Dustin, Part Two: Dealing with Child Protective Services and Feeling Burned

My wife asked Child Protective Services for resources. She doesn't say, ‘I wanna get rid of my kids, I don't wanna sell 'em, right?’ 

They show up to the house, they tell her, ‘Look, the only way that we can help because we have no way to help you. You know what I'm saying? The only way that we can help is open the case. You're not in trouble or nothing, just open a case. So my wife opens the case, says, ‘All right, fine.’ So they take her away with kids, you know what I'm saying? For like two hours or whatever. She signs the papers as a single mother with three children in a motel room. And then they tell her, ‘Listen, so now we're gonna take your kids.’ 

So two hours later they take all three of her kids and she has to say bye to her babies. And they split them up in three different homes. Her eight-year-old daughter is in a house, in a non-English speaking household. And her eight year old speaks nothing but English. And she's half deaf in one ear and half blind in one eye. So she's in a house where no one even talks the same language to her. 

My wife gets to visit once a week. That's all they give her.

So with CPS there's the initial person that comes out and does an investigation and then removes the children, right? And he's only on the case for 30 days. Then they go ahead and turn the case over to an actual worker for CPS and they take over three weeks in, okay? Three weeks in this individual comes to my wife and tells my wife, ‘Listen. So we have allegations. I didn't wanna say anything or come out with any of this because we didn't know where to go with this yet.’ 

My wife is fighting every bit of this tooth and nail cuz she will not go ahead and admit to neglect cuz she did not neglect her kids. She asked for help and resources not to come take her kids and put her down on the ground and take away any bit of drive that she has left. 

I'm saying, I mean I watched my wife lay in a bed and after I had to go ahead and go climb through the window with a friend of mine to rescue my wife cuz she OD'ed on Gabapentin and she laid there in a bed and she just put herself in a deep sleep just to go to sleep so she never wakes up again. So she could be there with her babies. You know, I watched all this and I was there for every waking moment, every bit of this. I watched my wife go ahead and just break herself down to nothing for these CPS workers to go ahead and disrespect us like that.

Families like ours are scared to death cuz they want their kids. They don't know what to do. 

The only thing they got to live for, they take 'em away from them. So listen, me and my wife are in a motel room. We speak English, the kids are alive. They're not beaten up or broken.

We obviously have troubles. My wife doesn't know how to go about even beginning any of this. Her head is still messed up over this whole situation. She doesn't know how to call and start, how to get counseling and everything else. These people are making her jump through all these hoops, won't talk to her about anything.

All they do is they do everything they can to make you look like the worst parent you are. And they go ahead and take every bit of any drive that you ever had away from you to go ahead and then sell your kids for a paycheck.

My wife has told her attorney, ‘Listen, I have done nothing but asked for help and resources. You have done nothing for me at all. I didn't neglect my children, I didn't neglect them. I asked for help. You guys came and took my kids. So the attorney goes in and tells her, ‘Listen, we understand that. I get that. I'm just telling you  my part and what I need to do, right?’ But here's the bottom line. CPS is a punishment. Punishment. 

Something needs to be done about it. Anybody who can hear or anybody that knows anything about any way that, that it could possibly help, I mean, we'll take it cuz look, we dug ourself into so much of a hole in the ground.

CPS is running us through the ringer. All we're asking for is resources. We've asked them 30 times, ‘Please can you help us out with some housing resources or something, something that we could do. Cuz we don't wanna wind up in a situation where we can't actually go ahead and have anything to show for. So, I mean, then why, why would we fight? You know what I'm saying?’

They send us resources on food banks. I don't need a food bank. I need an ID. I was pulled over in a car with my friend driving a month ago and a cop pulled me over, lost my ID in the center console of the cop car and now it's $41.50 for a new ID. I don't have $41.50. I don't have a job. I don't have an ID to get a job. So now I'm sitting here screwed. 

They have actually done absolutely nothing except to put us down. Her kids, like I said, they were all in three separate homes at first. One of 'em in a non English speaking home. The other one was in a home with a lady that had 16 kids. 

Her four-year-old before CPS took him was potty trained. And now that they've been gone for three months now all of a sudden, her four-year-old is back in pull ups. They just finally moved her eight-year-old daughter out of that home and into the same home as her four-year-old son. 

So now there's 17 kids that are taken care by someone who is 50 something years old. I'm not gonna say anything about anybody, but she's definitely not in a physical situation to be able to take care of these kids, especially by herself. And her eight-year-old daughter says the reason why he's back in pull ups is because she doesn't want to wipe his butt all the time. Or she doesn't wanna help him go potty because he pees too much. He's four. So basically what you're telling me is CPS, who we called to ask for help, takes these kids after opening a case on us, forcing my wife to open up a case, takes the kids from us and puts them in a worse situation than they were in to begin with. 

I mean my story is a puzzle because that's the way I talk. But I'm not a bad individual.  I don't understand how they can get away with this. 

 I have a criminal history, but at the same time I go to the University of Phoenix. I'm getting my bachelor's in criminal justice administration. 

I want to go ahead and help other people out that can't afford it because they deserve better. The people that work for this county and the people that work for this city and everywhere around this state is out for one thing and that's money. That's it. They're all money hungry. The casinos are here and everything else. 

They don't care about poverty, they don't care about the homeless. Gambling ruined a lot of people’s lives.  Put them out on the streets with absolutely nothing. And still they go ahead and promote this as tourism. How's this tourism? So go ahead and save up all your life savings. Pack up your kids. Come have some fun. Destroy your entire life in a weekend and go home with nothing. Sounds amazing. 

I married Rachel knowing that she had problems. I took on all that. I have problems too. And she took on all that as well. I love her unconditionally now. And I would do everything for her. 

 I knew her for four weeks, figured out that we were both emotionally up. So we decided to get married on my birthday. That's what happened. Now we're amazing together. The problem is every time we get a leg up, we get put right back into mud and on again.”

As told to Brad Vincent for Our Town Reno

Part 1 of this interview can be found here:

What's that Local Construction Project? A New Series by Will Munson

Although it may be February new construction is popping up all over town like spring daisies. 

Have you been wondering what that crane is doing in your neighborhood? A new series with photos by Will Munson will explore new construction projects around town. 

Our first installment is from 9355 Gateway Dr., Reno NV 89521 right by I-580. The space is intended for industrial use and features 22 roll up doors. The lot is located just north of the South Reno Athletic Facility and south of the Enclave and Verge apartment complexes. 

Pedestrian access to sidewalks is limited or inconsistent however, the site is near an RTC bus route. This industrial space is expected to be available for lease in 2023.

Photo Series by Will Munson

What Exactly is Jacobs Entertainment Up to Now?

As the Barber Brief pointed out earlier this week, a Planning Commission meeting this Wednesday evening will have Jacobs Entertainment basically trying to expand its Glow Plaza project to within its Sands property, so that it can use its casino digital billboards to advertise its nearby festival grounds. Casinos in Reno can use their big billboards typically only for on-site activities.

This is “a ploy to circumvent the city’s digital billboard regulations,” according to the Scenic Nevada website. “The Glow Plaza is meant to get the same type and size signs on its property as any other business in the mixed use Fourth Street corridor, under Reno sign regulations. Instead, Jacobs wants an amended conditional use permit from the city to allow the Glow Plaza to advertise his festival events on his mega digital casino signs, to be located down the street from the festival venue.”

According to the Barber Brief by local historian Alicia Barber, Reno has allowed the Sands to get a new digital billboard but with the caveat, “the digital displays can only advertise onsite activity.” “So here we are, months later, with Jacobs seeking to redefine the events on the Glow Plaza as “onsite activity” for the Sands by literally adding the Sands to the Glow Plaza's permitting boundary,” Barber writes.

Scenic Nevada which has dug deep into this issue adds: "Reno’s sign code would limit the Glow Plaza to a 35-foot tall, digital flashing and animated sign not to exceed 125 square feet. According to our calculations the Sands sign is about 33 times larger than what the Glow Plaza would be allowed under normal circumstances."

The non profit which works “to protect the scenic beauty of Nevada’s majestic landscape as well as the scenic character of our communities,” also has a pending lawsuit against Reno “to halt three large signs from being erected to advertise the new Neon Line District in the west end of downtown and along the freeway.” These were approved in October 2021, but Scenic Nevada says the signs “do not comply with code and putting them in the DA [Development Agreement] to circumvent the city’s sign code actually runs afoul of state law which says that a development agreement can only govern land in which the developer has a real property interest.”

Other media haven’t covered the Jacobs project much in recent months, as it’s been a slow slog of buying up more properties (three parcels bought in October 2022, including the Rancho Sierra Motel), bulldozers moving around dirt on other bought out and fenced off properties, with little to show for besides renderings for a now promised 60-unit apartment complex at the corners of Second Street and Arlington Avenue. The pandemic was previously used by Jacobs Entertainment as an excuse for lack of any new construction, while other companies remained busy.

A possible looming recession will certainly be used as another excuse for this slow moving project, destroying mostly motels and displacing its lower income residents, with incremental changes to previous sweeping agreements requested and usually approved by Reno city bodies.

Our Town Reno reporting, February 2023

Reno, Nevada, circa 2023, as seen by ChatGPT

How is Reno, Nevada, doing these days?

ChatGPT: Reno, Nevada is a growing city with a thriving tech industry, strong tourism, and a growing population. The city has seen positive economic growth in recent years, but still faces challenges such as affordable housing and traffic congestion. Overall, Reno is considered to be doing well.

