Kevin Kamenetz, Baltimore County Executive, Democrat
"We fight for the poor, so grab your sh_t and get out!"
Posted on 12/18/2016 1:56:52 PM PST by grundle
When Rev. Katie Grover arrived on a recent morning at Patapsco United Methodist Church, one of two congregations she pastors in the Baltimore area, she was surprised to find a $12,000 citation attached to the door.
According to the citation, the church, located on a busy street in Dundalk, Md., had violated a county regulation that prohibits “non-permitted rooming and boarding” houses by allowing homeless individuals to sleep on church grounds. Patapsco UMC failed “to cease exterior use of property as housing units,” read the inspector’s comments. “People still living in rear of property under tarped area.”
Now the church has to decide by Sunday, Dec. 18, whether to evict homeless individuals from its grounds or pay a $12,000 county fine that would severely strain the small congregation’s lean budget.
Grover is aware that homeless people occasionally take refuge outside the church, either on a bench in front of the church building or a concrete slab where trash bins used to be stored. Two men in particular, Warren and John, have been regularly sleeping outside of the church for the past two years. One has attended a few worship services and once bought a lily from the church in honor of his mother.
To the Methodist minister, allowing those without beds to stay on church property is part of her Christian duty. “We’re just trying to do our business, which is caring for each and every human being,” says Grover. “The best we can do as a church right now is not deny homeless people access to a bench to sleep on.”
(Excerpt) Read more at yahoo.com ...
The Left: solving poverty by making it illegal.
Charity for those in trouble has, until this socialist paradigm took over, been the purview of churches and other charitable organizations. Government Marxists don’t want competition. It gives them less power to control people’s lives.
The church as a right to help the homeless.
It does not have a right to contribute to a blight on the community.
The people who live next to the church have the right to expect decent property values, not to have their property damaged, or live in a barrio the pastor and church are contributing to with their policies.
Luke 16:19-31 King James Version (KJV)
19 There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day:
20 And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores,
21 And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores.
22 And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried;
23 And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.
24 And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.
25 But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented.
26 And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence.
27 Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father’s house:
28 For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment.
29 Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.
30 And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent.
31 And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.
My favorite comment from the original site of the posting is from a Pastor who starts by saying he is just back from volunteering at the local men’s shelter. He continues with some very cogent points. If you actually want to help the homeless make a space for them inside, a double garage with cots and a port-o-potty. I really question the sincerity of someone who in the bitterest days of winter wants to help by letting someone sleep outside on a bench.
Kevin Kamenetz, Baltimore County Executive, Democrat
"We fight for the poor, so grab your sh_t and get out!"
One of the biggest mysteries to come out of the deadly Ghost Ship fire is why authorities didn’t do more to address safety and health concerns about a warehouse that some former residents described as a “death trap.”
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ghost-ship-fire-20161217-story.html
Trying to turn America into just another third world cess pit with their illegal shanty towns.
I’ve got to agree with that. Wouldn’t it be cheaper, as well as a whole lot more humane, to move these two guys into the cheapest of cheapola apartments somewhere, and help them get back on their feet with drug rehab or job training or whatever it is they need?
“Letting” them sleep outdoors on a concrete slab is something that would get you arrested if these were dogs and not men. It’s a less-than-veterinary approach.
Live. Work. Shop....Dundalk.
One of the all time great East Baltimore (Baltimore County actually) neighborhoods destroyed by f’n democratic machine in Maryland.
Thars yer problem raht thar.
Next target up on the liberty agenda: kid sleepovers. Once a mainstay of childhood and early teen years, liberals will soon be demanding home inspections and regulations, issuing fines to families who invite their friends over to unlicensed sleepover homes.
Katie could take them into her house.
Why hasn’t she given them jobs around the church and been permitted a room for, say, the church custodian. I’m sure this notice isn’t the first one she’s received. If she hadn’t ignore previous ones, maybe the church wouldn’t be facing a $12k fine. Liberals getting bitten in the behind by other liberals.
If a group wants to help the homeless, they need to devise a way to do it that doesn’t infringe on others. It’s a fine ideal to help others, but it is not a fine ideal to cause harm to a third party to accomplish it.
If I have a burden to help a homeless person, it is righteous to help them, but a sin to harm a third party. Harming the third party is theft. It is destroying the property or value of their property.
For this reason I never provide money to someone on the street. If I wish to help them, I provide directions to a shelter. Shelters comply with local health, safety, and zoning codes.
Shelters get people off the street, provide meals, and usually provide resources to get a person back up on their feet and a productive member of society again.
Any church that simply provides a bench on their property is violating the above ethics, in one or more ways. They are actually harming the homeless by helping them get by without taking advantage of an organized shelter.
The homeless need a hand up, not a hand out. They need to be evaluated by people who do it on a regular basis, and know where to refer them to for elevated resources.
Generally the people who won’t go to a shelter have a reason for it. They have an issue they don’t want to answer for, or they have burned their bridges through some act, or refusal to comply with reasoned rules at a shelter.
They have made their choice not to get the services available to them. So when you help them circumvent the system that is designed to do more than feed or allow them a place to sleep with no string attached, you aren’t really doing them a favor.
They need help beyond a vacant park bench. You need to herd them in that direction for help. You do that by refusing to allow them to congregate on church property.
You instead provide information where they can get the help they need.
That’s what a knowledgeable person who truly wants the best for them does.
Nobody needs to destroy their own property or create a blight in their neighborhood to help the homeless.
We are not required to put stress on our own family and neighbors to help them.
We keep our homes in decent shape, and help by donating to a shelter so they can actually help the homeless without infringing on other people’s reasoned expectations.
If there is no shelter in your area, talk to your city council and strive to start one. If there’s an emergency, have them help to find public resources that can be used immediately temporarily.
Rev. Katie Grover
Thars yer problem raht thar.
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Exactly what I was thinking.
I’m thinking the church should just claim the homeless are illegals.
Mmm . . . what we have here is conservative tree owners.
Here is a link to Helping Up Mission:
They have a comprehensive program for men who are homeless and/or addicted. Please check out the link for the programs and successes. Every year they advertise on Christian radio stations for sponsors to their graduation at Martin’s West, a beautiful venue. These successes help others.
Why should people sleep outside a church when they can get their lives back together?
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