From: ghost_of_morphy@hotmail.com   
      
   Thanks for taking the time to post this.   
      
   On 29 Oct 2003 20:32:00 -0800, superphonics79@hotmail.com (Tracy   
   Sherwood) wrote:   
      
   >Doing time on the fire lines   
   >   
   >   
   >Dennis McCarthy   
   >   
   >   
   >Monday, October ! 27, 2003 - The little boy offered the tired   
   >firefighter candy from his Halloween basket as she took a break from   
   >fighting the Val Verde fire. Thank you, the boy said to Chris Walters,   
   >as his mother stood by, beaming.   
   >   
   >Another woman walked up to Rebecca Crowell and her crew taking a break   
   >in the park, asking if it would be OK to take their pictures.   
   >   
   >After the devastating fires were over and life returned to normal, she   
   >wanted to show her family what real heroes looked like, the woman   
   >said.   
   >   
   >These firefighters standing up to the inferno threatening their homes   
   >were putting their lives on the line for her and her neighbors. In   
   >their book, that made them nothing short of heroes.   
   >   
   >Outside the Lake Piru park on Saturday, motorists drove by honking   
   >their horns and giving the women from Malibu Conservation Camp 13 the   
   >thumbs-up sign.   
   >   
   >"They don't know who we are," Crowell said, speaking what was on   
   >everyone's mind. "They think we're regular firefighters."   
   >   
   >They're not. The women are prisoners. They're all inmates of the state   
   >Department of Corrections. Walters is serving 28 months for   
   >second-degree burglary. Crowell is serving 3 years for selling drugs.   
   >   
   >They are serving time in one of three female conservation camps in the   
   >state -- trained firefighters by day, prisoners by night.   
   >   
   >Their whole adult lives people have been calling them a lot of names,   
   >the women say. None of them has ever been a hero before.   
   >   
   >"It makes you feel good, feel decent," said Walters, passing the candy   
   >around to her crew. "It makes you feel like maybe we're paying back   
   >society a little for all the wrong things we've done."   
   >   
   >Right now, on the front lines of all the fires ravaging Southern   
   >California, there are 2,153 inmates from 38 prison camps in the state   
   >paying back society a little for what they've done, says Capt. John   
   >Peck, conservation camp program manager for the state Department of   
   >Corrections.   
   >   
   >"They're out there every year fighting fires in this program, but   
   >they've always been unheralded and behind the scenes," he said. "Maybe   
   >it's time more people knew about what these inmates are doing."   
   >   
   >Yeah, maybe, it is. Instead of sitting in a prison cell doing nothing,   
   >the inmates are helping fight fires with the L.A. County Fire   
   >Department.   
   >   
   >In return, they get their sentences cut in half, and a big shot of   
   >self-esteem.   
   >   
   >Besides the two female crews from the Malibu camp fighting the Simi   
   >Valley Fire, two other female crews from the same camp -- 28 women --   
   >have been on the front line fighting the Grand Prix Fire since last   
   >Tuesday.   
   >   
   >They're expected to be there another week, said Lt. Angela Alexander,   
   >camp commander, who travels and stays with the inmates in their base   
   >camps at night.   
   >   
   >"This is the first time a lot of these women have seen live fire   
   >action, felt the heat," Alexander said by phone from their base camp   
   >in Fontana on Monday.   
   >   
   >"They come back at night so excited and pumped up -- talking about how   
   >people hug and high-five them for helping save their house or their   
   >animals," she said.   
   >   
   >"One man came into camp the other night just to thank the women for   
   >saving his dog."   
   >   
   >He didn't care that the women were serving time or that they had   
   >committed nonviolent crimes. No, all that mattered was that they had   
   >saved his dog. That made them worthy of a trip to say "thank you."   
   >   
   >"Something like this changes your life. It has to," said Walters, who   
   >will be released in March.   
   >   
   >"You can't be the same person you were coming into prison when you go   
   >through an experience like this. When you have people waving and   
   >giving you the thumbs-up sign as you drive through their towns to   
   >fight a fire that may destroy everything they have."   
   >   
   >It makes you want to do something else beside sell drugs for a living,   
   >says Crowell, who is scheduled for release in September.   
   >   
   >"This whole experience makes me want to go back to school, and get the   
   >education I need to drive that fire truck for a living someday," she   
   >said.   
   >   
   >"I already have the experience."   
   >   
   >Dennis McCarthy's column appears Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday.   
   >Dennis McCarthy, (818) 713-3749 dennis.mccarthy@dailynews.com   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)