Streetvibes June 2004 Edition

June, 2004

STREETVIBES Mother’s Day Luncheon kicks off a week of awareness-raising events Cincinnati’s Mayor Luken proclaims May 9 – 15 “Homeless Awareness Week”

by Andy Erickson Education Coordinator Last month, the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless and its member agencies held a week’s worth of events during the officially proclaimed “Homeless Awareness Week” in Cincinnati.

from the Lee Chapel Praise Dancers.

A lot of work went into this event, and all of it was donated. GCCH absolutely must take some space to thank Concordia Lutheran Church for donating the space, and the nearly 30 volunteers from Adath Israel Congregation, Summit Country Day School, and Caracole who helped the event run so smoothly. A very special thank-you goes out to

The week was kicked off on May 9 with a Mother’s Day Luncheon for some of the families residing in our local shelters. About 100 people attended the event. Guests were treated to a lasagna dinner from Betta’s Italian Oven, gift bags, door prizes, free family portraits, and a performance

the anonymous donor who paid the entire bill for the caterers and the gift bags.

The Mother’s Day Luncheon coincided with a similar luncheon held by the Columbus Coalition on Housing and Homelessness. While the celebration of Mother’s Day was certainly the main point of

these events, the two events were held at the same time in each city to make another point: that homelessness is a significant problem for families in our area and across the nation. Nationally, families have become the fastest growing segment in the homeless population.

According to Homeless in Cincinnati, a study conducted by the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless (GCCH) and AIR, Inc., nearly 6,000 families experienced homelessness during the year 2000.

Because of the large number of homeless families in Cincinnati, the number of homeless youth is also high. According the study, 8,000 children experienced homelessness during the same year.

On May 10, GCCH showed Dark Days, an awardwinning documentary about people living in abandoned train tunnels in New York City. The film gives a truthful and often very personal presentation of homelessness and the living conditions these people must endure. Though the film in itself is quite good, the story that surrounds the making of the film is also interesting.

The film’s director, Marc Singer, had never made a film, nor even used a camera before he made Dark Days. Because he had little money, the film’s subjects agreed to double as the crew, creating lighting by “borrowing” electricity from the city, working the sound, and even fashioning carts that could move along the railroad tracks in order to provide the film’s moving camera shots. Briefly, Singer ran out of money and ended up living in the camp himself. The film does end on a happy note, though, thanks in part to the New York City Coalition for the Homeless.

The film won several awards at the 2000 Sundance Film Festival, including best cinematography and the audience choice award.

Over 15 people participated in “Panhandling for Justice” on May 11, the third event in our Homeless Awareness Week. Panhandling for Justice took place downtown during lunchtime.

Participants educated the lunch crowds while carrying cardboard signs that stated facts about homelessness like,“1300 people will be homeless in Cincinnati tonight,” and “Ohio is number four in hate crimes against the homeless.” Participants also passed out literature informing the public about the decision of

Homeless Awareness...

Cont. on page 10

Cincinnati City Council Votes To Extend Panhandling Registration

by Jimmy Heath Last month Cincinnati City Council voted 5-4 to extend a law that requires people to register and get a license to panhandle in the City of Cincinnati. The law was intended to curb aggressive panhandling and create an image of a friendlier and safe downtown Cincinnati for would-be shoppers, workers and tourists. In a survey of downtown visitors and workers nuisance begging tied with parking as the number one complaint.

The renewal of the law, first enacted a year ago, was

supported for extension by Council members Jim Tarbell, David Pepper, Sam Malone, Pat DeWine and David Crowley.

“It’s hard to find a good reason to be against it,” said Council member DeWine, saying that the law has discouraged panhandling. “Let’s not change something that works.”

Council members Laketa Cole, Christopher Smitherman, John Cranley and Alicia Reece voted against the renewal.

Council member Chris Smitherman said he viewed the law as an infringement upon freedom of speech rights.

The city had the option to include an outreach component in the ordinance when the law was first enacted a year ago. Mayor Charlie Luken said at the time that he would veto the ordinance if it included outreach because he felt enough money is already given to social services in Cincinnati. The Cincinnati Panhandling License outreach money was removed from the original Panhandling Registration proposal and the law passed Cont. on page 3 with strict rules for

Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless

Streetvibes Streetvibes, the TriState’s alternative news source, is a newspaper written by, for, and about the homeless and contains relevant discussions of social justice, and poverty issues. It is published once a month by the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless.

Becoming a Streetvibes Vendor is a great way for homeless and other low-income people to get back on (or stay on) their feet. Streetvibes Vendors are given an orientation and sign a code of conduct before being given a Streetvibes Vendor badge. All profits go directly to the vendor.

The Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless is a group of shelters, agencies and individuals committed to ending homelessness in Cincinnati through coordinating services, educating the public and grassroots organizing.

GCCH Staff Georgine Getty - Executive Director Allison Leeuw - Administrative Coordinator Andy Erickson - Education Coordinator Elizabeth Linville - Civil Rights Coordinator Janice Faulkner - Receptionist Mary Gaffney - Receptionist

Streetvibes Jimmy Heath, Editor, Layout and Design Photographer Jimmy Heath Cover Detail of Homeless Awareness Quilt, sewn

by Susan Smith.

Photo by Jimmy Heath Streetvibes accepts letters, poems, stories, essays, original graphics, and photos. We will give preference to those who are homeless or vendors.

Subscriptions to Streetvibes, delivered to your home each month, can be purchased for $25 per year.

Address mail to: Streetvibes Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless (GCCH) 117 East 12th Street Cincinnati, OH 45202 (513) 421-7803 e-mail: streetvibes@juno.com web: http://homeless.cinci.com

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A Journey I Needed To Make

by Jimmy Heath, Streetvibes Editor As a teen, I struggled with fitting in at school and making friends. I wanted to belong to the cool group of kids even though I wasn’t sure what that meant. What is cool?

I had all the skills to be successful in school. And sometimes I bordered on being a nerd. But I picked the schoolyard rejects, troublemakers and dopers as my friends and companions. I learned to skip school. I learned to smoke cigarettes and talk back in class.

Jimmy Heath We were always on the edge of disaster, it seemed. We barely stayed out of trouble, which was mostly a testimony to our resourcefulness and our ability to lie. We were on a constant mission for dope and alcohol and a place to hang out while we fashioned our adventures.

The Vietnam War was in full swing at that time. Jimi Hendrix was still alive. The Woodstock Music & Arts Festival drew half a million people to Max Yasgar’s farm in New York. The Doors were blowing our minds, along with Janis Joplin, the Beatles, and the Rolling Stones. I learned to play rock and roll, spending time banging out rough cords on an old Supra electric guitar.

I discovered wine when I was sixteen, after a friend and I stole a bottle from the neighborhood corner store. We guzzled the pilfered fifth of cheap Petri Port wine in an alley near my home. It was horrible stuff, but we drank it anyway. By the time our bottle of rotgut was drained we were both staggering drunk, barely able to stand up. I dragged myself home, stumbling up the stairs to my bedroom. The heavy effects of the alcohol overcame the spinning room and nausea and I eventually passed out on my bed. In spite of the sickness, I went back and did it again. I had successfully established a lifelong relationship with alcohol.

As a youth, I experimented with all of the illegal drugs that were available at the time too. The drugs that were coming out of California were state-of-the-art; Orange Barrel LSD and Window Pane acid from Berkeley, opium from New York. Hashish and pot.

There were drugs everywhere.

It went with the music, the hair, the clothes, the attitudes.

I eventually learned to outgrow most of my youthful indiscretions and drug-induced behavior, but my alcoholism remained with me for most of my adult life. I was nearly middle-aged when decades of drinking started to catch up with me physically. The years of alcohol abuse began to eat away at my body.

Nine years ago this month I faced my lifelong alcohol addiction and got hope and sobriety at the Drop Inn Center’s recovery program for homeless men. I often tell people that the Drop Inn Center saved my life. The Drop Inn Center provided me with a choice that I didn’t think I had.

Alcoholism is a widespread disease, affecting about 7% of American adults nearly 14 million people in the United States.

Liver cirrhosis resulting from alcohol abuse is one of the ten leading causes of death in the United States.

At least seven million American children have alcoholic parents. No one knows for sure what drives a person to alcoholism.

Alcoholism runs in families, and children of alcoholics are four times more likely than other children to become alcoholics, but children of drinkers do not always become alcoholics.

Child and adolescent psychiatrists know these children are also at greater risk for having emotional problems than children whose parents are not alcoholics. (There was never booze of any kind in my house growing up. Liquor was totally foreign and forbidden in our strict Catholic household.)

Like many other diseases, alcoholism is chronic, meaning that it lasts a person’s lifetime, it usually follows a predictable course, and it has symptoms.

Alcoholism doesn’t discriminate by color or class or social standing or education.

Almost everyone has knowledge of, or has had a relationship with someone who has

experienced addiction and struggled with them through the many twists and turns.

Addiction destroys human beings and their families.

Addiction hurts not only the addict, but everyone around them.

Addictions are not about will power. The problems facing addicts, alcoholics, and their families are miserable, disgusting, and sometimes infuriating. The situation is often hopelessly discouraging.

The road to sobriety is paved with difficulties and pitfalls.

It was a hard and painful journey that I made into the Drop Inn Center nine years ago, staggering through my life with the disease of alcoholism homeless and without hope or the will to live.

Threat of death by alcohol did not scare me. I thought that was the way I was going to die, and there was nothing I could do about it.

But because of the Drop Inn Center I am alive today.

The Drop Inn Center showed me how to get sober and stay that way. They also led me on a journey of discovery in the community of Over-the-Rhine, a place where I continue to live and learn each and every day.

How does one describe getting their life back? It is hard for a recovering addict to explain. It is a spiritual thing, and comes from deep inside.

But ask my friends and family about me during my addiction and they will describe what hell must have been like. The cost of addiction can’t always be measured by economics or loss of life – it is what we do to our loved ones that is one of the greatest tragedies.

Now sober for nine years, I continually ask myself how I can give something back to honor this gift of life that was freely given to me and many others who have looked for help at the Drop Inn Center.

I’m one of many lucky ones who have survived an addiction, saved by a homeless shelter in Cincinnati. My sobriety is a gift to remember and celebrate every day. I don’t spend a lot of time regretting the past or my lost youth. It was the journey I needed to make to get to where I am now.

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How do I know? I used LETTERS to be one. Now I’m a prison activist.

From Readers reform Linda Tant Miller Dear Friends, Am I the only one who realizes that the stage was set for the abuse of Iraqi prisoners on the day that Saddam was put into a cell with pictures of his dead sons and friends?

I am no fan of Saddam’s, but he is a human being although just barely - and rubbing anyone’s nose in the fact that their children and friends have been recently killed, absolutely constitutes psychological abuse. Everyone seemed really proud of the fact that Saddam was being mentally tortured - apparently with the approval of the White House and the U.S. as a whole. It’s not a huge leap from there to the physical abuse of other Iraqi prisoners. The abusers probably thought their actions would meet with the same approval.

Besides, abuse and murder of prisoners is a routine American practice and most USAR MPs are police and corrections officers in their civilian lives. They’re just performing business as usual, only in federal rather than state or local uniforms.

Stop Execution We would like to pose the following question to your readership – Should the State of Ohio Execute Greg Lott?

