THE VOICE OF MODESTO

People of Stanislaus County VS Mono Park II – Needless Needles

By Robert Stanford

The Modesto Bee has failed to report the facts in the case regarding the two defendants that are being charged with misdemeanor health and safety code violations for the distribution of hypodermic needles in Modesto Airport District’s Mono Park, dubbed, I believe, by themselves – the Mono Park Two.

Please allow me to spell out some points that have not been reported by the Modesto Bee in a seemingly slanted attempt to make the male defendant appear to be something he most certainly is not:

1. Anyone of any age without any information recorded or transferred could obtain 20 syringes and paraphernalia to prepare their injections.

2. Hypodermic needles were freely provided to minors.

3. There were more individuals than just the two defendants involved.

4. They were not “unwitting revolutionaries”. I had warned them from the beginning that I was going to make sure that they were charged legally and incarcerated if necessary.

5. The activities were not limited to Mono Park. They were conducted door to door and at other “revolutionary” events. There was also a needle distribution operation conducted on the East Campus of Modesto Junior College during a Modesto Junior College sponsored event (but of course, Modesto Junior College denies this).

6. Needles that were distributed freely to addicts in Mono park and elsewhere were resold so that meth and heroine could be and was purchased using the money that was derived of selling the needles to other addicts (thereby even more needles become shared). Some of this money fueled the Norteno gangs that have their own jurisdiction and “rule” over the Modesto Airport District and other nearby areas in Modesto.

Though I have written on this subject previously, and all the articles that I have produced regarding this case, up to this point can be found on the internet, I was recently approached by the attorney representing the male defendant, Ruben Villalobos, who said he wanted to give me a “heads up”, that I might be called to testify on his client’s behalf.

Perhaps he thinks that he may be able to expose me as something that his client has made claims of and therefore, provide some sort of an idea to the jury that his client should never have been charged in the first place, since it was for reasons that had nothing to do with civic duty or community welfare that I came to make his client become charged in the first place. I could not help but think to myself, “wow, what an idiot.”

I have had a lengthy conversation with the female defendant and arrived at different conclusions than I had before, in that, I do not believe that her culpability in this matter is as intense and destructive as that of the male defendant’s. She reminds me more of a cult follower. It does not seem that the male defendant gave her the disclosure that she deserved, such as informing her that I had warned him and the Modarchano organization that I was going to cause their arrest and incarceration as well if necessary to bring a halt to the elicit needle distribution operations that they were conducting.

I further believe that the male defendant may have done the same that himself and other members of his organization, Modarchano had done with homeless individuals by giving legal advice that was not correct, thereby costing the “working class” thousands if not millions of dollars worth of property damage by convincing people that it was legal to take up lodging in abandoned and foreclosed homes relying on “alternative utilities” such as candles and steno cans, thereby causing many fires, particularly in the Modesto Airport District.

The female defendant’s assessment of my knowledge I believe to not only be influenced, but partial, since, for one thing, I do know that until this writing, neither of the defendants are aware that I actually did the same thing myself before either one of them were born. But of course it was orchestrated with far more responsibility than their program and was before HIV/AIDS was an issue in the United States. It was also in the Haight/Ashbury District of San Francisco and managed by the Haight/Ashbury Free Clinic. An MD was present at all times. But that was 30 years ago. The attention to accountability and the methods coupled with having a medical doctor present trumped legality in the eyes of local government and the SFPD (San Francisco Police Department).

It was not a “needle exchange” however. Just like the program conducted in Mono Park, it was a “needle distribution”. Today, I do not know if would have participated. It would depend on the current state of the population of intravenous drug users in that area and at that time. If memory serves me correctly, the primary reason for distributing needles at that time without the emphasis of collecting, as in an actual “needle exchange”, was for the necessity of preventing infections and Hepatitis – Hepatitis primarily through sharing and infections caused by erosion of the needles or contamination with undesirable substances in the intravenous drug user’s environment(s).

