AUSTIN ADVOCATE

Golden Business Corporation
By Brenda Curran

Roderick Johnson is a survivor and a victorious person. Even though he endured a terrible situation while in a state prison. He served 18 months at the Allred Unit in Wichita Falls, Texas. During the time that he was there he was raped by a prison gang and exposed to several repeated incidents of sexual assault.

Johnson was writing to the warden and to the directors of the prison center to get the situation stopped, but they would not do anything for him so he communicated the problem to his mother who works for the City of Dallas as an events planner. She referred his situation to the city attorney and the attorney called
Johnson in prison.

Roderick explained the problem and then the City Attorney called his mother. The City Attorney’s brother-in-law was the Director of the ACLU’s prison project based out of Washington, D.C. Johnson’s situation was referred to the Director who in turn called him and asked him to explain the problem. Johnson was asked to write a letter. The Director called him back again. Margaret Winter, the Executive Director of the ACLU, came to his prison. She compiled a story and then went back to Washington.

After meeting with the other attorneys in Washington, Margaret Winter advised him that the ACLU decided to take the case. She told him that one of the most powerful legal organizations would be behind him.

They got the backing of a couple of Congressmen and they drafted a letter to Gary Johnson, the Prison Director, who is answerable to the Governor. They mailed him a letter and explained the situation. Gary Johnson called the warden of the Allred Unit and the warden shut down the prison until the situation could be investigated.
They sent Roderick Johnson back to a single cell and then the captain came and took him to the medical department for a rape physical. That’s when he was informed that Gary Johnson had called and told them that they could not leave the unit that night until a full investigation was put on Gary Johnson’s desk the next morning.

So the next morning he was taken to a classification committee and he was told he was being shipped and placed in protective custody. Then he was sent to the Michaels Unit in Palestine, Texas. When he arrived, he was met by the warden and Internal Affairs. They informed him that he was safe there and told him if any problems happened he could contact them.

After he arrived at the Michaels Unit he started gaining knowledge of the ways to lead people from the darkness into the light. He kept reading and learning. Then the ACLU filed a lawsuit against the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. They had a Summary Judgement in Federal District Court and the judge ruled that Johnson had grounds to file and that he would go to trial. Roderick Johnson stayed on the Michaels Unit and focused on the Non-Profit Organization that he wanted to start.

“The ACLU has been supportive,” says Johnson, “and very protective.” Johnson can call anytime to discuss a problem. He meets with the local ACLU once a week.

As of January 2004, the case is in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals pending a hearing in July or August.

In the meantime, Johnson is meeting with various organizations to help him get organized and start his own Non-Profit Organization. So far he has met with DOVIA, the University of Texas, Lifeworks, SafePlace, The City of Austin, Community Action Network, various media organizations, the Crime Prevention Institute, and Texas Against Sexual Assault.

He is putting together a Board of Directors. His organization will be called the Golden Business Corporation. The target market is adults between the ages of 18 and 30.

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"No Child Lft Behind": The 2001 Education Bill
By Felice Pope

In the Texas Homeless Network survey of ten Texas communities, more than twenty percent of all homeless individuals reported that they had experienced homelessness as a child. This statistic reminds us that homelessness is a situation, which is often repeated from childhood through adulthood. In an attempt to break the cycle of homelessness, President George W. Bush signed on January 8, 2002 into law the Education Reform Bill: “No Child Left Behind.” This bill, which was passed with strong bipartisan support, entitles homeless children to free and accessible education as well as all governmental assistance to prevent or eliminate their homeless situation. Specifically, the act removes barrier to enrollment, provides for stable learning environments, and coordinates services between shelters and schools.

Many homeless children find it difficult to even enroll in public school because they lack the necessary paperwork. Moreover, many schools will not enroll children who do not have birth certificates, social security cards, previous educational documentation, and proof of immunization. In addition, school personnel often believe that children cannot enroll without this type of documentation. The “No Child Left Behind” act not only makes it illegal to discriminate against a homeless child, but also requires the school system to have a Homeless Liaison to assist in enrolling homeless children and removing barriers to enrollment. This same liaison will continue to assist the child by locating and tracking all the necessary documentation essential to furthering the child’s education. In other words, homeless children are to be enrolled as quickly as possible so that they do not fall behind in their education.

