Has everyone sold out? Is the opposition caving in for political advantage or other reasons? A little bird told me Oxford House Sequoia is a done deal before the vote is even taken. It appears the Oxford halfway House at 230 Lauff will be approved at the next Board Of Incompetent Supervisors (BOIS) meeting. How much is the BOS going to give Oxford and Gene McVae? Is it $40.000 annually, now down to $26,000 to be granted from the State through county coffers for a so-called not for profit business? Not for profit? Yeah right! Bet McVae and all Oxford executives drive expensive new vehicles and live in well-heeled neighborhoods, completely insulated from halfway houses, or low level crime and theft of any sort; neighborhoods where white-collar crime is committed with an ink pin, not a gun.

Triplicate star reporter Tony Reed in a 2 part whitewash gave a pro-only snapshot in part one, and doubled down on that position in part 2. Today Editor Robin Fornoff tripled down on that whitewash, painted with iridescently white paint? Where is the journalistic objectivity? Will Fornoff dare publish a logical opinion which is in favor of rehabilitation, but against congesting the same old high crime neighborhood with halfway house after halfway house? The logical opposing voices in the Triplicate seem to have been squelched. Today Jake Smith of Smith River was give a very small space to speak in opposition, but Mr. Smith does not live in the high crime neighborhood where these two unsupervised Oxford halfway houses are in, so he does not have standing in the probable impact on neighborhood crime these halfway houses present. It appears Fornoff usually only publishes half-baked, inarticulate letters to the editor about causes he is not for, which paints his hand picked more articulate writers for the causes and projects he supports much more favorably. That’s not fair.

“to achieve such wide acceptability, the agencies avoid overt partiality. Demonstrably correct information is their stock in trade. Traditionally, they report at a reduced level of responsibility, attributing their information to a spokesman, the press, or other sources. They avoid making judgments and steer clear of doubt and ambiguity. Though their founders did not use the word, objectivity is the philosophical basis for their enterprises – or failing that, widely acceptable neutrality.” – Jonathan Fenby, The International News Services (1986) p. 25

Without using Mr. Fenby’s two dollar words and fancy language, it means all sides of a story should be given without bias to one side or the other.

I am not outing anyone, because both Fornoff and Westfall have both revealed in their respective publications the whereabouts of the residences. Would any Triplicate employee or reader who lives next to a liquor store as does Donna Westfall want 2 halfway houses where the residents are packed elbow to elbow like sardines in a can, all within a stones throw of a problematic liquor store and drug house infested neighborhood? How can a neighborhood hold the line when county and state sponsored criminals are being poured in with an oversized funnel? Fornoff wants a dozen Oxford halfway Houses, and County DHHS Heather Snow wishes Crescent City had 10. Neighbors who own their residence, and even those who rent, do not want it in a neighborhood already bursting at the seams with crime, drug users and dealers, transients, and every other type of assorted riff-raff. The last 2 nights in a row arrests were made next to the liquor store at the intersection of 9th and J, and the perps were not just passing by, but hanging out around the liquor store causing problems.

Wholeheartedly do I applaud these transitioning men and women for the courage and conviction they are demonstrating by attempting to get the monkey of addiction off their backs, but they must face the fact that they have “burned their bridges”, and trust will have to be slowly and painstakingly earned. After you have been clean and sober for a few years, trust will begin to grow from family members, neighbors, potential employers, the court, law enforcement, etc. Until trust is re-earned, they are not only on probation in the local court system, but by citizens, victims, and any neighbor who lives even remotely close to the halfway house.

Sadly, most addicts relapse several times before lasting sobriety is archived, if ever. Most don’t recover for long, so neighbors have just cause to worry. Just because one is presently clean and sober, it is more likely than not that they will relapse a few or several times. Furthermore, just because they are clean and sober, it doesn’t mean they are honest and have also changed their minds about larceny, the old methods to get money that has always served them well in the past. Few will find employment because there are few jobs to be had around Del Norte County. The few jobs that are offered are for starvation wages, and given to those who can pass a background check. Larceny pays much better and the work hours are few. They were usually busted for theft because the drugs and alcohol made them careless. Without the impairment of inebriation, a far better thief they will be. They are smart enough not to use or steal where they live, but what about using and stealing in a neighborhood where so many thieves roam freely, and honest victims never know who to blame for the theft of their hard earned items, because theft is an every day occurrence, and as common as flies on ****.

Family members know a person best. Their families don’t trust them, or they would be there instead of at a Oxford House. Neighbors, and I have spoken to many, have a right not to trust them. Those neighbors told me they are afraid to speak out at the BOS meeting due to retaliation from not only the Oxford residents, but from those that are pushing so hard to fill a crime infested neighborhood with halfway houses. You didn’t think they would put the others out on Pebble Beach Drive, did you? High income neighborhoods is the only area where the words “not in my back yard” falls with positivism to those in power anywhere. How many of these decision makers live anywhere near these two present Oxford House, “self run” halfway houses? Zero, zip, and nada!

Follow the money, including campaign contributions…