Man critically hurt by a TRAX train

MIDVALE -- Police said a Taylorsville man is in "extremely critical condition" after walking in front of an incoming TRAX train at the Fort Union stop at 7200 South Thursday.

It's so dark out, you can't find what you sit on with both hands. You're in the middle of nowhere, looking for a guy who drove his pickup through a fence and into a power pole. Just when you're about to give up looking, you see flashing lights in the distance. Soon enough, you arrive at a small farmhouse where a sheriff's deputy has a 70-year-old guy sitting on the tailgate of a banged-up '64 Ford. Its tracks say it abruptly veered off of a straight dirt road, jumped a ditch, penetrated a chain-link fence, missed a farmhouse and nailed a power pole. There's no good reason for a mishap here, but it's a holiday weekend and the bars would have closed about 45 minutes prior to your time out. There's one dim light other than what you brought along, and it's 30 feet above you on the other end of the truck.Q. Maybe so, but you know when we get a complaint from a patient, it doesn't look good for us. Better if we just run calls and don't cause trouble, otherwise we're pretty much guilty until proven innocent.He was transported to Intermountain Medical Center with severe head trauma from being pushed 10 feet into the fence, said Midvale Police Capt. Steve Shreeve.Q. What are we supposed to do? Some people are just dying to show us how stupid they are. Then, when we try to help them, it's all our fault. We were thinking, if we could get this guy on O2, he might not be so cranky and maybe we could communicate with him a little better. But he wasn't having it. We couldn't exactly leave him there. And the last thing we wanted to do was arm him.Fueled by the damage mass incarceration has done to state budgets, a new "smart on crime" movement has emerged to seek new ways of reducing the number of people in the system. Many states, including New Jersey, have attempted to do so by reforming probation and parole, in part by using something called "graduated sanctions"- levying small punishments on those who violate the terms of their supervision. Instead of being thrown back in jail, parolees are confined in shortterm residential assessment centers- privately run institutions where they are evaluated. The parole board, based on recommendations from the parole officer, then decides the best course of action: revoking parole, placing the offender in a work or treatment program, or putting him on positionmonitoring (using the ankle bracelet), which is one of the harsher sanctions in New Jersey.

-- Lana Groves

Cranky Old Man

You can't please 'em all

Eric Haines lives in his father's basement in Paterson, New Jersey, just across the street from a freshly anointed memorial to a childhood friend who was shot to death two weeks ago- Haines' second friend to die violently in as many weeks. A white sheet hangs over a chain-link fence, facing an authence of Jesus candles sprinkled with dirt kicked up from a recent rainstorm. A few dozen feet away, several men are gathered outside a corner store, where they will remain past nightfall.That's not your fault.In the 1980s and 1990s- the "tough on crime" eraincarceration was touted as the simple solution to our crime problem. Today, the United States imprisons 1 percent of its entire population. Including the number of people on probation and parole, one in 31 Americans is under supervision of the criminaljustice system. Mass incarceration has succeeded in reducing crime, but the strategy has diminishing returns. The offense rate of the top 20 percent of offenders is more than 10 times that of the average prisoner- a few very active criminals commit most of the crime. But under the current system, offenders who could be more cheaply deterred or rehabilitated instead incur the most expensive- and, from the perspective of its effect on the community, damaging- form of punishment possible. This is why, even as the number of incarcerated people has increased exponentially, crime hasn't decreased at the same rate.The train was slowing down when the accident occurred, but trains pulling into a platform run about 30 mph, said Utah Transit Authority spokesman Gerry Carpenter.It's important to understand that most people who violate parole aren't committing crimes. In New Jersey, a full 81 percent of parolees who return to prison are doing so because of technical violations- two of the most frequent are failing to report as instructed and failing to obtain approval for a change of address. To throw someone back in jail for two years because of a technical violation seems unfair even to probation officers, many of whom are relieved to have more choices. "It gives you other options instead of just locking them up," says Sgt. Albert Kozak, a New Jersey parole officer. "Instead you put them in a place like [residential assessment center] Logan Hall, and they learn their lesson."A. I'm the last person on earth who should tell you there are no stupid calls. Some calls you could use to define the term stupidity. But people always do what they do for a reason, and that reason can be the most important thing you need to learn about them during a one-hour encounter. Are they impaired by chemicals? Are they seeing and hearing stuff you don't see and hear (hallucinating)? Are they being pursued by someone? Those are all answers you need to get while you're still on scene.Haines joined a local affiliate of the Bloods in 2001, and gang life brought him security and fellowship but also criminal obligations. "I wanted to live the street life and get caught up in it," Haines says. "You see guys and all the hot girls, the cars, the jewelry. You're working at McDonald's, you ain't getting that. It's not gonna happen. Why would I bust my ass all day and make like $100, when I can make like $1,000 doing nothing, selling drugs?"-- Lana GrovesQ. Right, but we don't have all night, and this call was outside of our normal response area. You would think, now that the crisis is over, this guy would be a little more reasonable. And now we have a complaint in our files.A. Actually, that's unreasonable. Trouble's your game. If you don't get at least a couple of complaints a year, you've been lucky. Most of the people you meet on calls are in some kind of crisis. If you just stop and think about it, anger is a fairly common response to crisis. Some people lie, some people laugh, some people cry, a few take it in stride, and lots more get mad. Sooner or later a few of those folks who get mad are going to blame their problems on you, no matter how well you treat them. And, you know what?

