Greensboro’s police chief says that his department needs a dedicated gang unit to address the city’s increasing problems with gang activity and violence, including a recent string of homicides.
Chief Bellamy tells me that it would cost about $314,000 annually to fund a gang unit. That would pay for a supervisor, a corporal and five detectives.
Read more on The Cost of A Gang Unit…
Via email, and by permission, from a homeless friend and reader. Email subject is “Gang Experiences:” Email has been edited slightly to maintain anonymity:
I have had no real run-ins with a gang unless you want to count that shooting episode from Friday night! [Editor's note: Several young men in a car drove by and shot at him with what he assumes was a BB gun as he was standing on a sidewalk near downtown. One pellet hit his lower leg but he was wearing work boots and was uninjured.]
Read more on Gangs Targeting Greensboro’s Homeless?…
This video shows the NightWatch team on the streets of Greensboro. Created with Ron Londen’s photos (and a few of mine) and a clip from John Waller’s “The Blessing.”
Look who’s been visiting this page of my web site, from a Google search of “Greensboro NC homeless shelters.”
I guess that’s one way to do discharge planning.
[Sigh.]
Jackie Dowd, who blogs about homelessness, at “the 13th juror,”:
“A body was found this morning on the I-4 embankment in downtown Orlando and I’m wondering if it’s somebody I know.”
Read more on “I Hope It’s Not Somebody I Know”…
“All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.” — Hebrew 11:13-16
As I walked through the pharmacy the other day, I overheard a woman talking on her cell phone:
“…but I’m a good person…”
It’s been on my mind ever since.
What’s your theological worldview?
Here’s mine:
You scored as Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan, You are an evangelical in the Wesleyan tradition. You believe that God’s grace enables you to choose to believe in him, even though you yourself are totally depraved. The gift of the Holy Spirit gives you assurance of your salvation, and he also enables you to live the life of obedience to which God has called us. You are influenced heavily by John Wesley and the Methodists.
Read more on What’s Your Theological Worldview?…
Update: Well, I thought I was done, and then there was this. OK, the break starts (again) now… 
* * * * *
The cousins are coming! It’s that time again. My big (but tiny) sister and her husband and all the kids (the cousins!) will be here soon, and we’ll begin our annual extended family summer break. (There are already a bunch of us here in Greensboro, plus the folks down east.) I’m planning to do NOTHING but hang out with the whole huge family (grandparents, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, nephews, and of course, my own kids!) for the next couple of weeks. No computers. No telephones. No work. Just family. And Jesus! Summer break. (We’ll probably go visit some of our homeless friends, though, because they’re family, too.)
Good news in my inbox, from the Mental Health Association in North Carolina:
The Mental Health Association in North Carolina Public Policy Alert
MENTAL HEALTH PARITY PASSES THE NORTH CAROLINA GENERAL ASSEMBLY!!!!
Read more on Mental Health Parity Passes N.C. General Assembly…
Sally Greene posts from the National Alliance to End Homelessness’ D.C. Conference:
Indianapolis and Los Angeles, that are putting the chronically homeless to work. They’re finding that employment actually helps people with mental illness or substance abuse problems to find their way back: like the rest of us, they find satisfaction in productive work. Not necessarily 40 hours a week. At their own pace they are offered the chance to work as a way to put some structure to their days, to afford them a sense of self-worth.
Read more on Work Works For The Homeless…
From the Burlington Times-News:
A homeless man was seriously injured after three teens allegedly beat him in the head with their hands and feet Sunday night [July 1, 2007]. The man, who has been identified as 58-year-old Richard Sico, was initially taken to Alamance Regional Medical Center before being taken to UNC Hospitals in Chapel Hill. While he was listed in stable condition Monday night, police said his injuries were life-threatening…
Read more on Burlington Teens Assault Homeless Man…