Three arrested, accused of illegally feeding homeless

Dont Taz Me Bro · Jun 5, 2011

Members of Orlando Food Not Bombs were arrested Wednesday when police said they violated a city ordinance by feeding the homeless in Lake Eola Park.

Jessica Cross, 24, Benjamin Markeson, 49, and Jonathan "Keith" McHenry, 54, were arrested at 6:10 p.m. on a charge of violating the ordinance restricting group feedings in public parks. McHenry is a co-founder of the international Food Not Bombs movement, which began in the early 1980s.

The group lost a court battle in April, clearing the way for the city to enforce the ordinance. It requires groups to obtain a permit and limits each group to two permits per year for each park within a 2-mile radius of City Hall.

Arrest papers state that Cross, Markeson and McHenry helped feed 40 people Wednesday night. The ordinance applies to feedings of more than 25 people.

"They intentionally violated the statute," said Lt. Barbara Jones, an Orlando police spokeswoman.

Homeless feeding: 3 members of Orlando Food Not Bombs arrested for feeding homeless at Lake Eola - OrlandoSentinel.com
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Since when does being charitable require permission from almighty government? Typical bureaucratic douchebaggery. I wonder how much real crime was taking place in Orlando while the jackbooted Gestapo was rounding up the prodigal sons.

boedicca · Jun 5, 2011

It's the same strain of government thuggery which fines a teenage boy and his family $90,000 because he made $200 in profit breeding and selling bunny rabbits over a three year period.

Mr. H. · Jun 5, 2011

boedicca said: ↑

It's the same strain of government thuggery which fines a teenage boy and his family $90,000 because he made $200 in profit breeding and selling bunny rabbits over a three year period.
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It appears these folks did break a law. Seems fair to enforce laws across the board.

From the "Fairness" thread:

boedicca said: ↑

Real fairness means that we are treated equally under the law.

Anything else is a form of cronyism which is UNFAIR.
Click to expand...

WillowTree · Jun 5, 2011

Dont Taz Me Bro said: ↑

Members of Orlando Food Not Bombs were arrested Wednesday when police said they violated a city ordinance by feeding the homeless in Lake Eola Park.

Jessica Cross, 24, Benjamin Markeson, 49, and Jonathan "Keith" McHenry, 54, were arrested at 6:10 p.m. on a charge of violating the ordinance restricting group feedings in public parks. McHenry is a co-founder of the international Food Not Bombs movement, which began in the early 1980s.

The group lost a court battle in April, clearing the way for the city to enforce the ordinance. It requires groups to obtain a permit and limits each group to two permits per year for each park within a 2-mile radius of City Hall.

Arrest papers state that Cross, Markeson and McHenry helped feed 40 people Wednesday night. The ordinance applies to feedings of more than 25 people.

"They intentionally violated the statute," said Lt. Barbara Jones, an Orlando police spokeswoman.

Homeless feeding: 3 members of Orlando Food Not Bombs arrested for feeding homeless at Lake Eola - OrlandoSentinel.com
Click to expand...

Since when does being charitable require permission from almighty government? Typical bureaucratic douchebaggery. I wonder how much real crime was taking place in Orlando while the jackbooted Gestapo was rounding up the prodigal sons.
Click to expand...

They should feed them in their homes and stay out of the city parks. From what I read they were begging to be arrested. They got what they asked for.

Oddball · Jun 5, 2011

Who is again that wants people starving in the streets?

xsited1 · Jun 5, 2011

It looks like they might have been arrested for being ugly.

rdean · Jun 5, 2011

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpb4nwfiaPY]YouTube - ‪Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer : "Don't feed the poor. They'll 'breed.'" FULL AUDIO‬&rlm;[/ame]

“My grandmother was not a highly educated woman, but she told me as a small child to quit feeding stray animals. You know why? Because they breed! You’re facilitating the problem if you give an animal or a person ample food supply. They will reproduce, especially ones that don’t think too much further than that. And so what you’ve got to do is you’ve got to curtail that type of behavior. They don’t know any better.”

– Andre Bauer, lieutenant governor of South Carolina
and candidate for S.C. governor

C_Clayton_Jones · Jun 5, 2011

Police had not enforced the ordinance while the court battle continued. The U.S. District Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit in Atlanta ruled that city rules regulating how often large groups of people can be fed in a park do not violate the Constitution.
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Well, there you go its not rocket science. Either obey the law or suffer the consequences. Otherwise appeal the ruling.

tigerbob · Jun 5, 2011

Oddball said: ↑

Who is again that wants people starving in the streets?
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I think it's more a case of not wanting them starving in the parks.

waltky · Jun 15, 2011

Homeless numbers increasing...

HUD: Rural Americans Increasingly Turn to Shelters
Tuesday, June 14, 2011 WASHINGTON (AP) As the recession gripped America, thousands more people in rural and suburban areas turned to homeless shelters for help.

The number of people using shelters or transitional housing in suburban and rural areas increased 57 percent from 2007 to 2010, with more than 500,000 people from smaller communities seeking help in 2010, according to a report by the Housing and Urban Development Department. During the same time there was a decrease in the use of shelters in urban areas. HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan said Tuesday in a conference call with reporters that about 40 percent of those who served in the armed forces come from rural areas and homelessness among Iraq and Afghanistan veterans could be a contributing factor. He said the agency is stepping up efforts to combat homelessness near some military bases, and that legislation signed in 2009 by President Barack Obama contained a component that opens the door for more programs targeting homelessness in rural areas.

Families represent a much larger share of the total sheltered population than ever before, the report said. A majority of the homeless families consist of a single mother with young children. "It's not surprising, given the economic crisis, that we would see an increasing number of families," Donovan said. "I think it is a direct result of the employment, the economic challenges we've seen." The report said research has shown that families are more likely to become homeless for economic reasons while individuals are more likely to become homeless because of substance abuse and mental illness.

There was a bright spot in the report. The total number of people chronically homeless during the four-year period decreased 11 percent. Donovan said the emphasis on programs to assist the chronically homeless and increase in permanent supportive housing nationwide helps explain why. And, the number of homeless individuals overall in the United States held steady between 2009 and 2010, the report said. The worse recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s began in December 2007 and ended in 2009, although unemployment remains at painfully high levels.

HUD: Rural Americans Increasingly Turn to Shelters | CNSnews.com
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