Posted on 09/04/2009 10:08:16 PM PDT by SmithL
Sacramento police arrested 17 homeless residents at their "safe ground" campsite this morning, including one advocate for the homeless.
Rev. David Moss, a Methodist Minister, was taken into custody along with other campers, charged with illegal camping, Sacramento police Sgt. Norm Leong said.
A press release by Loaves & Fishes early morning claimed Sister Libby Fernandez, executive director of the Loaves & Fishes homeless services group, was arrested together with other campers. But later Sacramento police clarified that she was only detained for a short period when police arrived to search the camp.
Only those who had been previously cited for illegal camping and who police have evidence to show for having camped there for more than 24 hours were taken into custody, police said.
Sacramento police said they were responding to complaints from neighbors, including an elderly man whose house is adjacent to the site. The man, Pedro Hernandez, 71, has told The Bee that campers have insulted him, left trash in the area and generally disrupted his life.
Fernandez said she has slept at the site periodically but never in the presence of officers. She said that she and others plan to continue to occupy the property until the city stops issuing ordinances and establishes a legal camping site with basic services such as running water and garbage pickup.
"They want to stand tall and bring this to court for a solution," said Fernandez.
"We know that making an arrest is not a solution for the homeless issue," Leong said. "But we have to enforce the city ordinance, to protect the rights of the neighboring residents and businesses."
Leong said those who were arrested were taken to the Sacramento County Jail and will be booked and probably released later in the day.
(Excerpt) Read more at sacbee.com ...
I’m not sure what this accomplished...
it got these nutballs to stop stealing land and poisoning the water by crapping where ever they want. California has plenty of services for people who are not grandstanding glory hounds.
It’s interesting how “rights” get invented for where you can lounge as a homeless guy. Public property is always acceptable and folks tend to think that public property has no rules assigned to it. Rather than waste time arguing about stuff like this...or spend hours being interviewed by some news group...or just sitting around, I think I’d talk to social services about a job and see how quick I could get back up on my feet. Any job is better than no job, and you can always move up by proving your willingness.
It spent money.
The Obamavilles will continue to grow until there are jobs. Rousting the unemployed costs money and obligates the city to feed them.
The stupid among America’s municipalities will blow money on trying to make this just go away, but they are not going to have much luck.
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