Please consider the issue of mental retardation. The US Supreme Court recently barred the execution of the mentally retarded. In 1986 Lott was assessed with an IQ of 72.

Recently experts have tested Lott based on his IQ and his adaptive skills. One expert says his IQ qualifies him as mentally retarded, while a second says his adaptive skills qualify him as mentally retarded. Since neither expert finds both qualifiers, the judge says he’s not mentally retarded. What do you say?

Please consider the issue of innocence. The victim lived 10 days after the attack. He identified his attacker as a very light complexioned African American man with long straight hair that he knew from the barbershop. Mr. Lott does not fit that description. When shown a picture of Mr. Lott, the victim said he was not the

Panhandling Registration is a part of DCI, they fund the

Cont. from page 1 panhandling, including no panhandling at crosswalks, after dark or near ATM’s.

Panhandlers who use a sign and don’t request money verbally are exempt from the ordinance.

The panhandling license is free and requires registering at the Health Department and a police check. A trained social worker with the Cincinnati Health Department, the agency charged with registering and processing panhandler registrations, works “full time” registering about 3 panhandlers a week. Violators face jail time and fines for not being registered.

Downtown Cincinnati Inc, (DCI) a non-profit organization representing downtown businesses, provided $25,000 for an outreach worker, which they have since renewed. Since that time, Brent Chasteen, the DCI outreach worker has been very successful in getting people off the streets and into treatment, housing and other programs.

Council member David Pepper side-stepped this important detail, stating that since the city

outreach.

Some council members said the law has benefited downtown businesses and has connected panhandlers who might be homeless, mentally ill or substance abusers with social service programs. “Some people who didn’t have a home now have an apartment,” Council member Pepper said.

Council members seemed to be in agreement that registration wouldn’t eradicate panhandling downtown. But there was much debate about the overall effectiveness of the legislation.

Opposing Council members said the law has only bumped panhandlers from downtown Cincinnati to other neighborhoods. Some said they thought the city’s panhandling problem was a little better, but weren’t convinced it was because of the registration.

Cincinnati police have made 155 panhandling arrests in nine months, including some people who were arrested multiple times. One man was arrested 16 times by Cincinnati police.

No criteria for the success of the panhandling

attacker. Could Greg Lott be innocent?

Please consider the issue of attorney error. Evidence of Mr. Lott’s innocence, which the defense finally discovered in 1991, has never been presented in court. The defense failed to make timely use of the evidence; therefore, it has NOT been reviewed by the federal courts. Could it change the outcome in the courts? Should Greg die because of these errors?

Please consider the issue of prosecutorial misconduct.

The prosecutor told the jury that Lott showed intent to murder by bringing lamp oil into the house during the robbery. They said the victim did not own oil-burning lamps.

This was damaging to Mr. Lott’s case. It was later revealed that the prosecutor knew of a police report noting oil-burning lamps in the house.

Would that have changed the minds of the jury?

A three-judge panel of the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals decided to stay Greg Lott’s execution to give federal court time to consider whether there are grounds for a new trial. It seems obvious to us – Mr. Lott deserves a new trial.

The Staff of the Intercommunity Justice and Peace Center Kristen Barker Alice Gerdeman, CDP Eunice Timoney Ravenna

registration were ever developed so the true effectiveness of the ordinance is unknown. Is it successful if a high number of people register, or if there are no registration applications or arrests does this imply that there are no panhandlers or that the law is a success?

A lawsuit against the ordinance is still pending, based on both the national and state constitution. According to lawyers, you cannot pick a specific group of people and require that their speech be registered. The city lost this very lawsuit about 3 years ago when trying to ban panhandling outright.

Meanwhile, the dialog by Council infers that the program is a great success.

“We don’t know why this works, but it does, so why mess with it? This is like a delicious pot of chili we are all enjoying, so why would you go back and ask, ‘can we remove the onions?’” said Council member DeWine.

City government leaders in Dayton, New Orleans and Memphis, which already have registration requirements aimed at curbing aggressive

panhandling, say success depends on how strictly the law is enforced.

District 1 Police Captain James Whalen, who testified during the discussion of the ordinance, said he expected enforcement to be low.

Officers would rather see the panhandlers get some help rather than spend time in jail and waste police resources, he said. “We can arrest all the people we want, but if they go back out on the streets then we still have a problem,” Council member Laketa Cole said.

Georgine Getty, Executive Director of the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless said that, “Outreach to panhandlers has proven to be incredibly useful in curbing the number of panhandlers downtown. This is because it addresses the root causes of poverty behind panhandling. Registration, on the other hand, is a costly, detrimental, unconstitutional layer of bureaucracy that is stigmatizing to panhandlers and further alienates them from the services they need to become self-sufficient.”

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Mother’s Day Brunch This letter is just a few words of appreciation for being there for homeless families. My name is Gail. I have three boys aged 13, 12 and 7. I cherish their lives, and due to circumstances me and my children are homeless. But thanks to Interfaith Hospitality they have a place to sleep and try to have a normal child’s life.

I believe children are resilient and they are stronger than adults and they seem to adapt to situations better.

The Mother’s Day Brunch was very uplifting and comforting. Going and seeing families in the same situation was very difficult. At one moment my tears were uncontrollable because my heart was so heavy and grateful that someone cared enough to think of others rather than themselves. Thank God for the Homeless Coalition. Please know that you are appreciated; never stop what you are doing for mothers and children.

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ON A SCALE OF ONE TO A HUNDRED, HOW MUCH DO YOU DISAGREE WITH THE CITY’S TREATMENT OF CINCINNATI’S HOMELESS?

I WILL DONATE:

$1

$20

$40

$60

$80

$100

He’s only 18 months old and already he’s trapped in the cycle of homelessness in Cincinnati. His mother needs an affordable place to live and a job with a living wage as she escapes a life of domestic violence. The current treatment of homeless individuals in our city means that he may never be able to live in a home of his own. There are 25,000 people in Cincinnati that experience homelessness each year. More than one-third of those are women and children.

The Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless believes that by addressing the root causes of the problem through education, advocacy and coordination of services, we can end homelessness in our city. The more support we have from the community, the further our efforts reach. Please cut the coupon and pick a box. It could mean that one less child will have to live in one.

Send your donations to Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless 117 East 12th Street Cincinnati, OH 45202

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Panhandling for Justice spreads awareness about homelessness

by Elizabeth Linville On Tuesday, May 11, students and local advocates took to the streets of Cincinnati in a “Panhandling for Justice” event as part of Homeless Awareness Week. The event, which the Coalition for the Homeless has organized the past two years, featured individuals walking through the downtown business district with signs displaying facts about current issues and passing out flyers. This year participants focused on a variety of issues: the panhandling registration, the release of “bumfights” videos by major retailers such as Amazon.com and Elizebeth Linville and Rachael Richardson Panhandle for Justice near Best Buy, and proposed downtown’s Fountain Square federal cuts to the Housing Choice Voucher program. cuts have been an issue tenants are required to pay, and The panhandling throughout this year. The it may force housing authorities registration was a timely issue, Federal Budget for 2005, to shift their assistance to higher as city council was near voting released by the Bush income families. Our city, like on renewing the Administration in the rest of the country, cannot legislation in the February, calls for afford to see these cuts at a time Cincinnati City huge cuts in the when more people than ever are Council Law funding for housing experiencing homelessness.

Committee (see assistance vouchers.

The “Bumfight” videos story page 1).

The Housing Choice have become a large issue this Participants in the Voucher Program past year. These hate videos are “Panhandling for (commonly referred being produced showing Justuce” event to as Section 8) homeless individuals fighting, Elizabeth Linville spread the word that allows families to performing bizarre acts, or the registration, which was reside in market-rate rental engaging in self mutilation and enacted in an ordinance last housing and pay 30 percent of injury to each other. The year and is now up for renewal, their income for rent, while the individuals are paid with small is unconstitutional and voucher covers the rest. The amounts of money, food, or unnecessary. Requiring 2005 budget proposal will hurt alcohol. At first the videos someone to register to the program in a variety of were mainly being sold online by panhandle violates his or her ways: it will reduce the number independent dealers, but now first amendment right to of households that will be major retailers such as freedom of speech. assisted by a voucher, it could Amazon.com, Barnes and Housing Choice Voucher increase the amount of rent Noble, and Best Buy are also

selling these videos.

Participants in the Panhandling for Justice event circulated flyers asking people to contact the CEOs of these corporations (see following list) to tell them to stop selling the videos, which encourage violence against individuals who are homeless. Amazon.com – Jeffrey Bezos, CEO (206) 266-1000, Best Buy – Susan Busch, Corporate PR, (612) 291-1000, Barnes and Noble – Stephen Riggio, (212) 6333300 Some citizens were receptive and interested in the facts displayed and handed out during this event, while others seemed unwilling to pay attention to the plight of our country’s poorest individuals. One participant reported a woman telling her to “stop making me sad,” when approached with a flyer showing a homeless child.

Both reactions are evidence that the “panhandlers” at least made some sort of impression on the individuals that they encountered during this event.

For further information on any of these issues, please call the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless at 513-421-7803 or check out any of these websites: www.homeless.cincy.com, www.neoch.org, www.cohhio.org, or www.nationalhomeless.org.

Cincinnati from the Point of View of a Chicagoan

by Natasha Matusova Racism and classicism are inherent in society; compassion seems not to be.

The state of Over the Rhine seems to embody this. Few outside the community seem to

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own way, try to make a small dent. I am scared, though, because I fear that that inspiration will fade as I start having to deal with my life again, and getting an A on tomorrow’s test will become more important than helping others.

I cannot say that I won’t try, because, as Bonnie Neumeier told us, “ You got to keep on keepin’ on.”

(Natasha visited Cincinnati as part of a one week service learning trip with Northwestern University, Chicago) RE

Rhine was so much worse; in a way, it was so much greater.

No one that I know of has stood against the gentrification of my neighborhood. No one has spoken out for the rights of the residents. No one has really fought.

But to delve into the history of Over the Rhine, is to delve into a history of a unified struggle. Buddy Gray, Bonnie Neumeier, Jimmy Heath among many others have fought for the neighborhood and its people.

So what does this all have to do with me?

It has everything to do with me because I have been inspired. It has everything to do with me because I now want to take action. Although I could never hope to make the kind of difference the aforementioned people have made, I will, in my

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actually care. Its richness lies in its culture and history, but this is of no consequence to the poor and the homeless.

That is what I learned this week.

Being from Chicago, I never really expected to be touched. I figured it couldn’t be any worse than what I see every day. The first time I stepped on Vine Street, I thought, “ man, I wish my block was this lively.”

I didn’t think twice about it. I just knew that Over-the-Rhine was starting to feel the effects of gentrification, just like my neighborhood was.

I quickly realized how naïve I was. My neighborhood, with its fake gangs and small time drug dealers, had so much less in common with Over the Rhine than I had lead myself to believe. In a way Over the

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students “absolutely love him,” says Charles Strobel, who started the campus as an outreach ministry for the homeless in 1995. After Pancoast’s class, many go on to take classes in computer and job skills or earn their GED. term options.”

