N E I G H B O R H O O D W A T C H T A L K #4
<=
span
style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> =
;
F=
.H.
Ernst Jr., M.D.
A=
rea
Coordinator
N=
orth
Sutter Street Neighborhood Watch
S=
eptember
9, 1988
INSIDE INFORMATION: Enclosed, "The Valley of Decision" by Dr. Sterling Lacy explores som=
e of
the problem "institutions" contributing to the growth of drugs o=
n the
streets. Some will find eye openers in it. Some will have made up their mi=
nds
and closed their eyes. What Reverend Lacy says in it will never make the
Vallejo Times-Herald. That paper appears to be controlled by the Solano Co=
unty "parallel study groups" of
the San Francisco COMMITTEE on Fo=
reign
Relations. That COMMITTEE is itself at least 60% controlled by "t=
he
elitist boys and girls from New York" and their club, "Council on Foreign Relations.&qu=
ot;
(CFR's own Annual Report.)
DRUG TRAFFIC: 8/13/88 Saturday, 11:30 AM, coming back from the Po=
st
Office past City Park on 400 block of Alabama: An 8 year old NMC, bright r=
ed
sweat suit and cap riding a 14" bicycle, small brown paper bag gripped
around left handlebar of his bike. He had just come out of City Park, pedd=
ling
furiously around & down past Vets Building on Marin. I went across
Tennessee at same time he did. He saw me, became suspicious and in
sophisticated fashion slowed his rate of travel to turn some circles on Ma=
rin.
I parked east side Marin between Tennessee St. & Reo Alley. He then re=
sumed
his furious rate of peddling on down Marin, crossed the RR tracks using a
non-road dirt path and straight to 1902 Marin at Nebraska. Briefly out of =
sight
(20 seconds), then mission accomplished, he was next seen doing with a bic=
ycle
what any other 8 year old would be doing, lazily practicing loops and turn=
s.
Then looking in my own rear view mirror as I readied to drive again, I not=
iced
I had parked just in front of a now visibly occupied car, another observer=
of
the same event, who had come up from his concealed position on the driver's
seat. Was he making sure that whatever I had stumbled onto, did in fact ha=
ppen?
From that driver's vantage point he was able to view the length of Marin,
Alabama down to Nebraska and Mississippi. Sorry, in my own preoccupation I
didn't get his license number. It was a smaller sedan, dark green brown(?)=
.
What's
to do? Wrote a brief note, time, location plus enough for a "mental p=
icture"
of what I had seen and put it into my "Neighborhood Watch" brown
paper bag of notes. Have not seen that boy again, YET.
POLITICAL: City Park<=
/b>
continues as a major hub of the <=
u>Greater
Vallejo Recreational Drug District. That big two story building th=
ere?
Downstairs "bathrooms" are easy cover for drug sales. Upstairs b=
olted
and padlocked, windows boarded over. Local residents are clear about it! T=
hat GVRD Building, horseshoes and al=
l, IS PROTECTING the "horsing
around" drug traffic there. AND GVRD is a political body.
That
GVRD building is an "attract=
ive
nuisance", presenting a danger to the community's health, safety =
and
welfare. Is there a restroom building in Washington Park? Horseshoes at Ci=
ty
Park could be stored in Vets Buil=
ding
across street OR Vallejo Fire Sta=
tion
just across the street and 3 or so portable potties set up in area where t=
hat
massive building is now. That would cut down the GVRD provided shelter to =
the
drug deals that building now affords.
Drug
abuse programs DO NOT work until the user-abuser IS STOPPED from using DRU=
GS.
FIRST things first: Stop the procuring and use of drugs in our neighborhoo=
ds.
Remember the James Coburn flick about the pretty young woman heroin user. =
FIRST
she had to be stopped from using, "cured" of her immediate cravi=
ng.
The less drugs around, the less the temptation to try out, to use and the =
less
chance to get hooked.
D=
rug
usage is a show of the furtive, rebel Child side of the person<=
span
style=3D'font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Courier'>. "It is foolishness a=
nd
rebellious defiance to go against the law." It shows a lack of reason=
ing
and a lack of "common sense" to use drugs. Let's make it easier =
to
talk about these qualities by saying "Using
drugs is a sign of the person's rebel Child showing!"
The BEHAVIOR of a person can be seen as having three major =
sides
to it.
1. Each person lives throug=
h one childhood and carries those behaviors with himself through l=
ife.
This is the Child part=
of the
person.
