Story Archives

by Joe B.

George McDonald

Founder and President

The Doe Fund
232 East 84th

Street, NY, NY 10028

(212) 628-5207

Dear Joe:

It seems that you have misunderstood the information you read on The Doe Fund's web site.

Please allow me to clarify what our Ready,
Willing & Able program has done to find permanent solutions to homelessness.

Since the program's inception in 1990, over 1,200 homeless
men and women have transformed their lives through paid work.

Today they are
drug and alcohol free, living in their own apartments and working in
full-time private sector jobs.

Not one of them has gone on to become a
sanitation worker.

I invite you to re-visit our site and read the section
entitled "Success Stories."

I am sure that these program graduates' personal
accounts of transformation would challenge your demeaning characterization
of them as "wage slaves."

I would invite you to speak personally with Mr.
Doug Smith or Mr. Nazerine Griffin, both of whom can be reached at (718) 622-0634.

Since you suggest that our program does not provide our participants with the chance to "improve and grow," I invite you to also
read about the education component of Ready, Willing & Able.

You will learn that participants are provided with the opportunity to develop their literacy skills, obtain their GED certificates and acquire the computer skills necessary to succeed in today's workforce.

On March 21st, 2002, The Doe Fund celebrated its annual graduation ceremony.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg and City Council Speaker
Gifford Miller addressed the 180 graduates and praised them for their hard
work and determination to re-enter mainstream society.

Graduates' parents,
spouses and children were also there to support their loved-ones and welcome
them back to their communities as positive role models.

Graduates all obtained private sector employment, sobriety and their own market rate apartments.

Their average hourly wage was $10.

Again, I encourage you to contact Mr. Doug Smith or Mr. Nazerine Griffin and any other Ready, Willing & Able program participant you
wish. Our contact information is on our web site. I am certain that talking with them will clarify whether The Doe Fund is "real or hype."

Sincerely,
George McDonald
Founder and President
The Doe Fund

ASKJoe Responds;

To: Mr. George McDonald,
Doe Fund Founder and President.

Sir, I
received the letter from you urging me to look up your website, read it thoroughly for errors I could have made in describing it to others in my Ask Joe Column.

To be fair, I will browse the site after lunch at Saint Anthony’s.

Word to the wise, don’t ever go to St Anthony's free meals on the 1st or 15th of each month to lunch if you have pressing appointments afterwards. After eating four servings of a type of curie over rice, lettuce, donuts, with apple juice, and water.

The curry is working through both ends of me, making me dash to my SRO. (Single Room Occupancy) to sleep or be at work funny how this frequently happens and be constantly in the restroom. So discretion at home is the better part of bladder-uh, valor today.

First of all, it’s both surprising, gratifying, and a little disturbing to get responses to my article [Doe Fund Real or Hype 1/25/02] which I wrote way back in January.

As I look at the DOE web-site, I see the "WORK" works logo with long push broom and large garbage can. Then I browsed to the Events section of your site and I find The 3rd Annual "Sweep The Green" Golf Outing At Quake Ridge Golf Course in Scarsdale, NY. I find a listing for "Sweep The Green For The Men In Blue"

I hope its the Ready, Willing, And Able employees/people that are being honored.

The list of Employer’s are from small, mid sized and mega- corporations.Employee’s are working, some even have careers starting at $5.50, $6.50 even $10.00 an hour. My feeling; maybe it isn’t slave labor but its not much better.

I knock DOE Fund Inc's.-Ready, Willing and Able program because this dignity-in-toil works when companies did pay workers fair wages that matched cost-of-living.

These days most don’t, the same hard-working men, women, get less and less-the fair bosses, companies are distant memories, those that stay true to fair wage ethic are like secrets passed from worker to worker precious as gem stones to be guarded.

I got to say it, do you have ads with PC’s, programming schematics, architecture blueprints, test tubes, laptops, cell phones, or palms, (compact internet-machines) showing alternative ways of working in these high tech fields-along with custodial sweep-mop jobs?

Nothing wrong with street sweeping but many people with a second chance would like a chance in those fields too and if that’s part of the skills program then I stand corrected.

Program participants, Mr. Robert Wright, William Williamson, Vincent Moore, Al Johnson are sterling examples of Ready, Willing and Able (RWA) program.

What I’d like to know about is after RWA graduation, lets say weeks or months (I know you have a follow-up program too) still I’d like to know from them independent of DOE and RWA of what were the rough patches.

Are graduates taught some of the basic, midlevel, and advanced computer skills?

One more thing, Mr. Gavin Newsom visited New York a few months back, toured the
DOE program deeming it worthy. Problem: if your model works cloning it to San Francisco the way he wanted it won’t work unless modifications are worked out.

This centralized theme works only if people can get to without taking hours, taking into account "the human factor" of economic, family, and being in areas that do become danger zones for folks at certain hours of the day and night.

Another thing, the Past Alumni of the programs from 1999, 2001, if they are out there doing well or not so well, I’d like to know what they did or how the programs after graduation helped them.

This is a chance for New Yorker’s to tell me and Mr.George McDonald what’s up in old Gotham.

But mostly its for ‘Yorker’s from all over who may have left the city because of economic reasons.

I will not apologize for some of my remarks, though I may have been in error on some points, but this debate, it is no longer up to either of us not even ‘Cali’s and ‘Yorker’s but nation wide as house-less, joblessness continue.

Its not drugs and alcohol, our economy and technology has slowed but still changes so fast that no job or career is safe.

So folks as I said before email me at askjoe@poormagazine.org - but remember, I only answer ask questions.

by Joe B.

It’s Monday, May, 6, 2002, I just got back from a two day brake away from the City.

What do I do when I’m not at work?

Loaf, sit back, watch the ‘tellie, listen to music, visit a fem friend and loaf some more.

Reading about news-rack law is way under my radar.

That’s what I was doing reading the Guardian.

20 year contract that Clear Channel can back out of anytime but the city is on the hook [Liable] for 3.4 million.

What kind of half jacked-up deal is that, what happened to mutual exit plans for both partners?

[The mega corps wanting to censor all kinds of songs in the aftermath of 9-11-2001 then said “It was only a trial balloon, oops our bad].

Lets see, Clear Channel after President B. Clinton signed the Tele-communications Act of 1996 made possible for C.C. to gobble up Radio, TV, and billboards.