Thom Dick has been involved in EMS for 39 years, 23 of them as a full-time EMT and paramedic in San Diego County. He is the quality care coordinator for Platte Valley Ambulance Service, a community-owned, hospital-based 9-1-1 provider in Brighton, CO. Thom is also a member of EMS Magazine's editorial advisory board. Reach him at boxcar_414@yahoo.com.

Author: Dick, Thom

Beyond Bars

The "tough on crime" era is coming to an end, leaving bloated prisons and blighted neighborhoods in its wake. But what's next?

The man's only complaint is a briskly bleeding laceration on his anterior left forearm, which he's clamping with a wadded red bandana in his other hand. His skin is a little tachy, he doesn't remember the incident, he doesn't know where he is, and he's worried somebody is going to steal two handguns from the cab of his truck. (Like there's a crowd, right?) He won't tolerate c-spine, he won't lie down, he doesn't want oxygen, he doesn't want to hear about any hospital, and he wants you to get out of his face. He's belligerent about that, he's rambling, and he's angrily insisting that you procure his guns for him.In the 1992 presidential campaign, Bill Clinton took that lesson to heart. The then-governor of Arkansas left the campaign trail to make a show of signing the death warrant for Ricky Ray Rector, a 40-year-old black man who had killed a white police officer. (Rector had suffered a bullet wound to the head, and his lawyers argued he wasn't mentally competent to stand trial, let alone be executed.) Clinton sent the message to crucial middleof-the-road white voters that he was no Dukakis. It would be a mistake, though, to characterize Clinton's behavior as mere political posturing. Later, as president, he supported the "three strikes" law that helped swell the prison population.The last time Haines violated his parole (by fading to report to his parole officer), instead of running and waiting to get caught, he simply turned himself in and ended up with an ankle bracelet that monitors whether he is home when he's supposed to be. On the street, Haines says, a culture of superstition has built up around the bracelet. People believe it contains a GPS, which it doesn't. People also believe it records conversations, which it doesn't. What it does do is track whether the bracelet is in the vicinity of a base transmitter placed in Haines' house to ensure he's there when he's required to be. His parole officer will remove the ankle bracelet only if he finds a full-time job or enrolls in school- if he makes a substantial effort to leave the streets behind.The ankle bracelet might be more commonly associated with law-breaking celebrities like Martha Stewart or Paris Hilton, but some experts believe it could be the future of criminal justice- a way to supervise offenders in the community without incurring the social, financial, and community costs of incarceration. Instead of sending Haines back to prison for a lengthy sentence that will cost the state a great deal of money, New Jersey turned him into a kind of outpatient inmate whose ability to cause suffering to himself and others is greatly diminished. He also has a chance at building a new life- something he wouldn't have if he were incarcerated.In the meantime, he showers with it on, sleeps with it on, and while it's starting to drive him crazy, Haines admits that it has probably saved his life. As a result of both the constant supervision and the suspicion the bracelet draws, he has been isolated and unable to figure out who killed his friends and potentially retaliate. In his pajama pants, white socks, and flip-flops, Haines hardly cuts the intimidating figure he hints at in conversation. He now rarely leaves his father's house, preferring to stay at home and take care of his little sisters.You weren't born yesterday, so you ask the deputy for help, and he imposes a legal mental health hold empowering you to restrain the old man, treat him and get him to a hospital. A week later, your chief calls you. There's a smokin' complaint, so long and so detailed its writing probably spanned the whole interval.Witnesses said Mitchall Wilkey, 24, was listening to an iPod while walking toward the TRAX platform from the parking lot about 5 p.m. when the northbound train hit him, sending him flying into a nearby chain-link fence."This is the great breakthrough of the last decade."Haines might be out there with them if it weren't for the black box that's been strapped to his ankle since he violated the conditions of his parole several weeks ago. Haines, 27, has only caught two non-drug charges - one for trespassing, one for weapons possession- but he has been under supervision for the past nine years because he's made parole violations something of a habit. (Haines' name has been changed for his safety.)"We have the emergence of a very pragmatic, non-ideological crime-policy conversation that is allowing us to set aside philosophical differences to reduce crime and prisons," says Jeremy Travis, president of the John Jay College of Criminal Justice."It looked very bad," he said.America is slowly inching away from decades of a draconian approach to criminal justice - one that has resulted in the "land of the free" imprisoning more of its citizens than any another country in the world. In Congress, bills to repeal the sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine are gathering momentum. The new head of the Office ofNational Drug Control Policy, Gil Kerlikowske, has abandoned the "drug war" rhetoric. Religious conservatives commiserate with bleeding-heart liberals over what to do about recidivism. In states like New Jersey, officials are thinking of creative ways to curb offending behavior without relying solely on incarceration. Although ideas like graduated sanctions have been around for years, they are now being implemented in earnest as states seek new strategies for deterring crime rather than simply punishing it.A. Restraint calls generate more complaints than any other kind, especially when the patient is placed under a hold. If your chief is the least bit reasonable, he'll treat this call a lot differently than a typical service complaint. Especially if the guy's letter seems illogical or unreasonable.