In addition to finding barriers to enrollment, homeless children tend to move from one school to another. For example, the children might first find temporary residence with a relative and start at a new school, only to move to a shelter and then start at another school. Finally, the children might receive subsidized housing in another school district only to move again. The “No Child Left Behind” act requires the school system to provide essential materials and services so that the child will be successful at school. Provisions include, but are not limited to: appropriate clothing, school materials, medical care, and transportation. The lack of any of these things could be a barrier to school attendance and success.

All too often, the school is not aware of the homeless situation of the child. The liaison, required by this act, will be educated in identifying homeless children and will coordinate services between shelters and other service providers with in the educational system. The liaison will serve as a confidant and advocate. The liaison’s primary responsibility is to make certain the school meets the needs of the child.

According to Homes for the Homeless, the average age of a homeless individual in the United States is age nine. If a child is conditioned from infancy or childhood to accept homelessness as a reality, the child is more likely to become homeless as an adult. In conclusion, “No Child Left Behind” serves as a resource to the very increasing numbers of homeless children in the United States.

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Corrections or Connections?
By Why Chainge Cain

This is an editorial and is not necessarily the opinions or views of the Austin Advocate or its staff.

Recently a man who just got out of, "The System" was featured in the Austin American Statesman. His story was primarily concerned with how he had been mistreated while doing his time.

I presently have a relative doing 12 years at Huntsville. I also did a turn-a-round at the Holiday Unit and 4 years at 4 different State
and 4 County Jails all over Texas, including a SAFE P Unit.

To say the Texas Department of Corrections is unfair, inhumane, cruel and corrupt is in my opinion an understatement. No where else in America has there been so many atrocities and travesties of justice at a correction facility as there are daily at any given TDC Farm or TDCJ State Jail.

During my time locked up I was attacked three times by other inmates and threatened twice by a convicted murderer. My complaints were always ignored and I was told by one Counselor that I should have fought when another inmate pushed me to the floor over changing the TV channel. The counselor then only temporally moved me to a more violent pod and then moved me right back. I watched one kid completely lose his mind over how the other inmates and even the Sheriffs Deputies of that County were mistreating him.

I watched inmates get attacked daily right in front of guards and no action was taken until it was time to clean up the mess. I watched one country boy have his entire commissary stolen twice and then ganged up on and beaten to a pulp when he tried to get it back. I saw guards watch fights go on for long periods of time before interviening. One extremely violent inmate attacked me because some other inmates lied to him and told him I was writing him up on forms I gave to the guards. He beat me about the head and face while I was sitting down and when I tried to get up and fight back, all his buddies surrounded me. That State Jail only moved me to another pod after I refused housing and stayed in solitary confinement myself. The inmate that attacked me was not reprimanded at all and one week later attacked another inmate, kicking his head to the floor and put him in a coma almost killing him. I was moved to another pod that was even more violent.

What a lot of people don't realize is how dangerous it is to even horseplay in a correction facility, much less to fight. The surrounding floor walls and furniture are always made of steel and concrete. One blow can kill a prisoner simply by falling and hitting their head on a hard surface. I slipped on a puddle of water in front of the shower, landing on the hard concrete surface so abruptly that it smashed all my outer thigh muscles and crippled me for two weeks, After the x-rays showed no broken bones the clinic nurse refused to treat me claiming I was just trying to get some pain pills. She told me to get up out of that wheel chair and return to my pod. I told her I could not walk, to which she then replied, "Then you will crawl"!

Then there is the way the inmates are lumped together. The facilities may try to deny it, but most of the time I was locked up with the most violent of criminals, sick sadistic murderers and the like and I was only there for writing hot checks.

But it seemed that some of the other prisoners or inmates always got away with more or got more or had to do less than others. It wasn't too long before I saw why. Preferential treatment was the way of life. And corrupt guards were easy to find. At one state jail an inmate could buy cigarettes, drugs, and even sex from the female guards.

Not all the guards I encountered were corrupt but all were underpaid and in my opinion under-trained to handle what they had to handle on a day to day basis.

I refused housing once because a counselor would not allow me to attend and finish my computer class so I could graduate. Instead of moving me to a pod where I could return to class a guard came and stuck a can of pepper spray in my face. Then I was placed in a loss of privileges pod for people being punished for one week never being allowed to leave my bunk at all.

