA: Rehab Parents Lament Loss Of Kids
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Jerry Sutliff
Pubdate: Sun, 17 Jan 1999
Source: Oakland Tribune (CA)
Copyright: 1999 MediaNews Group, Inc. and ANG Newspapers
Website: http://www.newschoice.com/newspapers/alameda/tribune/
Contact: eangtrib@newschoice.com
Author: Donna Horowitz, STAFF WRITER
REHAB PARENTS LAMENT LOSS OF KIDS
RACHEL Ruiz cradled her eightmonth-old daughter in her arms, stroking and
cooing to her like any loving mother.
She gave the baby a bottle and burped her, changed her diapers, smoothed her
dress and encouraged the little girl with the ready smile and dark hair to
say "hi."
All too soon the 90-minute weekly visit at the Oakland drug rehabilitation
center was over, and it was time to hand the baby to her foster mother.
Within a matter of months, Ruiz, 30, may lose all contact with her daughter.
Alameda County authorities are moving to terminate her parental rights.
Ruiz is not alone. Officials locally and elsewhere in the state and nation
are wresting children away from parents deemed unfit at a much faster rate
than be fore. This is happening because new state and federal laws -- passed
in response to a flood of abused children from drug-addicted families
entering the foster system at ever younger ages -- emphasize finding good,
permanent homes for the children as soon as possible.
For years, children yanked from homes because of neglect or abuse ended up
stuck in a sort of limbo. They often spent their en tire childhoods bouncing
from foster home to foster home, waiting for parents who never managed to
reclaim them. When they finally left the foster system as young adults, many
were so emotionally disturbed they had difficulty relating to others.
In California, the number of children in foster care by the end of 1997 had
soared to more than 92,000, after climbing an average rate of 6.2 percent in
each of the previous five years. In Alameda County alone, the number of kids
in the foster system doubled from 2,170 in 1986 to 4,489 in 1996.
A comprehensive study released last week placed much of the blame for a
taxed foster care system on drug-or alcohol-induced parents who abuse their
children.
Recognizing the phenomenon, state and federal lawmakers began enacting
sweeping public policy changes two years ago in an effort to turn the tide.
They passed laws requiring child welfare workers to try to reunite children
with parents while seeking someone to adopt them when that's not feasible.
In the past, the search for a new family only began after parental rights
were cut off -- something done reluctantly.
The new laws are toughest on mothers with children younger than 3, who are
allowed six months to show they are getting their lives together and
overcoming long time, deeply entrenched drug habits.
Already, the new laws are starting to have an effect. In Alameda County, for
instance, 105 cases were referred to the County Coun sel's Office for
termination of parental rights in the first quarter of 1998, compared to 108
cases referred in all of 1995. Consequently, adoptions have shot up -- from
93 in 1996-97 to 165 in 1997-98 to a projected 425 children in 1998-99.
The trend is similar in Contra Costa and San Joaquin counties. In Contra
Costa, 182 children were adopted in 1997-98, compared to 157 the year
before. And in San Joaquin County, 167 children were adopted in 1997-98,
compared to 148 the previous year.
But despite the pressure to find children permanent homes, there is a danger
some will be left without parents at all, as even stepped-up adoptions fail
to keep pace with the supply of kids. The term "legal orphans" has been
coined to describe the children.
In Alameda County, about 60 children of parents who lost custody -- some of
them toddlers and others part of sibling groups -- await placement in
permanent homes. Some have been waiting their whole lives.
"The issue is controversial and manysided," Pat Engelhard, director of the
Children and Family Services Department in Alameda County, said about faster
termination of parental rights to free children for adoption. "This is
complex social legislation. The outcomes are really unknown.
"I don't think anyone can predict 100 percent how it's going to turn out. It
will be helpful to some. It will be extremely hurtful to others."
Many may not be sympathetic to the plight of mothers facing the loss of
their children -- some of whom are born drug-exposed. And they may find it
even more difficult to understand that these same mothers have given birth
to several children with drugs in their system.
But a number of women at county treat ment centers say drugs clouded their
judgment, and that once they emerged from the haze, they felt remorse.
So says Ruiz, a third-generation heroin addict facing the loss of her baby
as a result of the new laws. With tears running down her face, she talks
about the pressures of fighting to keep her daughter and stay sober.
Ruiz's baby was born with methadone, heroin and cocaine in her system -- her
third child born exposed to drugs. Two weeks after giving birth to her
daughter at Summit Medical Center in Oakland, Ruiz entered the R.L. Geddins
Women's Empow erment Network in Oakland, a residential drug treatment center
for mothers and their children.
"I named her Esperanza, which means hope," Ruiz said of her daughter. "She
was my motivation to get in here. It has been hell. I still stuck it out
because of my love for her. I have to be in here for me now. I know that one
day, by the grace of God, we will be together."