2. Each has the ability to behave reasonably - t=
he
person's Adult.
3. Each person has had some=
one in
the position of being a parent, a
guiding & protecting person to him during childhood. There is an
imprint of that person(s) and his=
ways
of behaving that you took into yourself. This is called the Parent. (E Berne)
These visible BEHAVIORS can be diagrammed<=
/b> with 3 stacked circles.
The Behavior Diagram of THE SELF-GOVERNING PERSON
SHAPE \* MERGEFORMAT ![](3D"WT-4_s_files/image001.gif")
Expression
of all three sides is critical to good mental health.
The
person's Child, my Childself and yours, each has two ways of handling society's requirements and
expectations. A Childself can=
either
be rebellious and defiant abo=
ut
these OR can go along =
with them,
can be compliant and conformi=
ng to
them. This is part of "going along to get along." The other part=
is
so often the reasonableness of that.
T=
eaching
this diagram and the OK Corral: Grid For What's Happening (WT #3) in local high scho=
ol 15
years ago resulted in real loweri=
ng of
drug use there, then. While many other professionals still knock these
diagrams, they worked for the
students then, better at =
SELF-governing.
POLITICAL: On 04/05/88 Congressman Boxer came to one of her in=
frequent
early AM working day, Vallejo "Townhall Meetings" in her
out-of-the-way smaller office over on Starr St. How many readers here can =
find,
know where your Congressional representative's local office is?
In
response to one Neighborhood Association leader's presentation about how a=
wful
drugs were in town: She is sponsoring legislation to the tune of some more
billions for "Drug Education and Treatment ... including for the chil=
dren
in our schools."
The
various drug cartels around the world not only welcome this kind of
legislation, they will back it and contribute to the campaign funds of tho=
se
pushing it. In order for their businesses to grow they have to count on the
expansion of information about their products. This is called advertising.
"Use our drugs. If you get in trouble, get hurt or get caught come to=
one
of our (taxpayer supported) clinics or schools for a fix up." "Drug Education", to deale=
rs, is
a "Trade Show."
Once
a temptable student knows what to look for, he next has to find his favori=
te
"peer pressurer", a year or 2 older, to tell and ask what to mak=
e of
it. Then this "peer" can tell him where & how to "find =
out
for himself" now that he "has learned all about" them. OR m=
aybe
this "peer" will "just happen to have an extra hit" to=
let
his younger friend find out now there in the restroom, "if he wants.&=
quot;
Every
druggie in prison could tell you who "helped" him get started on=
his
very first try at drugs. No more than 2% or 3%, if that many, quit and sta=
y off
drugs on release. Assuming that D=
ISCONTINUANCE
of drug usage AND CONTINUED ABSTI=
NENCE
from drugs is the goal of programs, then
a program for "Drug Educa=
tion
and Treatment... including for the children in our schools" is THE
ONE BEST WAY to promote and spread them on the streets.
FEDERAL SOCIAL PROGRAMS: Here we are reminded of t=
he
street term for the federally supported "Planned Parenthood" - "IT"S AN ABORTION!" =
The
new Federal "Child Care Cent=
er's"
act when you read the fine print is as anti-religious an act as has come o=
ut of
Congress in a long time. It's long range effects are clearly aimed at
family-busting.
But
then, "Education, Treatment and Rehabilitation" as words have a =
nice
ring to them. Too, if the Feds (big brother) is going to do something, then
maybe we should be grateful, won't have to be worried, won't have to get
personally involved, can hope "somebody else" is taking care of =
it
for us. Still I ask, show me one federal program that has been good for the
social integrity of a majority in it. The "Moral Hazards" inherent with these legislative acts almost
invariably over-power the good judgment of the majority who are
"eligible."
About
2 years ago the City took the=
lead
in procuring a $100,000 grant fro=
m the
Feds, then turned it over to School District to do with as they saw fi=
t ..."for teen-age sex and pregnancies, dr=
ugs and
manic-depressive illness and suicides." This psychiatrist has,
practically speaking, been barred from finding out anything about that
"Interagency Committee's" fund and program. A stonewall!
Didn't
Marin have a major scandalous national reputation for drug usage well befo=
re
our own town got so troubled. After that, then, Vallejo got reapportioned =
in
with the Marin and SF Congress District.