North American Briefs Stressed-out city Two men are facing compiled by Patty Lane charges after a brutal attack dwellers nationwide are finding a new way to get deon a homeless man in An Ohio woman is stressed. No need to head to a Louisville, Kentucky. Police taking on a tremendous tell WAVE-3 News that Clifton spa or vacation spot to journey one step at a time. recharge. Some are finding Dale Agnew, 53, was sleeping Kim Denmark is walking that by becoming temporary in an alley behind a Salvation across America to draw “street bums” they can regain Army shelter when two men attention to welfare reform attacked him. After punching, their perspective on life. It’s and the plight of the all part of a program called homeless. During her journey kicking, and beating Agnew “street-retreat” designed to with a trash can and a crock she hopes to gather enough cleanse the spirit. The pot, the men then allegedly signatures to get her on the Peacemaker Center, a group stripped the homeless man of floor of Congress, where she his clothes and sodomized him that follows the tenets of Zen, wants to present one million with sticks, boards and bottles. has been organizing retreats on signatures to ask for welfare the streets of New York for He was then stabbed and other reforms. “I want it more than 10 years. repeatedly. Agnew suffered to come to the top of the Pretending to be homeless has head trauma, broken ribs, and agenda, not the bottom,” she a cost. For $150, small groups a lacerated colon and rectum. tells the Athens Banner of about 10 people hit the At one point his injuries Herald. She puts in about ten streets with no ID and no appeared so severe that miles a day to reach her goal money. The “retreats” last investigators were preparing of 2,704 miles during her 52murder charges. His condition anywhere from three to five month trek. She wears an days. “You don’t know when is improving and he remains orange jump-suit filled with you are going to get your next signatures of those she has met hospitalized. Friends of the meal. You rely on asking victim say he posed no threat along the way. On the road people on the streets where the to anyone. The shelter’s she eats and sleeps at the free lunches and shelter can be director is calling for more to mercy of volunteers and found, and you find they are be done to protect the communities who have given very generous,” says Zen homeless. “That’s the reason her support throughout her teacher Francisco Lugovina. we need the Salvation Army trip.

Retreats have also been held in and other overnight shelters,” On April 8, Detroit Montreal and London. A says Brenda Mattingly. She police dispatched bulldozers veteran of the program calls it hopes the community shares to destroy a shack that had the outrage she feels. “We feel an exercise in bearing witness been the home of Ralph to the joy and pain of the everybody here is an asset to Thomas, 56, for more than universe. ten years. Thomas, 56, had an our community and are In a verdict this week, worthwhile people.

We don’t hour to gather what belongings a jury in Ontario, Canada see a dividing line as to who he could from the shanty he recommended special clinics built out of plywood, blankets, should be protected and who be established to stop the shouldn’t.” and tires on a vacant lot. spread of tuberculosis.

A former Vanderbilt “This breaks my heart,” According to The Globe, half University football coach is neighbor Eloise Nash told the using his own life experiences of the province’s homeless Detroit Free Press. “Where is population is already infected. to help homeless people in he going to go?” Over the An inquest into the deaths of Tennessee get back on their years, Thomas had turned his feet. Fred Pancoast volunteers three people who died of TB shack into four clean and tidy his time in Nashville, teaching wrapped up this week with the rooms with a wood burning release of the jury’s stove for food and warmth and classes once a week to help down-and-out men and women recommendations to prevent a laundry system with a future deaths. The jury also learn how to rebuild their clothesline. Although his recommended public health lives. He tells The home is gone, Thomas says departments track and analyze he’s alright, and he has a place Tennessean, “All of us have TB screening results with their had our tough times in life, to keep his possessions. An new public health information and I’ve had mine. A lot of outreach coordinator for an system. All workers and people have helped me and I organization that assists want to help back.” He begins volunteers in shelters and elderly people in southwest his life skills classes by asking homeless drop-in centers must Detroit brought Thomas some also be screened for TB before his homeless students to open sandwiches, clothes and an being hired. But homeless up about their lowest point. invitation to a homeless advocates expressed Eventually he gets them to shelter. “He may qualify for disappointment that the jury describe how they got there some additional financial failed to address stopping TB. and then brainstorm a list of support,” says David They suggest moving the ways they can escape from Esterbrook of Bridging homeless out of overcrowded their situations into better, Communities. “We’d like to shelters and putting them in more productive lives. His talk to him about some long-

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affordable housing to help stop the spread of the disease “If SARS was not a wake-up call on this issue, then what will be?” Cathy Crowe told The Globe. Crowe, a nurse who works extensively with the homeless, is infected with TB. Meanwhile, in Austin, Texas, a $500,000 federal grant will help homeless people get the health care they need. “We’re able to quadruple the number of people we can see,” Lisa Glenn, director of Health Clinics told News 8 last week.

The clinic treats about 1,200 people a year, but the grant will allow 5,500 people to be treated. Giving homeless people access to health care will ease up Austin’s emergency rooms for real emergencies. “There are patients with nine emergency room visits in a six-month basis,” says John Gilvar, of the city’s Community Health Centers. “They go back on a routine basis for ear infections, upper respiratory infections, and they are taking up space and costing the community a lot of money by using the emergency room.”

He says the grant will help take the city’s homeless health care issue in Austin to a new level. In addition to medical care, the grant also allows patients to receive dental, vision, mental health and substance abuse care.

20 YEARS SERVING THE NEIGHBORHOOD

Empowering our neighborhood children through peace, art and education Peaslee Neighborhood Center 215 East 14th Street Over-the-Rhine Cincinnati, Ohio 45202

(513) 621-5514

Many Sides To Everything

by Mary A. Gaffney I’m writing this during the month of May. School will soon be out for the summer, and we will be welcoming the cicadas for their 17 year visit.

Whether we want it or not the cicadas will visit!

To my homeless friends and buddies, to the ones that have found employment, I would like to say that God is Good. Just keep on believing, my friends, and to the ones who are still looking for help, hold on.

Today I’m thinking about the late Gentria Lynn Thomas whose life was ended recently.

There are many sides to everything, to every life. The question is, have you really taken to the time to study the person?

granddaughter was working on a drawing and in a clear voice Gentria Lynn Thomas Gentria asked if she could have came several times to the Homeless Coalition office. The it. On her second visit to the office she got another drawing first time she came in I had my from my great-grand daughter.

11 year-old greatLater that granddaughter evening, my with me. She grand daughter sometimes was with me at comes to the home, watching office when television, school is out. where we heard I want the news of her to see the Gentria life of the Thomas’s death. children and the I remembered people that how Gentria come into our Miss Mary Gaffney smiled and office. I want talked quietly to her to learn how this child when visiting the to be kind to them, and never office. She would smile and her forget that homelessness can eyes would light up. I had to happen to anyone. explain to my grand-daughter On this particular day, what had happened, and to she met Gentria Thomas and remember Gentria’s visits, the they spoke to each other. My

Homelessness; The Threat We All Face

by Crystal Evans Cambridge MA As I stood on the steps outside of Youth On Fire* I looked around at the crowd. We were all there that morning with the same goal: to abolish poverty, defeat the forces of racism, militarism and economic exploitation, and create a world we all can live in together in peace with economic and social justice.

Cars honked and people shouted in agreement with us. On April 3, the statewide March to Abolish Poverty reached Cambridge.

Two weeks prior, I met Eli Beckerman, the local coordinator for the march. He had come to Youth on Fire in search of speakers. I had agreed to speak and also volunteered to help out with final details that needed to be taken care of before the march. I spent the days leading up to that Saturday morning helping to make signs and a banner to carry during the march, designing and distributing fliers all over Cambridge, and thinking through what I would say when I addressed the crowd.

Becoming a homeless activist was the last thing on my mind when I ended up homeless in February, 2003. At that point I was more worried about dayto-day survival, where I would sleep and how I would find food. I could barely manage my own life, not to mention advocate for others.

I never expected to end up homeless. I had always thought that most homeless people were “homeless by

choice” and that if they really no matter how hard we tried it wanted to help themselves they just wasn’t enough. It seemed could. I was 19 when I got in a like every service/program I car accident in February, 2001, applied for ended up with a ended up with a broken neck budget cut. It felt like there and a traumatic brain injury, and was no way out. suddenly found myself unable But after 11 months to hold a job due to cognitive bouncing around the shelters and neurological problems. I and staying on the streets I didn’t have family to support finally got the call I had been me—I was on my own. waiting for. I moved into my Not being able to hold a apartment in January. At that job also meant I had no health point, being an activist against insurance. And, without poverty only seemed natural. insurance, I couldn’t get I shared my story with medical care or rehab for my the crowd. Afterwards, we injuries. I battled with the state headed through Harvard Square of New Hampshire for months holding signs with messages trying to get Medicaid but was like, “Housing is a Human denied every time. By the fall Right,” “Poverty Equals of 2002, I had lost my ninth job Violence,” and “Economic and couldn’t afford rent. Not Justice For All.” Along our knowing what else to do, I left route we passed several of the New Hampshire and headed to places I stayed—shelters, store Boston, knowing there were more shelters and better medical care there. I figured I’d only be homeless for a couple of weeks.

Weeks turned to months. I could get medical care in Massachusetts, but housing was a completely different issue. The Section The Know Your Rights 8** waitlist froze in April of Brochure is now available at the 2003 and subsidized housing Coalition’s office. The brochure waitlists were three years is a legal guide for Cincinnati’s long. homeless and covers a person’s It didn’t take me long basic rights when interacting with in the shelters to realize that the police, as well as some local there were very few of us that laws that might be of interest to were truly homeless by the homeless population. If you choice. All it can take is a are a homeless person or if you loss of a job, a fire, domestic work with homeless people and violence, or a sudden illness would like to obtain free copies or disability to become of the brochure for yourself or homeless. Most of us were your agency, please call 421doing everything possible to 7803, or stop by the Coalition get out of our situations, but office and pick one up.

gift of the drawings and the way she spoke.

I want to say to everyone; don’t be quick to judge anyone, because first of all, you need to look beyond the person in front of you, and understand the problem and secondly, don’t be quick or harsh to judge. Any one of these circumstances could befall you at anytime. No matter how wealthy you are, you can still have all the problems.

I always say be kind to the homeless and the lonely, because we can be up today and down tomorrow.

Remember, we are all God’s children and it doesn’t take a lot of effort to be kind to one another, regardless of race, creed or color. He loves us all.

See you next month, if the creek don’t rise. doorways, alleys, and other homeless programs. A few homeless people thanked us for marching as we walked by them.

I was glad to be an active part of the March to Abolish Poverty. Many people expect the poor to help themselves. By uniting together as residents of Massachusetts, we bring awareness to how budget cuts are impacting the poor and homeless, and remind people that we are all at risk so we all have to be in this together. * Youth On Fire is a drop-in center for at-risk youth in Cambridge. ** Section 8 is a federal housing subsidy program. Crystal is an active member of Youth On Fire and other local non-profits. You can read about her experiences at www.beinghomeless.com.

Reprinted from What’s Up Magazine

Know Your Rights Brochure Available!

