CATHOLIC CHARITIES: Homeless who drink left out: Agency gives breath test to men seeking shelter

[NVMojo]

December 3, 2006

The frail man wearing a too big, tattered brown jacket, grease-stained jeans, torn tennis shoes, a stocking cap and a tired, toothless smile pursed his lips and blew into a machine an inch from his mouth.

Held by a security staff member for Catholic Charities of Southern Nevada, the yellow AlcoBlow device, which looks more like a flashlight than a breath test for alcohol, registered what the nervous homeless man hoped it would: He did not show signs of drinking.

Had his blood alcohol content shown evidence of his having consumed what amounts to one beer or a half glass of wine in the past hour, he wouldn't have been allowed to enter the winter shelter off Las Vegas Boulevard and Foremaster Lane that Catholic Charities runs as part of a contract with Clark County.

"I knew I hadn't drank anything, but I never trust machines," the man said. "I don't like having to go through this, but it isn't so bad when you consider you get a place to sleep if you pass. When you're homeless, you put up with an awful lot."

More than 200 men, shivering in the cold, underwent the same test late Thursday afternoon before they could get a warm bed. Administered by red-jacketed security personnel, the sobriety test policy is necessary "in the interest of safety," according to Catholic Charities community relations director Sharon Mann.

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http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2006/Dec-03-Sun-2006/news/11175349.html