Posted on 12/17/2013 11:56:58 AM PST by fungoking
A small Missouri town was sued on Monday by a homeless couple who are accusing it of violating their constitutional rights by forcing them to leave because they stood on a street corner holding a sign seeking assistance. Brandalyn Orchard and Edward Gillespie, who were holding a sign that read "Traveling. Anything helps. God Bless," obeyed police who ordered them to leave Miner, Missouri, on September 26, according to the federal lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union on the couple's behalf. Officers, who showed them copies of ordinances against vagrancy, begging and loitering, told the couple they would be arrested if they did not leave town in five minutes, the lawsuit said. The city clerk in the town of 980 people in southeast Missouri said ordinances the officers cited do not exist, the lawsuit said. "The police are our first line of defense and we entrust them with the ability to arrest, but in return we need some checks and balances," Jeffrey Mittman, executive director of the ACLU of Missouri, said in a news release. "The ACLU is stepping in because it is especially egregious when police try to intimidate those who are least likely to have the resources to defend their rights." Joe Fuchs, attorney for the city, declined to comment on the lawsuit on Monday. The two police officers allegedly involved in the incident were not identified in the lawsuit. Orchard and Gillespie, from Missouri, are asking the court for unspecified damages and an injunction to prevent the city from attempting to enforce "policies and customs" that are unconstitutional. It is unclear where the officers got the ordinances they showed the couple, Missouri ACLU attorney Anthony Rothert said. ...Free speech protections allowed the couple to hold the sign....
(Excerpt) Read more at shine.yahoo.com ...
Oh, snap!
There, but for the Grace of God, go all of us.
ha ha....drive them to McDonalds and put a “fry hat” on them......That’s my choice....
Back in the ‘60’s the across-the-street alcoholic neighbor died. His relatives from the Ozark mountains showed up and occupied the house. They never closed the door, installed a still in the one car stand-alone garage and fell down dead drunk in the yard and frequently slept on the ground. There were two men and one woman. They were sometimes naked outside. (This was an ordinary lower-class suburban neighborhood in Tampa.) The police where there frequently as their constant fighting, screaming, and occasional shootin’ iron shots into the sky scared the next door neighbor to death. One day they were packing up the truck and the beat up ‘55 Dodge Hemi and I wandered over to ask what they were doing. One of them told me, “the cops said if they came here one more time we’d all go to jail. They suggested we leave.”
The house was empty for the next 20 years.
BUMPASSSS!!!!!!
So, how about some checks and balances on the ACLU?
I'm betting there is much, much more to the story than what we are reading here.
I smell lawsuit shopping. The ACLU has successfully turned most of our big city downtowns into wino hangouts, so I'm guessing they are working on smaller towns now.
“BUMPASSSS!!!!!!”
Definition?
“There, but for the Grace of God, go all of us.”
Not really. God has given me talent and health. God also wants us to work and provide for our families.
God has something to say in his Word about people who wont work.
This can’t possibly be true. We have had Obama for five years now. There are no more homeless people.
Fishy.
A town of 980 people needs two (at least) officers?
“Folks were hobos from Florida. “
I’m probably a Florida hobo now, as my driveway is 300 feet twisting through the woods. I could, if I so desired, run around naked as nobody can see me. But we have mosquitoes who could collectively suck you dry and ticks...
““BUMPASSSS!!!!!!”
Definition?”
Its from the 1983 movie, A Christmas Story.
The father of the movie has hillbilly neighbors (never seen, but referred to). The name of this hillbilly family that lives next door is Bumpass. The Bumpass dogs have an affection for the old man, but are destructive. In one scene, after the dogs have come and gone through his house, destroying some things, he yells out after them, “Bumpass’s!!!!!”
Aren’t all those jobs taken by liberal arts college graduates ?
The late so great Jean Shepherd reference. Story found in “Wanda Hickeys night of golden memories and other disasters”. If you read it you will be reduced to laughing out loud
Either that or drive them to the next town - the sign did say ‘Traveling, Anything helps’, right?
Miner, Mo. shares a city limit with the much bigger town of Sikeston, Mo. Pop about 20,000, which has a significant feral population (Miner has none).
My mother lives in Miner.
Thanks....several of Shepherd’s other stores are on youtube, the great 4th of July with a young Matt Dillon is great...Nazi music behind the manical band director..Mrs. Y.Y. Flurch of Fishagon Michigan
the great 4th of July
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vK9cIxM4-SU
link to shepherd forum with links to other videos
http://www.sheptalk.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=19
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