C.C. is now into owning new racks which means what they deem not worthy they omit guess who has less choice if most of the news racks are owned by ‘duba-C?

I don’t know much but a 20 year deal with one company that bought out by ‘duba-C. [They fired Davy D because he and others spoke their minds about flag waving and what it still means in black ‘n brown-profiled while walking, talking, or driving in America].

Am I making sense people? This Corporate Entity not only wants to make profits but influence slightly or change your ways of thinking by controlling the newspaper(s) and by doing so the content of what is read.

Of course there are ways around this if the Supervisor’s are locked in for financial reason to make it difficult for Duba-C to lose revenue thereby making it more attractive to back out of they’re sweetheart deal.

Boycott, not a noisy one but an insidious quiet one where we leave the rack full of paper, anyone can total the racks or take papers an dump them in the trash - C.C. will replace them charging the City, but leaving them to yellow is more telling, ignoring C.C. will cost them much more that attacking them.

Freebies, this ghetto style is a slight redesign where no money is needed to buy a paper because the coin or locking mechanism’s been on the vending machine is now - lets say turned non profit.

This way the newsprint are read by those wanting to read it but C.C.’s has gained no profit and is constantly bleeding money because of their generous though unknown give-a-way.

A third way is a sarcastic parody of Clear Channel.

Your not harming them much because it is protective speech but one must be careful of slander.

Like in the TRUTH Anti-Cigarette ads on television where folks are telling the truth in funny yet factual ways all Clear can do is use humor too on the other side or bellow out angry which adds more fire to their already burning log butt.

Lastly but as important former Clear Channel employee’s who may have been fired or left on their own.

All employee’s should be treated with respect no matter their station, economic situation, because one can never know when an angry, bitter, former working employee(s) with nothing to lose can economically hurt former employer’s bottom line to the point of bankruptcy if said worker’s knew too much.

I don’t know which will work best but all three should be tried because a triple whammy is better than a single.

All I know is if Clear Channel wants to own multi media outlets to spew their slanted views let them but they should also know many people want other sides of the questions affecting their lives.

Oh, I forgot a 5th thing: That's stocking up and buying CD’s, DVD’s,
[Compact Disks, Digital Video Disks].
and rapidly out-of-date video tapes.

We can look at movies, tv, serials, cartoons and adult entertainment for years before paying or listening to Clear Channel’s drivel.

The very technology and laws that allows a Clear Channel multi media giant to rise also allows regular folks to also chose their own medium.

Clear needs our money but we don’t their one-way, one -point driven views.

Its up to each individual to chose their own content and not to have Clear decide for us.

Or maybe I got this whole News-rack law all wrong, what do I don’t know, I just want as many alternatives as I can even if I don’t like certain publications doesn’t mean I have any right to rid everybody else of the same choices.

Now I'll check out Cheney’s business deals.
...Bye

by Connie Lu, PNN Media Intern, Facilitator, Dee Gray/Courtwatch

I am sitting face to face with Rebecca
Barraza-Aanestad in the common room of POOR Magazine.
The spicy aroma of empty jalapeno pizza boxes lingers
throughout the room, along with the resonating and
echoing sound waves of Rebecca's powerful voice
reflecting quickly off the high ceilings. My eyes are
focused upon her deep brown eyes filled with
frustration, strength, and anxiety, as they dart ever
so slightly back and forth in search of the painful
memories in her mind when she begins to share the
account of her children being taken away by the Child
Protective Services (CPS).

R-A: My name is Rebecca Barraza-Aanestad with Parents against the
Child Abuse Industry."

C: "Can you describe the situation you're facing right
now with your son?"

R-B: "My son recently filed a lawsuit in federal court
in the United States District Court for the Northern District. He doesn't
want to have his name printed in the paper; but I
wanted to talk a little about the lawsuit and how I
came to file the lawsuit, when my kids were taken
away. My son was taken away when he was 3 years old
in May 1987. And I got him back January 17, 2001 -
You look at all that time between those dates and
that's many years. He was in Foster Care for almost 14
years. I started going to college right after he was
taken away, and I studied law and came to know what my
rights are and my children's rights. I started a group
several years after my son was taken away and his
sister and his brother. But I don't want his name
printed in the article. You can just say Rebecca's
son."

C: "OK."

R-B: " Leave my 3 children's names out too. I started
a group called, "Parents Against The Child Abuse
Industry" after listening to KGO Radio. KGO Radio did
a talk show with Mary Pride who wrote a book called,
"The Child Abuse Industry". Right after my kids were
taken away in May 1987, I think it was July of 1987, I
heard this interview on KGO Radio with Mary Pride and
one of the KGO news casters or news people, the people
that do talk shows-a talk show host."

C: "Right."
R-B: "When I heard her talking about the child welfare
system I ran to the radio and turned the volume up
because I knew that I had just gotten back involved
with The Child Welfare System. Basically The Child
Welfare System is the Juvenile Dependency Court System
in the United States of America. It's a new court that
has been only developed in the last 20 years. Prior
to that, they did not have a Juvenile Dependency
Court. They've always had Juvenile Criminal Court but
this new court called The Juvenile Dependency Court is
about 20 years old, somewhere in there I would say. I
listened to the radio show and I was so excited. I
wanted to get a hold of her book, so I called KGO
Radio. They set me up with South West Radio Church and
I ordered a dozen of Mary Pride's books. This was many
years ago but today I still have her book called "The
Child Abuse Industry". And that's how I came to start
my group and name it "Parents Against Child Abuse".
That was in December of 1989. In 1994, I renamed my
group, "Parents Against The Child Abuse Industry"
because I was inspired by Mary Pride's book. I've been
to a thousand Juvenile Dependency Court Hearings - I
was not able to get reunited with my children."

C: "Let's go back to the lawsuit itself, can you tell
me what the lawsuit specifically entails."

R-B: "The lawsuit is based on the taking away of my
son and his brother and sister. The facts relate to
how and when my children were taken away..."

C: "How many children total?"

R-B: "3."

C: "3?"

R-B: "3-two son's and one daughter. So my son filed
the lawsuit. He filed it based on the C.P.S. (Child
Protective Services) Social Worker's-I need that copy
of that lawsuit back right now I don't why they're
keeping it?"

R-B: "Anyway the C.P.S. Social Worker - I need to back
up here, I'm totally disorganized now, this interview
is not going well now, I don't think."