There is a lot of injustice and unfairness in our Correction Systems and here in Texas we like to lock em up. Almost one third of the State population is incarcerated at any given time.

The only way I survived was by praying a lot and I mean a lot. One thing is for sure. The old saying, "What goes around comes around" was never more eminent and visibly demonstrated as it was in jail. I watched people pay for everything they did wrong to others or myself. That's because in jail, people aren't out of sight when they pay. Everyone is always there together to watch it all happen.

I didn't blame the guards or the system as much as some did for the way things were. I blamed myself for putting me there but that's no excuse for the way I saw some people's rights being violated, including my own. I think it all boils down to the same old problem. People will be people and all of them are not good and all of them cannot be perfect, especially in places like that. My advice to any good person that finds themselves there is to pray a lot. It got me through it somewhat safe and unscathed.

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Panhandling is Not Fun
By Richard Troxell

Panhandling is not fun. In fact, panhandling is humiliating. It can be dangerous, tiresome, and laden with rejection...over and over and over again. It is however, legal. In effect, it is protected in the Constitution and in the Bill of Rights as it is a form of free speech. But legal or not, why would anyone subject themselves to such abuse while standing in the Texas elements on the corner of a busy highway? For the most part, the answer is that the federal minimum wage of $5.15 per hour won’t afford anyone to get into and keep housing anywhere in this country. This is according to the last several US Conference of Mayors Reports. As a result, 3.5 million people will experience homelessness this year. This will occur in spite of the fact that 42% of the homeless have not given up on work and are still working at some point during the week.

However, in a city like Austin, you need to earn $10.60 an hour to get into and keep housing if you are to survive any financial bumps in the road.

So some turn to panhandling as a way to subsidize their economic needs. I met a young gal the other day who is a single parent, quite attractive, working at WalMart with one child. Let’s call her Sara. She told me that she had finally gotten more hours by volunteering to work the night shift, but she still needed to subsidize her income to have bare bone necessities met. So she stands on Highway 183 and 360 and holds a sign.

Businesses use subsidies all the time. When orchestrating the Austin Living Wage Campaign, we found 230 University of Texas staff employees had to subsidize their wage with food stamps. Imagine an employer who won’t pay their employees enough so they can be housed and eat at the same time. For the most part, that’s what food stamps have become...a subsidy for business.

Similarly, restaurant employers are only required to pay an employee $2.13 per hour ( such that the customer- you and I) subsidize that person’s wage. Once the subsidy ( we call it a tip) reaches the $5.15 per hour level, the employer has met his obligation under federal law (perhaps not moral law).

Some panhandlers find it ridiculous to work a full time job at McDonalds and still not have enough to eat, be clothed and afford basic housing, so they abandon “regular work” altogether. And what about health care. Imagine that you decide to leave the ranks of homelessness and get one of these, glorious high paying jobs. But if you do, you will then no longer be eligible to attend the City Health Clinics. How long would you remain a member of the working poor once you become ill with no medical benefits?

Or, why don’t these people just use the social services offered by the City of Austin? Let’s see...the City/County Health Department places the number of homeless persons at between 4,000 and 6,000 people. At the same time, the total number of emergency shelter beds available in this city for every man, woman, and child is about 500. This makes for a tight sleeping situation. How about a health care system that meets specific needs like substance abuse treatment that doesn’t require that an applicant go through the criminal justice system to get that help. Or how would a substance abuse treatment system that is available within the three hour period before he/she again succumb to the disease. Who would want to be in a system where the “haves” experience a financial crisis and cut back on services...again and again and again. Two systems two worlds.

If I were homeless and had to have my hand out to beg for survival, I would rather have some minimal control of my situation. I don’t believe in panhandling but the system isn’t working. I know I would not want to be subjected to separate and unequal on the subsidy dole where someone else controls my destiny. Give me opportunity. Give me the opportunity to enter the work force, and get off the dole. Let me work, but pay me a fair wage for a fair days work. Pay me enough wage so I can eat, be clothed, have access to health care, and afford an efficiency apartment where I can store my belongings, take a shower, get up in the morning refreshed and ready to go to work...a Universal Living Wage. Enable me to restore my own dignity. Then ask me if I feel a need to stand shivering or burning on a Texas street corner with my subsidy sign and my hand out.

