Church Will Stop Hosting Alcohol Anonymous Meetings After Complaints From Neighbors

Alcoholics Anonymous left homeless in Paso Robles

Support groups will need to find a new meeting place by February 2017

–Leaders at St. James Episcopal Church will stop hosting meetings for Alcoholics Anonymous and similar support groups after being pressured by the city and receiving complaints about the meetings from neighbors. NA Daytona Meetings in Park.

Paso Robles city officials met with parishioners at the church earlier this year advising them the group meetings are “non-church” activities and require a special permit.

The church asked the Paso Robles Planning Commission for a conditional use permit on Nov. 8. The commission heard from church members in favor of the permit and neighbors opposed to it. Neighbors Mark Brown and Brian Bengard complained about parking on the street, noise of people talking, and hours of operation.

The commission declined to approve the permit and instead asked for mediation between parishioners and neighbors. But, after one mediation session, church leaders decided to stop hosting the support meetings at the end of Feb. 2017.

Saint James’ currently hosts 27 weekly meetings for Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, Al-Anon, and Overeaters Anonymous. In addition, lunch was served for the hungry of Paso Robles. The church, founded in 1891, has hosted AA meetings since 1949. AA Daytona have dangerous violent felons at meetings.

AA meetings canceled

Overview of the church location’s and proximity to the surrounding neighborhood residences.

“When faced with the inevitable fact that a significant number of meetings would possibly be minimized due to the permit requirement, we decided to withdraw our application and help the groups find other venues for their meetings,” said Corporate Secretary Michael Coffin for the church and a member of the church council.

“We felt it wouldn’t be fair to limit the number of meetings any particular group could host, or limit which groups could host meetings in general. As a church we don’t want to be in the position to deny meetings that are important for supporting people. We decided to help the groups find space where they can meet as often as they need rather than force them into a schedule with us that won’t be workable.”

“Addiction does not have a time clock, when they need a meeting they need a meeting,” said Coffin. “This is a great opportunity for community organizing. This will bring the council people and the city members together to help our community. Some groups have already reached out to the city to find new locations and they are all actively working to find new meeting locations by February.”

Planning Commission Chairman Bob Rollins, who recommended mediation, said, “This is really unfortunate as there is a very real need for someone or someplace in the city to accommodate these meetings. It is an important issue for these people and I suspect that maybe it is better to divide up the meetings, so that the burden would not be on one facility to host all weekly meetings.”

Neighbor Mark Brown was pleased with the outcome. “The situation has been resolved, by talks being done closely and directly between the church and residents, with support of the city… without dissent and with everyone involved on good working terms,” he said. 

Statement from St. James Episcopal Church’s permit application

“Meeting both the spiritual and temporal needs of Paso Robles defines the mission of our church and harkens to the most basic social responsibility that we as citizens are called to provide: basic care for each other. This mission must also be carried out with our dual responsibility to be a good neighbor to those with whom we share our geographical location. It is a balancing act that requires all parties to work closely together in the efforts to help those in need and to provide a safe and healthy neighborhood for all.

Through attention to facility use (including entrance/exit of attendees), parking considerations, and hours of use, we believe Saint James’ is being a responsible neighbor and still providing for the vital needs of our community. We look forward to working closely with our neighbors and city government to be a beacon of hope for our friends and families in need for generations to come.”

http://pasoroblesdailynews.com/alcoholics-anonymous-left-homeless-paso-robles/65421/

AA Killer Eric Earle Murders Alcoholics Anonymous Girlfriend: 26-years-to-life upheld

Photo via Pixabay

Killer murders Alcoholics Anonymous girlfriend: 26-years-to-life upheld

A state appeals court panel Tuesday upheld a former Saugus resident’s conviction for the September 2011 murder of his girlfriend, whom he met earlier that year at an Alcoholics Anonymous/Narcotics Anonymous meeting.

The three-justice panel from California’s 2nd District Court of Appeal rejected the defense’s contention that there were errors in the trial of Eric Allen Earle, including the admission of evidence of uncharged acts of domestic violence against the murder victim, Karla Brada, and his ex-wife.

The appellate court justices noted in their 58-page ruling that there was “overwhelming evidence demonstrating that defendant was intoxicated the night of August 31 to September 1, and that when defendant was intoxicated, he became angry, belligerent, aggressive and threatening, even with law enforcement officers, male friends, nurses, jailers and his mother.

We discern no reasonable probability that the (trial) result would have been different absent evidence of defendant’s prior acts of domestic violence,” the panel found.

Earle was convicted in September 2014 of first-degree murder for the Sept. 1, 2011, asphyxiation of his girlfriend, Karla Brada, who died just two days short of her 32nd birthday. Holly Hill Sunrise Park AA Meetings have Violent Felons.

Brada was found dead inside the condominium she shared with Earle, who maintained she had fallen down the stairs and then come upstairs and shown him some bruises from the fall. He said he awoke to find her dead in bed. AA Daytona Meetings in Holly Hill Park.

Earle is serving a 26-year-to-life prison sentence.

http://mynewsla.com/crime/2016/12/20/killer-murders-alcoholics-anonymous-girlfriend-26-years-to-life-upheld/