C: "Can I maybe ask you about ?..."

R-B: "Don't - Don't -Don't do that to me because now
I'm focused and now you're going to throw me way off.
(Pause) When my children were taken away from me, it
wasn't all 3 of the children. There was only my
daughter. My daughter was taken away and placed with
her... Ok, let's start from the beginning. When my
husband died March the 3rd, 1985.
This C.P.S. Social Worker came out to the place where
I was living. All she did was knock on my front door
and ask me a bunch of questions. First of all she
wouldn't go away - see it's all on this document that
I have for you. She wouldn't go away and she kept
hounding me, interrogating me to come into the house
and I wouldn't let her in initially. She would not
leave. Then I let her in just so she could hurry up,
ask her questions and get out."

C: "Right, right"

R-B: "The mistake I made was telling her - Well, I
don't feel like living-my husband's dead, I'm really
depressed." I never should have told her that. With
that one damn statement she went back to her office
and typed up this report that made me look like such
an unfit mother. It was ridiculous."

C: "Did she have it recorded?"

R-B: "They go back to their office and they type up
their reports. They're like news reporters - that's
how they do their work. The end of March she served me
with a petition to go into court. I went into to court
on April the 1st, on April Fools Day. Whoa, what a big
fool I was right? I went into court April 1st and
Judge Gargano, of the Juvenile Dependency Court let my
daughter stay with her grandmother because initially I
let my daughter go and stay with her grandmother until
I could find an apartment to rent."

C: "Right."

R-B: "We were staying in a hotel at the time my
husband died. It was demoralizing, degrading. The
welfare system back in 1985, had a lot of families
staying in what they
called these "WELFARE HOTELS." There were rooms that
families actually rented.
It was very degrading to live like that. I had no
choice because my husband wasn't working. I was on
AFDC (Aid to Families with Dependent Children) back
then. That was 15 years ago-Man! I went to court. They
took my daughter. They let her stay with her
grandmother and then I moved to Sonoma County. Do you
know that the C.P.S. followed me?"

C: "They tracked you?"

R-B: "They do what they call a transfer - they
transfer your case to another county where we live so
they followed me. I felt like they were following me.
You know I was starting to feel paranoid. They
contacted the Welfare Department and they ended up
handling the case. They 'kinda like monitored me and
the boys to make sure we were all right."

C: "Yeah."

R-B: "OK, then I left because I got this letter in the
mail one day. I lived up there like ten months and I
was happy up there with my sons. And then all of the
sudden I get this letter in the mail telling me that I
had to appear in court. And my girlfriend, I showed
her the letter and she goes "Oh, Rebecca you better
move because it looks like they're gonna take you to
court on Monday and they're gonna take your boys
away." " I said "What?"
And I looked at this letter and I go "You know what,
you're right. This is another petition."

I rented a truck on a Saturday. I moved all my
property, loaded the truck up with all our furniture,
everything and we left on a Saturday. On Monday
morning I woke up at my destination. I went down to
live with my sister. Monday morning I left my sons
with my sister because my daughter was already staying
with her grandmother. I went to court. When I walked
into that courtroom and told the judge that I was no
longer living in Sonoma County- he said, "case
dismissed." He just threw the case out of court. I
looked over at the District Attorney and he was so
mad. You could tell he was just fuming. His facial
expression was kinda like "Oh, I'm gonna get you yet"
- like I had done something very wrong.

These people
are sick. The whole system is corrupt and sick. I left
the court house and moved to Santa Clara County. I
said thank God, they didn't get their hands on my poor
sons. They wanted to put my sons in Foster Care up
there - that would've fragmented all the children. I
don't want you to use their names when you write up
this article. My case remained in Santa Clara County
because I have not moved away. I've been living down
here all my life. What happened was I worked with the
system to get my kids back. I could've illegally
kidnapped my kids and moved to Mexico or France or
Italy and they would've never found me but I didn't do
that. I wanted to get my children back the right way,
the legal way. So what happened was, I've been to a
1,000 Juvenile Dependency Court Hearings and I was
never reunited with my sons or my daughter. My kids
were taken away when they were 4, 8, and 9. I didn't
get my daughter back until she was 14. I didn't get my
oldest son back until he was 15, and I didn't get my
youngest son until he was 17, and that was January 17,
2001.

Then what happened was I was living with a fiance of
mine, this man that I was gonna marry. We were
friends, companions. I was his friend then I was his
companion and then he asked me to marry him. And I
accepted his hand in marriage in February 2001.
Then on Friday, March 2, 2001, the District Attorney,
The Office of the Public Guardian and Conservators,
two sheriffs, three women from the Public Guardians
Office, a woman and a man from The Child Protective
Services, and two locksmiths came to my house. There
were 12 people. They raided my house where I lived
with my sons and my fiancÈe. Now mind you, I had just
gotten my youngest son back out of the Child Welfare
System on January 17, 2001. On Friday, March the 2nd,
my house was raided by all these government employees,
public employees, and the locksmith people changed our
front door, our back door locks, and they took away my
fiance. They flew him out to stay with his daughter
-I mean with his sister. My two sons and me became
homeless because my daughter's been living on her own
for a couple of years now.

I ended up sleeping in my car as a homeless person
last year. My youngest son who recently filed the 25
million dollar lawsuit, went back to where he
became homeless and my oldest son ended up renting a
room in somebody's apartment.

I recently got a house. God was very good to me last
year. He did not let me down because my heavenly
Father never lets me down; I'm very spiritual and very
close to my heavenly Father. With my footwork between
my Lord and me I was able to get my housing. My son
and I rented a two-bedroom house. We're in a house
now. I'm back on my feet. I'm trying to get well. I
ended up with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, A
Panic-Anxiety Disorder, and a Manic Depressive
Disorder because our house was raided.

That's the last time I'm gonna be traumatized by any
'fuckin county officials - excuse my language, by any
damn county official. That's the last damn time I'm
gonna be traumatized in my whole life. This is what
happened - I talked to my youngest son who's living
with me and I advised him about his rights. I told him
what some of his rights were. As a Paralegal I cannot
give legal advice. I cannot practice before the bar,
and I can't charge outrageous sums if I help people
with their legal work. I cannot do legal work per se.
But I can handle my own cases and I do as a
Paralegal."

C: "Good for you."