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Harvesting Hope
By Orion Garcia

Food is the essential part of building relationships between families, homes, communities, and the environment. Most Americans, however, will go an entire life time never setting foot in the gardens mother earth so graciously provides. For one Austin group growing food remains barrels of fun. After their merging on May 1st, 2001 with Austin Community Gardens, Sustainable Food Center (SFC) has been dedicated to growing food, promoting lower prices for food, holistically honoring distribution, production and consumption of food, and advocating food security.

Sustainable Food Centers’ dedication to the community extends from a national myriad of other organizations. From the USDA to the American Community Gardening Association to the Community Food Security Coalition growing ones food has and remains an integral part of human survival. Many of these organizations are non-profits that in fact need donations from those that can share a little change. If you have ever eaten food straight from a garden, or have had special moments at a dinner table with a loved one, or know what a vital part of life eating is,I urge you to make a donation to:

Sustainable Food Center
P.O. Box 13323
Austin, TX 78711

SFC maintains five local Austin area community gardens along with cooking lessons and nutrition classes that help the low-income to homeless people in Austin establish, maintain, and share food that they have grown.

Many homeless struggle everyday with health conditions, finding a place comfortable to sleep, and most importantly eating. With the current economic tension, and globalization that moves jobs, many non-profits, such as the Austin Advocate Newspaper, struggle for the funds from the county which inevitably get pushed to the state which in turn limits the possibility of grants for smaller organizations. It is these local organizations that bare the pleasure of helping the homeless and the communities they live in. SFC’s dedication to the community can be viewed through its actions.

For any person interested in receiving a plot of land all they must do is call Felipe Comancho at (512) 236-0074 and ask when they can enroll. Low-income lots are given out free of charge as are seeds and compost. Tools are readily available and classes, to which one can learn the art of harvesting, are provided as well. Since growing food enhances community participation, SFC asks that harvesters from all incomes not only keep track of what and how much they grow but that they share their harvest with other members.

There are also other opportunities for the homeless to seek not only a healthier diet but a closer relationship with the earth that many advocate. Networking, even on a small scale, is just one of the benefits that growers establish. The Annual Farmers Market, every Saturday beginning March 20th and lasting until December at 4th and Guadalupe(which is also called Republic Square Park), gives growers a market to sell their harvests. It also allows these once-homeless-now-growers to re-integrate into the society that, through history and stereotypes, has ostracized them for being lazy. Quite contrary to this belief growers/homeless are bestowed the honor of an enhanced lifestyle that which previously had been marked by hard labor and low paying facilities. SFC does not provide a get rich quick approach rather, as the name suggests a “sustainable” food source. If growers can eliminate the dutiful task of finding a meal for themselves then maybe those that they associate with will also reap some benefits.

There are many reasons to grow your own food and there are probably the same amounts of reasons to support those who do. Community gardens help others help themselves with your help. Help us help you to helpings of healthier food.

You can visit any of the gardens in Austin for a better picture of what ‘grows’ on.
Alamo Community Gardens 2100 Alamo St. 78702
Sunshine Gardens 4814 Sunshine Dr. 78756
Martha Middle School 1601 Haskell St. 78702
Sanchez Elementary 73 San Marcos 78702
The Happy Garden 1801 East 2nd St. 78702

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The Coldest 12 Hours
By Christopher Shea

On December 1st, 2003, on a cold, cloudy night in Central Austin, Jerry Hurta Jr. was watching television with his friends Bear and Michael when he noticed an extreme heaviness on his chest. Jerry was living off Esther Lane in a subdivision right north of Highland Mall when he noticed a health ailment begin to take him. He knew that he’d had problems with asthma for over 20 years. So on that cold evening in December he asked his roommate to call 911 and while they waited, he scrambled for the three inhalers he had in his possession, courtesy of the East Austin Health Clinic off of Comal St. near the intersection of Chicon and East Cesaer Chavez.