Come on ChatGPT, you can do better. Anything controversial going on in Reno, Nevada?

Yes, Reno, Nevada has been facing some controversy recently, particularly regarding its housing market and homelessness. The city is facing a shortage of affordable housing, leading to rising rents and homelessness. Additionally, there have been ongoing debates about how to address the homelessness issue, including discussions about establishing more shelters and services.

Was too much money spent on the Nevada Cares Campus? It seems to be a warehouse rather than a welcoming place.

The Nevada Care Campus, which is a homelessness service center in Reno, Nevada, has faced criticism for its cost and design. Some have argued that the campus was overpriced and does not provide a welcoming atmosphere for those seeking services. The center was built to provide a one-stop-shop for homeless individuals and families to access a variety of services, but its design and cost have been a source of controversy. The center's design and cost have been debated by local officials, homelessness advocates, and community members.

What do you think of the Jacobs Entertainment neon line district. Why is it going so slowly, and what is the end goal do you think?

As an AI language model, I do not have personal opinions. The Jacobs Entertainment neon line district in Reno, Nevada is a development project aimed at revitalizing the city's downtown area. The project is intended to bring new businesses, housing, and entertainment to the area, but has faced criticism for its slow progress. There are several reasons why the project has been slow, including challenges related to funding, zoning, and infrastructure. The end goal of the project is to transform the downtown area into a vibrant hub of commerce and culture, but the timeline and outcome are uncertain. The neon line district is a controversial issue, with some residents and businesses in support of the project and others opposed to it.

Is it good for cities though to have so much vacant land in downtown areas?

The presence of vacant land in downtown areas can have both positive and negative effects on cities. On one hand, vacant land can provide opportunities for redevelopment and revitalization, as it can be used to build new housing, businesses, and public spaces. This can help to bring new investment and life to the city center. On the other hand, large amounts of vacant land in downtown areas can also be a sign of economic decline and disinvestment. Vacant land can attract crime, become eyesores, and create a sense of blight. Additionally, the presence of vacant land can make it difficult for cities to attract new businesses and residents, as it can suggest a lack of vitality and stability. Whether vacant land is good or bad for a city depends on the specific context and how the land is managed and developed over time.

What about Reno losing some of its charm and grittiness, can that be a problem?

The loss of Reno, Nevada's charm and grittiness, as some people see it, is a concern for some residents. As the city continues to grow and develop, some worry that it will lose its unique character and become more homogenized. This can lead to a sense of disconnection from the city's history and identity, which can be problematic for some residents. Additionally, gentrification and rising housing costs can displace long-time residents, further altering the city's character. These are issues that many cities face as they grow and change, and they continue to be a topic of discussion and concern in Reno.

Why do people get mad when we mention artwashing?

Artwashing is a term used to describe the gentrification of neighborhoods through the use of cultural events and public art installations. Some people get mad when artwashing is mentioned because it is often seen as a way for developers and city governments to beautify and sanitize neighborhoods in order to attract more affluent residents, while displacing lower-income residents and small businesses. Artwashing can contribute to rising housing costs and the displacement of long-time residents, which can erode the cultural character of neighborhoods and result in a loss of community. Those who are critical of artwashing see it as a way for cities to prioritize the interests of developers and the wealthy over the needs and well-being of working-class and low-income residents. This can be a contentious issue, and discussions about artwashing often bring up broader questions about urban development, gentrification, and the role of public art in shaping the built environment.

What about gentrification. Why do some people view it is a good direction even though it's displacing long-time lower income residents?

Gentrification is the process of renovating and improving a neighborhood, often leading to the displacement of lower-income residents and small businesses. Some people view gentrification as a positive development because it can bring investment, jobs, and improved public services to a neighborhood. They see gentrification as a way to revive declining areas and create safer, more attractive, and more economically vibrant communities.

However, gentrification often results in the displacement of long-time residents, many of whom are low-income or working-class. This can lead to a loss of cultural diversity and a homogenization of neighborhoods, as well as contribute to rising housing costs, making it difficult for low-income residents to find affordable housing. Additionally, gentrification can result in the demolition of affordable housing, further reducing the availability of affordable housing options.

The view of gentrification as either positive or negative often depends on one's perspective and personal experiences. Those who have benefited from gentrification may see it as a positive development, while those who have been displaced may view it as a negative and harmful process. It is a complex issue with many competing interests, and discussions about gentrification often raise questions about urban development, housing policy, and social justice.

OK, on a lighter note, what's a good joke about Reno, Nevada?

Here's a joke about Reno, Nevada:

Why did the gambler visit Reno?

Because he wanted to raise the stakes!

Thank you ChatGPT. Before we conclude this interview, what's your favorite Reno 911 episode?

As an AI language model, I do not have personal preferences. However, "Reno 911!" is a popular American comedy television series that has been well-received by audiences. The show is a mockumentary-style parody of the reality television genre and follows the daily antics of the Reno Sheriff's Department. There have been many memorable episodes throughout the series, and it has been praised for its humor and irreverent take on law enforcement.

Our Town Reno interview, January 2023

Note: ChatGPT takes full responsibility for its comments, including any factual errors included in its answers.

Local SNAP Users Face End of Emergency Funding and Doubly Reduced Benefits

Emergency allotments through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program are about to end, and regular payments may also shrink for some of the hundreds of thousands of Nevadans who depend on these.

The Nevada Division of Welfare and Supportive Services previously indicated March will be the last month the extra food dollars will be provided.  The emergency funding was established to help struggling families and individuals during the pandemic.

SNAP beneficiaries were getting two monthly payments, with the second one totaling from $95 to several hundred dollars.

According to reporting on The Hill website “households that also receive Social Security payments may see their SNAP benefits shrink even more than $95. That’s because as the Social Security cost-of-living adjustment for 2023 kicks in, it increases those households’ incomes, and may reduce the amount of SNAP help they’re eligible for.”

Former Gov. Steve Sisolak had signed a proclamation allowing these payments to continue even after Nevada’s public health emergency order ended, but like for all other states who issued a similar measure the extension is now expiring.

Officials from the Food Bank of Northern Nevada are among those worried about local food banks already stretched thin, with persistent inflation and rising grocery prices causing havoc on local budgets.

Across the country, more than 40 million Americans use SNAP benefits. 

Our Town Reno reporting, January 2023

Dustin, Trying to Save his New Wife and Her Kids after They Barely Survived Her Ex

“My name is Dustin. I’m from Reno, Nevada. 

Me and my wife have been going through some things. 

So a few years back, my wife, three years ago, my wife was actually held hostage in her own house by her old man with her three babies, well, with several babies. She had five at the time in the home. 

He beat her with a 12-gauge shotgun in front of the kids. And then he tried to shoot her in the head and he put the shotgun through her hair and it hit the wall. And he thought it was her head because he was drunk. And so he pulled the trigger and so it went ahead and it burnt the back of my wife's head and it blew a two foot hole in the wall. 

This is how some of us are raised, you know what I'm saying? 

When my wife's mom died when she was younger, she had no family and she comes from Michigan, from Flint, Michigan. 

So she was on the streets at 14, homeless with nothing, bro. And the state left her with nothing, for dead. So she got whatever she could to go with survivor's benefits and she made her way over here to Reno and obviously we all grew up in a certain way of life on whatever side of the tracks we grew up on. She wound up in this relationship that she was in, so on and so forth. And so when the cops came to the house, she went ahead and she come outside and everybody in the house is calling her snitch. 

She walked outside the front door and she told the cops: ‘Listen, I don't know what you guys are doing here, but I'm sorry, I don't mean to bother you or nothing like that. I'm trying to lay down and put my kids to bed, and you got my dogs out here barking, so if there's nothing I can help you with, right, I'm gonna go back to bed. You guys have a good day.’

After this man beat her … and they left. They came back with negotiators, with a task force, with snipers and everything. The kids managed to get out, she managed to get out and everything else, and they handled everything. My wife did not go to court for this man. Did not press charges on him, did not do anything. 

And then, to top it all off, when the cops finally got their hands on my wife and tried to, you know, wrap her with a blanket and put her in a car real quick, to help her get her out the way, they go, so when are women gonna finally learn to stop dating [these type of guys]? So that's the start of all this. He gets two three to sevens.

So  she's struggling, trying to do it. I met my wife shortly after that.

When I met her, she was getting ready to lose her apartment. It was during Covid and she had her kids, she asked her sister-in-law, which is her ex's sister, to go ahead and please watch the kids for, you know, maybe a week or two, right? And she would go ahead and she would take care of whatever, just to make sure that the kids were taken care of because she didn't want to put the kids through any more trauma and put them on the streets. Her sister-in-law takes the kids, right? And she gives her sister-in-law $2,800, all of her food stamps, for three kids and herself, tells her sister-in-law, come over to the house, get whatever you need to make sure the kids are comfortable. 

And her sister-in-law's boyfriend says, ‘Listen, whatever we take, we're not bringing back.’ They took her standup freezer in the house, all the food out of the house, every bed in that house, every toy in that house, everything, anything that meant anything to those kids that was from their mom, that lady took away from those children. That lady alienated my wife from her kids for two years. My wife didn't get no part of that at all. She tried to call CPS. They wouldn't do anything … So she goes to the judge and files for emergency custody because it was child neglect because the kids were not getting treated and taken care of probably. 