The culture of the streets in the Haight/Ashbury District was one that had a measurable amount of accountability between the addicts to a certain extent. One in which we would know if our project was being abused to the point of not being effective. I.E. the resale of distributed needles exacerbating the propensity of infections by more shared needles. That was not the problem that I was concerned with and believed to be happening in the case of the Mono Park “needle distribution”. Primarily because the amount of needles that we were distributing in the Haight were one or two. Not twenty.

In 2008, the Stanislaus County Civil Grand Jury recommended one for one needle exchange to the Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors. In lieu of the ultimate vote on this issue, I had the following letter published in the Modesto Bee:

“I applaud the Stanislaus County Grand Jury for their recommendation of a needle exchange program in our community as a means of stemming the tide of infectious disease throughout our entire community.

Not only does needle exchange programs reduce the spread of blood-borne illnesses such as HIV and Hepatitis C, it also offers a consistent opportunity to provide information and encouragement to intravenous drug users regarding treatment and counseling as well as addressing other health issues arising from high-risk behavioral lifestyles.

With the overwhelming failure of Proposition 36, drug addiction treatments available to drug users and/or offenders are underutilized except by those offenders fortunate enough to be ordered to drug court.

With no accountability to continue, the offender is given little more than a sheet of paper in terms of support and alternatives to their current lifestyle.

Proposition 36 drug offenders are left to their own devices to deal with their drug addiction by themselves.

Needle exchange is in no way condoning intravenous drug use. It is an effective approach to saving lives by reducing not only the rates of deadly disease, but also promoting education for drug users regarding existing opportunities available to them for treatment.”

Robert Stanford
Advocate, Modesto Airport District

I first became aware of the Needle distribution operation according to internet postings announcing the event as well as flyers that advertised it throughout downtown Modesto, the La Loma neighborhood and through the outskirts of the Modesto Airport District.

The most disturbing was a flyer that used the “F” word prominently in its title accompanying an image that demonstrated an actual injection that was displayed on the front of the now defunct Airport Neighbors United building. For all intents and purposes, this was a grant – funded parent resource center. Despite my several pleas, the proprietors refused to remove the material. Allowing their primary demographic of visitors which were Parents and children to see the posting in plain sight.

The flyer spelled out the program. That there would be an opportunity every two weeks for any individual to receive 20 syringes with no questions asked. In addition, paraphernalia for the means to prepare their injections would also be provided as well as information.

I was to find out from members of the Modesto Parks and Recreation department that there had, previously to the onset of this program in Modesto Airport District’s Mono park, been a needle distribution program conducted at an event that was called, “The People’s Bailout”. This event was put on by a group of individuals that have called themselves “Modarchano”. A group that distributes literature and plasters flyers throughout Modesto touting anarchistic ideals such as the destruction of Government, the elimination of law enforcement, as well as lawlessness itself as a type of “people’s revolution”. At this same event, legal advice was given by the male defendant in this case and other individuals that were also involved with the elicit needle distribution operation, but not charged, encouraged those that were homeless to “squat” in foreclosed homes. This was their primary solution to homelessness. The fallout of this action resulted in several houses being burned to the ground due to the use of candles by the trespassers.

I had reported the Mono Park needle distribution program to then Chief Wasden of the Modesto Police Department as well as Stanislaus County Sheriff, Adam Christianson. Mono Park was served by the jurisdiction of the county of Stanislaus since it resided within an un-annexed area of the Modesto Airport District.

A short time previously, I had suffered a deprivation of my first amendment rights under the color of law from Stanislaus County Sheriff Adam Christianson, when I had asked about a specific agenda item in regards to the expenditure of a quarter of a million dollars to purchase out-fitted horse trailers. Specifically I was instructed to not speak to the Board about matters regarding the Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Department without discussing the matter with Stanislaus County Sheriff, Adam Christianson, personally himself.