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The Peace Village

by Dr. Steve Sunderland seeming “cheapness” of the Breaking out of my own death of African American numbness: The past few weeks males. The riots of 2001 have been ones of great stopped the city for a week of confusion and numbness for me. horror and reflection that many I have felt inundated with of us thought would bring us unbelievable events: out of the patterns that had a) The Gibson movie as new reinforced averting our eyes to seeds of hate; the ongoing brutalization of b) the revelations of Richard certain communities and groups Clark about the deafness to in our city. An innovative warnings about September 11th; healing process was initiated, c) the testimony of Clark and “The Collaborative Agreement,” national security advisor, Rice, that called for new methods of about what was “known” by her communication within the and others; police and between the police d) the increasing death toll of and the community. Police Americans and Iraqis and the procedures were found that seeming unraveling of the could reinforce “community” effort to work for peace; policing with a different e) the decision of the Sharon government to unilaterally withdraw from the Gaza, AND the explicit support of president Bush for this plan and the failure of Sharon to convince his own political party; f) the American acknowledgement and support of the Israeli policy of assassinating opposition political Dr. Steve Sunderland leaders; g) the unresponsiveness of the perspective on participation of world community to the the general citizenry in the genocide in the Sudan coming policing process of identifying at the same time as the “hot spots,” and working anniversary of the similar “collaboratively” to bring the genocide in Rawanda; good will of the police and the h) the 50th anniversary of community together as a team.

Brown v. Board of Education at This process does not exist as the same time that resegregation of this date even though of the nation’s schools millions of dollars have been continues unresponded to by the used to promote the process. branches of the federal Our city is becoming government; numb, again. Healing has i) Cincinnati continues without stopped. The killings by police any addressing of the causes of have changed but community the riots of 2001 while police residents are killing each other procedures, under criticism by a at record levels. federal monitor, are unchanged MY KEY FITS WHAT? along with the attitude of Who has a good answer “racial profiling”; and, to the lock without a key? j) recent news coming out of Who can lift the fog and Iraq suggest new levels of help see the clouds? suicide by American armed What makes sense when forces while pictures of despair is the name of the drug? humiliation of “prisoners” has Yet, there are young brought the president and the people holding fasts for the secretary of the department of hungry in our city. defense to the point of Yet, there are apologizing “for the torture” to international students who are the American armed forces, the making their countrie’s plight Iraqi prisoners and people, and known. the American people.

Yet, there are Christians When I started the Peace and Jews from high schools Village three years ago, the willing to meet and learn about focus was on promoting healing the “other.” from the riots by taking action Yet, there are Islamic to face the taboo areas of our people willing to open the door, city and culture that have one more time, to discussion allowed the numbing of our and the answering of the police and community to the questions of fear.

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Yet, there are courageous editors and writers willing to not let the homeless die without some shred of respect for their lives and their deaths.

A mural of elders in our most dangerous neighborhood shows hands touching in love.

Little children paint pictures of an underground railroad riding a rainbow of hope.

Finches grow their four little ones to the point that they can fly as the cats scowl.

Peace can happen and is happening.

Taking the Peace Village as an antidote to the language of numbness: What helps under these conditions of “war” on the peace processes? What can any person do to make a difference, stand up to the waves of violence, and, take a position of conscience? The suspension of the laws of war (Geneva Accords), following the attacks of September 11, have deeply invaded our common culture of what is acceptable in both language and action. Fighting terrorists without understanding the sources of terror is basically a national panic attack.

Devoting billions of dollars for revenge on some “enemy” blinds our confusion with evil.

Holding “suspects” from our war in Afghanistan for months without access to lawyers or judges increases the fear that our enemies will do the same and that there is no real rule of law for anyone. A policy of murdering “suspected” terrorists without any thought of bringing them to justice is international capital punishment and the ultimate torture without trial, review, or appeal to anyone. And, we support our allies in this same corroding behavior: we are breaking down the layers of decency and acceptance of the rule of law.

Standing aside, without strong protest about the genocide in the Sudan and, through the absence of agreed upon AIDS funding, makes us a part of a world of evil that keeps slapping us in the face.

Yet, the Peace Village is moving with gentleness and a resolve to make language and action converge in compassion.

We are engaged in actions that highlight reflection about the numbness of our local, national and international events. One commitment is to reflect and change mis-education about Jews, Christians and Moslems amongst youth and adults who are able to work through their fears of the other religions.

Here is a little of my own

Streetvibes

reflection on the actions that are emerging connected to the movie, “The Passion of Christ,”

by Mel Gibson.

The Gibson movie laid down a barrage of hateful messages about Jews, while providing a fictional version of the Gospels, and temporarily threatening the possibility of mutual respect between Christians and Jews. One part of me wanted to just let the movie go by and not comment: “This too shall pass.” But talking with Cincinnati youth and elders of both religions about their mutual ignorance and fear of each other only made it clear that the movie has given us a door for discussion about what may be behind the religious images. Religious hatred builds from fear and fear is what is dominant in the discussions of the major religions. Holidays are celebrated or known about, within and without the religion, without knowledge of connections to each faith.

Rarely have people felt welcomed in another person’s sacred churches, temples, and discussions. Very few people have ever visited a church, synagogue or mosque if it is not their own religion.

My old friends, Sam Joseph, Ed Irvin, and my new ones, Hans Klee, Barbara Dragul, Lama Aloosma, and the youth have counseled me to go into this area with caution and modest expectations. Both groups of religions have done a very good job in blinding each group to the strengths within and between the faiths. Opening a door and making a bridge for mutual respect and the creation of friendship will take action and patience.

But the violence of doing nothing in a violent world is not my choice; yet, the numbness of shock of deep-seated hatreds continues to plague my consciousness.

Dr. Steve Sunderland, professor of Social Work at the University of Cincinnati, is the Director of The Peace Village, a group of individuals from the national and international community committed to examining all issues of Peace in the world.

Dr. Sunderland also heads up Posters-for-Peace which engages people in expressing their visions of Peace, in their own words, through the creation of posters.

Dad Remembered Homeless It has been about 4 years since I wrote an article for Streetvibes. But today as I was riding my bike with my 4 year old son on the back in a bike seat, I ran into two street vendors who were so full of joy as I approached them. They reminded me of my wonderful father, Joseph E. Martin who use to be a street vendor. In 1999, I wrote an article in Streetvibes, “A MAN FOR THE HOMELESS—MY WONDERFUL FATHER.” My father spent his whole life as a single father raising 7 children by himself, and helping the homeless people in Cincinnati.

I still see some of the homeless people who used to live in his house selling Streetvibes. My father was a self-employed contractor who provided not only room and board but jobs for the homeless in Cincinnati.

Since 1999, my father had to eventually sell his house and move into a senior citizens home. When I visit him, I can see how much he misses his house and helping the homeless.

Due to the fact that he is getting older, he has trouble taking care of himself. But if he could, he would buy another house and continue to help the homeless. I know that there are many like him in Cincinnati who we do not even know exist. My Dad never sought recognition but he deserves it.

My wife and I work as Registered nurses, I work at Mercy Fransican hospital in Western Hills and she works at Deaconess Hospital up in Clifton. Over the years, my Dad has taught me alot about homeless people. As nurses, we take care of many as patients.

There are so many reasons why people end up without a home.

Many lose their jobs or fall prey to alcoholism or divorce. No matter the reason, it is a serious issue that must be dealt with in Cincinnati. The Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless does so much to address the needs of the homeless but so much more is needed. Reverend Maurice McCrackin did so much when he was living as a voice for the homeless. I feel privileged that I got to know him and share the gospel with him. It is nice that St. Joseph Catholic Church is honoring his life on June 11-13.

There are many who have shared his passion for the homeless and his desire to fight for the less fortunate. My father was one of them.

This story I write for him, in honor of a wonderful father and a good role model for the citizens of Cincinnati. I miss seeing him in his house and helping the homeless. I miss going to his house to pray with the homeless and the many special people who I got to know. In fact, many got the courage through prayer to put their lives back together. Many of the homeless who stayed with my father, learned from my father roofing and painting, and started their own businesses and bought their own house.

Though my Dad, does not own a house anymore, he still has a big heart for the homeless. God has called me to give the gospel to teenagers and college students in Cincinnati and throughout the world. In 2002, I visited South Korea to attend a World Mission report as a part of a Korean Missionary Journey Team. As I walked the streets in Seoul in the mornings, I saw many homeless people just like here in Cincinnati. Though many Koreans could not speak English, I got a chance to share breakfast with a few in South Korea.

Dad, I love you very much and I am proud to be your son and for what you have done for the homeless. In the same spirit of Reverend Maurice McCrackin, God gave you a special gift, it was not wealth or fame, but a big heart for those who were less fortunate.

Jesus once said, “Go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you can find.”

The kingdom of heaven is filled with those who are less fortunate. Jesus also said, “I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.” Our nation is most blessed when we serve and care for those who are less fortunate. We must not forget our brothers and sisters. We must help them by remembering the words of Jesus and listening to his voice. We must remember that what we do for the homeless, we do for Jesus and to serve his purpose of going to the streets and inviting them into his kingdom. May the people of Cincinnati join the fight to end homelessness through prayer and sharing God’s love with those who are in need.

Shepherd Andrew Martin University Bible Fellowship Church, Cincinnati

IRS Warns Charities Against Engaging in Political Campaign activity. Using an example of a Activities sponsored debate or forum, the Last month the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued a news release reminding charity groups to stay out of partisan political activities during this election year. This year’s notice was very early in the political season, providing another indication that the presidential sweepstakes are already underway.

Organizations tax-exempt under 501(c)(3) of the Tax Code are prohibited from participating or intervening in any political campaign on behalf of, or in opposition to, any candidate for public office.

The IRS notice explains that it uses a facts and circumstances test to decide whether an organization is engaging in prohibited political

IRS said if the debate or forum shows a preference for or against a certain candidate it becomes a prohibited activity.

Debate or forum sponsors can be seen as providing preferential treatment by giving the candidates spun questions, not giving each candidate the same opportunity to answer, and not asking a broad set of questions that covers many issue areas.

It is important to note, however, that charities can engage in a number of nonpartisan election related activities and should not shy away from doing so. Using the same example of a candidate debate or forum, the IRS said a charity could legally host such an activity.

National Homeless Civil Rights Organizing Project (NHCROP)

117 East 12th Street Cincinnati, OH 45202 homelesscivilrights@yahoo.com Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless (513) 421-7803

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Homeless Awareness...

Cont. from page 1

Awareness Week, May 14, was reserved for our mainstream stores to sell the Homeless Bum Fights videos, the Bush Awareness Music Administration’s decision to cut Extravaganza.

Performers housing vouchers, and the City included Christ of Cincinnati’s vote to renew the panhandling registration.

Emmanuel Church You can read more about these Choir, Jake Speed, issues elsewhere in this edition Divine Sisters, Stepp’n Out, Tribe of Streetvibes. of Levite, and Soul On May 12, GCCH held Mission Chorale. a book club discussion of John Grisham’s The Street Lawyer.

Media Bridges The book, though fiction, filmed the event, speaks eloquently about the and we will report the date and time real-life violations of homeless of its broadcast individuals’ civil rights. While Mother and Daughter get ready for a photo portrait at Homeless Mother’s Day Brunch homeless advocates believe that when that losing your home does not information mean losing your rights, becomes available. politicians and others who GCCH staff would like to thank the perceive the homeless as undeserving – or even worthless nearly 100 people who attended the – often disregard homeless people’s rights when creating event for their public policy or dealing with kindhearted charity homeless issues. The Street – over $500 was Lawyer follows Michael Brock, donated to the Coalition for the a lawyer who makes a change Homeless during from working in a large corporate law firm to working this event. GCCH at a legal clinic for the would also like to homeless. He quickly learns thank Jerrold how often – and how severely – Dowell for pulling this event together. homeless people’s rights are The violated in today’s society.