In the 1992 presidential campaign, Bill Clinton took that lesson to heart. The then-governor of Arkansas left the campaign trail to make a show of signing the death warrant for Ricky Ray Rector, a 40-year-old black man who had killed a white police officer. (Rector had suffered a bullet wound to the head, and his lawyers argued he wasn't mentally competent to stand trial, let alone be executed.) Clinton sent the message to crucial middleof-the-road white voters that he was no Dukakis. It would be a mistake, though, to characterize Clinton's behavior as mere political posturing. Later, as president, he supported the "three strikes" law that helped swell the prison population.

Author: Serwer, Adam

Playing Rough and Tough

Chinese American Women Basketball Players in the 1930s and 1940s

The kitchen sink drained into a bucket, and ice was delivered every other day until 1951, when the family bought a refrigerator.Sandwiched between buildings in the congested ghetto, the only public playground in San Francisco's Chinatown became a source of community pride. Located on Sacramento Street between Stockton Street and Waverly Place, the property was purchased by the San Francisco Recreation Department for $54,114.25 in October 1925. Upon opening in 1927, the Chinatown community referred to it as "the Playground," and this half-acre of land soon became the hub ol Chinatown sports. During its first year, estimated total attendance was 124,332/ Always buzzing with activities, the Playground provided play space for all ages. The younger children would dig busily in the sandbox behind the clubhouse or joyfully hang from the monkey bars in front of the building.8 The older kids mostly played more organized games, like volleyball, tetherball, or basketball. Under the direction of male and female staff of different racial backgrounds, the Playground also offered storytelling hour, harmonica bands, checker tournaments, model airplane construction, kite making, and organized girls' and boys' clubs. Yearly basketball tournaments and the annual national Chinese tennis championships drew large crowds to the Playground. The Playground was known for many sports and for a wide range of activities, including tennis lessons and the construction of prize-winning kites.9The construction site is not in a rural area of Portland, but it is tucked behind trees, Grant said. He believes the cover gave the thieves confidence to carry out the job.Marvin and Esther live in traditional homes today. But they wouldn't trade the home of their youth.A few years later, the family dug an addition that included a third bedroom. They also enclosed the stairwell the family used as a front door, giving it 1,176 square feet of living space."We ran out of money and it just never got finished."Walsh Construction recovered some of its stolen equipment last year. The company found some of the items at a pawn shop, said Gabe Mateer, assistant equipment manager. Police found more of it during an unrelated search at a residence, Mateer said. The equipment was stolen from the renovation site of the Serendipity School in Southeast Portland, where it was being stored inside the school building overnight.It was especially hard playing against taller people. You just had to try to pivot. Do one pivot and get away, then pass quickly. If we could pass fast, then we could usually sink the under bucket shots. . . . We had to sorta try and oulspeed them.17Their mother, Beulah, lived in the basement home more than 50 years until her death in 2002. Today, Esther's daughter and her family call it home.