15 Minutes later, EMS arrived on the scene and Jerry who had used up all the inhalers given to him was carted away in anger with his friend Bear next to him. You see, Jerry was once an Emergency Medical Technician himself and knew the necessity of rapid medical care with a warm hand. Little did Jerry know, his night would be anything but warm. Jerry was taken to St. David’s Emergency room at 32nd and Red River where he desired most to go. His two sons were born there and he had never had problems getting help in the past for Asthma problems.

Jerry was diagnosed with acute bronchitis, a disorder where the bronchi close up and restrict the passage of oxygen to the lungs. One of the doctors on call, Dr. Robert Skjonsby ordered blood tests and an x-ray of Jerry’s chest. The nurse who came in to take his blood was lacking in bedside manner according to Jerry and when blood would come out of the puncture wound, she refused to place some gauze atop his arm to absorb it. Dr. Skjonsby prescribed 3 medications for Jerry to purchase, but unfortunately, Jerry could not afford these high priced medications and because Jerry has a MAP card (MAP stands for Medical Assistance Program) he was treated and discharged within 3 hours with no ride home. For Jerry, that meant that at 11 at night, he had to walk four miles to his house in the cold air with a condition that made something as simple as breathing an extremely dangerous action.

Jerry and his friend Bear made the four mile trek home, but during the three hour walk, he had to stop several times because he complained his chest was getting heavier and heavier. When the two got home, Jerry decided the best thing to do was to go to sleep and make arrangements in the morning for transportation to the East Austin Clinic to receive a generic form of the drugs prescribed by Dr. Skjonsby.

The next morning, Jerry awoke around 7 a.m. with his chest feeling tight and congested. He headed for the number 15 bus that would transport him to the East Austin Clinic. Around Red River and MLK he decided that he was not going to make it and he tugged the stop line on the bus to get off. Jerry’s only hope was Brackenridge Hospital. He walked into the emergency room and the doctors there quickly admitted him. They were amazed he even made it. Dr. Arshad Ghauri quickly came to his side in amazement and proceeded to run identical tests to the ones administered at St. David’s. The only difference between these two hospitals was that one doctor would not only see Jerry’s bronchitis, but the fact that he was suffering from acid reflux as well, a potentially deadly combination of problems. If left untreated, Jerry’s trachea could of closed up and he would have asphyxiated and died. Dr. Ghauri confirmed these facts to Jerry as he was being treated in the ER. His bronchial tubes had filled with fluid and his trachea was tightened. He was administered a slow supply of oxygen and there on the 6th floor, he sat for 6 days. Fortunately, Brackenridge Hospital is one of the hospitals that accept the city sponsored M.A.P. card and Seton, which owns Brackenridge Hospital would eventually pay off his $15,000 medical expenses.

Currently, Jerry is in good health, but he is waiting for the results of some test taken at the East Austin Clinic to ascertain whether or not he suffers from the real culprit of his troubles, a hereditary disease called Lazy Colon Syndrome. Until then, Jerry knows that in the future, when deciding which hospital to attend in dire emergencies, he will choose Brackenridge. You see, Jerry, who is an ordained minister, is very conscious of his diet and he does not eat unhealthily. Nevertheless, one health care provider, St. David’s refused further service for his troubles and Jerry feels as if he was treated unfairly. He had been treated before at St. David’s without incident and now he’s sure he’ll never return. The interesting question to ask here though is not which hospital to attend, but why would a hospital that has a mission statement reading “To provide exceptional care to every patient every day with a spirit of warmth, friendliness and personal pride” uphold a policy of dismissing a patient into the night and put his life in further harm?

That is the question I leave to St. David’s.

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The Guitar Man
Jeremiah Hurta

For I remembered my walks upon Congress Avenue
in a harmonious search
To observe so much the thin tall man strumming
that old guitar like a window fixture
Play that guitar slowly as so many those note’s,
those songs I seldom recall
Songs of love, compassion, and then hard times
as we fell into that of war and political corruption
For I like him hid so much the bottled spirits to
carry him into so much that lost inspiration
To cry out for those lost in our cursed battles to the scandals we nursed upon by our political leaders
For some called you a Hippie, some a Rebel, some a
Political Protestor awaiting His Recognition
Lost in nothing more than that to which we all must hide,
for we have lost our sense of a freedom of speech
But I damn well know your heart,
your spirit lies within the spirit of this Poet-

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