Position Papers

By Barry Michael Seybert

Homeless, guns, Film Commission

HOMELESS

We could develop a rehab program for the employable homeless, potentially through federal grant funding. We might be able to have non-profit organizations such as Dream Center or BAAD assist us in implementing such programs.

We would keep the homeless shelters open all year to provide stable room and board for the participants of the program. This would also provide a stable address and working phone so they could eventually apply for jobs outside the program.

The program would insist on participants maintaining a drug and alcohol free existence. The participants would provide services for the City. They could be trained to work within the recycling program, landscaping, construction, road and other maintenance projects. Several would also have responsibilities within the shelter such as cooking, cleaning, security and maintenance. Some with prior skills may be employable at better quality positions within the city.

This program would give them current work experience and employment history while the city would also receive extra man (or woman) power. The shelter could also maintain a Day Care Center for their children self run by the same program.

The business community would be encouraged to hire graduates of this program through incentives. One area this may prove very successful is in recycling. Any private trash collection service licensed to do business within the Valley City should provide recycling. The city could train recycling staff through the rehab program. The private collectors could then hire from the city program allowing the city to rehab more individuals.

------------------------------------------------------------ GUN REGISTRATION

I've had gun registration & gun education listed on my platform since day one!

Here's something else we can accomplish as a City. We WILL have the power to start a movement to control guns (I didn't say abolish them).

My platform has been that guns should be regulated like automobiles. If done right, we could create a national movement. Educational programs lead to a license allowing for ownership. Then the gun must have its caseing print filed to creat a record of its firing pattern. Anyone selling guns must be licensed to do so. NO GUN SHOWS. Amunition only sold to those holding a license for the like gun (exceptions for those licensed to instruct &/or shooting ranges).

I would hope that if done properly, the NRA could assist such a program like the AAA does for the automobile. Abolishing guns altogether doesn't make an area safer. The criminal element will always get a gun.

If we can get a program going now. It could take 20 years, but we can eventually elliminate most of the non-registered guns. Guns used in crimes would either be destroyed or have their caseing print registered into the computer and legally sold.

Gun ownership is a right that was granted to the citizens. If automobiles were around then, their ownership probably would have become an amendment too! It's time we control guns the way we control automobiles. Both kill in the wrong hands and both are useful in the right hands. The automobile laws still aren't perfect 100 years later and the NRA uses that against gun registration. It is still something that needs to be done now and the affect will be long term. It may not be the perfect solution but it is far better then what is currently not being done.

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Film Commission

The EIDC should be a self governing board with neighborhood representation, not self appointed City Government members running it.