So one thing leads to another and all of a sudden we get a phone call from my wife's brother stating that he's trying to figure out who this lady is that's trying to sell these kids. So we get a phone call from her brother on messenger and he says, ‘Look, I don't know who this lady is. I don't know what she's talking about, but she's trying to sell your kids or get 'em away.’ And he lives all the way over in Michigan. And my wife goes, ‘Maybe you can try to get the kids so I can get 'em from you, or whatever we can do. Try to work it out, try to figure it out to where, I mean, whatever I gotta do…’

Cause the kids is basically where my wife is at. So one thing leads to another, one thing leads to another. 

The lady finally goes ahead and contacts my wife on the phone and she says, ‘so, yeah, I mean, I don't have a problem with giving you back your kids or whatever, but here's the whole deal. I was told that you were on drugs and, and you were homeless and you had nothing going for you or whatever.’ My wife goes, ‘Look, you alienated me from my kids for two years. I ended up getting high. I didn't have anything to live for. So I went downhill.’ 

The only thing me and my wife had at the time was each other. That was it. We lived in the back of my Navigator for 11 months because we threw everything that we had away. We both went downhill together. It was a downhill spiral. 

This lady goes ahead and she's like, ‘Look, let's go ahead and try to figure this out to try to start you some reunification or get the kids to, you know, kind of gradually go into the situation.’ 

Well then all of a sudden she, my wife says, ‘Well, maybe they could stay the night cause everything's going good, right?’ So the kids go ahead and stay the night. And now we're staying at a hotel downtown right here. So the kids stay the night. The next morning the lady goes ahead and says, ‘Well look, how about I just bring over some things? So she goes ahead and brings over a box, maybe four foot tall. And I mean, maybe it's the size of a small refrigerator. And it has everything that the kids own in it. Everything. When the kids showed up their hair was past their neck, their toes were growing out of their shoes. 

So me and my wife, we're going through it right now. Things are getting rough, the kids and everything else, because of everything they went through, right? 

The kids are just a wreck. Her daughter has scoliosis, they're getting ready to go ahead and move her brain because it's sitting on her brain stem too heavy. And so it's causing her problems where she can't hear and she can't see. And she's eight years old. She gets made fun of in school, everything. 

My wife, right now she has seizures, now she has PTSD. She is afraid to go outside. She doesn't like the way she looks. She has no self-esteem whatsoever. And every time she manages to get it all together, something else shoots it down. 

And then, at the motel her son would light the bathroom on fire. We'd go to sleep and we'd wake up in the room, and it would be full of smoke. The smoke alarm would just start going off and we'd wake up. What the hell's going on? 

Well, we're going through this whole thing and I'm like, ‘Dude, I can't, I can't live like this. We gotta do something.’ But these are my wife's kids, so I'm not gonna go ahead and tell her, ‘Listen, you gotta get rid of 'em.’ So I go ahead and I tell her, ‘Look, I'm gonna go and do the right thing. I'm gonna go ahead and go, but I'm gonna pay for everything. I'll pay your way. I'll take care of you. I'll do whatever I can can to help knowing that I don't even have a job right now either.’”

Part 2 of this interview coming up will be about seeking help from Child Protective Services and what Dustin thinks about that ordeal.

As told to Brad Vincent for Our Town Reno

Advocate Seeks To Identify Police Shooters in Local Officer-Involved Killings with their Body Cam Trails

“Wouldn't you want to know who killed your loved one, whether they wear a badge or not? That's just common information that anybody deserves when their loved one is killed, whether it's by a community member or a police officer,” Annemarie Grant told Our Town Reno recently over the phone, from the Boston area where she lives. 

Grant’s brother Thomas Purdy died after being hog tied in custody of the Washoe County Jail in October 2015. In that case, the County eventually paid out $100,000 for his wrongful death.

Since then Grant has been coming to Reno yearly to lead annual protests for families of those killed by local law enforcement, demanding more accountability and transparency.

She’s now also looking into these killings over the internet through public records request and police distributed videos.

One of the killings she’s been looking into is that of Jason Thorpe outside the Sparks Police Department on Oct. 18. Police say Thorpe was initially hiding outside their offices and fired a round in the air. He ignored commands to drop his weapon, identified as a 9 millimeter semi-automatic handgun.

Officers say negotiations lasted over two hours, when Thorpe then shot a round at the station, and ran towards officers, before being shot dead. 

After videos made public by police were released (including the one above) Grant decided to use the body worn camera serial numbers appearing on the edited footage as a way to identify the police shooters, who have not been made public.

On October 29, a post by Reno Cop Watch indicated frustration with not having the names of involved officers released. “If they’d release the full videos without edits and the names of the officers who fired their guns….THAT WOULD BE REAL TRANSPARENCY!” the website wrote.

“Every officer is assigned a body worn camera that has a specific serial number that they use every single day,” Grant explained of her methodology. “So I knew that an officer that was wearing it on 10/18, he wears it every day. So if I can get some documentation of who utilizes those body cams, then we can have the names of the shooters.” 

Grant submitted her request via the Sparks PD public records portal box.  At first, she got two names back for the October period she asked for and the corresponding body cam numbers of two of them: Sgt Ed Wilson ( number X60331948, in below document she was sent), and Robert Canterbury (number X60337123, in above document she received).  

“You can see the paper trail, the body camera activation, what time they docked it and all that,” Grant said of being certain of getting the correct identities. “And it has of course the serial number. And then I also confirmed through Sparks Police, just through some research, that each officer is assigned a body-worn camera. So I knew that it's not like they just go and randomly pick a body camera for the day. It’s assigned to them every day.”

Grant says she came up with this idea by networking with other families who have lost relatives to police shootings. 

Canterbury is listed as a police officer on Transparent Nevada, having made over $171,000 in total pay and benefits in 2021.  Wilson is listed on that same website as a sergeant having made nearly $223,000 in 2021.

However, when Grant asked about two other body cam numbers from the videos, she said they then sent back the documents with the names of the additional officers now redacted (see below an example of what she received.) 

“I think they now know what I'm doing,” Grant told Our Town Reno.  “There were multiple officers involved,” she said of Thorpe’s killing. “It was like, they responded like an army there. He had gone to Sparks PD headquarters. It went on for like two hours. They came with the SWAT truck and they had the little robot. They have a robot now. They had that. There were at least four to five officers who shot,” she said.

A KOLO 8 report from Oct. 27 after the first videos were released indicated: “Police negotiated with him for about 2 hours and 15 minutes before he fired another shot and charged police, who fired several shots at Thorpe. Body camera video seems to indicate he yelled ‘Help me’ before he rushed at police.”

Reno Cop Watch also had its own analysis. “Some of the officers did not have their body cams rolling (per SPD “critical incident brief”). Pretty sure the NRS (Nevada Revised Statutes) says they’re to have them rolling while interacting with the public. They had over two hours!!!! Sparks Police left the body cam footage of them deploying the K-9 on Jason and launching a 40mm less than lethal at his what could only be his dead body after the barrage of bullets fired at him,” it wrote. 

After Grant received the documents which were this time redacted (second one above), she also got an email from Jen Borne the Records Supervisor at the Sparks Police Department. 

“Good afternoon Ms. Grant,” it reads,  “You should receive a link to access the Body Worn Camera User Audit trail & device audit trail for X83128468 and X83035688 from 10/01/22-10/20/22.  The employee names have been redacted based on the following:

 Individuals have a right to privacy, which must be balanced with the public’s right to know. See Donrey of Nevada, Inc. v. Bradshaw, 106 Nev. 630, 635, 798 P.2d 144, 147 (1990). “Law enforcement officers in particular have a privacy interest in maintaining their anonymity and the confidentiality of their work assignments where disclosure poses a risk of harassment, endangerment, or similar harm.” Las Vegas Metro. Police Dep't v. Las Vegas Rev.-J., 136 Nev. 733, 739, 478 P.3d 383, 389 (2020). The Nevada Supreme Court has recognized that “any privacy interests can be satisfied by redaction.” Clark Cnty. Sch. Dist. v. Las Vegas Rev.-J., 134 Nev. 700, 706, 429 P.3d 313, 319 (2018). Therefore, the name of the employee that accessed these documents and the names of the officers in your request have been redacted to protect the employee and officers’ privacy interests.”

“I can't understand how now they're going to try to use that case that they always use to hide records,” Grant said in reaction to the email. “It’s clear they're not about transparency, because if they were, I wouldn't even have to be doing any of this type of research. They would just release the names.”

File photo from a protest Grant took part in in Reno.

The 1990 decision has become a common method of blocking access to government records, even though it’s been disputed by advocates and journalists for over three decades.  

“For them if there's an open case or if they claim that it can endanger the officer's safety, they just use it as a blanket denial,” Grant said. “And unfortunately, I don't have the financial means to pursue it. There's no public media around it when the names do come up, and there are cases going back to 2020 that we still don't know who the shooters are,” she said of local police killings.

Dissecting the videos released in Thorpe’s killing, she says she also heard an officer identifying himself as Vernon Taylor. He’s in Transparent Nevada as well, listed as a Sparks police officer, making nearly $200,000 in 2021.

“He identifies himself. You can tell that he shoots,” she said of the video she analyzed.  “I was surprised because sometimes they do catch that and they [bleep] it out when they say other officers’ names or theirs along with their faces.”

Grant recently reached out to the wife of Scott Kennedy who was killed Jan. 8 by Reno PD.

“We have to stick together,” she said of families of those killed.  “Unfortunately, you become a subject matter expert. I just feel like I have to pay it forward and whatever information I have, passing on to other families because there's no handbook for when the police kills your loved one. I will never have my brother back, but trying to prevent another tragedy through activism, I know the tragedies haven't stopped, but I try.”