Ruiz is fighting an uphill battle to regain custody, cut off after an
October hearing in Juvenile Dependency Court despite testimony on Ruiz's
behalf by the treatment center counselors and founder, the baby's attorney
and her 11-year-old son's social worker. In December, she filed an appeal in
the State Court of Appeal in San Francisco.
Ruiz, a product of the foster system herself, said she knows what it's like
firsthand for children to be separated from their mothers.
"They don't live whole. They're incomplete," she said.
That ache for her mother is what made Ruiz run away at age 14 from a foster
home in Fremont, where she was cared for and loved. When she found her
mother, the ex perience was bittersweet. "She introduced me to heroin and
cocaine," Ruiz recalled.
During the years, Ruiz became so deeply enmeshed in her addiction to crack,
alcohol and heroin she couldn't lead a normal life. She was homeless for
several years, living on the streets with her oldest son, now 11. Later, she
worked as a prostitute. Only once did she hold a regular job -- as a
bartender.
She had four children, all by different fathers. She expects to reunify
with her oldest son, who is in foster care, when she finishes her drug
program, and hopes desperately to get her little girl as well. Two other
sons -- one is 2 and the other 3 -- have been adopted. One she voluntarily
relinquished; the other she didn't.
Ruiz said overcoming her addiction, thinking of the children she has lost
and battling to keep her daughter is almost more than she can take.
"I'm trying to deal with the pain every day. Just to walk around, being
alive, car rying all this pain, it hurts," she said.
Ruiz and her counselors are angry that the county has refused to allow her
daughter to live with her at the residential program, which is intended for
mothers and their children. They say the county has denied all services to
help her reunify with her daughter.
And they don't understand why the county is willing to let her son live with
her but not the baby. They wonder why she's deemed fit to raise one child,
but not the other.
Ruiz and her counselors say she has followed all her social worker's
recommendations to get her back on her feet -- attending classes for a high
school equivalency diploma, taking drug tests twice a week, joining
substance abuse support groups and attending parenting classes.
"Rachel has done better than anyone I've ever known in this program," said
Sandra Mayfield, her counselor at the Women's Empowerment Network.
Ruiz believes the child's social worker and Juvenile Court Judge Robert
Kurtz, presiding over her case, are moving to take her child away because
she had lost custody of her other children. At her last hearing, Ruiz said
the judge dismissed her progress in fighting her drug addiction as "too
little, too late."
Kurtz and the social worker have not returned phone calls to discuss the
case. Be cause of confidentiality laws, county Social Services officials
have declined to respond to questions about Ruiz's case and would only speak
in general terms about the new laws and their impacts.
In her appeal, Ruiz contends the judge didn't think she had done enough
because she hadn't entered a drug program until after her daughter's birth,
she didn't enter a program recommended by the social worker and her other
children were in the court's custody as well.
"It just shows when you're dealing with these issues, they're incredibly
difficult decisions," said Engelhard of the Children and Family Services
Department. "We are a child-centered system. We have to make our
recommendations based on what's best for the child, not the mother."
But Ruiz believes she should be given a chance.
"It's overwhelming for parents who go through a program, who go through the
pain, the shame, the guilt. People do change. People can change. I am one of
those people who have," she said.
Ruiz is not alone in her heartbreak over the possible loss of her baby.
Parents at other drug treatment centers in Oakland and Hayward spoke about
the hardships they face.
Crystal Paschal, 33, of Oakland, says she entered the Solid Foundation
program in Oakland three days after her daughter, Monique, was born because
she didn't want to lose her the way she had lost her previous two children.
"I was really tired. I was mainly existing. I wasn't doing anything positive
at all," she said, referring to her cocaine addiction.
She recently completed Solid's residential program, where she lived with
her baby, and has moved into an apartment. She now is in her second semester
at Laney College, with a goal of becoming a nurse.
Although her life is back on track and Monique is still with her, she said
she never stops thinking about her other two children -- a son, 7, and a
daughter, 3 -- who were adopted while she was in the midst of her addiction.
"I'm going through therapy," she said. "I have a lot of guilt, a lot of
anger. ... I beat myself up constantly about not being strong enough and
turning my back on them."
Mothers are not the only parents fighting to keep custody of their children.
Kenny, a 42-year-old single father from Hayward who declined to give his
last name, said he is trying to overcome a 20-year methamphetamine habit so
he doesn't lose his three boys -- ages 10, 13 and 17.
Despite his experience as a lead shipping and warehouse worker, he finds his
mission daunting. After he leaves Cronin House in Hayward, where he is in
drug treatment, he must find a job, housing and furniture -- all in short
order.
But he's determined, saying: "I'm going to be busting my ass to do it. I'm
going to get my kids back."
-------------------------------------------------------------------
APB Online Launches Police And Crime Internet Service (A press release
on PRNewswire says APB Online, the first and only Internet news service
devoted to covering police and criminal-justice issues, has been launched
at http://www.apbonline.com.)
