When are Eureka City Council members, especially the progressive ones, going to answer the public and answer in a public forum; and not on most local media that never criticizes or holds HACHR or certain City Council members, accountable.
No matter how much criticism Virginia or Ryan or Rex or Marian get or Mike got, I am not aware of anyone they blocked from Facebook.
Austin you have blocked people; Natalie you have blocked people. What's the matter Austin and Natalie? You want the fame and want to run for City Council but can't take the heat?
You are the two Eureka City Councilmembers who rarely show up at events and if you do, it is those in your comfort zone. Did you miss the countless news articles on the court ruling that elected officials cannot block critics on social media?
Harm Reduction is not working or there would not be needles scattered every where and people "shooting up" openly. Address the real issue, who is supplying the drugs and who is enabling the addicts?
HACHR can find private donors if they believe so much in their mission or volunteer all time, like many in this community do.
Jeannie's post:
"Kim Walford-Bergel, Austin Allison,Heidi Wilson Messner Marian Brady, Judy Sousa, Frank Jager, Steve Watson, Aaron Ostrom What I and many don't understand is the pushback from HACHR. I feel HACHR is so busy doing damage control, they don't hear us! Its very disconcerting and condescending for HACHR to appear to discount the responses and dismay from our community. We are NOT Ignorant individuals, we are concerned citizens. Rather than blowing us off and projecting that our voices don't matter or HACHR does't feel the need to respectfully answer to the community they serve, try working with us to create a Track & Trace system. While HACHR is concerned about Harm Reduction, we the non addicted are also concerned for the health and safety of our entire community. Its hard to ignore the increase of thousands of needles in our streets during the last almost two years since HACHR set up shop in Eureka. If you want the support of our entire community, demonstrating you care about our safety too by doing a better job in the collection of used needles on our streets would go a long way toward earning support. The photo below shows the needles collected at Cooper Gulch Park after a 1 hour cleanup. I was told by the PacOut Green Team there were many more needles at the park, they just couldn't collect them all. Don't you & the folks at HACHR feel our children deserve not to live in harms way?"
The harm reduction is a failure. It's always been a failure. Trying to reduce harm to people that are already harming themselves? What a joke. Reducing harm by distributing needles to drug addicts to harm them themselves with Meth and Heroin then tossing the used, possibly diseased in crusted needles everywhere, possibly harming thousands of innocent people, pets and wildlife? Another joke. Just shut the stupid thing down. It's the Heroin and Meth that's the problem. You want to reduce harm to junkies? then stop the Flow of drugs. It's that simple.
ReplyDeleteAs the organization is on file with the AG's State office oc charities, they can solicit funds as a non-profit organization but since the IRS has said they're tax-exempt, it looks like they haven't filed any 990s...
ReplyDeleteThe Founding Documents list the following people as All Trustees or Officers:
Name BRANDIE WILSON Position BOARD CHAIR
Address 3237 GLEN ST
city EUREKA ZiP Code 95503
Name BOBBIE GOOD Position SECRETARY/TREASURER
Address PO BOX 278
city HYDESVILLE ZiP Code 95547
Name SARAH KERR Position BOARD MEMBER
Address 285 G ST
city ARCATA ZiP Code 95521
Name JULIA DRUPKEY Position BOARD MEMBER
Address PO BOX 436
city CUTTEN ZIP Code 95534
***Other paperwork shows different people**
This is their declared purpose as sworn to and on file with the Office of the Attorney General:
"The Humboldt Area Center for Harm Reduction will reduce harm to the Humboldt Community through advocacy, education, and services.
Humboldt County is well above state and national averages for homelessness and suicide as well as four times the state and national averages regarding death by overdose rates and Hepatitis C.
We intend to improve our rating on the Health Communities index, which includes overdose deaths, mental illness, suicide rate, and homelessness rates, etc. We believe that education and services will help bring the community together to create humane and compassionate approaches for these issues.
Practicing in a socially just manner, we intend to provide comprehensive community-wide education programs, trainings, and workshops; advocacy, empowerment, and support for drug users and other high-risk communities; overdose prevention; direct services, counseling, and referrals; safe injection supplies; and advocacy for more humane drug policies."
Very interesting:
"Article III. Members
Humboldt Area Center for Harm Reduction shall have no members. Any action
under the laws of the State of California, which requires approval of members, shall
only require the approval of the Board of Directors. Furthermore, all rights that
would otherwise vest in the members under law, shall vest in the Board of Directors."
And then we get to:
"Article IV. Directors
Section 1. Number
Humboldt Area Center for Harm Reduction shall have no less than 4 and no more
than 12 Directors and collectively shall be known as the Board of Directors. The
number of Directors may be changed by amendment of these Bylaws.
Section 2. Powers
The activities and affairs of Humboldt Area Center for Harm Reduction shall be
conducted and all corporate powers shall be exercised by and under the direction of
the Board of Directors, consistent with the laws of the State of California and these
Bylaws."
There's more:
ReplyDeleteEvery year they must file a report with the AG, including a statement of activities, gross annual revenue and assests. Their report period runs from July 1 to June 30. This is the only information on file (for 2016):
" PART A — ACTIVITIES
For your most recent full accounting period
(beginning 7/01/15 ending 6/30/16 )list:
Gross annual revenue $49,070 Total assets $21,789."
While this group's year ended June 30, 2017, the AG's office has not posted a copy of a report for that period.
There are also two letters asking for payment of the filing fee and no statement that it had been received.
Since they're not filing with IRS and there are no 990s, I can't tell where the money came from, where it went or anything like that.
It is my understanding that the most recent report to the State should be available for a member of the public to apply to examine, since as a charity, they exist to serve the public good and must respond to public requests to verify their fidelity of purpose and performance.
All the people mentioned in the letter, and in your comments John do not appear on any of the legal paperwork on file with the AG.
The website gives no information on how specifically to support their purported activities. To quote from the website:
"We are an established 501(c) 3, which means that all donations are tax detectable (sic).
Contact us to inquire about doating toards (sic) Harm Reduction in Humboldt!"
But going a little further I find more information here:
https://www.guidestar.org/profile/47-2822261
Which states: "IRS Filing Requirement This organization is required to file an IRS Form 990-N."
So they are remiss in NOT filing a 990-N.
With this information it seems the City of Eureka could issue a Cease and Desist Order for the discarded needles alone as it is not serving the public good.
ReplyDelete