Grant says she is undeterred and will keep looking into other local police killings.

Our Town Reno reporting, January 2023

Reno’s Coders: The Challenges and Opportunities of Being in Silicon Valley's Backyard

Coders who work as computer programmers, developers, and software engineers, are known as the construction workers of the digital world.

Coders write and test computer code that allows software programs and applications to function. They take the ideas and specifications for a piece of software, and use programming languages to turn those ideas into a working product. They are crucial to our prevalent digital world, so they often make decent salaries.

“It’s different in Reno,” says coder Nathan Mausert who worked in web development previously in California and moved here in May 2022. “It’s a lot of mid and senior positions, not a lot of junior positions. Looking at Seattle and San Francisco, those are emerging, need small talent and can’t afford experience. That’s why there’s a lot of junior positions there. As for here, the large name companies need the old talent.”

Pay tends to shift quickly, says another coder, who wanted to remain anonymous.

“Average pay can vary from company to company. $70,000 is a lower starting level, but the moment you work for at least a year, you become more valuable,” he said. “Mid-level developers can make as much as $120,000 to $140,000. When you’re taken on while your pay is lower, you’re viewed as an investment.”

This upward trend in salaries has helped local coders deal with inflation and rising rents.

Mausert breaks it down even more: “The reason they’re paid so much [here] is because they know most of these systems that almost no one knows how to maintain, and do a lot of work to mentor and train others. Your job boils down to this one thing. Here’s a problem we don’t have an answer for, you have to find a way to solve it.”

It’s a rocky industry though with fast swings. Tech stocks sank in 2022, after rising in 2021, which eventually has repercussions in Reno.

“A great example is the stock price of Shopify,” a female coder who also wanted to remain anonymous said. “Within the course of one week, it dropped by 80% in stock value. This has been happening to a lot of companies. Snapchat fired 10,000 employees.” She pauses, and gives air quotes: “I mean, ‘LAID OFF’. Google has plans to do the same. Meta (that Facebook thing) downsized, as well. Apple is in a hiring freeze.”

This trickles down to local affiliates and other lesser know companies, and signifies potential troubles up ahead in the coding space.

Mausert isn’t too worried though. For those interested in a coding career he suggests not being afraid to move with the ever changing state of technology. He says your own knowledge, hustle and staying up to date with coding abilities is more important than any degree.

“There is definitely a coding culture, and it is a hit or miss. On one hand, the ‘old guard’ of sorts – “You need a college degree” sort of deal – is dying out. Google and Apple don’t require that anymore because they know it’s one of those fields where you can be self-taught and amazing at it.”

Our Town Reno reporting by Mariya Dawson

Former Reno Inkers Relieved to Leave Custom Ink In Their Past

In the Press section of the Custom Ink website there is a “We Top the Charts” list of articles, with certifications of the company being listed in best workplaces by different rankings, with #74 for women in the large workplace category at the very top.

Whether #74 is good or not, it links to a glowing review which includes this highlighted quote:  “The attitudes of the people here really mesh well with my own values. Everyone starts the day on a positive note, and tries to find the positive in even the stickiest of situations. It's such a unique group of people. We are all different, with different backgrounds and interests, but everyone is respected from day 1--which is such an amazing feeling.”

In contrast, for former Reno Custom Ink employees who reached out to us, including some recently let go after the online provider of custom apparel and mementoes decided to close its production facilities here, it’s a unanimous relief they no longer work there. 

Former “inkers” all chose to share their views anonymously, some of them after signing NDAs.  One wrote about “brutal” hours and expectations, with many late nights. Working overtime, they said, was often requested of employees on very late notice.  “Three a.m. overtime was projected every day after Thanksgiving until Christmas,” they indicated.

Another wrote they didn’t believe Custom Ink could keep the production facility staffed because of refusing “to provide cost of living increases” for production staff which didn’t get commissions like employees in other departments. 

Overall conditions, several wrote, were also deteriorating, leading to staff departures in recent months.

“There was a total lack of cleaning in the building, dust and grease coated everything and the ceiling air vents were surrounded with dust, the only thing they hired anyone to clean professionally was the bathrooms, break room, and the machines to make the shirts,” one former employee wrote.

They went on to say there was recently an outbreak of flies at the Reno facility, which was initially blamed on employees having snacks, but then traced back to dirty materials forgotten in a biohazard bin. It go so bad, one coworker brought their own fly zapper to survive their shift.  

Employees who reached out said they were expected to be on their feet for hours and hours on end, and that low pay, insufficient promotion opportunities, poor communication from management, and unsanitary conditions just didn’t make it worthwhile.  

Another former employee called Custom Ink, “capital T Toxic.”

Job insecurity was on everyone’s mind with employees regularly fired at the end of busy periods for “questionable reasons,” they alleged. 

Another former employee said raises had been promised in October 2022 but never materialized, and that hours had already been reduced to half days the last two weeks of operation. 

They said they then got an abrupt “separation package email.”

Over 130 employees were working at the Reno facility when its shutdown was announced three days into 2023.

“Due to rising costs and increasingly tight markets for production talent, Custom Ink has decided to close our production sites in Reno, Nevada and Charlottesville, Virginia and consolidate in-house production in our Dallas, Texas facility,” was the official Custom Ink statement.

The Virginia-headquartered company said it would retain 245 employees in non-production roles in Reno, with most of them working remotely. The company’s annual revenue is estimated at $400 million. The average salary for employees in Nevada is estimated at about $36,000.

One employee said they had to sign an NDA to “receive additional severance monies” according to an internal Custom Ink document they shared, which asked them not to disparage the company. “(Not speaking or writing negatively about Custom Ink, including online,)” the inkersupport DocuSign indicated in parentheses to explain the word disparaging.

Our Town Reno reporting, January 2023

Wrightway Market in Downtown Reno Fights to Get its Alcohol License Back

Morning hours of the January 11th Reno City Council meeting were dominated by concerns over the city’s decision last month to deny a renewal of a privileged license for alcohol sales for Wrightway Market on Evans Ave. right across from the main bus station.

The 5-2 vote had come following police and city code enforcement officials saying the corner store’s alcohol was causing an increase in criminal activity.

During Wednesday’s public comment section, the owners of the building and the business, as well as employees, community activists, friends and family members followed each other insiting the decision had been misguided. Some showed videos of calls being made to police for incidents just outside the market which had nothing to do with any alcohol sales.

The first to speak was John Iliescu, 96, a retired physician and the owner of the building. “Us little people count,” he said. “It can’t just be the big casinos.” His wife Sonia read a statement saying the business is an anchor for a large family, providing a store that is convenient for people who ride buses. The nearby area also has bars, restaurants and services for the unhoused.

She said crime in that part of downtown was “a community problem, a government problem.” The alcohol license has been key to the store’s profit margins, while vegetables, fruits and other food items are bought there by many low-income residents in what is otherwise a food desert for the underprivileged.

After the Iliescus spoke, Mayor Hillary Schieve said downtown Reno needs to be “safe and clean,” and a “good place for our community and visitors.” She asked the city manager to look into possibly setting up a special meeting with evening hours to publicly discuss our downtown’s future.

Chase McMullen, a grandson of the Iliescus, said the city was blaming a corner store for the criminal activity of an entire block.

Wrightway Market owner Opinder Dhillon pleaded for a reconsideration. He was the first of many speakers to show videos of police coming outside the store for incidents which had nothing to do with any sales which had been made. The council was told Wrightway Market was being used as a landmark for police calls, even if what prompted the alert was happening in nearby areas.

Those who spoke, numbering several dozen, many from the South Asian community, also said emergency calls were continuing even after sales of alcohol had stopped and that the data on earlier calls wasn’t clear at all. A businessman said the decision was making their “minority community feel unwelcome” and “insecure in seeking help.”

Owners of the Ace Mart corner store on 2nd street also spoke on their behalf. Last month, the renewal of a privileged license was also denied for Lakemill Maxi Mart which sits at the base of the Lakemill Lodge on Mill street. Its operators had made similar complaints in vain that they were being punished for what was happening in their entire neighborhood.

A Facebook page called Reno Mini-Marts Matter has recently been making similar arguments.

Hawah Ahmad, whose name was mangled before she stepped up to speak, a recent candidate for the Washoe County Commission, and active community member on many boards, said this “looks really discriminatory,” but called the idea of a proposed special meeting “a start.”

A representative for the Downtown Reno ambassadors Chris Reardon concluded the morning session of public comments by saying the “calls were precise.”

Our Town Reno reporting, January 11, 2013

Jeff, From Successful Chiropractor in Ohio to Becoming a "Street Person" in Reno

Jeff, now unhoused in Reno, after a tumultuous life in Hawaii, Australia and here, riddled recently with marital, financial, gambling and health issues, fondly remembers growing up in a middle class family in a suburb of Toledo, Ohio. 

“I had a great life,” he told Our Town Reno on a recent icy cold morning before the recent storms, taking a walk outside the unregistered car he now lives in. “We went camping every year, you know, took vacations and my dad was a chiropractor. He used to take us all around the country [for] seminars and stay in hotels. It was real nice. I had two brothers and two sisters.”

As a young adult he became a chiropractor in Toledo just like his father. “I had a very successful practice there, waiting room was standing room only, and sometimes they'd be waiting outside,” he said. 

With his first wife, he took a vacation to Hawaii and then decided to move there in the mid 1990s. 