We reserved May 13 for Homeless Homeless Mother’s Day Brunch before arrival of the guests our “Armchair Advocate Day.” Awareness Quilt, On this day, we encouraged created by Susan Smith, toured each event. The people to stay home and use Homeless Awareness their time to learn more about the issue of homelessness.

Quilt is a beautiful People were encouraged to interactive quilt, investigate web pages, books, complete with doors that or movies related to open to reveal facts about homelessness and homelessness. We also asked fabric that can be pulled that people take actions to resolve current problems facing from different pockets to the homeless and at-risk reveal famous populations, such as the quotations. proposed cut in housing Mayor Luken officially proclaimed May vouchers, the renewal of the 9 – 14 “Homeless panhandling ordinance, and the sale of Bum Fights videos.

Awareness Week” in The last day of Homeless Cincinnati.

Lee Chapel Praise Dancers perform for guests

GCCH Executive Director Georgine Getty uncovers the Homeless Awareness Quilt sewn by Susan Smith (see cover)

Page 10

Streetvibes

Streetvibes Vendor Julie Walker and her grandson, Jalyn at one week old. Three months later he is still on oxygen, but he is doing well at 7 pounds!

“Thanks to everyone for your support!”

There is only one pretty child in the world, and every mother has it. - Chinese Proverb

Proclamation from Cincinnati Mayor Charlie Luken honoring Homeless Awareness Week

Streetvibes Vendor Code of Conduct All Vendors Sign and Agree to a Code of Conduct Report Any Violations to GCCH - 421-7803 1. Streetvibes will be distributed for a $1 voluntary donation. If a customer donates more than $1 for a paper, vendors are allowed to keep that donation. However, vendors must never ask for more than $1 when selling Streetvibes.

2. Each paper purchased from the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless (GCCH) costs 30 cents. Papers will not be given out on credit. Old papers can not be traded in for new papers.

3. Streetvibes may only be purchased from GCCH. Never buy papers from, or sell papers to other vendors.

4. Vendors must not panhandle or sell other items at the same time they are selling Streetvibes.

5. Vendors must treat all other vendors, customers, and GCCH personnel with respect.

6. Vendors must not sell Streetvibes while under the influence.

7. Vendors must not give a “hard sell” or intimidate anyone into purchasing Streetvibes. This includes following customers or continuing to solicit sales after customers have said no.

Vendors must also never sell Streetvibes door-to-door.

8. Vendors must not deceive customers while selling Streetvibes. Vendors must be honest in stating that all profits

go to the individual vendor.

Vendors must not tell customers that the money they receive will go to GCCH or any other organization or charity. Also, vendors must not say that they are collecting for “the homeless” in general.

9. Vendors must not sell papers without their badge. Vendors must present their badge when purchasing papers from GCCH. Lost badges cost $2.00 to replace.

Broken or worn badges will be replaced for free, but only if the old badge is returned to GCCH. 10. Streetvibes vendor meetings are held on the first weekday of the month at 1pm. The month’s paper will be released at this meeting. If a vendor cannot attend the meeting, he or she should let us know in advance.

If a vendor does not call in advance and does not show up, that vendor will not be allowed to purchase papers on the day of the meeting or the following day.

Five free papers will be given to those who do attend.

11. Failure to comply with the Code of Conduct may result in termination from the Streetvibes vendor program. GCCH reserves the right to terminate any vendor at any time as deemed appropriate. Badges and Streetvibes papers are property of GCCH, and must be surrendered upon demand.

A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials, heavy and sudden, fall upon us; when adversity takes the place of prosperity; when friends who rejoice with us in our sunshine, desert us when troubles thicken around us, still will she cling to us, and endeavor by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return to our hearts.

- Washington Irving Before I got married I had six theories about bringing up children; now I have six children, and no theories.

- John Wilmot Take motherhood: nobody ever thought of putting it on a moral pedestal until some brash feminists pointed out, about a century ago, that the pay is lousy and the career ladder nonexistent.

- Barbara Ehrenreich

Berta’s Art Corner

Streetvibes

Sunlight on a spigot Page 11

ReSTOC Holds its 26th Anniversary Celebration & Dinner ReSTOC (Race Street Tenants Organization Cooperative) held its 26th Anniversary and Appreciation Dinner on May 2 at Elder High School in Price Hill.

Residents, volunteers, staff and board members, and supporters joined together to celebrate another important year at ReSTOC, an Over-the-Rhine neighborhood low-income housing cooperative.

A donated dinner of lasagna and other food items was provided to guests, along with entertainment and a progress report from Andy Hutzel, director of ReSTOC. Various volunteers and ReSTOC board members were recognized and honored including former director Jennifer Summers.

Some of ReSTOC’s achievements this year included: • Serving as a meaningful volunteer site and learning experience for over 2,000 volunteers visiting Over-theRhine from suburban neighborhood’s.

• Completing the renovation of 5 vacant, historic buildings into 25 affordable, family housing units in Over-the-Rhine.

• Providing housing to 25 formerly homeless men and women.

• Continuing to provide decent, quality housing for over 100 lowincome households.

• Beginning a resident block club program with the Contact Center that empowers neighborhood residents to take back their streets..

ReSTOC is a low-income, racially integrated, community housing developer in the Over-the-Rhine neighborhood of Cincinnati, Ohio. ReSTOC was chartered in 1978 when the Drop Inn Center Homeless Shelter volunteers quietly but steadily worked to rehab several buildings; both abandoned and occupied, and ultimately saved a building from deterioration and three tenants from displacement. Founded as a co-operative in 1978, ReSTOC continues to have a Board of Owners that is at least 51% lowincome co-op tenants.

ReSTOC’s history of development is born out of a grassroots initiative to create community ownership of housing.

ReSTOC has always had a strong volunteer

and community base. ReSTOC continues to utilize sweat equity on every development project. Much of ReSTOC’s development in the early years was done solely with private fundraising and volunteer labor (unit-by-unit, year-byyear). ReSTOC has grown and changed over the years, developing larger projects and accessing many resources to continue a mission of providing quality, permanent housing. ReSTOC also continues its private and volunteer development with

various programs.

The 90 people attending ReSTOC’s 26th Anniversary Dinner represented a diverse group of people in support of decent, affordable housing. Thanks to those who attended and to the following sponsors: Tony Maas and JTM Meats, Coca-Cola, Elder High School, Busch Bros. Elevator Company, Cincinnati Central Credit Union, Clifton Ave Motor Service, Nu-Blend Paints, Southern Ohio Plate and Window Glass Corp

Dinner is served

Guests enjoy dinner entertainment The Vine Street Stompers perform during the ReSTOC 26th anniversary and appreciation dinner, held at Elder High School.

Page 12

Streetvibes

The Rocking Chair

by Marc D. Goldfinger She was leaning over the railing at the luggage conveyer.

That was the first time I had seen her in over two years. I had my luggage in my hand and came around her from behind, surprised that she hadn’t seen me yet. Wondering why she hadn¹t seen me waiting for the luggage by the belt.

I came up and tapped her on the shoulder.

“Oh. I didn’t see you.

Did you already get your luggage?”

I hugged her and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

“Mom. It’s so good to see you.”

“Did you get your luggage already? Dad is waiting outside.”

I carried my bag and walked next to her. The terminal doors swished open.

The humidity stained the air.

My father was waving to us. He was smiling but he looked sad to me. Something was different about my mother too.

Maybe it was just me.

This was the first time I had seen them since I had kicked my heroin habit. After thirty-two years of shooting dope some things were bound to be changed.

I walked up to my father.

Hugged him. He hugged me back. Everything felt strange.

Maybe it was me.

“When is Stella and Irv coming in from the cruise?” my mother asked.

“Tomorrow night,” my father said.

It was a brand new Buick. My father always did like Buicks. It seemed like a long ride to the condo from the airport. Everything seemed different than I remembered it.

We made small talk as we rode. The kind of talking that you don’t remember later. I felt like smoking a cigarette. I needed a meeting. I watched the Florida landscape slip by. A man with shabby clothing held a sign as he stood at the exit of the interstate.

The sign said, ‘Will work for food. Please help.’

I looked at all the cars around me, passing the man standing by the highway. The air-conditioning blew cool air on my face as we passed the man with the sign. The sweat was beaded on his face.

“When is Stella and Irv coming in from the cruise?” my mother asked.

“Tomorrow night,” my father said.

They took me out for lunch at a kosher deli. More small talk. About different relatives. Who was sick. Who wasn’t sick. How hardly anyone went to the pool anymore. How everyone at the condo was getting older. Or dying.

I had a corned beef sandwich with pickles. My mother had a salad. My father had liver and onions. He only ate a little bit of it. I remembered he never really liked liver and onions that much.

When we got back to the condo I called the NA helpline.

I needed a meeting. I felt numb and couldn’t process what I was feeling.

My father and I went out to the pool. We were the only ones there for awhile. He had an old white sailor’s cap on. It was pulled down and it made him look like a boy with gray hair and wrinkles. He smiled with sad eyes as we talked.

One other person came out to the pool and talked with us for awhile. He had been a stockbroker. He still played with stocks and my father talked with him about the market.

I looked around the pool.

There were six metal tables, about fifteen straight-back chairs, and about 25 chaise lounges on the patio by the pool. There were close to eighty condos in this section of the complex. It was 92 degrees.

There were three of us at the pool.

A few days ago some teenagers had been swimming at the pool. The police came. On most days the water is still.

My father and I went back in to change. Mom was sitting on the back porch in a

rocking chair. She called out to us.

“When is Stella and Irv coming in from the cruise?”

My father glanced at me.

“Tomorrow night,” he answered.

“Oh,” she said. And kept rocking.

I changed into dry clothes. My father went to lay down and take a nap in the living room. Other than when company came over that was the only time anyone ever used the living room.

I looked around the den.

I had moved in there when I had first gotten out of prison. My parents had gone to a show the first night that I was there. My father had an old prescription for narcotics in the fridge and I ate them all. I passed out with a cigarette in my hand. Left a two inch burn in the den rug.

It was a new rug. It was ten years later.

That night, after supper, I went out to a meeting. No one showed up except for me. I read recovery literature and walked back to the condo. It was just me and my mind. The company couldn’t have been worse.

My parents were already in bed by the time I got home. I turned the light out and listened to the fan on the ceiling spin. It was right over the bed. I imagined what would happen if it were to fall on me while I slept, still spinning as it dropped. The imagination is limited when it comes to the real. Things get left out.

The morning light crept under the shade. I got up and went to the bathroom. Then I prayed and meditated. There was a meeting near the apartment today that I knew would happen but I was afraid

Streetvibes

anyway. For me, the alternative to meetings was unacceptable.

My mother was sitting on the back porch rocking in the chair. They had closed in the golf course out back with new condominiums. I missed the vegetation that had surrounded the course.

My father walked into the room.

“She rocks all the time since the sickness. She asks the same questions over and over. I don’t know what to do so I just let her rock.”

There were tears in his eyes.

I walked out to the porch and asked her if she wanted to come in for breakfast.

“In a little while,” she said.

There were tears in her eyes.

