Activist Arrested For Feeding Homeless At Lake Eola

reply to post by djzombie
Typical p.o.s. government and cops can't say I'm surprised.

We contaminate our own food supply, we dumb down our own population, we use theatrical scare tactics to induce terror amongst our own public, and all the while we the people pretend we (know nothing about it or) can't do anything about it. Our government is free to lie to us, and (supposedly) even kills our own people for profit. Yet we sit here and do next to nothing to stop it. And as if this weren't enough...

Apparently, now we're arresting people for trying to help OTHER (less fortunate) people.

^ Read that one more time. We're ARRESTING people for trying to help OTHER people who are hungry.



At what point do we realize that we've lost control of everything, including our rights? If we allow the government to outlaw "basic assistance," how in the hell can we expect to stop them from taking over everything?


- Strype

Wait until Barack and Michelle find out!
I think it is absolutely disgusting that the authorities have such a cold heart. I totally admire the chap who has put himself out to help the homeless. I work with homless people and believe me if i was rich i would not think twice about working for my organisation for NOTHING!
Most average people are 3 pay checks away from homelessness. People should remember that, because one day it could be you. As for the Police...divorce, relationship breakdown, illness. It can happen to anyone. No one is safe in this day and age, even the most educated of us.
One thing which doe's puzzle me,, here in England is why the Government are trying to help people struggling with their mortgates and yet people that rent are treated like second class citizens? If anyone know's or there are any Ministers reading this, please let me know. We are all people at the end of the day and i for one find the one's with mortgages are the working class snobs. The one's with the 4x4, the buy now pay later brigade, the one's Thatcher knew would follow the carrott and the stick!
Homelessness is a terrible thing. Is it a crime to be poor? In the west it is a crime to be poor. Why when all we want is a roof over our heads and a nice life?

Originally posted by mr-lizard
It angers me so much that some people are so empty inside.

They're empty inside because it is apparently illegal to feed them! Oo

What a really insane asinine law..

Just wow....

This is disturbing but it's not new. My husband used to work in a large city. Nearby there was a bridge where homeless slept, many of them were vets from Iraq. I baked up extra things and he would take them food before his shift. One night a couple of officers stopped him, and threatened to arrest him if he came back again.

When my husband asked the officers why they had a problem with him giving them food, they explained that they planned to clean out that area of homeless people, and did not want food being brought....and compared them to animals hanging around for food.

It still makes me sick to my stomach.

Originally posted by InSpiteOf
I wonder how much money the police surveillance unit cost the city. Not to mention the court costs, and the PR.

I also wonder how many of those homeless people could have been fed with that kind of money.

I guess they consider the problem NOT the starving homeless or their plight, but that nefarious swarms of homeless vermin are polluting their city and the only way to repel the plague is to enforce a "Don't feed the homeless" law.

Sickening...

Really bloody sickening.. Strikes me as something you'd expect to see in the dark world robocop was envisioned.

Originally posted by salchanra
Hold on a second.

While I am all for helping those in need, there are better ways to go about it than this.

These people were gathered at a public park. Public. Meaning everyone has a right to gather and use this land. Homeless, families, fishermen, what have you.

Should it be known that if you are homeless and hungry, come here and you will be fed, the place would be overrun. So much for use by all. I certainly wouldnt want to have a family day picnic with 3000 homeless. Just not my idea of a relaxing afternoon.

So it's "for use by all" except the homeless because they offend you?

Did you not see the part where these 3000 homeless people CAN congregate on your park, as long as the persons supplying them with sustenance have a Large Feeding Group PERMIT?

(b) It is unlawful to fail to produce and display the Large Group Feeding Permit during or after a large group feeding, while still on site, to a law enforcement officer upon demand.

Source of Order

According to that legislature, a family of more than 25 cannot even attend a public bbq in an area if there is only 1 person cooking.

Ridiculous. Absolutely. Much MUCH more than a bit much.

You're not the reason this law is in effect. It is obviously a cash in on a statistical certainty.

In Perth, we have a park in the city that every night is visited by a soup truck...

Not over run, not inundated with lice ridden human scum as this law obviously wants to portray homeless people. No, quietly they come, grab a soup and disappear back to whatever unfortunate hovel they inhabit for the night.

Lets rob the poor, to keep the rich satisfied they wont have to see them.

On a different note, if this guy really wants to help out, instead of breaking the law, he could simply invite everyone to his house and feed them there. No laws on the books about that. He gets his wish to help people, and the park is again free for everyones enjoyment.

On that I'll agree, but if I see someone in need, I don't believe the suits who make pathetic arrogant and ignorant laws should play any part in MY generosity or what I do with MY time.

A crime is something that should affect someone negatively, not supply them with nourishment for the night.

Unreal..

Originally posted by bloodcircle

Lets rob the poor, to keep the rich satisfied they wont have to see them.

Absolutely, we don't want the rich being reminded at whose expense they acquired their riches.

USA is a useless fascist genocidal nation that should be destroyed .
it starves it own poor

edit: delete previous comment

I think it's great that the ACLU stepped in on behalf of the organizations with a successful outcome. I also agree that giving a hand up is often the best solution all the way around, but for the short term these organizations provide an invaluable service which should not be diminished.

[edit on 24-3-2009 by elfie]

Wow, this was just ridiculous, but I am not surprised. The police always seem to be wasting their time on activities that are far less worse than say something like, oh I don't know, drug dealing? In MD this always seems to be the case. They are too busy writing parking tickets and harassing common citizens instead of locking up the drug dealers and prostitutes hanging out on street corners.