“I started to practice there, build it from ground up. It was in a brand new shopping center there on the coast, Kona. It was very nice. It overlooked the ocean,” he said. 

There was a lot of overhead though and new caps on income he could make, he says, and his financial troubles began.  Marital problems ensued. He divorced and remarried, before moving to Reno, where his new wife’s parents were living.  A daughter was born here in 2003 followed by a son in 2007. 

Jeff started practicing here, and “everything was fine for a while,” but then he says he started visiting casinos and got “a bit of a gambling problem. So I started losing money because of that.”

He says he decided to move to Australia, where he had found a job online, but after his family reunited with him there, he says his health declined.

“I started feeling chronically ill,” he said. “I do have a few hereditary issues or something with my blood, with my bone marrow. I have like benign cancer. It causes too many platelets and I'm a high risk for strokes and stuff like that. I ended up having to come back. I was in chronic pain and I ended up getting on disability here because nothing was helping,” he said.

He says he couldn’t feel his fingertips anymore so he had to stop practicing. A second divorce then derailed him further. Jeff started using his newly obtained disability payments to pay child support.

“And I was without a car at the time. We had one car.  I just left it with her too. And everything I left with her. I just took a few personal items to a small apartment and tried to make it,” he said. 

He started gambling “heavily” he said, and right before the pandemic hit, in December 2019, after being unable to pay his rent at the Truckee River Terrace Apartments on First street, he says he was evicted.

“I was 60 years old and for the first time in my life I was homeless. And I walked over to the park there and slept under the bridge in the middle of winter with barely a blanket. It was pretty miserable. I was wondering what the hell happened to me.”

He says he left his belongings behind and thought he’d have 30 days to get them back, and that the apartment would hold it in storage until then.

“I had a lot of stuff, a lot of nostalgic stuff, lot of nice expensive stuff and didn’t know how to get it back. Mostly what I cared about was nostalgic stuff the kids made and stuff through the years,” he said.

He tells the rest of his story, and his new hopes below completely in his own words:

“I tried contacting the manager there for like a week. Nobody would answer. They'd always answer when I lived there. So she knew it was me calling. She didn't want to communicate. And then, so I went there in person, I said, ‘Where's my stuff? I'm ready to get it. You know, you're supposed to hold it for me so I can come and rent a truck and yeah. Figure it out.’ Well, she said, ‘What's going on? We tossed it,’ no explanation. Just like it was okay.

I walked out of there like a zombie. I had nothing, not even a backpack at the time. And then Covid came right after that. I stayed at the shelter for a couple weeks. Didn't like that. Just bugs all over. You start feeling like one of the inmates.

Anyway, I took a train back to Ohio. I had a friend there that found out what happened to me. And she wanted to get me back on my feet.  So I went and lived with her for about three or four months and she helped me heal up some mentally and physically, because I was wearing down physically from staying outside. And then I came back because I couldn't stay away from [my] kids. 

But we did a lot of video stuff while I was in Ohio. After I got divorced, my son and I never missed a day of at least texting or talking or saying goodnight, you know, to each other. My daughter, the older one, she was always independent. And so she never really had the need for that as my younger son really. 

I ended up getting a car eventually even though it's not registered. It didn't have the title. I'm still trying to get that taken care of. And my driver's license had expired. So I didn't drive for a while. I did a lot of walking. I've been doing a lot of walking. 

I want to try to get relicensed again … and getting a place. I'm going to check out some apartments. I’ve got a lot to do. Once I get a place and get settled, I want my son to live with me. My son has been wanting to live with me from the beginning. I never could take him. 

Right now, I’m living in that car I bought. It’s not as bad as you would think. Humans are pretty resilient. I adapted after a while. The first couple weeks being homeless, sleeping under the bridge… I was like an empty shell. I cried every night. But you start to strengthen and find out ways to get out of it.  You become more of a street person. I know a lot of the street people really, a lot of good people, a lot of very smart people, from fairly decent backgrounds. 

For me, it’s been just a lot of things, a lot of bad things happening all at once. Like Big Murphy's Law.”

Our Town Reno reporting by Jalen Robinson

Is It Time for Reno and Nevada to Have Legal Psychedelics?

Starting in 2023, Oregon will be the first state to have legalized psychedelics. The state didn’t approve psychedelic therapy or personal use, though, as Ballot Measure 109, which passed in November 2020, gives the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) the responsibility of overseeing magic mushroom consumption only at “service centers,” and in the presence of “licensed facilitators.”

In November, voters in Colorado followed suit, passing a ballot initiative to decriminalize possession of and legalize limited use of psychedelics by those 21 years of age or older, but not yet their legal sale.

That will happen in 2024 when Colorado will allow the supervised use of two of the drugs found in mushrooms, psilocybin and psilocyn, the two psychoactive components of "magic mushrooms,” at state-regulated “healing centers.”

In California, a new bill is making its way to legalize the possession, preparation, noncommercial transfer, and transportation of psilocybin, psilocyn, DMT, the active ingredient in ayahuasca, ibogaine, a psychedelic derived from the root bark of the iboga tree, and mescaline, the active ingredient in peyote.

Elsewhere in the country, there are a few other cities that have partially decriminalized the use of psychedelics, including Oakland, Santa Cruz, Washington, D.C., Somerville, Cambridge and Northampton in Massachusetts, as well as Seattle.

These are notable steps for proponents of psychedelics who say these can help treat serious mental health issues if administered properly.

In the Silver State, there is movement in this direction as well, mostly from the Democratic Party. With a new Republican governor though, any progress could hit a Joe Lombardo veto wall.

Still, Democratic Assemblywoman Rochelle Nguyen has filed a draft request for Nevada’s 2023 Legislative Session for a bill that would revise “provisions governing controlled substances” including looking into the decriminalization and regulation of psychedelics.

Gordon Brown, a spokesman for the Nevada State Democratic Party, has called for “the legalization, regulation and taxation of therapeutic and recreational psychedelics, as well as the broad decriminalization of drugs, the end of policies relating to the so-called ‘war on drugs.’”

In November of 2020, researchers from Johns Hopkins University indicated a combination of doses of psilocybin along with psychotherapy can help reduce depressive symptoms in adults. According to Alan Davis, an adjunct assistant professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University, “the magnitude of the effect that we saw was about four times larger than what clinical trials have shown for traditional antidepressants on the market.”

The corporate world is also in lockstep, with numerous companies looking to make marketable forms of psilocybin and other substances that are related to psychedelics. 

Psychedelics also include LSD, ketamine and MDMA. A danger that could come from taking any drug is the risk that it is laced. Especially in chemically produced psychedelics, there is always a chance that you do not know everything that is in the LSD tab, the MDMA pill, or the line of ketamine. Even with magic mushrooms, you always have to be careful that you know which mushroom you are ingesting, as some mushrooms can be poisonous. 

Along with this, if a psychedelic drug is taken in too high of a dose, or too often, it can have severe side effects on the brain, leaving the user with a “fried” feeling. It is important to remember that psychedelic drugs are in fact drugs and should be taken seriously. 

Walker Sauls (above), 29, is a board member and the mycology consultant for the Sierra Psychedelic Society, a group in northern Nevada that is pushing for the decriminalization of psychedelics in Nevada. According to their website, “Sierra Psychedelic Society is a Reno-based organization focused on building community, providing education, promoting harm reduction, and advocating for policy reform.” 

“The Sierra Psychedelic Society can be seen as both a resource and a driving force for change in our community,” Sauls said, “It offers education and community support surrounding psychedelics and using them intentionally for various benefits.” 

With groups like the Sierra Psychedelic Society, it is very possible that more and more stakeholders in Nevada may try to push for decriminalization. “Nevada is building a movement and surrounding political support for legalization/decriminalization that will hopefully manifest in law change in the next several years,” Sauls told us. “A bill needs to be created and introduced, then in order for the laws to change, the citizens of Nevada need to vote in favor of the bill.” 

Trinity King, a pseudonym for a UNR psychology major, has been occasionally using psychedelics for the last couple of years. Despite having experience taking psychedelics, King does not want psychedelics to be legalized. “I feel like it's definitely something where if you legalize it, a lot more people will be doing it,” King said, “If younger people are doing it, like 18, I think it's definitely something that you should wait until you’re older. It’s hypocritical because I’ve done it but I feel like it’s definitely something that I should have waited until I was, like, 25 to do.” 

Brandon Delcore and Araceli Blount, both 21, have never used psychedelics before. They have differing opinions on the legalization of psychedelics. “I think that it should be legalized in Nevada,” said Delcore. “Psychedelics are already legalized in other states across the country, so if people wanted to take them, they would just need to travel to those states. I feel like it’s only a matter of time until they get legalized here.” 

Delcore believes that the decriminalization of psychedelics may be similar to that of marijuana. “I feel like it’s gonna be like weed was,” Delcore said. “There was science that came out that really changed the public’s view of it. I think that’s happening with psychedelics as well.”

“I don’t know, half of me says yes as long as there is clinically recognized science for it, but a lot of me still says no due to the fact that they can get in the wrong hands,” Blount said. “You don’t want children to have access to these drugs because that can completely change the way that they’re developing. My main thing is that there needs to be strong restrictions to be able to get these drugs.”

Sauls also warned that with decriminalization, there would be risks. “Increased access could lead to misuse if not carefully and intentionally executed. This misuse could lead to bad experiences,” Sauls said. “Along with this, big companies could come in, take control, and dilute the ethos and purity of the psychedelic movement in favor of profits.”

