Is Yucca Valley Diana Dead or Alive?

Homeless Diana’s Condition Worse than Agencies Report

By Rae Packard

December 4, 2010

YUCCA VALLEY -  Diana was camped in the open lot directly on 29 Palms Highway, next to the Yucca Valley Welcome Center for more than one month.  The bags surrounding her were filled with donated clothing and food, which were rotting because she refused to eat or drink anything except “cabbage and de-caffeinated coffee.”  She gave me permission to look under the soiled blanket in which she was wrapped.  She was soaked in urine and she sat in her own feces.   And there was a freeze warning for that night.

While the Town Manager, Mark Nuaimi, Sheriff Captain Donny Miller and Jim Anderson from Adult Protective Services immediately responded to my calls, what they determined was disturbing.  The Sheriff deemed her “transient by choice.”  Transient by choice are those homeless in our community who know how to care for themselves and utilize resources.  They know where the public restrooms are.  They panhandle.  Diana was doing none of this.

Adult Protective Services reported that Diana was answering questions coherently, so did not fit the Welfare and Institutions Code 5150 criteria of being a danger to herself.

I pointedly asked Mr. Nuaimi how the agencies involved could explain their choice: a hospital transport vs. a dead body?  He stated that he would not sit by as I made “irresponsible indictments.”  I do not answer to Mr. Nuaimi.  This was not political.  This was a civilized, human concern.

He then emailed me a tirade that our government or society cannot take away human rights.  Really?  I have to wear a helmet.  I have to wear a seat belt. Rights taken away in the name of “safety.”  What about Diana’s safety?  She was not safe from harassment or assault, or from oncoming the freeze.

I not only worry about what happened to Diana after her quick released from custody, but I also worry about the motives of the agencies involved and why they would have let her die there.

Rae Packard