R-B: "As a professional Paralegal I can handle my own
cases. I recently took a police officer to Federal
Court and they settled out of court, and I more or
less won that case through settling out of court. I
advised my son to file a lawsuit based on the fact
that he, that he's 18. These people violated his
rights in all three counties. They violated my
children's First Amendment Rights, free speech, the
Fourth Amendment Rights, their Fifth Amendment Rights,
their Ninth Amendment Rights, and their 14th Amendment
Rights. You have this book - by the way, one of my
distant relatives is a California State Assemblymen that's right, that's right, I've power behind my
family.

My son found the lawsuit based on the
Constitution of The United States of America and the
Constitution of the State of California.

He filed his lawsuit based on the fact that these
people The state of California Constitution which
states: Article 1, Section 1 which reads ["All people
by nature free and independent and have inalienable
rights. Among these are enjoying and defending life
and liberty; acquiring, possessing and protecting
property and pursuing and obtaining safety, happiness,
and privacy. So my son, this right of his was
violated, his life, his right to enjoy and defend life
and liberty, protecting property, and pursuing and
obtaining safety and happiness and privacy. My son is
suing on that Constitutional Amendment - The
Constitutional of the State of California.
Article 1 - Section 1. And then he's suing under the
grounds of his First Amendment Right which is
[Congress shall make no law respecting an
establishment of religion or prohibiting the free
exercise thereof or abridging the freedom of speech.]

Now let me stop right there and tell you something. My
son never had a chance. None of my children ever had a
chance. My son never had a chance to go into Juvenile
Dependency Court and tell these people what he wanted,
how he felt. "No, I don't want to be in this system, I
want to go home with my mother." "He told the Juvenile
Dependency District Attorney for the Juvenile
Dependency Court, he told that woman; I'll say her
name too cause I don't care if she sues me and she
can't sue because this is a fact. Her name is Penelope
Blake. Penny Blake. My son kept telling her always
kept telling Penny Blake "I want to go home. I want to
go home. I want to be with my mother. I want to be
with my mother." And the last thing I remember of my
son every time I went to visit my son and when the
visit was over he would scream and cry and shout and
say "Mommy, Mommy, I want you back. Mommy, Mommy, I
want you back. I don't want to go with these people."

That was traumatizing for my son to have gone through
that. He's suing on that ground, he's suing on his
Fourth Amendment right, which is seizures, searches,
and warrants. The right of the people to be secure in
their persons, houses, papers, and affects against
unreasonable searches, and seizures shall not be
violated and no warrants shall issue but on probable
cause supported by oath or affirmation and
particularly describing the place to be searched and
the persons or things to be seized. Now let me stop
right there and explain something. When these people
came into our house in March 2001 they illegally went
into my son's bedroom. This was his private bedroom.
They stole my holographic will that my fiancÈe had
hand wrote for me plus they stole They didn't get
their hands on the grant deed because I still have the
original copy to the grant deed of his house. When my
fiance was diagnosed with lung cancer in the right
lung we knew he didn't have much time to live but I
was almost sure that he was going to live at least 3
to 5 years longer than what the doctor had diagnosed
him as living. They only gave him one year. I didn't
believe it because we were praying over him. I had him
on a good diet. He was eating fresh vegetables,
fruits. I didn't have him eating a whole lot of meat.
We were eating salads. I tried to get him to quit
smoking but he wouldn't quit smoking. When they did
this to us, when they raided our house, on top of it
all that they never had a search warrant signed by a
judge, and dated by a judge. They never showed me a
search warrant. So my son sued them on his Fourth
Amendment violations."

C: "Exactly."

R-B: "He sued them under his Fifth Amendment Violation
which states: [Criminal proceedings, and condemnation
of property. The Fifth Amendment is no person shall be
held to answer for a capital or otherwise infamous
crime. Unless on a presentment or indictment of a
grand jury except in cases arising in the land or
Naval Forces between the militia. We need an actual
service in time of war, a public danger. Nor shall any
person be subject for the same offense to be twice put
in jeopardy of life or limb. This is where the catch
is:

"Nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a
witness against himself. Nor be deprived of life,
liberty, or property without due process of law." Let
me stop right there. He sued on the ground that says
"Nor be deprived of live, liberty, or property without
due process of law." One fault that the Juvenile
Dependency Court has is that they always violate
people's Fifth Amendment Right by not allowing them
proper due process of law and they deprive the
children of their life, liberty, and being with their
families. So my son sued under his Fifth Amendment
right and the Ninth Amendment and the 14th Amendment.

The 14th Amendment reads:
[All persons born in the United States are subject to
the jurisdiction of the United States where they
reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which
shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens
of The United States. Nor shall any State deprive any
person of life, liberty, or property without due
process of law. Nor deny to any person within its
jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.] And
that's exactly what these counties have done to all
three of my children; was deprive them of their rights
- constitutional rights. Therefore my son found his
lawsuit based on Constitutional rights and State of
California Constitution, Article 1 Section 1."

C: "Now with this lawsuit what are you hoping to
achieve then?"

R-B: "My son hopes to get into a trial level. He wants
a trial where we can explain to the jury. All three of
my children are going to get up on the stand and
explain to the jury how they were treated in foster
care, how they went from satellite homes, then to
foster care and they ran away. All three of my kids
ended up running away. Do you know that, this is a
fact. My public defender that I had for over ten
years, same public Defender and I'm going to say his
name. Howard Siegel S-I-E-G-E-L. He told me "Rebecca,
your children are gonna eventually gonna run away" and
I didn't believe him, I said "Oh no, no, they're not.
I'm gonna get them back, before they even do that
Howard." I couldn't believe it. I never got my
children back the right way. They ended up running
away. As a direct result, all three of my children
never graduated from high school, and they all have
felonies on their records. That's right before the age
of 18, they all had felonies when they were minors.

So I have had it with this system. I advised my
children, that when they turned 18 they could file
their lawsuit. My daughter was all mentally deranged,
emotionally a wreck. So was my older son, he was
emotionally, mentally, and spiritually a wreck; both
him and her. The youngest son was my last hope to file
this lawsuit and by the grace of God we filed it on
April 4, 2002. In Federal Court, in the United States,
District Court for the Northern District of
California. I'm eager to find out this week about the
Judge's decision on whether or not he will accept the
lawsuit. If he accepts the lawsuit, then my son will
not have to pay filing fees for the lawsuit. Jesus
its 4 o'clock. They're gonna tow my car, why don't
you keep these"

After the interview with Rebecca, I realized that her
love for her children is simply relentless and
unconditional. The determination in her heart to be
reunited with them is the driving force and hope
behind her powerful spirit. The celebration of the
bond between a mother and her children will soon be
honored on Mother's Day, as it approaches. However, I
am encouraged by Rebecca to not only show my love for
my mother on a designated day of the year, but
everyday.