So, why were psychedelics criminalized in the first place?

Take the legendary Timothy Leary, the former Harvard psychology professor who specialized in research about psychedelics. In 1960, Leary and a coworker, Richard Alpert, began to explore the effects that psychedelic drugs had on the human mind. Shortly after their arrival at Harvard, they began to experiment with psilocybin, the hallucinogenic compound that occurs naturally in select varieties of mushrooms. 

At the start of the Harvard Psilocybin Experiment, neither LSD or psilocybin were illegal in the United States. In 1962, there were various staff members who were concerned about the safety of the researchers and participants. Due to the fact that Leary and Alpert were both under the influence of psychedelics while conducting their research, many soon began to become skeptical of the validity of their research. Editorials soon began being published against Leary and Alpert saying that they were simply advocating for the recreational use of psychedelics. 

In 1963, Harvard was forced to fire both Leary and Alpert after Alpert was caught administering psilocybin to an undergraduate off-campus, causing their experiment to come to a swift halt. But, their journey with psychedelics did not end there. They both became very prominent social figures in the 60s, continuing to strive for the normalization of psychedelic drugs. 

Psychedelics remained legal in the United States until 1973, when the federal government classified them as a schedule 1 drug. According to the DEA, this means that it was found to have no medical uses, cannot be safe under medical supervision, and with a high potential for abuse. Being a schedule 1 drug, this means psychedelics are in the same category as drugs such as heroin or methamphetamine. 

However, many are now beginning to challenge this classification. Looking towards the future, there may be a possibility that on certain corners in Reno, you will be able walk into a store and buy LSD or shrooms, a lot like the marijuana dispensaries today. “[Psychedelics and marijuana] have inherent differences, yet it seems like psychedelics are on a similar path cannabis was ten or so years ago when it comes to public acceptance and legalization,” Sauls said. 

Until that day comes, remember that psychedelics are still illegal in Nevada. If you are caught with 14 grams or less of magic mushrooms, you could spend up to a year in jail for a first or second offense, and the sentencing could increase to four years for a third offense or larger amounts. If you are caught with LSD, you can land in prison for one to five years with a $10,000 fine.

Reporting for Our Town Reno by Patrick McNabb, Jalen Robinson and Brad Vincent

Cortney, Pleading for Housing Help, for herself, her wife and her dogs

Cortney wrote to Our Town Reno this week saying she was wondering if there were motel vouchers available for people like her in dire straits. She was staying in a local motel but then her money ran out.

She followed up with a text writing under pouring, cold rain: “I’m trying to find a warm place to go right now. It’s me and my wife and our two dogs.”

In a subsequent phone call, she said she’d moved from Fallon in the summer thinking there were more job opportunities here, but says the salary her wife now makes working full time at the Renfield Manufacturing makeup factory, making $900 every two weeks, hasn’t been enough this month. They don’t have a car so sleeping in a vehicle isn’t an option. Her wife carpools with a friend to her job.

“We’re just sitting outside,” she said at the time of our call. “It’s just hard.”

Cortney says they tried living with her mom and brother for a while, but she says that didn’t work out.

Cortney, 39, pictured with Misty May.

Weeklies she says cost about $220 a week, and also sometimes require initial deposits.

Cortney says she can’t work herself, and has applied for disability payments, but she hasn’t started getting government money yet. She’s heard of the RISE shelter for women and families, but she says she has been confused by the application process to get in. She hadn’t heard of the Nevada Cares Campus.

She said if someone wanted to help, she’d be grateful and happy to talk about her situation some more. We recommended attending the Tuesday night Family Soup Mutual Aid to meet with local activists who might be able to help as well.

Our Town Reno reporting, December 2022

Scott: "I ain't trying to go any further. There's too much pain."

“Scott is my name. I've been here since, off and on, since 1996.

I did some traveling, all the way to Florida, to Frisco, back and forth here, because I have family here. 

Home is …wherever I lay my hat.

My typical day is … just sitting here on this bench, all day long, talking to people, mostly about the weather and their dogs.

Some people give me some food, some people give me some money and some people just give me conversation. I don't do programs. I'm on a couple of lists for housing. So I have a case worker. There's a place on Washington street called Accept.

They are the ones who are helping me with insurance, doctors, housing, social security, and disability.

I just turned 50 right before I came out here. I ain't trying to go any further. There’s too much pain. 

I don't want to do a hundred or anything like that. I'd rather just do my time here and go to heaven. I tried the shelter but they don't treat the homeless good so I won't go over there 

The cops, they can't find me. I get up real early, at five o'clock. Everybody is one paycheck away from being where I'm at.”

1st person reporting by Brad Vincent and Troy Welling

Teacher Cites Lack of Security, Support, Recent Attack for Sick Out at Dilworth Middle School

“It has become very clear that staff and student safety are not a priority for the school district in a lot of ways,” a teacher who wanted to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals told Our Town Reno today, following a Thursday lockdown at the school.

The teacher was among those who called in sick Friday forcing the cancelation of classes at Dilworth Middle School in Sparks. They said they talked to 25 of their colleagues who all called out as well.

A meeting this week with an employee from the Washoe County School District didn’t lead to any promised change or reassurances to keep staff feeling safe, the teacher said.

Then the teacher said a coworker was injured Thursday after being pushed into a locker.  The sick out the teacher said is “their only bargaining token” as they can’t legally strike. 

 “We're sort of all at our wits end at this point. We don't know what else to do,” the teacher said.

There have been repeated sightings of students wearing gang colors, and school fights which are broadcast publicly such as in screen grabs above and below on multiple Instagram accounts with variations of Dilworth Fights in their names.  

The teacher said there are two to three fights every day, and Dilworth’s school administration, who they wholeheartedly support, is overwhelmed.

“Even things that would be considered major behaviors previously, like continued disrespect toward a staff member, that kind of thing, are not being reported and documented at this point because our Dean's office is too overwhelmed to deal with that,” the teacher said. 

School Board Trustee Joe Rodriguez said on his Facebook he plans on addressing the recurring violence as soon as possible.

“I’m glad that he's backing the teachers and that he didn't try to just make this seem as if we're doing this for nothing. I really appreciate that he is standing behind us and that he understands that this is an issue that we're going to continue to try to solve no matter what,” the teacher who spoke to us said in reaction to that statement. 

The teacher explained the school has been having difficulties with students in a specialized program called SIP, for students with past trauma who require higher support for their behaviors.  The teacher said there are 22 students on site in the program with only one certified teacher in the classroom with them, where they said the ratio should be one teacher for every 13 students. 

More and more of these students have been brought back into regular classes due to their high number, whereas it used to be only based on when they met certain criteria, and earned enough special points to get back into the regular curriculum. 

“It's supposed to be a privilege. Right now, that's not happening,” the teacher said.

The teacher also said just a few of the Dilworth SIP students are zoned for Dilworth and that that’s a problem that could be fixed as well. 

“Even if we can't get a teacher at our school, having 22 students in a classroom where the ratio is supposed to be one to 13 is ridiculous. We're denying them their services. So we're being put in this position where the district just keeps saying, you have to just keep them there. You have to keep them there. And we keep asking, can we just move them back to a different school? That way there's not 22 of them. And even if we get half of them to a different school, that would be success.” 

Many of the repeat offenders the teacher said are also children in transition, often unhoused, who have different rules apply to them, such as just one day suspensions rather than three day suspensions for other students, they said. 

There are also different rules for troubled students who qualify for what are known as Individualized Education Plans.

“Some of our students qualify for an IEP under emotional disturbance, which is solely a trauma background,” the teacher explained.

“Some of them qualify under educational disability, medical disability, all of that kind of stuff. It's essentially a plan to help them succeed,” they said.

“However, one of the limitations of that is that they can only be suspended for ten days because otherwise they're denied those educational services that they qualify for. And I'm not saying that we should be denying our students their services. Obviously, I am all for students receiving whatever they need at school. I think that school should be a safe place for everyone, though,” the teacher said.

Ideas the teacher suggests include having a school police officer stationed at the school and different treatment of repeat offenders.

“It's the same people every day who are trying to cause violence and havoc in our school. So I think that there needs to be a plan beyond just that to possibly remove these students from our school and put them in a more specialized school where they can get their services still,” they said.

“Another solution that was brought up is potentially moving these students to fully remote learning and giving them a device and WiFi that they can take with them so that they can still access school, but are not in the building to cause those issues,” the teacher said.

The teacher said colleagues with 20-plus years experience say it’s been the worst behaviors they have seen and that they themselves spent three quarters of their time on behavioral issues rather than teaching.  

“I got into this profession because I love teaching. And so when I'm just babysitting and trying to fix behaviors, I can't do that. I can't do what I love,” the teacher said. They said they were reconsidering their career at this point as our other many colleagues despite loving their school community. 

Our Town Reno reporting December 16, 2022

City Council Votes for Two Convenience Stores Catering to Lower Income Residents to Lose "Privileged" Alcohol Licenses

Reno’s City Council voted Wednesday for two convenience stores serving mostly lower income populations in difficult areas to lose their business licenses allowing them to sell packaged alcohol.

Newly elected councilwoman Meghan Ebert joined Jenny Brekhus on the no side, while the two recently appointed council members Miguel Martinez and Kathleen Taylor joined other members Devon Reese, Naomi Duerr and Mayor Hillary Schieve on the yes side, meaning the licenses are being revoked.

