VENTURA : Volunteers Raise Tent City for Veterans

Volunteers on Thursday erected a mini-tent city at Ventura College to give Ventura County’s homeless veterans a chance to get off the streets and in touch with dozens of social service agencies during a three-day event that begins today.

Over the weekend, veterans will have the opportunity to get a haircut, job counseling, a dental checkup and medical attention. They will also have the chance to shower in campus facilities and sleep in 18-person tents set up on the college’s football field.

Veterans with outstanding misdemeanor warrants or other legal problems may be able to clear them up through a mini-court set up on the football field. Volunteer judges and lawyers will be available to handle legal matters.

The event, named Stand Down after the military term used to describe moving from a combat situation to one of safety, will run through Sunday afternoon. Registration begins this morning at 7 a.m. In recent years, similar programs have taken place in San Diego, Long Beach, Santa Monica and Sacramento.

“It just gives them a chance to get cleaned up and get a little sleep with both eyes shut,” said organizer Gary Quiggle, a manager with the state unemployment office.

Yet, he said, Stand Down 1993 will not solve all of the veterans’ problems.

“We may take a few off the street, but homelessness is growing, not shrinking,” he said.

Jesus Carreon, president of Ventura College, said organizers hope Stand Down will become an annual, countywide event.

“The bottom line is that they, for a weekend, find out that people do care,” he said.