Email Contact :
Rebecca Barraza-Aanestad:
paca54@yahoo.com

by Leroy Moore/PoorNewsNetwork and DAMO

One thing I have learned as an advocate is that you might think you won a battle in the political arena, but what happens in the political arena and what happens in our communities is two different stories. This fact struck me last week when I interviewed Patricia Webb at POOR Magazine's Newsroom. Ms. Webb, a disabled mother and resident of the Filmore district of San Francisco, contacted POOR as a call for help as she didn't know who else to turn to as she faced her own kind of housing hell.

Her son is her live-in personal caretaker but because she received a monthly disability benefit and her son has an income from being an in-home-support caretaker which he recieves from In Home Support Services (IHSS) HUD has raised her rent from $281. per month to $833. Although she lives in section-eight housing and has proved that she needs her son to be a live-in caretaker, HUD did not back down on the issue of her increase of rent because of her son's income. HUD passed her to San Francisco Housing Authority where she met with a counselor who told her the only solution was to have her son move out so the household income will be only hers. Ms. Webb's choice is to eliminate her live-in caretaker that she desperately needs especially at night not to mention to separate her from her loving son. However the housing authority made Ms. Webb produce three pieces of Ids to prove that her son has moved out. And as of now she still doesn't know if her rent will be lowered because it has to approved by a Housing authority caseworker who has still not met with Ms. Webb. I wonder if Ms. Webbs' difficulty with HUD has anything to do with Governor Gray Davis attempts to change the existant In Home Support Services (IHSS) laws so that IHSS workers will no longer be able to be family members.

From the jazz capital of the West, the Filmore district of San Francisco, to the home of the Black Panthers, West Oakland, residents are becoming tennis balls in a tennis match between city bureaucrats, local politicians, and federal policies. Although many Bay area cities have recently held many summits on homelessness, and advocates for the homeless and housing advocates i.e. The Coalition on Homelessness, Right to A Roof and Mission Anti-displacement Coalition of San Francisco, and Just Cause of Oakland etc have try to advocate for more low-income accessible housing but the city mixes with policies local and federal have been making people homeless.

In the case of Oakland, under Mayor Jerry Brown 10 K Plan which is a redevelopment of Oakland especially West Oakland that supposedly have brought and will bring economic growth and eliminate the drugs, crime, other urban realities that some times makes urban living not pleasing to many who have climb that class ladder to the middle\upper class. However like a scale, the city of Oakland, didn't balance the cost of Brown's 10K plan and because of this lack of insight many have been tinkering on the edge of homelessness. Ground zero of Brown 10K Plan is West Oakland. The Smith family of West Oakland has many things in common with a recent case of Vernolia McCullough of East Oakland that recently appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle. Both are Black families living in poverty, both homes were places of drugs and both were demolished by the out-of-control city crane that has brought their homes to the ground and left many disappearing in the huge Bay Area homeless population. After years of homelessness the young disabled David Smith have landed in a transitional housing in Berkeley and fortunately the elderly Vernolia has family where she is staying.

In this housing market it doesn't make sense why we are demolishing homes. Yes, both Smith and McCullough were supposedly a place of drug traffic but there are many proactive ways the city, Oakland, could have solved this situation without making people homeless. How about conforming the property into a group home for drug users or housing complex with built-in counseling services. However the City of Oakland has entered into a five-year contract with the feeds in which properties are seized by the federal government can be returned to the communities. However the City of Oakland answer is to have a mobile police command center at a time when the Oakland police department in court for allege abuse and brutality against residents in the same neighborhood raised questions who is benefiting in this contract between the feds and Oakland city government. This contract would make any true Black Panther flip out of their skin Uncle Sam in our neighborhoods!

Even the Oakland School Board wants a piece of land to build three new school campuses but to do this they must evict over a dozen residents who most of them own their homes in 104 Ave. of East Oakland. We all know the problems of the Oakland schools i.e. aging buildings, over crowded classrooms and a lack of community control but why is the city putting the Black community in a no win situation. Although many in this community own their homes, the city is actually saying the have right to that land. The City agree to pay each homeowner what their homes are worth. Many residents have their forty acres and a mule but the city wants it back. Can we come up a way to have our cake and eat it to? Yes Oakland needs new schools but we also need to live in our communities. Another example where the county of Alameda have sized a home and left a family on the edge of homelessness is the Sloan family of West Oakland. The County came in the Sloan home and became the legal guardianship of the elder and put her in a nursing home. To pay for her medical bills the county sold of one of Sloan houses and is threatening to raise the rent in the led poisoning house they live in now.

Some times I wonder why we, as advocates waste our time with the political arena and city bureaucrats because we know what happens in our communities doesn't look like the laws, summits and promises that blankets the reality we live in daily, that Ms. Webb and her son live and are struggling with today.

IF YOU HAVE ANY IDEAS FOR MS. WEBB OR HER FAMILY - PLEASE CALL POOR Magazine at ( 415) 863-6306

by Joe B.

P.S. My price range:$25

per day for apartment or small cottage home 1 to 3 bedrooms,

$100 a week, and $2 to

$3,000 a month.

certain homes, flats, mansions with 20 or more rooms are to 50 to $100,000 monthly though prices are negotiable.

Please send donations to


Poor Magazine or in C/0

Ask Joe at 255 9th St.

Street, San Francisco,

CA. 94103 USA

For Joe only my snail mail:
PO Box 1230 #645
Market St. San Francisco, CA 94102
Email: askjoe@poormagazine.org

As I said the above in part is my gig, there are few people I’d trust in my or another’s most sacred abode
-A home,
A house,
Castle,
Citadel,
Fortress,
Castle Keep,
Safe House, Apartment,
Flat,
Place Of Space and safety.

If I could have a single molecular sized particle with everything that makes a home possible including close friends.

That one grain would be more precious than all the worlds full of the richest, rarest elements because all.

