To the editor: I have recently met with financial difficulties and asked our society for help. What kind of country do we live in when you either have to be in a drug/alcohol program, come from an abusive relationship or be homeless to get emergency housing assistance? I am a mother who has three children, who works and receives child support. This puts me at the bottom of the emergency list. I don't do drugs, have an alcohol problem, come from an abusive relationship or am homeless, YET! What am I doing wrong? [continues 51 words]
The Issue: Proposal To Build A Prison In Paso Robles Our View: Residents Have Good Reason To Be Skeptical Sooner or later, every community faces a decision on an issue that produces NIMBY; not in my backyard. That's how a lot of folks in Paso Robles feel about proposals by two Bakersfield corporations to build a minimum-security prison in their beloved community. We suppose it was inevitable that such proposals would surface somewhere on the Central Coast. And our editorial judgment is that we don't like it any more than the people of Paso. [continues 229 words]
When City Council members revisit the idea of a privately run prison in Paso Robles in November, they will consider jumping into a larger effort to ease overcrowded state facilities. Requests from two Bakersfield corporations to build minimum-security prison in the city were part of a failed attempt to nearly double the capacity of privately run prisons in the state. Sixteen similar prisons are currently in operation in California, housing more than 6,000 inmates. Authorization for five 1,000-bed, privately run prisons was cut from this year's state budget, but Department of Corrections officials and corporations have both said the concept of housing low-risk inmates in private prisons will continue to grow. [continues 565 words]
She looks like a cross between Winona Ryder and a young version of Pat Benatar - a little powder keg of sanctimonious energy smashing a raw egg, drinking glasses, kitchen appliances and anything else that gets into the way of her frying pan. And all because of heroin. "This is what happens to you," she says, smashing the egg that's supposed to symbolize heroin addiction. "This is what happens to your family," and the glasses crash. Smash, crash, bam. "Any questions?" [continues 620 words]