I don't want to completely bash the cops because I'm sure there are plenty who take their jobs seriously and really do serve and protect, but most of the time I just see them writing parking tickets and handing out ridiculous fines. Its like some of them are too scared to get involved in anything worse than that.

As someone who was homeless for a time I agree with Orlando on this. If you feed them they will come. The problem with that is that these people have little to try for if everything is handed out to them.

Helping people in need is a good thing. But what happens is that people in need tend to stop trying to help themselves. I saw it far to often. From the man that was living in a homeless shelter going on 6 years to people who completely gave up.

It's good to help someone in need. But it is better to help someone help themselves. Give them an opertunity to better themselves. That is the key.

reply to post by whatukno


Same boat as you for a while, but this reminds me of a story from New Hampshire. Short version.. Man was sleeping in a public park put all his stff under the town gazebo during the day, made sure he was clean and everythign he was near was picked up and neat no trash around. The Police arrested him for loitering and the like, it went to court, the new Hampshire courts decided that it was a) A Public Place and therefore as the public he had a right to sleep there if he chose, and B) It was not against the law for him to doso, chrges dismissed, what did the police do? Have him arrested AGAIN and committed as mentally ill.

Homelessness has been labeled a crime in this country, it shouldn't be, but it is. There's some good articles on it here:
www.nationalhomeless.org...

Originally posted by djzombieI used to wish for california to detach itself from the continent and float away, but recent developments have shown me that I should've been wishing that upon florida.

It's been done.


This is obvously a case of stupid laws made by stupid people.
When helping the less fortunate is against the law, there's a problem with the system.

reply to post by djzombie


An affidavit said Montanez was only arrested because he attempted to conceal his identity and threw his ID.

"I had it in my hand. They cuffed me and they dragged me off. I can't hold onto things with handcuffs on my hands," he said.

sounds like he was already arrested before he 'tried to conceal his ID' nice try po po.

Originally posted by whatukno
As someone who was homeless for a time I agree with Orlando on this. If you feed them they will come. The problem with that is that these people have little to try for if everything is handed out to them.

Helping people in need is a good thing. But what happens is that people in need tend to stop trying to help themselves. I saw it far to often. From the man that was living in a homeless shelter going on 6 years to people who completely gave up.

It's good to help someone in need. But it is better to help someone help themselves. Give them an opertunity to better themselves. That is the key.

Sure, the idea of getting people to help themselves is a good thing; the best thing.

But don't make it illegal for others to help people. How can you agree with that? How can you say "Let's find a way to get them to help themselves, and if you disagree then you deserve to be arrested!" ?

A law to punish those helping out people?????????

PUNISH?



Why not just execute the homeless.

No wonder I have lost faith in the human race...

Originally posted by whatukno
As someone who was homeless for a time I agree with Orlando on this. If you feed them they will come. The problem with that is that these people have little to try for if everything is handed out to them.

I have to agree. Look at this latimesblogs.latimes.com...

Michelle Obama serves food to D.C. poor and homeless

If this unidentified meal recipient is too poor to buy his own food, how does he afford a cellphone?

And if he is homeless, where do they send the cellphone bills?




He spent all his money on a cell phone.

reply to post by Whiteone


Things are not always black and white. He may have had that phone before he became homeless. He may have a prepaid phone, if that's the case they don't send any bill. They have plans for $30. a month or less, they have prepaid plans for as little as $1. a day, only for the days that you use your phone.

I do understand the point that you are trying to make, however $30. a month will not pay his rent anywhere, nor will it buy him much food. Maybe the man has a couple of side jobs cleaning windows, or mowing lawns and needs a phone for clients to contact him for odd jobs, Maybe he doesn't eat at these places every day, just when he needs to. There are some homeless that have only been able to find part time work (or odd jobs) with very little pay leaving them with not enough to afford housing, or even food every day.

So while it does make some wonder what a homeless person eating in a soup kitchen is doing with a cell phone, you must remember that very few things in this world are black and white.

reply to post by Le Colonel


21 years ago was the last time I went to the United States... and here's why:

I'd taken my wife and 2 little children to Montana to show them some of the beautiful country down there and just to visit the US. At one particular stop an incident happened that pissed me off so bad I nearly killed a park warden that day. I can't remember exactly where it was, but it might have been Glacier National Park, which joins up with Waterton Lakes National Park in Canada.

Anyway, I was showing my children a little trick that my father had shown me when I was a little tyke. He'd discovered that gophers and little chipmunks will play with you by getting them interested. What you do is get down on your haunches so as not to spook them too much. If you toss tiny little pebbles, not much bigger than a grain of sand in their vicinity where they can see them, they will chase the little pebbles. You can entice them closer and closer... to the point where they will walk on you.

My children thought it was pure magic, but some big burly park warden didn't. He came out of nowhere and came stomping over... and in an attempt to intimidate me and appear to be tough, he bellered out (for all to hear) that it was against the rules to feed the animals. That's when I became quite unglued and we damned near had an international incident right then and there.

When I fired right back at that big bastard and told him where to get off, he backed off. But then, because he was feeling like an idiot now, with all the onlookers seeing that someone was not gonna be pushed around, he came back at me a second time. And I fired a second salvo at him. He ended it by saying 'Why don't you f^&* off back to Canada".

And I did just that. And I've never returned to the states and my children who are now 26 and 27 have never returned either.

Back then it was against the law to feed animals. And now it's against the law to feed humans? What in hell is going on down there? No wonder we've never returned.




[edit on 24-3-2009 by Albertarocks]

So Obama wants you to be an activist (GIVE) but apparently only Gov't sanctioned activism. Otherwise, you get throw in the slammer.