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Once upon a time Manuel Carrizalez was a tough-talking, heroin-shooting, drug-peddling participant in Bakersfield's growing gang problem.   Manuel Carrizalez in 2004. Now he's part of the solution. The baby-faced former gang member was on hand Monday night when county supervisors and City Council members jointly approved an ambitious plan to run gangs out of Kern County. It's been a long time coming, says Carrizalez, director of Stay Focused Ministries, a mentoring program for at-risk kids. "There's always been a lot of talk about gangs, but this is the first time we've all come together to deal with it," he says. "I think now this is something that will work." Carrizalez should know. It took police, prison, prayer and a near-death drug overdose to drag him back from the brink of gang-dependent destruction. Now, he and his ministry are part of an east-Bakersfield coalition of community activists and faith-based groups that astute city and...
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