“Are you all right?” I asked.

“Yes, I’m all right,” she said.

She didn’t look directly at me. She stared out at the golf course. There were so many tears in her eyes that I didn¹t know what was keeping them from spilling down her cheeks.

I put my hand on her shoulder.

“Is there anything I can do?”

“Let me rock,” was what she said.

I walked back into the den. My father was sitting there. There were tears behind my sunglasses that he couldn’t see. I felt an impulse to keep them from running down my cheek. My father was crying.

“Let her rock,” was all he said.

So we did.

Reprinted from BIGnews, New York City, June 2004

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As the Crow Flies

Inadequate

What Shall I Render?

by Michael Henson

by Lisa Weber

by Robert Manassa, Streetvibes Vendor

It smells like something Straight had just died. through the mists of morning, Down on hands and knees, he rises, I search the rug. leaving the branch of pine where he has waited.

My fingers rake the plush.

He crosses the eroding field of corn, Under these nails the irrigation ditch, There is some dirt and blood, and the pale road of gravel, but no hope. and sets his course, straight, Digital and vacant, over the water tower and the village hall. a voice reaches me.

Field after field, he flaps over Solace to silence. broad rectangles of soybeans It reminds me how close I am, then the smaller rectangles to becoming a simple whore. of the swelling suburbs.

He crosses the malls and golf courses, I want to tear that need places barren as a sea of plastic, from my skin, and does not look down. to expose what lies beneath.

He crosses the black ring of the beltway It just gets muted by choked with tractor trailers a desperate quiet and the parkway that even scares me. planted thick with SUVs. I bring my knees to the floor, To his right and to his left pass come eye to eye. the towers of the cell phones Rolling and rolling, the radio stations covering myself with and the star-headed towers of the television. something, He slides an updraft over the factories more pure. humming and yawning with the start of the shift Something perhaps, human. and the dark somnolent mills still sleeping under a blanket of dust and abandonment.

The morning light blazes at the flanks of the corporate centers in their pools of chilled asphalt.

But he does not look to the right or the left, nor does he veer to either side.

He flies steady and true, straight across the apartment complexes straight down the lanes of the tormented projects The Bottom Line straight to the throbbing center

by Michael Nelson straight to the pierced heart of the city.

Sin on our streets, Death in our city, The bottom line is, Life shows us no pity.

Be Yourself

by Bruce Wilmer The world would like to change you; There are pressures all around.

You must decide just who you are, Then firmly hold your ground.

You have an image of yourself, An ideal sense of you, And to this vision you must always Struggle to be true.

You know what you are good at, And you know where your talents lie, But if you are ruled by others, Your uniqueness could pass by.

Remember, there is much to learn, But all new things aren’t good.

Wisdom lies in what you’ve learned, And what you have withstood.

So, be yourself and don’t allow The world to take control.

Preserving you identity, Is life’s precious goal.

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Women cheat on husbands, Men cheating on wives, The bottom line is, more pain in their lives.

Kids killing kids, Cops shot everyday, The bottom line is, We all need to pray.

People watch violence, See ladies quite nude, The bottom line is, Our morals are crude.

I don’t have fine clothes, nor jewelry I don’t have a high position given me, I don’t even understand my missions, I can’t make a decision What shall I render?

I can’t truly say I’ve done things right, I don’t even pray both day or nite, Sometimes I just plain forget, I wake up the next morning feeling regret, What shall I render?

What shall I give in exchange for my soul?

Am I going to far? Am I being too bold?

I know God shed his precious blood for me, If I don’t have anything to render, Am I truly worthy?

What shall I render?

Diversity

by Wanda (OTR Resident) The money people are attacking my home.

On the west, they’re tearing down homes and the symphony wants Washington Park, in the name of cultural diversity.

On the east, the business men and the rich landlords push for a ballpark and intervening districts, in the name of economic diversity.

On the south, the downtown council wants to expand north and change all the streets to two-way, in the name of diversity.

In the center is my home and yours, the poor, working poor, handicapped, homeless, all live and survive, day to day.

The powers want diversity.

We already have it.

They should help, not attack.

I will stand up for the right to live where I want, I won’t be in the middle of diversity.

Our leaders are weaklings, Our court systems fail, The bottom line is, Does Truth ever prevail?

The bottom line is, The end may be near, The bottom line is, Mankind shall know fear!

Streetvibes

Writers!

Submit your Poetry to STREETVIBES Streetvibes@juno.com

A queen bee, wrapped quite securely from the neck down in a cocoon of silk, hanging on a spider’s web, asked a passing drone what he thought of her hair.

He replied, “Oh, you are a tangled mess!”

She said, “What did you say?”

But by this time the drone had passed out of earshot, so the spider answered her for him, “Your Majesty, he was simply referring to the quality of my workmanship and showing your Highness the utmost respect simultaneously.

He simply inquired, ‘How do you do, your tangledness?’”

“Oh, that’s much better.” * A blind man, after completing his research at the Library of Alexandria, Egypt, leaves and is traveling down the road.

Up ahead on the other side he hears an animal trainer with his elephant having fun with a group of blind men. After having each feel a part of the animal he asks in turn what he thinks the creature is.

The one who felt the tail says he thinks it’s a snake. The one who felt a leg says, “A tree trunk.”

The one who felt its side says, “The side of a house.”

The lone blind traveler listens and laughs.

A passing stranger asks him, “What’s so funny?”

The lone blind traveler replies, “It’s quite simple and easy to deduce what the unseen creature is. It produces more #$%* than we will ever know what to do with. It takes up a great deal of space.

And it’s capable of trampling down much in meadow, forest and town, but eventually leaving plenty of room for new growth. The unseen creature is obviously a Republican.

THE VIETNAM VETS SANGHA Life Is Like a Chicken Wire Fence by jh Through the void, the outstretched hand directs you to the icy, blind stare.

Fearful, glassy, scratched and marred.

Retarded plea, old recital, tedious. I want to go....

Beneath the surface of this rounded gem, speaks a chorus of screaming violence.

There is a smell.

I want to leave, keep on walking.

Then, our fears grow like fruitless vine.

Clinging to the cracks and concrete, in that place, beyond the Fence.

“Sorry, I don’t have anything to give.”

“Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent.

It takes a touch of genius — and a lot of courage — to move in the opposite direction.” - Albert Einstein

Numbness settles in and the world breaks down To a question, a begging and violent question about you And me, caught in the ice with fire all around, and A dog barks at a baby that is learning to walk just As hands hold the dog, caress the baby, and release: WHO WILL GIVE PEACE A CHANCE? 10,000 posters later, the question Is fixed in the tombstone, attached to The unbeating heart, twisted In the pictures of a travelogue to hell, tangled Among the bodies making a pyramid, a child’s Game gone to lynching, hanging from a tree, caught In tape, on video, “Hello, Mom.” and fused In the future memory of another child-warrior, imprisoned In the smiles of the lost.

I read in Jane’s book that awareness Can happen by opening a door in A story so horrible that the only way out Is in, through, around, crawling in the s@#$ Pile to find the understanding. The child went in, The adult emerged. Join hands, friends, and help Me look for the door in, out, deeper, above and Into understanding and love.

The vets have taught forgiveness, patience, and Holding the heart in our breath as a way of releasing The wisdom of our suffering. Now, many of my brothers and Sisters are crying, losing hope, forgetting the old skills of ringing Our world bell of being awake. That ringing in my ears is also the bell of hope. Can you hear it?

The Peace Village

Shutter Speed

by Jimmy Heath

by jba

Race Street, Over-the-Rhine

Streetvibes

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Ursuline Academy Students Explore Homelessness in humbled, educated and grew Cincinnati spiritually from the Ursuline Academy is founded on a long history of educating young women in the tradition of St. Angela Merici. St. Angela (1474-1540) believed that it was only through the education of young women that society would take on Christian values and attitudes necessary for change. Her belief in the role of women was counter-cultural and futuristic and began a movement that has become world wide, know as “Ursuline Education”.

Homelessness is a problem not only in the world, but in our country - and in our city. But what can we do about it? Over the years Ursuline Academy has hosted a “Shantytown,” a threeday awareness-raising event in which students construct and sleep in cardboard “shanties.”

Each evening there are activities, guest speakers and musicians, and a fund-raising dinner to help combat homelessness and educate people about this very real problem that affects thousands of people.

With the recent controversy over the rights of the homeless in Cincinnati and elsewhere, we will have special interest in learning the facts about homelessness and why this social problem causes such extreme reactions from people.

Ursuline Shantytown participants with Streetvibes guest speaker Grady Cook (l)

up in a home similar to mine.

It struck me how foolish I had been and that what these people were faced with sometimes dealt with things beyond their control. I’ve learned not to judge or associate people with certain groups, for everyone is an individual with their own story to tell.

by Maeve Elder I was surprised at how much I was affected by my Shantytown experience. I helped organize the event and I go to the Drop Inn Center frequently.

I’m not unfamiliar with the homeless.

Shantytown (reflections written But the fact is that I am

by Ursuline students particpating unfamiliar with homelessness. in Shantytown) Spending three days in a Shanty was difficult for me. I

by Holly Fields hadn’t been aware how much Shantytown was one of simple comforts meant to me. the most eye-opening I was no longer able to go into experiences that I have my room and relax in solitude participated in for quite some because I was living at school, time. Never have I been so a place always bustling with thankful for what I have, or activity. Sometimes it felt so felt so humbled by the oppressive that I couldn’t just presence of others. go home. I was forced to Homelessness was a way of life somewhat unknown to me. think about how it would feel I had little background on this if I didn’t have a “home” to means of living and had never look forward to at the end of three days. been faced wit it. Upon I struggled with the fact hearing the stories form the that I had relatively no control men and woman of the Drop over my situation.

Inn Center and the Greater In this case, I had Cincinnati Coalition for the committed to participating and Homeless, my previously I couldn’t just give up and formed ideals changed leave, but there were moments drastically. I had a certain when I wanted to. For people opinion of homeless people, who are really without a home, and instantly after the talks, I felt ridiculous and ashamed for getting out of the situation they are in isn’t even a my way of thinking. These concrete option. were people just like me.

As some one who often Many of them had had a shies away from asking people positive family life and grew

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for favors, it was humiliating to have to ask people for money, fully aware that I couldn’t pay them back. My experience with Shantytown completely changed me and while opening me up to the experience of being homeless, it compelled me to analyze my own needs and values. I will not claim that I have been acquainted with homelessness in a real form, for that is certainly not the truth. I have, however, been forced to step out of a comfort zone, which I didn’t even know existed, to learn more about an experience I had previously claimed to know a lot about.

by Elizabeth Brandel I entered the chapel at the beginning of Shantytown with a few goals – to get a break from my hectic schedule, to meet new people, and to learn more about homelessness. Despite the fact that I achieved all my goals, the experience affected me more than I could have ever imagined. I was

Streetvibes

experience. I bonded with my fellow upper-classwomen as we ate together at the Drop Inn Center. We saw, together, tears welling up in people’s eyes as they told their story.

We were moved and changed.

For myself, it made me thankful for what I have. I found a new love and respect for my family and friends.

Throughout the entire Shantytown experience, I grew closer to people, especially to my friend Jenny. We sat in our box and talked for hours about our lives. The experience gave us the opportunity to simply talk, and share our story. As one of my best friends, I had not been able to tell her things due to our busy schedules.