Wrightway Market on Evans Avenue and Lakemill Maxi-Mart on Mill Street had already been barred from selling packaged alcohol since November after an administrative hearing officer determined their licenses should be suspended.  The police and the city’s code enforcement presented a case of numerous violations, one recent murder near one of the stores, and a high volume of service calls. 

Philosophies collided during the meeting as Schieve spoke of a “safe city being a prosperous city,” while Brekhus said a “prosperous city is a safe city,” calling for more economic investments which don’t lead to vacant lots. A lot of the new development in downtown areas has been unfulfilled, such as the Jacobs Entertainment project, or catering to a wealthy local and tourist clientele.

“What kind of a city do we want moving forward?” Schieve asked.  She compared the convenience stores to motels “preying on people,” and vowed for a “new day downtown.” 

Brekhus said these businesses close to bus stops with heavy pedestrian traffic were victims of “location.”  She also said the evidence connecting their liquor sales to the identified problems were “flimsy” and that the data approach was not “correct.” 

A representative for Wrightway Market Bianka Dodov called the revocation a “death warrant” due to tight profit margins, and alcohol sales allowing the store to survive. She said the immigrant-owned store was one of the few downtown allowing customers to pay with food stamps. 

“Where will these people go if Wrightway is gone?” she said of the downtown area she called a food desert for lower income people. 

A representative for Lakemill Maxi-Mart, Damon Booth, said his clients were being blamed for problems at the adjoining Lakemill Lodge. He said they had been leasing the convenience store from the motel for six years.

Ebert wanted more “thorough records of types of calls” which were being made.  She said she made a request for that two weeks ago and hadn’t received anything from city officials.

Ebert repeatedly asked for solid metrics to base such decisions on. Reese, meanwhile, vowed that the city would go after what he called “bad actors,” a stance reiterated several times by Mayor Schieve.

Early indications for this newly constituted Council are that Ebert will join Brekhus in asking more pointed questions on how decisions are being made.

Our Town Reno reporting, December 14, 2022

Mutual Aid Community Speaks Out Against Washoe County Proposed Ordinance to Criminalize Sleeping in Public Areas

After trying to punt it to later, but being told by legal that that wouldn’t be possible, the Washoe County Board of Commissioners voted 3-2 to move forward on a request by the Washoe County Sheriff to ban what officials call public camping.

Staff will have a soft deadline of 90 days to craft ordinance language while seeking input from commissioners, several of whom will be newly seated, as well as from the community.

Two of those staying in their seats voted no: Alexis Hill, who has concerns about the initial proposal including a $500 fine and possible jail time, as well as Jeanne Herman, who did not speak. Two outgoing commissioners Kitty Jung and Bob Lucey joined chair Vaughn Hartung in voting yes.

One commission discussion point which came about was that this would be for unincorporated areas of Washoe County: outside of the city limits of Reno and Sparks, including Incline Village, Washoe Valley, Spanish Springs, Hidden Valley, Sun Valley, portions of Verdi and Cold Springs.

In over two hours of public comments before the vote, two dozen community members, many active in prominent local mutual aid groups, spoke out against agenda item 19 Tuesday.

What was presented would impose a $500 fine and or up to six months of jail time for sleeping or setting up tents in public areas, storing personal belongings, making a fire or cooking there, sleeping in vehicles or even doing any “earth breaking.”

The expansive request comes via the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office to update local rules around what it calls “unauthorized camping and/or storage of personal property which may pose a risk of significant harm to any person or public area.”

The first to speak out, Adrian Lowry, said it would criminalize poverty and make people have to choose between freezing to death or being arrested.

Spencer Banda called it “fascism” and said Washoe County was treating the unhoused as a “problem to be eliminated rather than a community to be helped.” “Where are they supposed to go?” he concluded, underlining that available shelters are not open to all and often have few beds available, with hundreds of people in food lines and seen in tents and vehicles at night, even during cold spells.

Bridget Tevnan said it was reflective of a systemic “breakdown,” saying we should “abandon failed models of correction.”

Often referenced by national activists is a 2006 article in the New Yorker titled “Million-Dollar Murray” which was about Murray Barr, an unhoused community member at the time in Reno. While cycling through jail and local hospitals, after being arrested dozens of times, Barr cost Nevada taxpayers one million dollars over a ten year period.

Above some of the community residents who spoke out against the proposed ordinance criminalizing homelessness.

Jake Maynard called the proposed ordinance “reckless,” and a “blatant attempt to criminalize the poorest people.”

Stephen Zipkin said it was “the worst possible thing” commissioners could be doing, calling it a “barrage of cruelty.”

Tara Tran called for safe parking areas to be set up locally instead.

Nicole Anagapesis called it an “incredibly lazy tactic,” “class warfare” and “sick violence.”

Dwight George said it was an “abuse of power,” while Erika Minaberry called it “government overreach.”

Ben Iness called it a “racial justice issue,” and an “economic justice issue,” while reminding the board of Martin vs. Boise. The 2018 decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which has been updated recently, prevents Western cities from enforcing anti-camping ordinances if they do not have enough homeless shelter beds.

Lilith Baran with ACLU of Nevada also referenced that case and other recent rulings, saying the Washoe County Sheriff’s idea is “uncharacteristically regressive and counterproductive and raises some legal questions.”

The lone supporter was the last speaker during the initial public comment Valerie White, who has been on the payroll of her husband’s “tough love” anti-homeless organizations such as Quality of Life-Reno and Stronghold Institute.

An unhoused man, who said he had recently been kicked out of the Nevada Cares campus for alleged “masturbating” said he had no current housing options. He said he has prostate problems and was trying not to wet his bed when shelter staff decided to kick him out.

Our Town Reno reporting, December 13th 2022

Julia, A Local 12-Year-Old Compelled to Help the Hampton House Project

“When I was younger, I always thought everyone was exactly like me and lived in a house and had a great life,” Julia, 12, told Our Town Reno during a recent interview at her cozy home with her joyful golden retriever Rosebud on her lap.

Growing up Julia was of the idea that every individual on this earth is happy and has everything they want. Her thoughts changed when she was in the back seat of her mom’s car in Reno recently, traveling to some place for work. 

“We stopped at the stoplight and I saw someone with a sign and they were asking for money and I felt bad for them,” Julia remembers. 

Julia’s eyes had welled up, her mom recalls. She immediately asked her to help the person with some money. 

After returning home, Julia asked her parents if she could make some food and help people in need. Her parents instantly agreed. 

“I had seen someone, like an employee of McDonald’s, give food to someone who didn’t have any food and I wanted to do it,” said Julia.  

That very same week, with the help of her mom, Julia made around 13 bowls of vegetarian black bean chili and packed equal amounts of chips and cheese to go with it. She and her father went and dropped the food at The Hampton House Garden Project at 638 Elko St in Reno. 

She has continued to help since, recently dropping off yogurt drinks and lunch packs.

Lily Baran in center of above photo has mentored others while developing the Hampton House community garden. File photo by Rachel Jackson.

The community initiative is run by Reno activist Lily Baran (above, center), who also happens to be a friend to Julia’s mom. Baran grows fresh fruits and vegetables and pollinates flowers to help the Nevada community through donations and collective gardening.  The group runs an outdoor fridge, where anonymous volunteers can deposit food and people can serve themselves. Dry goods, clothing and Narcan are available for pickup as well.

“Julia is an example of springing into action when you see a hole in the fabric of your community,” Baran said. “To regularly practice community care is not only a needed element, it is a wonderful feeling.”

“We look forward to more gardens to establish healing areas with sustainable food sovereignty and expand to housing efforts for marginalized communities,” Baran said of her own ongoing efforts. 

Julia who is attending a local middle school loves to cook. She often makes pies for bake sales at school or bakes brownies for her school field trips. 

“When I was younger and experimental, I made this thing called Julia dough, it was basically flour, water and lots of sugar,” says Julia.  

Julia also loves reading, playing with her Legos and gardening. This year her garden was in full bloom with string beans, kale, baby tomatoes and peppers. Next year, she plans to grow more vegetables like carrots so that she is able to use those to cook fresh meals for helping more people in the community. 

Julia dreams of becoming a scientist, perhaps an astronomer or an astrophysicist she says, when she grows up. She dreams of inventing a teleporter so that navigation becomes easier. She also wants to befriend an alien if they are out there so that she can learn their language and communicate with them. 

Amidst all that, though, Julia wants to keep making food every other week so that she is able to help people in her community. 

“Everyone should be happy, the world should be happy and everyone should be equal. I really like Lily, she’s really nice and I look forward to meeting her always,” Julia says of Baran who has agreed to be one of her mentors on her journey in helping others. 

Baran feels honored. “It’s important that we all have intergenerational mentors and mentees. I can learn as much if not more from her than she can from me, I’m sure. I’m honored she asked me.”

Our Town Reno reporting by Kingkini Sengupta

Allie Blum, an "Ethical Rebel" Vowing to Reform Local Foster Care System from the Outside

Allie Blum was a social worker the past decade for Washoe County who retired last year on disability, after earning herself the nickname “Ethical Rebel,” always standing up for herself at her job and for the kids she was working with.

“I think there needs to be a call to action,” Blum told Our Town Reno of her reasons for coming forward in criticizing our local foster care system, which she views as riddled with shortcomings. “I think it happens in stages, right? You inform and then you raise awareness and then you act. And I feel like we're just stuck in this stage of informing and no one's listening or the information is not getting to them, so we can't even raise awareness yet.”