It would not be a livible home with loved ones and friends.

Maybe someone has said it more elequently than I then they too know the value of dwelling place especially when lost and ragained.

I have though of writing stuff about or on Cheney, the S-Vice ‘Prez but decided against it.
The guy has to make as much dough as he can stash a load or two away if caught.

His blood pump is giving him enough problems without anyone adding to it.

How’s everything out there? Me, just ‘chillin a bit. Bye...

by Connie Lu/PoorNewsNetwork Media Intern

I am a few blocks from the San Francisco Youth
Commission at City Hall, but its colossal dome shaped
roof adorned with gold trim can already be seen from a
distance, as it sparkles against the fresh blue sky.
As I enter the commission hearing room I notice that
there are several lights hanging from the ceiling's outer edge that look
like delicately illuminated white tulips. The
ethnically diverse representatives of the Youth
Commission are seated in the front of the room in a
semi-circle, as they address the various issues of todays
agenda.

After several topics are discussed, the resolution
urging the Department of Human Services (DHS) and the
Private Industry Council (PIC) to maintain and
continue the funding of the JOBS in the Media Program
at POOR Magazine is introduced. The Youth Commission
is given information about the situation that POOR is
facing. The JOBS Program is a paid internship that
gives houseless and low-income people the opportunity
to gain writing and multi-media skills. DHS and PIC
are currently withholding desperately needed funding
from POOR due to trivial discrepancies in the
difference between class time and work hours completed
by the interns in the JOBS Program.

The Youth Commission then opens this topic to public
comment. The members of POOR Magazine approach the
microphone. As I rise out of my seat, I take a deep
breath in an attempt to somehow release the fluttering
anxiety in my beating heart. I had not planned on
speaking before the Youth Commission, but Isabel
Estrada, a Youth in the Media Intern at POOR, was
there to encourage me to represent POOR Magazine,
despite my fear of public speaking.

I move up to a seat in the front row and wait for my
turn at the podium. As I look over my notes, I am
unable to sit still. Suddenly, I realize that I am
next. Before I begin, I swallow the tight knot in my
throat. I feel like a nervous bottle of shaken
champagne with a cork that was inhibiting the use of
my vocal chords. As my mouth opens to speak, I could
hear and feel my voice wavering with the first few
sentences that were rushed through. However, I remind
myself to slow down. I force my eyes to look up from
my notes to the faces that were no longer intimidating
to me, as I finished speaking.

After the last public comment is made, several of the
representatives of the Youth Commission raise their
hands in favor of the resolution to urge DHS and PIC
to fund POOR Magazine, which will result in DHS and
PIC receiving a copy of the resolution. This matter
will also be brought to the attention of the Mayor of
San Francisco and the Board of Supervisors because the
Youth Commission are their advisors.

As I leave City Hall, I take another deep breath, only
this time it was a breath of relief. But at the same
time, I was also relieved that I was able to defeat
and break the tenacious grip of fear upon voicing my
support for POOR. I know that my brief comment to the
Youth Commission will not solve this entire difficult
matter, but I feel that through this experience I am
learning to strengthen voice.

Connie is a student in the New Journalism/Media Studies Program at POOR where she is learning how to speak her voice.

Postscript;
As of the publishing of this piece, DHS/PIC has finally promised to reimburse the wages already paid out to interns by POOR's JOBS Program minus the reimbursement of one person's wage due to an alleged "admin" error by POOR; (read lack of staff, lack of funds,) Due to the extreme financial hardship to POOR caused by this experience, POOR will have to suspend the wages portion of the JOBS Program (but we will continue the training program) and PoorNewsNetwork(PNN), although hurting for funding, will continue to do what we believe in; giving people voice through education, art and media access, in other words POOR is back in bidness, by any means necessary!!

by Rebecca Barraza-Aanestad

In 1985 my husband died in San Francisco. His death
was sudden and unexpected. I had three young children
all under the age of seven.

A CPS social worker (Child Protective Services) in
San Francisco visited my home which at that time was a
hotel room. A lot of welfare recipient's were forced
to live in hotel rooms which at that time rented for
about $200.00-$300.00 per month. Property owners of
these big hotels in San Francisco contracted with the
city or county department of social services to rent
out rooms to families with children that were on AFDC
(Aid to Families with Dependent Children), at that
time. I think now it's called TANF or Welfare to Work
Program.

My husband had just passed away and I was grieving
over his death. I allowed my daughter to stay with my
late husbands mother temporarily. Well, his mother
took advantage of my situation. Several weeks later I
heard a knock on my front door and it was a stranger.
She identified herself as Mrs. Wolff with the
Department of Social Services in San Francisco. I
answered the door and told her that my husband had
just passed away and I was grieving and I didn't want
to be disturbed. This CPS social worker absolutely
would not go away. She insisted that I talk with her
after I told her that I did not want to talk to her.

After she wouldn't leave, I finally let her in and
that was a GRAVE MISTAKE, one that I would never
forget the rest of my life! I allowed her into our
hotel room and that was the end of that. All I
remember telling her is that I didn't feel like living
anymore because my husband was dead and she took that
to mean whatever she wanted that to mean and she left
and I guess she went back to her office and typed up a
report (they're experts at typing up their reports
that are full of malice and fraud), that said I was
suicidal and an alcoholic and that my young daughter
and son had psychological damage from living with my
husband and his mother and with that information she
filed a "PETITION" for me to appear in Juvenile
Dependency Court in San Francisco.

I was summoned to appear in Juvenile Dependency Court
on April 1, 1985. I'm positive Mrs. Wolff remembers
me because I can't forget her nor Judge Gargano in
Juvenile Dependency Court in San Francisco.

So, because of my husband's death and my daughter's
removal from my custody in April 1985; this is what
started the nightmare of "CPS" "following" my family
for the past 15 years!! It has been a true
"NIGHTMARE!"

How would the judge himself or herself like it if CPS
took their children away from his or her family?
Or if the Attorney General had his children taken away
by CPS or a California State Assemblywoman had her
children taken away by CPS!? I bet they would get their children back in a
heartbeat
wouldn't they? But, because the average layperson
doesn't have the money or resources or staff to help
them get their children back.....so many families end
up in the "Child Protective Services" that work under
the guise of the "Department of Social Services."
Today the DSS, law enforcement, schools, and the
Juvenile Dependency Court System work together.
They're like intertwined with one another to keep our
children in the system.