However, I have learned that you have to make time. Life is short, and you are in control of how you spend it.

I have learned to let my guard down and cry with people I normally don’t. I am typically a person who doesn’t let people “in” or show my emotions that much. I sobbed at Shantytown. This may not be a big deal for many people, but it was for me.

Shantytown affected me emotionally as well as gave me time to find myself and let others find me as well. It was a refreshing experience and made me a happier person at Ursuline Academy. I would recommend this experience to anyone who needs a break and is in search of something more – of yourself, your friends, your life....

Ursuline.... cont. next page

by Alexander Zaitchik If the president wasn’t so forthright about his disinterest in the world, it would have been hard to believe him last month when he said the abuse in Abu Ghraib prison “doesn’t represent the America I know.”

But who can doubt him?

To represent the America George W. Bush knows, there would have to be explosive snapshots of Iraqi detainees lounging by the Abu Ghraib pool, barbequing ribs and snorting primo Bolivian coke off empty cases of Coors Light. There would have to be shocking reports of prisoners with family members on the Iraqi Governing Council being handed sweetheart deals on professional sports franchises and energy firms.

Of course, if the President were more of a newspaper-reading sort of feller, he wouldn’t have been so shocked by the pictures. As a tough-on-crime Texan, he would have recognized such treatment immediately, perhaps even feeling a little swell of pride.

If he’d ever put down the Bible for a broadsheet after his conversion, he’d know that “Texas prison” is one of the most feared phrases in the language - and he’d know why.

When he sat down in front of Arab TV audiences last month to explain the true American way, he could have pointed to an October, 1999 story in the Austin American Statesman that detailed how female prisoners there were regularly kept in portable detention cells for hours at a time in summer heat with no water.

“In fear of more time in the cages,” the article explains, “many women submit sexually to their oppressors and are raped, molested and forced to perform sodomy on their captors.”

And in 1996, if Bush hadn’t so busy handling the transfer of $9 billion in public funds over to the University of Texas Investment Management Company, the governor might have had time to read about the videotape that surfaced that year depicting prison guards brutalizing inmates in the Brazoria County Detention Center in Angleton, TX. The tape, which was originally shot for use as a training video, showed riotclad guards beating prisoners (arrested on drug violations) and forcing them to crawl while kicking them and poking them with electric prods.

Had Bush cleared a

little time to watch this video, he would had an easier time digesting the images out of Abu Ghraib, and thus saved himself those few moments of humiliating supplication in front of all those Arabs, based as they were on the faulty assumption that those pictures “weren’t America.”

If only some governor’s aide had told him in 1999 about the hunger strike at the notorious Terrel Unit facility in Livingston, TX, where death-row prisoner Michael Sharp said before his execution, many guards “think it is their patriotic duty to torture and brutalize prisoners.” If only he had not been so busy reclining in box seats at Rangers home games, the governor might have known that prisoners’ attorney Donna Brorby had described Texas’ super-max prisons as “the worst in the country,” where guards reportedly gas prisoners and throw them down on concrete floors while handcuffed.

Then the president might have been better equipped to recognize his country in those pictures.

Considering all the downtime the President has spent in the Lone Star State since 2000, he might have even heard about the 2002

conclusion of the 30-year legal battle Ruiz v. Johnson. In its write up of the case, the Austin Chronicle reported the words of Texas Judge William Wayne Justice, written after hearing lengthy expert and inmate testimony on prison conditions: Texas prison inmates continue to live in fear. More vulnerable inmates are raped, beaten, owned, and sold by more powerful ones. Despite their pleas to prison officials, they are often refused protection. Instead, they pay for protection, in money, services, or sex. Correctional officers continue to rely on the physical control of excessive force to enforce order.

Those inmates locked away in administrative segregation, especially those with mental illnesses, are subjected to extreme deprivations and daily psychological harm.

But no, the abuse at Abu Ghraib does not represent any America that George Bush could possibly have known about. The America he knows never sets foot inside prisons. It just owns them and fills them and builds them. Anything that happens after that, well, it might as well be another country.

Alexander Zaitchik can be reached at: zaitchik@nypress.com

Ursuline

Students from Ursuline and Moeller joined together for an educational activity which drove home the importance of food distribution throughout the world. We ate soup and bread, and afterwards listened to Mark Teegarden from the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless. That night we slept for the final time in our shanties, this time on an even colder night.

Shantytown really made me think about the lives of the homeless on a much more personal level.

The most influential part of the three days was realizing, in comparison to the real thing, I had a cardboard shanty to sleep in - most homeless people are outside completely vulnerable to the elements. I had friends to bring me lunch. I had my shantybuddy to help me bundle up and keep warm. The

hardest part of Shantytown for me was the uncertainty.

Where would my next meal come form? How would I get my homework finished? I found that the most underestimated part of homelessness is the difficulty to go about daily life if you don’t know what the next hour will bring.

Shantytown made me appreciate my life so much more, and it made me realize that homelessness is an issue I want to help dissolve. Livable wage and affordable housing are important concerns in this country. I may not have all the answers, but at least I have some experience to guide me in the search.

Abu Ghraib - Doesn’t It Ring a (Prison) Bell?

from page 16

by Kasey Wilson From April 26th to the 28th, 25 Ursuline academy students temporarily experienced homelessness during Shantytown. We constructed cardboard “shanties” outside of the school to sleep in for two nights. We were told to only bring the clothes on our back and necessary toiletries outside of the school to sleep in for two nights.

The first night, we visited the Drop Inn Center and toured the building. We ate dinner with the residents and talked with homeless and formerly homeless people.

That night, we slept in our shanties, thankful for the warmth on a chilly night.

During the next day, we begged for food and battled sleepiness during school. The second night, Ursuline hosted an Empty Bowls Night.

Streetvibes

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What Sinclair Doesn’t Want You to See on ‘Nightline’ Last month, ABC’s Nightline broadcast read a list of U.S. soldiers who have died in Iraq. But some viewers weren’t able to see the program: The Sinclair Broadcast Group, which owns several ABC affiliates, announced that it would not air the Nightline segment on its stations.

A statement on Sinclair’s website explained: “While the Sinclair Broadcast Group honors the memory of the brave members of the military who have sacrificed their lives in the service of our country, we do not believe such political statements should be disguised as news content. As a result, we have decided to preempt the broadcast of Nightline this Friday on each of our stations which air ABC programming.”

Sinclair’s rationale for the censorship of Nightline is

explicitly political: “Before you judge our decision, however, we would ask that you first question Mr. Koppel as to why he chose to read the names of the 523 troops killed in combat in Iraq, rather than the names of the thousands of private citizens killed in terrorists attacks since and including the events of September 11, 2001.”

A response statement from ABC said that the network did broadcast a list of the victims of the September 11 attacks on the one-year anniversary.

This is not the first time that Sinclair’s conservative political leanings - 98 percent of its 2004 political contributions have gone to Republicans (MediaChannel.org, 4/29/04) have led the company into journalistic controversy. In February, a Sinclair news crew

was sent to Iraq to cover the “good news” that was allegedly going unreported in the rest of the media (Baltimore Sun, 2/18/ 04). And shortly after the September 11 attacks, Sinclair executives required stations to air editorial statements in support of the Bush administration (Extra!, 11-12/ 01).

Sinclair controls about 60 TV stations, including eight ABC affiliates, some in substantial population centers: WSYX— Columbus, Ohio KDNL— St. Louis, Mo. WXLV— Greensboro, WinstonSalem, High Point, N.C. WEAR— Mobile, AL & Pensacola, Fla. WLOS— Asheville, N.C. WCHS— Charleston & Huntington, W.V. WGGB— Springfield, Mass.

WTXL— Tallahassee, Fla. It’s possible that some

Nightline viewers, faced with how many American lives have been lost in Iraq, may become opposed to the war. It’s also possible that others will see the show as an argument for fighting and winning in Iraq, so that these deaths will not have been in vain. Journalists, however, should not decide whether to report the reality of a war depending on what they assume the political reaction might be. The American people need full reporting on the situation in Iraq - including the toll in U.S. and Iraqi lives - so that they can make an informed judgment on whether the war’s goals are worth the costs.

Sinclair may claim that it honors the memory of the dead members of the military. It evidently prefers, however, that they should be remembered without being mentioned.

“Harsh Methods” Aren’t Torture, Says the NY Times from FAIR-L (Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting) The New York Times, revealing the interrogation techniques the CIA is using against Al-Qaeda suspects, seemed unable to find a source who would call torture by its proper name.

Last month’s article, headlined “Harsh CIA Methods Cited in Top Qaeda Interrogation,” described “coercive interrogation methods” endorsed by the CIA and the Justice Department, including hooding, food and light deprivation, withholding medications, and “a technique known as ‘waterboarding,’ in which a prisoner is strapped down, forcibly pushed under water and made to believe he might drown.”

The article took pains to explain why, according to U.S. officials, such techniques do not constitute torture: “Defenders of the operation said the methods stopped short of torture, did not violate American anti-torture statutes, and were necessary to fight a war against a nebulous enemy whose strength and intentions could only be gleaned by extracting information from often uncooperative detainees.”

The article seemed to accept that the techniques described are something other

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the Convention, “torture” is: than torture: “The tactics “any act by which severe pain simulate torture, but officials or suffering, whether physical say they are supposed to stop or mental, is intentionally short of serious injury.” The inflicted on a person for such implication is that only purposes as obtaining from him interrogation methods that or a third person information or cause serious physical harm would be real and not simulated a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has torture. committed or is suspected of The article quoted no having committed, or one who said that the CIA intimidating or methods described ...a technique coercing him or a were, in fact, third person, or torture. Yet it known as would have been ‘waterboarding,’ in for any reason based on easy to find human which a prisoner is discrimination of rights experts who strapped down, any kind, when would describe such pain or them as such. The forcibly pushed suffering is website of Human under water and inflicted by or at Rights Watch made to believe he the instigation of reports that “the might drown.” or with the prohibition against consent or torture under acquiescence of a public official international law applies to or other person acting in an many measures,” including official capacity.” “near drowning through Noting the Convention’s submersion in water.”

The article did quote the reference to “consent or acquiescence” would have been Geneva Conventions’ prohibition against “violence to helpful in evaluating the claims made by officials in the article life and person, in that the U.S. can skirt particular...cruel treatment and prohibitions on torture if torture” and “outrages upon detainees are formally in the personal dignity, in particular, custody of another country. humiliating and degrading In fact, the Convention treatment.” But it did not quote the definition of “torture” Against Torture, which the U.S. signed in 1994, explicitly under international law, prohibits sending a person contained in the 1984 anywhere “where there are Convention Against Torture, substantial grounds for which makes it clear that believing that he would be in psychological as well as danger of being subjected to physical methods of coercion torture.” are prohibited. According to

Streetvibes

The Times might have looked back to its own archives on the subject to find critics of U.S. detention policies. Some of the information included in the May 13, 2004 article was first reported on March 9, 2003— except the original story quoted Holly Burkhalter of Physicians for Human Rights, who decried the lack of a “specific policy that eschews torture.” It also noted critics’ assertion that “transferring Qaeda suspects to countries where torture is believed common— like Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia— violates American law and the 1984 international convention against torture, which bans such transfers.”

