The Dalles City Council and Police Chief Pat Ashmore were told by numerous citizens and agency officials Monday that banning homeless people who engaged in bad behavior was “immoral” and “punitive.”
Last month, Regional Jail Administrator Bryan Brandenburg described a recent day at the regional jail that stood out for a frustrating reason: at one point, every inmate in the booking area belonged in a mental health facility. Instead, as regularly happens, they were put behind bars. Booking felt like an acute psychiatric unit, Brandenburg told the Northern Oregon Regional Corrections Facility board at its October meeting.
Starting off a homeless summit last week was Kevin Moynahan, who lives by the Community Meal site on Pentland Street that is seen as “ground zero” for the homeless problem. He wrote a sharp letter to the city a year ago, expressing frustration about hearing, day and night, screaming and fights going on by their house on Second Place. They also had litter and human waste left behind by people of all ages, from babies to toddlers to teenagers to older people.
Mother is critical of mental health services For awhile he thought he was a grizzly bear. Recently, a sore on his back caused him to first think his spine had disappeared, and then that his mother had stabbed him.