PSYCHIATRY: The psychiatrists I know who work for the Calif Dep=
t of
Corrections are less than optimistic about the effects of any "Educat=
ion,
Rehabilitation and/or Treatment" program for drug users. Lots of
"applicants" would be referred by the courts. Lots of jobs would=
be
"created." Lots of forms would have to be filled out. "Trea=
tment
and Rehabilitation" of drug users has a poooor prognosis. If 5% of the
users stop for two years you have a gooooooood program. That's, at best, a
nickel back for every dollar put in.
STOP DRUGS OR NOT: The curative
atmosphere for the user, younger or older, comes from a community that exudes "It's a NO, NO! We mea=
n it!
It is a NO, NO!" to use drugs and it's a VERY FIRM "NO, NO!"
with disciplinary consequences, anywhere from the refusal to talk to that
person, cutting off his allowance, kicking him out of your home, on up to
calling the cops on him. It is not until the people of the community stop being tolerantly indulgent =
of the
"occasional" user that drug usage stops. (This is similar to the
successful treatment of the alcoholic where every one in his family becomes
simultaneously committed to the fact that the boozer must stop his drinking and let's him know.)
It
is THE NEIGHBORS IN THE
NEIGHBORHOODS, each one, who can =
REQUIRE
DRUGS BE STOPPED THERE by joining Neighborhood Watch. Neighbors ARE ve=
ry
effective "peer pressure." That is also what our "Neighborh=
ood
Watch" signs are, the peer pressure of the neighborhood.
More
drug education in the schools for the most part only teaches students why =
and
how (not) to use, what they could (not) be (dared into being) afraid of
(tempted into) using. This multiple-choice sentence is to show how variabl=
e the
effect of that kind of student education program is. Most teaching this
material will say "This is try to help the student make an informed
(consent) decision." The explicit goal is obedient, compliant avoidan=
ce of
drugs. Any of you who recall your own adolescence will remember how your o=
wn rebelliousness and daredevil
recklessness could be triggered (by
these Parent-like demands) into p=
roving
to peers you "were not afrai=
d"
to go against them.
WATCH AND POLITICAL: The goal of Neighborhood Watch Programs is to
reduce the police load in the residential areas. When one identified area =
alone
can reduce its crime rate from 11 reported burglaries per week to 8 per ye=
ar
(Cimarron Hills) there is a saving to CITY. That particular Neighborhood Watch GAVE the rest =
of
Vallejo one whole full time officer because of their own watch work
between 1985 and 1987. When the Mayor says 6 new officers this year, he ne=
ver
remembers to tell us Cimarron Hil=
ls GAVE
us ONE MORE EXPERIENCED OFFICER last year. Never a peep out of =
City
Council about this.
On
9/6/88 Mayor
waxed eloquent, firmly toned, with drama told how he was "not going to
tolerate the druggers thinking they own the streets." Writer was remi=
nded
then of the Isuzu ad "AND YO=
U HAVE
MY WORD ON IT!" Same thing happens to me when Dan Rather is on TV=
with
the "news."
<=
u>The avoidance
by City Council of the words "Neighborhood Watch" is meticulous<=
/u>. This avoidance reflects w=
hat I
think is a bad attitude in th=
at
regard. Are they afraid neighbors will find their own strengths, find the =
other
self-governing individuals in their immediate areas, before their controll=
er
networks have taken over leadership of all of the "Block Watches?&quo=
t;
More at a future time about this other kind of peer-pressured & networ=
ked,
symbiotic-governed person, the &q=
uot;Situational
Person", the ones with NO PERSONAL PARENT!
ERRATUM: The street number of the flat top house on Illinois=
St
with a NO TRESPASSING SIGN and concrete apron in front, mentioned in Watch=
Talk
#3, 7/4/88, is 441/443 Illinoi=
s. Writer's apologies for typo. Many=
good
watchers, good neighbors also on 400 block Illinois.
Owners
of 441/443 Illinois, living in Vallejo are known and are being approached =
about
the neighborhood hazards to health & safety which their present tenants
pose. Our VALLEJO REGISTRY OF HOS=
FECES
(Houses of Sanctuary For Elements of the Criminal Enterprise Systems) grows.
Neighborhood Watch Resources:
Reporting Crimes Vallejo PD, 648-4321,
Maryjane Szalan, Neighborhood Watch Program VPD, 648-=
4397.
County Assessor=
: 429-6281 for property ownersh=
ip.
{ Verify the telephone numb=
ers }
When
introducing yourself to these offices, tell them you are "in Neighborhood Watch".
Signed, F H Ernst Jr., M.D.=
,
Tele 643-6611, P O Box 3009 Valle=
jo, CA
94590