While the article did impart important information about the tactics being used by American agents to interrogate terrorist suspects, it’s also critical to know whether these methods violate international or domestic law. By relying solely on administration officials to define what torture is and what the U.S. government’s legal obligations are, the New York Times failed to provide the context necessary for readers to make an informed judgment.

CONTACT: New York Times Daniel Okrent, Public Editor mailto:public@nytimes.com Phone: (212) 556-7652 Toll free comment line: 1-888NYT-NEWS

Food Research and Action Center News (FRAC) (“Farmers’ Markets To Accept Surging Food Prices (“Food Prices Surge,” The Washington Post, May 2, 2004) The price of many basic food items has been climbing steeply, and the trend is expected to continue through 2004. Milk, meat, eggs, oil, and produce prices are rising nationwide, marking the first case of serious food inflation in years. The price increases are due to a stronger economy, increasing fuel costs, and bad weather here and abroad. One measure of the price of groceries shows a 10 percent increase in a year.

There is some evidence price increases now are moderating. http:// www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/articles/A579452004Apr30.html

Some School Lunch Programs Exceed Federal Fat Content Guidelines (“What’s For Lunch?,” Pasadena Star News, May 2, 2004) Five school districts in Los Angeles County were found to exceed federal guidelines for fat content in their school lunch nutrition programs. The school districts have stated that the data were outdated and have corrected their lunch menus to be in compliance. The survey was conducted by the California Department of Education, seeking to discover if the state’s school lunch programs were contributing to childhood obesity rates. State superintendent of public instruction Jack O’Connell noted that, “For many of our students a school lunch is the only healthy meal of the day,” and “while most California schools are doing a good job in providing healthy meals, we can do better.” http:// www.pasadenastarnews.com/ Stories/ 0,1413,206~22097~2123533,00.html States’ Tax Receipts Rise, Leading To Some Surpluses (“States’ Tax Receipts Rise, Leading To Some Surpluses,” The New York Times, May 4, 2004) Thirty-two states across the nation are reporting budget surpluses for fiscal year 2004, according to a survey by the National Conference of State Legislatures. Tax revenues have been stronger in recent months than the same period a year ago, giving many states their first consistent increase in three years. However, the surpluses are small, and tax collections are not rising fast

enough to keep pace with increasing Medicaid, pensions, and education costs, which account for the bulk of state budgets. As a result, 33 states faced projected shortfalls in their 2005 budgets. In recent years most states compensated for the lost revenue by cutting programs, raising tuition and fees, or borrowing. http:// www.nytimes.com/2004/05/04/ politics/ 04TAXE.html?ex=1084248000& en=296ffe9566be8e20&ei=5062 &partner=GOOGLE

Obese Kids More Likely To Be Bullying Victims And Aggressors (“Obese Kids More Likely To Be Bullying Victims And Aggressors,” SFGate.com, May 3, 2004) A study of by Queens University in Ontario found that obese children are more than twice as likely to be bullied at least once a week than their peers. Obese children are also more likely to be bullies. The study underscores that obesity endangers not just a child’s physical health, but emotional as well. The findings support similar research conducted previously in England and a study in the U.S. that found obese children, due to health problems and teasing from being overweight, rated their quality of life as low as did child cancer patients. http:// www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/ article.cgi?f=/news/archive/ 2004/05/03/ national0904EDT0479.

DTL&type=health Oregon Anti-Hunger Efforts Win Federal Praise (“Hunger-relief Efforts Win Feds’ Stamp Of Approval,” Salem Statesman Journal, May 6, 2004) In 1996-98, Oregon had the hungriest households in the nation. The state’s efforts to fight hunger through raising food stamp participation shot its participation rate to 84 percent in 2001, one of the highest nationally.

Undersecretary Eric Bost of the U.S. Department of Agriculture in a recent visit in Oregon lauded the state’s efforts, emphasizing the continued need to raise participation rates. He spoke of the administration’s commitment to “ensure that eligible people participate in all of our nutrition programs.”

Bost also mentioned that food stamp eligibility is not tied to welfare, a misconception many families had after Congress put

time limits on welfare cash payments. Having enough food is important for schoolchildren as well, who otherwise have difficulty learning and growing, said a state human services official. http:// news.statesmanjournal.com/ article.cfm?i=79681

Only 1 In 3 Eligible Connecticut Children Has School Breakfast (“Let’s Take A Walk And Talk About Hungry Children,” Hartford Courant, May 2, 2004) Connecticut may be the richest state in the country, but it ranks 44th for its participation rate in the school breakfast program.

Only a third of the children eligible for free and reduced price lunch also eat a school breakfast. Less than half of Connecticut’s schools even serve breakfast. End Hunger Connecticut! is advocating legislation requiring all schools with a large percentage of lowincome students to offer breakfast. The legislation is part of other anti-hunger efforts in the state, where food banks like Foodshare serve increasing need every year. The state will hold a 3-mile Walk Against Hunger. http:// www.ctnow.com/features/ lifestyle/hc-susan0502.artmay 02,0,6159537.column Billions In Public Aid Going Unclaimed In New York City (“Let feds, state help you, say Betsy & Marty,” New York Daily News, May 4, 2004) Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum and Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz held a news conference at Brooklyn Borough Hall last Friday urging borough residents to take advantage of billions of dollars in federal and state aid going unclaimed in the city. 835,000 New Yorkers who are eligible to receive an average of $1,100 each in food stamps every year are not doing so. Also underutilized is the Women, Infants, and Children program that gives an average annual benefit of $431 to pregnant women and new mothers to meet their children’s nutritional needs. Less than half of the 525,000 eligible women in the city who qualify get the benefit. http://www.nydailynews.com/ boroughs/story/189776p164196c.html Farmers’ Markets To Accept Food Stamps

Streetvibes

Food Stamps,” NBC4.TV News, April 28, 2004) Food stamp participants may now use their Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) card at select Los Angeles County certified farmers’ markets. While most farmers’ markets have traditionally accepted food stamps, the EBT card, which works like an ATM debit card, “presented a unique challenge,” said Pompea Smith, director of the Hollywood Farmers’ Market. The use of wireless point-of-sale devices now gives poor families access to farmers markets and fresh produce. The California Department of Health Services hopes that raising awareness about the Farmers’ Market EBT program and its convenience will raise food stamp participation among eligible families in Los Angeles County, says Smith. http:// www.nbc4.tv/news/3247752/ detail.html Obesity Found Among New York City Toddlers (“One-Quarter Of Poor NYC Toddlers Are Overweight,” Yahoo News, April 28, 2004) A recent study found 22 percent of 2- to 4-year olds enrolled in a food & nutrition assistance program for low-income New York City residents are overweight, with 18 percent close to being obese. The toddlers are enrolled in the New York City Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC), a branch of the federal WIC program for low-income families. The study suggests that steps against obesity should begin at a very young age. The author of the study, Dr. Mary Ann Chiasson, also pointed to the problem that low-income families are generally limited to buying inexpensive foods, which are often unhealthy. Healthier foods such as fresh fruits and vegetables are expensive. http://story.news.yahoo.com/ news?tmpl=story&cid=571&ncid =751&e=2&u=/nm/20040428/ hl_nm/nyc_toddlers_dc To subscribe to the weekly FRAC digest go to - http:// capwiz.com/frac/mlm/ Helen Yuen Food Research and Action Center 1875 Connecticut Avenue, NW Suite 540 Washington, DC 20009 (202) 986-2200 x3019 phone (202) 986-2525 fax

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357-4602

Formed in 1984, The Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless is a membership organization. Our member groups serve the homeless through emergency shelter, transitional living facilities, permanent housing, medical services, social services, soup kitchens, and mental health/addiction services.

The Coalition also consists of individual citizens who want to take an active role in ensuring that Cincinnati is an inclusive community, meeting the needs of all of its citizens. Join the fight to end homelessness; contact the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless at (513) 421-7803, 117 East 12th Street Cincinnati, Ohio 45202

SHELTER: Both Anthony House (Youth)

SHELTER: Men City Gospel Mission 241-5525 Garden St. House 241-0490 Joseph House (Veterans) 241-2965 St. Francis/St.Joseph House 381-4941 Mt. Airy Center 661-4620 Volunteers of Amer. 381-1954

SHELTERS: Women and Children YWCA Battered Women’s Shelter 872-9259 (Toll Free) 1-888-872-9259 Bethany House 557-2873 Salvation Army 762-5660 Welcome Hse. 859-431-8717 Women’s Crisis Center 859-491-3335

If you need help or would like to help please call one of the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless members listed below.

OTHER SERVICES: AIDS Volunteers of Cincinnati 421-2437 Appalachian Identity Center 621-5991 Beech Acres 231-6630 Center for Independent Living Options 241-2600 Churches Active in Northside 591-2246 Cincinnati Health Network 961-0600 Community Action Agency 569-1840 Contact Center 381-4242 Emanuel Center 241-2563

TREATMENT: Both N.A. Hopeline 820-2947 A.A. Hotline 351-0422 C.C.A.T. 381-6672 Talbert House 684-7956 Transitions, Inc 859-491-4435 VA Domiciliary 859-559-5011 DIC Live-In Program 721-0643

TREATMENT: Men Charlie’s 3/4 House 784-1853 Prospect House 921-1613 Starting Over 961-2256

TREATMENT: Women First Step Home 961-4663 Full Circle Program 721-0643

HOUSING: CMHA 721-4580 Excel Development 632-7149 Miami Purchase 241-0504 OTR Housing Net. 369-0004 ReSTOC 381-1171 Tender Mercies 721-8666 Tom Geiger House 961-4555 Dana Transitional Bridge Services, Inc 751-9797

Caracole (AIDS) 761-1480 Friars Club 381-5432 Drop Inn Center 721-0643 Haven House 863-8866 Interfaith Hospitality 471-1100 Lighthouse Youth Center (Teens) 961-4080 St. John’s Housing 651-6446

Need Help or Want to Help?

MIDDLETOWN/HAMILTON (Butler County) St. Raphaels (Food Bank/Soup Kitchen) 863-3184 Salvation Army 863-1445 Serenity House Day Center 422-8555 Open Door Pantry 868-3276 New Life Baptist Mission (Soup Kitchen) 896-9800 Hope House (Homeless Families/Singles) 423-4673

Freestore/ Foodbank 241-1064 Fransiscan Haircuts 651-6468 Goodwill Industries 771-4800 Coalition for the Homeless 421-7803 Hamilton Co. Mental Health Board 946-8600 Mental Health Access Point 558-8888 Hamilton Co. TB Control 632-7186 Health Rsrc. Center 357-4602 Homeless Mobile Health Van 352-2902 House of Refuge Mission 221-5491 Legal Aid Society 241-9400 Madisonville Ed. & Assis.

Center 271-5501 Mary Magdalen House 721-4811 McMicken Dental Clinic 352-6363 Our Daily Bread 621-6364 Peaslee Neighborhood Center 621-5514 Project Connect Homeless Kids 357-5720 St. Vincent De Paul 562-8841 The Emergency Food Center 471-4357 Travelers Aid 721-7660 United Way 721-7900 VA Homeless 859-572-6226 Women Helping Women 872-9259

June, 2004

Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless

Draws Attention to Cincinnati Families

Homeless Awareness Week

Cover Story

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