From: adbryan@onramp.net
Date: Wed, 20 Jan 1999 09:18:57 -0600 (CST)
Subject: FW: APB Online Launches Police And Crime Internet Service
To: "DRCTalk Reformers' Forum" (drctalk@drcnet.org)
Sender: owner-drctalk@drcnet.org
This site may be of interest to some.
---- Begin Included Message ----
Date: Thu, 19 Nov 1998 04:34:21 -0800
Reply-To: stinky@PSNW.COM
Sender: Drug Policy Forum of Texas (DPFT-L@TAMU.EDU)
From: stinky@PSNW.COM
Subject: FW: APB Online Launches Police And Crime Internet Service
To: DPFT-L@TAMU.EDU
Sent: Thursday, November 19, 1998 3:54 AM
To: Policeinfo (E-mail)
Subject: APB Online Launches Police And Crime Internet Service
APB Online Launches Police And Crime Internet Service
NEW YORK, Nov. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- APB Online, the first and only
Internet news service exclusively covering the whole of the criminal
justice system, has launched at http://www.apbonline.com.
"APB will provide the most up-to-date news and information on police and
criminal justice issues," says Marshall Davidson, CEO of APB Multimedia.
"Our mission is 'To Inform and Serve' -- to provide information that is
accurate, responsible, fair and in context. We believe that the more
people know about the criminal justice system, the more they will demand
of it and the more they will support its improvement. We plan to be the
Internet source for police and crime content; like CNET is for
technology or SportsLine is for sports."
APB has built the first media organization devoted exclusively to the
police and crime genre: 24 journalists, designers and technicians in
APB's New York City newsroom, backed by experienced crime writers around
the country as contributing editors and correspondents. APB's editorial
division -- APB News -- is the first national news-gathering operation
to focus exclusively on the whole criminal justice system: from headline
news, to in-depth coverage of major cases, to interactive profiles of
famous unsolved crimes, to public policy, to crime prevention and
personal safety.
"We've assembled some of the finest crime reporters and criminal justice
experts in the country," says Mark Sauter, executive vice president,
content, for APB Multimedia Inc. "Our reporters are augmented by a cadre
of award-winning contributors around the country and a professional
advisory board that includes academics, law-enforcement personnel and
even a former FBI profiler."
Led by Sauter, an award-winning television and print investigative
journalist, and Hoag Levins, former executive editor of Editor &
Publisher magazine and its Web site, the APB News editorial staff
includes: Alan Wieder, former deputy editor at Fox News Online; Ed
Levine, lead editor on the Bergen (County, N.J.) Record's coverage of
police secrecy issues, which won an Associated Press Freedom of
Information Award in 1997; and Deborah Baer from The Ladies' Home
Journal.
APB's roster of Contributing Editors includes such leading journalists
as: George Lardner, Jr., Pulitzer Prize-winner at the Washington Post;
Tomas Guillen, investigative reporter, best-selling author and
professor; Murray Weiss, crime editor at the New York Post; Susan K.
Bardwell, true-crime author and reporter at the Houston Chronicle; and
David Krajicek, former police reporter for the New York Daily News,
professor at Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism, and
author of Scooped! -- Media Miss Real Story on Crime While Chasing Sex,
Sleaze, and Celebrities.
APB's professional advisory board includes: Jim McFall, former Special
Agent, Federal Bureau of Investigation, currently executive director of
the Society of Former Special Agents of the FBI; John Douglas, former
FBI profiler and co-author of "Journey into Darkness;" Gary Kleck,
Ph.D., Professor of Criminology, School of Criminology and Criminal
Justice Studies, Florida State University; Will McDonald, Esq., Legal
Aid attorney; Newman Flanagan, executive director of the National
Association of District Attorneys; Joe Robinowitz, managing editor of
the New York Post; and Tom Livaccari, New Media executive, formerly of
the award-winning "netzines" "Word" and "Charged."
APB Online launch programs include:
APB 911 News -- national-to-neighborhood headline news, including
Missing, Wanted and Bumbling Crooks;
APB Major Cases -- Constantly updated, in-depth coverage of the
nation's most important cases, with original documentation;
APB Unsolved, with John Douglas -- Interactive profiling of the most
infamous unsolved cases with the famed FBI profiler, accompanied
by exclusive reports from leading crime writers;
APB Media Patrol -- Previews and reviews of police and crime TV
shows, books and movies; critiques of reporting on the criminal
justice system;
and APB Safe Streets -- Personal, family and community anti-crime and
safety information; bulletin boards for advocacy and policy
discussions.
APB Online is a division of APB Multimedia, Inc., founded by Marshall
Davidson, Mark Sauter and Matthew L. Cohen. APB Online can be found on
the Internet at http://www.apbonline.com.
Contact: Dov Smith / Lloyd Trufelman, Trylon Communications,
212-725-2295
dovs@tryloncommunications.com / lloydt@tryloncommunications.com
***
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[End]
to the 1999 Daily News index for Jan. 15-21