The Playground players defined themselves as Chinese American women through their strength, stamina, and toughness. Ruth Whang, wife of longtime Playground director Paul Whang, explained that many of the girls at the Playground were "little hghter[s| and toughies."'1 Rather than scorning physical strength and agility, many of the Chinese Playground women's teams revered these characteristics. Franche Lee reflected: "I suppose we would have been considered Chinese American hippies of that time. There were not any actual hippies in the 1930s. But we were sort of different [from other Chinese American teenagers]. We were always outside, running around, hiking, playing basketball."23 The Playground women relished their time playing basketball and in doing so, they created a sense of community as athletic women. Jennie Chong Jue, a Playground team member from the 1940s, explained that "[The Blue Stars) were pretty well-rounded. Sure, there were some girls that were boy crazy. We liked boys too, but we also liked basketball. It was our outlet ..... There was camaraderie. We supported each other."2'' Jane Chew Wong, a member of a Playground basketball team in the 1940s, agreed:

Author: Yep, Kathleen S

Living in a hole on top of the world

Marvin Baskett and his sister Esther Redington grew up in a hole in the ground. And they wouldn't have had it any other way.

The Playground players defined themselves as Chinese American women through their strength, stamina, and toughness. Ruth Whang, wife of longtime Playground director Paul Whang, explained that many of the girls at the Playground were "little hghter[s| and toughies."'1 Rather than scorning physical strength and agility, many of the Chinese Playground women's teams revered these characteristics. Franche Lee reflected: "I suppose we would have been considered Chinese American hippies of that time. There were not any actual hippies in the 1930s. But we were sort of different [from other Chinese American teenagers]. We were always outside, running around, hiking, playing basketball."23 The Playground women relished their time playing basketball and in doing so, they created a sense of community as athletic women. Jennie Chong Jue, a Playground team member from the 1940s, explained that "[The Blue Stars) were pretty well-rounded. Sure, there were some girls that were boy crazy. We liked boys too, but we also liked basketball. It was our outlet ..... There was camaraderie. We supported each other."2'' Jane Chew Wong, a member of a Playground basketball team in the 1940s, agreed:Usually, the white girls would play it straight. So they would use the dribble dainty like. They would barely movel We would throw the ball way in front of us and then run and catch it. . . . |W]e would be dribbling way ahead of us. Now the guys could dribble as much as they wanted. So, we had to be strategic.14"Dad planned on going up with the house," Marvin said. "He was in construction. He built houses. But he cut off a finger while he was building our house. We had medical bills.Esther fondly recalls the potbellied stove that heated the house and the wood-burning iron kitchen stove.Playing "one-on-one" instead of zone defense, the Chinese Playground teams smothered their opponents on defense. This required not only speed but toughness. Beverly Lee, a basketball player at the Playground in the late 1940s, explained: "I would be all over and then try to grab on to the ball. They would just fling me around. But I would hold on until the whistle blew. Then, I kind of walked into the jump ball with this smile."20 This style of defense was often physically aggressive. Lily "Tiger LiI" Leong, a player from the early 1930s, recalled her team's physicality with delight and amusement: "When we played, we didn't fool around. We had fun, but, let's just say our opponents didn't have an easy time with our elbows."21 Another Playground player, Josephine Chan, explained: "As I always say, Mary and Rachel, they play dirty. They know how to use their elbows and push."2' The Playground style of playing basketball contrasted with the slower pace that was characteristic of non-Playground teams in the recreational league.-11 While Playground teams rapidly pushed the ball down the court on offense, opponents walked as they dribbled the ball down the court and relied on rebounding for points or possession of the ball. This slower style of play tended to burn the clock and focused on preventing the opposing team from scoring, rather than on scoring more baskets for one's own team. Lor the Playground teams, using their bodies to trip, hold, and guard was central to their game."We were poor folk," Marvin, 65, said. "We didn't have a bathroom until I was about 7. We had an outhouse."With an up-tempo style of offense, the Playground teams had to be light on their feet and able to move, even if their opponents boxed them in. Rachel Lee, a former member of a Playground team, described the use of her teammales' bodies in strategic ways: "We always won. We knew how to win. Jo used her elbows. Esther used her feet."18 A player from the 1940s remembered the signature Playground style of play:It was built by their father, Raymond, in 1947, and it's where Marvin and Esther grew up with sister Leatha.Marvin and Esther laughed as they stood outside their childhood home Friday and recalled the outhouse, the chickens and rabbits they raised and ate, the floods and challenges of life in a hole in the ground.So why did their father build a basement house?Read my blog updates at? gazette.com/blogs/sidestreetsThey agreed on why it was so much fun: "Because we had the best parents anyone could have," Marvin said.The Grant Company is trying to recover its equipment, which was marked. Grant said the Washington County sheriff's deputies assigned to the case suggested looking on Craigslist.Though it's unusual today, the basement house wasn't unique at the time. Several others were scattered around Knob Hill. Eventually, most were finished as traditional houses, like one on the northwest corner of Alexander Road and Cache la Poudre Street."A craftsman takes great pride in his tools," Grant said. "There's something inherently disgusting about someone taking part of your livelihood."Drive by it at 930 Iowa Ave., east of downtown in Knob Hill and see it for yourself. (I've posted photos and a map on my blog.)PLAYING A SPEED GAMEOriginally, it had two bedrooms, a kitchen, living room and utility room. It had running water and electricity but no bathroom for a few years.Mateer said his company sometimes parks a forklift in front of its shipping container. That technique has so far been theft-proof, Mateer said.The theft happened Nov. 5 last year from the site of St. Juan Diego Catholic Church. The Grant Company is the general contractor for the project.