The DSS (Department of Social Services), and the
Juvenile Dependency Court System does a disservice to
the women, children, men, grandparent's, and single
parent's that end up in the "CPS" Juvenile Dependency
Court System otherwise known as "The Child Abuse
Industry."

They do a disservice for the following reasons:

A) Parent's cannot afford attorney fees that are
outrageous in order to get their children back.

B) Parent's have to depend upon the Juvenile
Dependency Court Public Defenders who don't even
know what they are doing and if they do they go
along with the CPS social workers and judge's
recommendations just to get you out of court and on
to their next case because their caseload is so
heavy and they themselves have no help!

C) The public defender's are incompetent and fresh
out of law school therefore they have no
experience in the juvenile dependency laws.

D) The Juvenile Dependency Laws are bad and unjust,
like the Welfare and Institutions Code Section
300 (Child Abuse and Neglect law).

E) CPS social worker's are not offering "services"
to the families under the Adoption Assistance and
Child Welfare Act of 1980 (Public Law 96-272);
this piece of legislation was put in place to
"preserve families" not destroy them and our
Juvenile Dependency Court Judges' are not following
these recommendations instead they are terminating
parental rights and adopting our children to other
families that are complete strangers to our
children!

F) CPS and the Courts are ignoring "reasonable
efforts" in reuniting foster children with their
biological parents and, this is in contradiction to
the Child Welfare Act of 1980!

G) CPS is allowed to write reports that are full of
"malice", "fraud", and "hearsay evidence" which
violates parental and children's rights!
Our laws clearly allow these officials to reunite
families with their biological children and to give
these poor and middle class families reunification
services and, they are disobeying the laws and the
Child Welfare Act of 1980. The CPS social workers
write up their reports based upon "hearsay" evidence
and they give their reports to the juvenile dependency
court judges who know nothing about the truth of the matter because how can
a judge really know the truth just by reading some
report based upon what someone else says. It's stupid and ridiculous! They
can't do that and justify themselves. Also, the CPS
social workers are suppose to give parent's their
social reports at least two weeks before they go into
court and I remember back when I used to go to
dependency court, I never received the reports two
weeks in advance like I was suppose to and these
social workers always gave me the reports on the same
day I went to court. I finally figured out why. It's
because they don't want parents to have enough time to
rebuff or attack their reports in order to defend
themselves in dependency court. Over the past 15
years I have spoken with countless parents that
complained to me that they always received their
reports the same day they went to dependency court.
And, when you appear in court and read these reports
that are full of malice and fraud you say to your
public defender or attorney, "Hey, this is false or
this is a lie it didn't happen this way or that way or
this is not what really happened these people are
lieing and your stuck there in the courtroom with out
a defense and your public defender or attorney can't
do a dam thing about it because their stuck between a
rock and a hard place also. So, the entire "child
welfare system" is full of malice and fraud and the
unjust laws allow these social workers to get away
with such tactics. I call them "tactics" because it's
a systematic plan and procedure for promoting a
desired end and, the desired end is to take and keep
your children in the CPS child welfare system. You
see I didn't understand these things until my family
went through the entire "system" over the past 15
years and, it has been a "horrid and demoralizing
nightmare!"

These are just some of the reasons why the current
system does not work. And, you have all the officials
and parent's that will agree with me yet, nobody does
anything about it. They say, "Well, the laws are
already in place what can we do?" It irks me to think
that we live in such a great country with such great
resources and yet nobody wants to change the system!

And, this is what lead me to start a political group
called "Parent's Against Child Abuse" in December of
1989, and later named "Parent's Against The Child
Abuse Industry" around 1994.

I had just gotten my daughter back in the late summer
of 1986, almost one year after she was taken away from
me in 1985. Then a horrible incident took place in
May 1987 and all three of my children were taken away
by CPS in San Jose (Santa Clara County), California.
Little did I know that this second time was going to
be the worst time in my life trying to get my children
back.

And, it was. My juvenile dependency court case
started in San Francisco County then transfered to
Santa Rosa, Sonoma County, and ended up in San Jose,
Santa Clara County. It's a miracle I didn't end up a
paranoid schizophrenic diagnosis. Which leads me to
talk about the "Psychological Evaluations" that the
dependency courts use to determine whether a parent is
"fit" or "unfit" to care for their children or should have
their "parental rights" taken away and dissolved by
law. Can you
imagine having a baby that you really love and you try
your best to raise this child in a healthy way even
though you don't have a lot of money and maybe your
living below the poverty level but you still love and
take care of that baby to the best of your ability
and......some CPS social worker comes along and into
your life and accuses you of abusing and neglecting
your baby for some minor incident or not having enough
money to buy milk or some dam thing and they initiate
dependency court proceedings on you and your husband
for these reasons and then take your baby away based
on the fact that your poor and don't have enough money
to pay for the necessities in life! Our CPS system
should be ashamed of itself for doing this to families
and destroying life and the American Family Unit as a
whole! And, I'm here to tell the whole world what
they really do behind closed doors in those juvenile
dependency court proceedings. We're suppose to be
living in a democratic society not a "communistic"
society but it doesn't make me feel like we are. Take
for instance President Bush's female advisor, what's
her name, his assistant in the White House right now
as we speak, I heard in the news yesterday 4-24-02,
that she is leaving her position at the white house in
order to be with her family and raise her 15 year old
son.....you know why?.....I'll tell you why....because
she doesn't want CPS to get a hold of her son and run
her family through the juvenile dependency courts for
"neglect." How about that one, just another story
that could turn horrid huh?? I'm protected by my
First Amendment Right, free speech. I'm not accusing
her of any wrong doing but the fact of the matter is
if parent's don't take care of their
children.......then they can and will have their
children taken out of their custody. It can even
happen to a judge, lawyer, doctor, dentist,
assemblyman, assemblywoman, or just your average
layperson who makes $5.50 an hour. Nobody is immune
from this corrupt unjust system that feeds their
mouths and gets their paychecks off legally stealing
our children. It's UNJUST and it's CORRUPT.

Now, this leads me to talk about........
HOW I LEARNED TO DO PARALEGAL WORK

After my daughter was returned to my custody in June
1986, (we moved to San Jose in 1985), I enrolled
myself into a junior college, De Anza College, in
Cupertino, California, where they have a wonderful
Paralegal Program and great staff to support the
program. I started studying the laws and the whole
judicial system because by this time I took a great
interest in the way our laws are decided upon.