Blum said she helped with a Department of Justice investigation which recently found Nevada “unnecessarily segregates children with behavioral health disabilities in institutions.”

The October decision (in screenshot above) concluded that Nevada violates the Americans with Disabilities Act by failing to provide adequate community-based services to children with behavioral health disabilities, relying instead on segregated, institutional settings like hospitals and residential treatment facilities.

Hundreds of children are isolated in residential treatment facilities each year, the investigation found, though “they could remain with their families if provided necessary, community-based services.  Over a quarter of these children stay over a year, and some of them are placed outside of Nevada, far from their homes. Nevada also fails to connect children who have been placed in institutions with services to allow them to successfully return to the community,” the report indicated.  

According to the press release above, Nevada officials expressed “a desire to work with the department to resolve the identified issues.”

This was a vague response Blum says, and she was disappointed the investigation didn’t get much attention.  

Her own conclusion is “that the state of Nevada has the resources and the ability to provide community-based mental health services for these children, and we're just choosing not to.“

There was also a recent Nevada state audit (in screengrab above) on its own child placements released earlier this year which pointed to several shortcomings including that “33% of homes had health or safety deficiencies, about 79% of foster placements had at least one regulatory violation, and there was no evidence of home inspection for 27% of placements.” 

Blum feels the internal audit could have gone much further, but that current employees are afraid to speak out. 

“I think the issue is the workers don't feel safe enough to say anything, and they're never going to get a clear picture of what is happening if we can't feel safe enough to say something,” she said. 

Blum hopes more lawyers from Washoe Legal Service would also speak up. She said she had high hopes when she started in 2013 with a pilot project called Safe Family Connections, which had 15 permanency workers, but that when the program was diluted it got derailed.  

“It was an amazing program. It was how I thought child welfare should be. But it kind of tanked after that. Safe FC was really focused on the caseload sizes where, it was 10 families, 15 kids was your caseload size and you would meet with the families every week initially, and then as they were doing better and making more progress, then it would be every other week, and then it would be monthly and then you would close the case. And everything was very client and family centered. So we really made their goals specific to them and to their situations and their families, their services were specific to them. But when we transitioned to the entire agency, the people who were coming in from the business as usual who didn't participate in the pilot program, I think they brought too much of their method of working with them. And so the case plans went back to being very cookie cutter,” Blum recounts. 

“We're just checking in with families once a month. And then our caseload sizes just kind of started getting pretty huge. And the demands were getting pretty big… And it got to a point where case workers didn't even have time to see their kids every month. They would just do like a five minute phone call to see how their kids were doing.” 

Blum missed the pilot component of the above project, which she said allowed for more focus for social workers.

Blum said she had several kids on her own caseload that were put into higher level of care which she says didn't require that.  She said these types of placements are paid more, thus creating financial incentives which get in the way of the child’s welfare. 

“And that's why I really started getting into a lot of trouble at work because I would go to court and tell the judge, your honor, he shouldn't be placed in a therapeutic level setting,” Blum said. 

Blum talks about the paramount importance of keeping siblings together which she experienced as being undermined in the overall process.

“They talk about how termination of parental rights is equivalent to the civil death penalty, but I think sibling separation is far worse than that. They've experienced these things together and they've gone through it all together. They have a trauma bond. And I think the agency sometimes takes the position that it's easier to separate siblings despite this,” she said. 

Blum would also complain against placements which had been made, she says, but it was frustrating to see little to no action despite her efforts to correct mistakes. 

“There was one case I had where the foster family was discriminating against my boy because he liked to wear girl clothes and he liked to paint his nails and he liked to wear makeup,” Blum remembers. “They made him sleep on a mattress on the floor with only a blanket. And they said it was because they had bed bugs. So then I told them to show me where his bed was. If they took the bed apart, it must be here somewhere. They didn't have anything to show me. He wasn't allowed to have any of his personal belongings in his room, no decor. There were several large holes in the wall that hadn't been fixed in months. That was one of the cases where I went to the judge and I said, your honor, we as an agency are neglecting this child.”

In the end, a still positive Blum decided it would be best to try to change the system from outside, rather than help make it better from within.

Our Town Reno reporting, December 2022

The Annex, An Extra Place to Help with Mental Health Challenges for UNR Students

Students checking in to mental health hospitals or having end of semester breakdowns and panic attacks is becoming all too common at UNR. Sadly, they are part of a global trend.

According to a study by Healthy Minds which collected data from 373 international university campuses worldwide, during the 2020-2021 academic year more than 60% of college students met the criteria for at least one mental health problem.

It is clear that student mental health is worsening, some would argue as a direct effect of COVID-19 lockdowns and being increasingly isolated. But even before the pandemic, schools had been facing a surge in demand for care that far outpaced capacity.

College students juggle a dizzying amount of challenges; from schoolwork, adjustment to college life, relationships, friendships, economic strain, social injustice, climate anxiety and other issues. As a result, college boards are starting to think outside the box to come up with ways to provide their students with the help and services they need since it is becoming increasingly clear that the traditional counseling center model is perhaps ill-equipped to solve the problem adequately.

The University of Nevada, Reno has offered students with various Counseling Services out of the William N. Pennington Student Achievement Center on campus. They’ve been providing UNR students with counseling sessions and treatment plans for various mental health issues for years, at no extra costs to the student outside of their tuition fees.

According to data from Penn State University’s Center for Collegiate Mental Health, the number of students seeking help at campus counseling centers increased by almost 40% between 2009- and 015 and continued to rise until the pandemic began – which is when that number skyrocketed. The rising demand for help, however, has not been equally matched with a corresponding rise in funding for these services, leading to higher caseloads for college counselors to juggle.

Given the increasing demand for services and the wide range of concerns students are facing, many schools are looking for new and innovative ways to incorporate a broader culture of “self-care” and mental wellness into their systems, policies, and everyday campus life. The University of Nevada, Reno introduced a new outreach center in addition to its long-standing on-campus counseling services, called The Annex. It opened at the start of the Fall 2022 semester and is open to all currently-enrolled students. 

The Annex is located in the southwest corner of Great Basin Hall, and is open to all current University of Nevada, Reno students. They are open from 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. Monday to Friday for drop-in mental health support, or to study in a relaxing environment with free coffee and tea.

Although The Annex falls under the jurisdiction of the University’s counseling services department, it doesn’t actually offer one-to-one counseling in the traditional sense. “At the counseling center you need to be an established client, fill out paperwork, and there are rules around confidentiality,” explains Carla Franich, Program Director for Outreach. “At The Annex, we adhere to confidentiality standards, but it allows us to serve the students in a way where they can just drop in for a chat whenever they need to.”

They call these drop-in consultations “Let’s Talk”. They’re very informal and brief, and staff members are on hand to provide an ear to any student who comes in seeking help. 

Franich explains that the informal nature of The Annex allows them “to service students in a very visible way, which we can’t really do at our confidential space in PSAC. We are able to do workshops, skill-building and mindfulness activities, support groups, and drop-in consultations which allow students to come and talk to us without having to go and sign in and complete paperwork.”

Alongside Let’s Talk, The Annex has offered various workshops since its opening at the very start of the semester. Previous workshops have included “Joy of Missing Out”, “Don’t Ghost Your Feelings”, and other mindfulness activities such as coloring and rock painting.

Feedback from the University of Nevada, Reno student body has been overwhelmingly positive so far. “They feel super comfortable being in the space,” Franich said. “We were very intentional about creating a relaxing environment.”

The Annex is indeed a very calm and zen environment, with relaxing music playing in the background, soft ambient lighting, and greenery sprinkled throughout. They offer free coffee and tea to students, as well as access to free printing services. “Students really appreciate having this new place to hang out and have the ability to consult with someone if they need advice,” said Franich.

As The University of Nevada, Reno – and college campuses all over the country – begin to move away from a sole reliance on individual therapy services for students, they’re also beginning to work towards shifting the narrative about what mental health care on campus looks like.

“The way it used to be before meant that unless you had gotten an initial consultation – which, we’re very busy [at counseling services] so appointments can be hard to come by,” Franich said. “You might not have the opportunity to talk with one of us right away, and have to wait a while for your appointment. So [The Annex] allows us to have a space to be able to talk with students and help them with any advice or troubles they’re having.”

The Annex is working to help towards the destigmatization of mental health on campus, and provide a safe and comfortable space to support students who might be struggling with their mental health. “Students should encourage their peers to reach out for help if they need it,” Franich said. 

Even though The Annex – which is housed in Great Basin Hall, one of UNR’s student residential halls – is in a separate building and part of campus from the rest of Counseling Services, the two are very much still connected and under the same umbrella.

“There are students that might need that more intensive, therapeutic intervention from traditional counseling. Even though we’re at a different location, we still have access to the system,” Franich explained. “I can look at our schedules and plug them in, and book them into sessions if that’s what they want.”

Even though The Annex doesn’t offer traditional one-to-one counseling sessions, they offer a variety of other services that could be just as impactful. “Everybody processes things in such different ways,” said Franich. “There is no cookie-cutter way to address mental health challenges. We have to look at each individual student and create opportunities that are different and can appeal to the different needs of our students.”

There are also special events, reaching out to different groups. The Annex recently hosted a “Transgender Day of Remembrance” event on November 17th, and also hosted an Iranian Support Group for international students on campus to have an opportunity to connect and come together to support one another.

The events hosted so far have been very well attended and received by students, as are regular days, highlighting the need there was for a place like The Annex on campus.

Reporting by Gaia Osborne for Our Town Reno