Read my blog updates at? gazette.com/blogs/sidestreets

Author: BILL VOGRIN

$10K in tools stolen from construction site in Northwest Portland

About $10,000 worth of tools were stolen from a construction site in Northwest Portland.

"Sometimes thieves won't even take tools that are clearly marked," she said.The tools were stolen from a locked shipping container inside a chain-link fence, according to Mike Grant, Grant Company owner. He said thieves used a torch to cut the padlock and stole lasers, saws and drills.The Chinese Playground regularly supported girls' basketball teams that entered the citywide recreational league. This league included white, Japanese, and later African American teams.'" In the early 1930s, a women's Chinese Playground team won the San Francisco recreational league championship in its division for two years in a row." In the 1940s, the Blue Stars competed in the citywide league for the Chinese Playground. A former Blue Stars member, Norma Lee Horn, remembered that "a lot of the women on the team were athletic and competitive. They were multi-sport athletes - they were good at tennis and volleyball also."12 In addition to playing in the San Francisco recreational league, Chinese American girls also competed in a Chinese American basketball league sponsored by the Chinese Playground. Organized by Playground staff members Polly McCuire and Mary Lee, this league included divisions for girls ages fourteen and up, and drew more than eight teams from within Chinatown."In the 1930s and 1940s, women encountered restrictive basketball rules that limited the space in which they could run and their number of dribbles." Despite these rules, the Chinese Playground women's teams used a distinct style of play that was based on a quick tempo and high levels of physical contact.15 On offense, they created a quick passing style that maximized their speed.16 Franche Lee, a member of a Playground team in the early 1930s, explained their strategy:The Construction Industry Crime Prevention program suggests that contractors position their shipping containers so that the doors face the street. Contractors should also mark their equipment with names and driver's license numbers so that the tools are harder to sell or pawn, according to Karen Blythe, executive director of the program."There are lots of places to run," Grant said.At the back is an odd-looking covered stairway protruding from the rooftop."They're trying the best they can to stay on schedule," said Kathy Yee, pastoral associate with St. Juan Diego Catholic Church. "Everybody's really in a tough situation."They lived in a white concrete block "basement house.""We had a good childhood," Esther said "There are a lot of good memories in this house."It looks like the house was sucked underground, leaving just its peaked roof and the tops of a few windows sticking out. It's barely as tall as the 4-foot-high chain link fence around the yard!

Mateer said his company sometimes parks a forklift in front of its shipping container. That technique has so far been theft-proof, Mateer said.

Author: Aaron Spencer

Reader's Poem

AS STARS SLEPT The night had kidnapped the moon, stars sleeping, Unable to stir, Street-lamps stood drunkenly extinguished, inert, Without fire in despair, She made her way along the dark alley, the breeze Her only companion, Shivering, holding her breath at the shrinking, sculking Encroaching shadows, A black cat, eyes afire, his domain intruded upon, it Hesitated and moved on, A hand in hers, she shrieked, he smiled softly against Her cheek; A chain-link fence, their secret place, tryst such a coy Yet romantic word, Suddenly black fur, gnashing teeth, bodies hurled against The fence, Two pairs of yellow eyes, howling, growling, he gripped The fence and howled back, They backed off and shimmied down, panting, whining; He grabbed her hand, they ran breathlessly back to the hotel; A moment of memory sadness, time to move on, to live new Lives, as the old stars slept.

GEORGE CARRICK, Cramlington.