Our laws are put into place by our California State
Legislators in our State Capitol in Sacramento,
California. A lot that I have learned is through
education and educating myself by reading and studying
our judicial system. That's the only way one educates
himself or herself. Get off your but and do something
about the laws if you don't like them. Change doesn't
come by sitting on your ass and watching TV or going
to the Movies. If people want change they are gonna
have to FIGHT for their RIGHTS. Martin Luther King
Jr., knew this. That's why he
started supporting the civil rights movement. He did
something about it.

So, I enrolled into college and took as many law
classes as I could to better understand our judicial
system and functions. Mind you this was fifteen years
ago. So, over the last 15 years I have been to more
court proceedings than the average layperson. And,
over time there have been changes made in the "CPS
Child Welfare System" but not a whole lot. Which
brings me now to talk about these recent changes in
the last seven years. By the way I never did finish
getting my AA Degree or Paralegal Certificate, but I'm
three classes away from finishing. Will I ever
finish? Only God knows at this time....

Now, I would like to talk about these most recent
changes in the past seven years. On October 16, 1995
Ex-Governor Pete Wilson signed AB 1355 into law in
spite of strong opposition from social workers, law
enforcement, and the medical profession or psychiatric
profession among other groups but, I'm here to say
they didn't win this time! They already have enough
power and so now some of the POWER was restored back
to the PEOPLE by and through this piece of
legislation.

Also, Ex-Governor Pete Wilson wrote in his signature
message of the bill, "The child protection system is
designed to protect children from abusive parents, but
who protects children from the abuses of the system?"
Great going ex-governor Pete Wilson. We "thank you"
and God Bless you and your family even though it's
seven years later! And, most people don't even know
that this law exists. Now, you can sue the hell out
of social workers for "malice" and "fraud" under this
law. Don't forget first you have to file a claim with
your County Board of Supervisors in the county you
live in. The board has the form or the guidelines for
a person to do this and you have to go to their office
and pick it up. I advise all people that have been
abused by this child welfare system to do just that.
It's great advice.

Don't allow these laws in our great country to abuse
your rights nor your childrens rights. That's why we
have a great judicial system in this country. If you
don't like your rights being abused, don't shout,
pout, or scream......just take em to court! Social
workers love to write in their social reports that the
parent yelled at them or cussed at them or became
obnoxious toward them......you don't have to do that
just file your lawsuit against them for "malice" or
"fraud."

So, AB 1355 became law on January 1, 1996. We had
support from groups, parent's, officials, lawyer's,
public defender's, and from the public (those people
that are involved with changing the laws and that have
lost their children through the CPS System). It was
truly a MIRACLE that ex-governor Pete Wilson signed
the bill and it was passed into law. AB 1355 reduces
the unconstitutional absolute CIVIL immunity of social
workers to a qualified immunity similar to that which
protects law enforcement

personnel. And, you better believe that you can sue
social
workers now in State or Federal Court.

I just finished a Federal lawsuit in which I sued a
city of San Jose police officer for violating my civil
rights, unfortunately, the city settled out of court
with me but I sure wanted to take that particular case
to a full blown out trial but, when the federal judge
referred me to the Federal Pro Bono Project here in
Santa Clara County they couldn't find an attorney to
take my case so this is another problem people face
out there in the real world.

It's always hard to find an attorney that is willing
to help in the area of Juvenile Dependency Law. Most
are not well versed in this area of the law. And, the
juvenile dependency court proceedings are so corrupt
to say the least that most of the time social workers
get what they want and that is to remove your children
from your care and control.

So, then the State becomes the "Parent" or "Parens
Patriae" because this allows the State to take control
of the juvenile and act in the "best interest" of
child and when the State can do that well we all know
what happens then. The State can and will put your
child in a sattelite home and then in a foster care
home or place your child up for adoption and then from
there they act up and out so bad that eventually the
child or children run away from the placement that the
courts originally placed them in and this starts the
whole process of the child or children ending up in
the Juvenile Criminal Court System which is in a way
connected to the Juvenile Dependency Court System. I
should KNOW, this is exactly what happened to all
three of my children. I was FURIOUS to say the least!
All three of my children got caught up in the
juvenile criminal system after being in foster care
for over 10 years and none of them graduated from High
School! MAD, I wasn't mad I had the WRATH of GOD
about me!

Also, I want to talk about the most recent case to
date. It is the "Calabretta" family lawsuit. It was
argued and submitted on June 8, 1998 in San Francisco,
California. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled
in favor of the Calabretta family on August 26, 1999.
The case is as follows:

Poor magazine has copy of article from Home School
Legal Defense Association.

Which now leads me to talk about the recent lawsuit
my 18 year old filed on behalf of our family. On
April 4, 2002, my youngest son filed in the United
States District Court for the Northern District of
California his lawsuit against the CPS social workers
that violated his Constitutional Rights and committed
torts upon himself, his sister, and his brother. He
is suing the San Francisco Department of Social
Services, CPS social worker Mrs. Wolff; the Santa
Clara County department of Social services, CPS social
worker Priscilla Merek and Richard Wong; and the
Office of the Public Guardian and Conservator's does
1-50; for illegally raiding our home on March 2, 2001,
in San Jose, California. If these people think they
are going to get away with committing torts against my
family I'll have them thinking twice about what they did. We are currently waiting to hear from the United States District Court Federal
Judge at this moment in time.

My children don't want their names exposed as you can
very well understand.

Thank you for doing this important press interview
and I'd like Poor Magazine/News to know that you are
the first to cover this story. God Bless You All!

Rebecca Barraza Aanestad

by Staff Writer

Ida dreams and a child is saved..

With locks of steel that unchain innocence

otherwise forgotten

Ida fightin' the keeper

For the kept

Unincarcerating

Unleashing

The institutional lies

by Staff Writer

Resistance Hero*

A Black/Puerto Rican hero, young Manchild Mixed heritage sun-loved, dark radiant spirit.

Molded by street smart teachers, deadly and intelligent fate of peers. real life - death lessons behind bars and free.

Found his voice. Rebellious son, friend, student, poet, lover, one-true soulmate.

Father, husband, teacher, author, cosmopolitan traveler, status breaker.