Also, at this same time, Sheriff Adam Christianson saw to it that the customer service Sheriff Deputy that was assigned to the Modesto Airport substation was removed altogether from the Modesto Airport District, so I was unable to achieve assistance from him in this matter either.

So basically where I stood, I was unable to acquire assistance to shut down the operation from the Modesto Police Department because it was not in their jurisdiction and I was unable to acquire assistance from the Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Department because Stanislaus County Sheriff Adam Christianson was allowing the operation to continue, apparently in some effort to show me the power that he held over me and my neighborhood, the Modesto Airport District.

I contacted the Modesto Bee to appear at the first session that was being conducted at Mono Park, but unfortunately, failed to give the correct name of the park and therefore, though the Modesto Bee sent staff out to cover it, they could not find anything, because I had not given them the correct name of the park.

I then began appearing before the Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors requesting that they encourage the Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Department to act.

I broached the subject at first by approaching Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors’ Chair, Jim DeMartini. So quickly was I dismissed by this man, that I ended up having to wait outside of the men’s bathroom in the City Hall building, to give him a flyer of the event that was the same as the flyer that I was unable to get removed from the Modesto Airport Neighbors United building. After walking from 1010 10th Street to the Modesto Chamber of Commerce offices to attend an event that we were both attending, the best that I could get from him was to accept the flyer and mutter, “needle exchanges don’t work”.

Over the course of approximately three months, I made numerous appearances before the Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors without any progress toward shutting down the elicit distribution operation. Primarily because the Sheriff of Stanislaus County only answers to the Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors regarding his budget. A lesson that was hard-learned, after Christianson took out his vindictive hatred toward me on my own charges – junkies.

Throughout the middle of the time span that the elicit needle distribution operation was conducted, I had been in contact with Modesto Bee’s Tim Moran. He indicated that he had called Stanislaus County Sheriff, Adam Christianson directly and that the first thing he said to Moran, was that he had only heard of the needle distribution from Linda Taylor, a blogger on the Modesto Bee’s blog forum that professes to be an “anti-drug activist”, but seems to be more like a “drug war monger”.

Apparently, Tim Moran laughed a bit and said that was not what he asked, and that it was incidental where Christianson was getting his information from. Stanislaus County Sheriff, Adam Christianson’s reaction to Moran seemed to be enough to push Moran to accept the Modesto Bee buyout package the following day.

During the time of the elicit needle distribution program, I witnessed for myself some of the fallout that resulted from the elicit operation. For the majority of the people that used the services provided by the Modarchano counter-cultural and anti-authorative group,

The addicts would certainly take 20 needles, use one (over and over again, sharing that needle) and sell the rest on the street as “outfits”. They would easily make enough money very quickly to purchase more black tar heroin as supplied through the Modesto Airport District/South Modesto by Norteno Gangs, thereby increasing the pressure applied to the stranglehold that this gang faction has upon the Modesto Airport District, No Man’s Land and the surrounding neighborhoods of South Modesto and Ceres.

In consideration of the numbers of syringes that were being distributed, overall my best estimations are now between 4 to 6 thousand needles distributed between events that were sporadically setup in addition to the Mono Park site as well as Modesto Junior College and door to door services provided by the male defendant. I highly suspect that there were more and probably still are ongoing needle distribution operations now by other members of the Modarchano organization.

Seven heroin addicts that I had been following (some for many years) that were taking advantage of the Modarchano needle distribution operation relapsed during this time. They may have relapsed anyway as all of these individuals were basically homeless and enjoyed little if any support from the community besides myself to stay clean to begin with.

After having observed the operation unseen from a distance, I decided to make my presence known and to sit several yards away from the actual distribution that was taking place in Modesto Airport District’s Mono Park.

Shortly after my arrival to the park, I was joined by Stanislaus County Supervisor Vito Chiesa. Both of us at this time were able to witness the appearance of the distribution of needles to minors.

It was April 18th 2009, that the needle distribution operation conducted in Mono Park was finally brought to a halt by the Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Department.