Posted on 04/01/2007 10:37:48 AM PDT by Stoat
| Homeless Men Win $45,000 Lawsuit Against City Of Las Vegas March 29, 2007 4:26 p.m. EST Mary K. Brunskill - All Headline News Staff Writer
Las Vegas, NV (AHN) - Three homeless men arrested for sleeping next to feces won a settlement of $45,000 Thursday after taking the city of Las Vegas to court. Eastman Webber, David Hicks and Jerry Halfpap had been arrested last November under a provision against sleeping within 500 feet of feces or urine. However, the provision had been repealed in September, so the law no longer existed. Webber, Hicks and Hafpap were handcuffed and arrested at a park across from City Hall on November 16. American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) attorney Lee Rowland said police singled the men out because they were homeless and that their civil rights were violated. "The City has taken the wrong tactic by criminalizing homelessness ... Clearly, I think this settlement shows that the city cannot violate the constitution without consequences." Hicks said they would not have been arrested if they had not been homeless. "The constitution says we have all inalienable rights," he said. "And I'm entitled to those same rights." He also had no idea that they were near feces. "I didn't even know it was there," Hicks said, laughing. "Was I supposed to go around searching for it?" Each of the men now has $10,000. Fifteen thousand went to their lawyer, Brent Bryson, who charged them a reduced fee. Bryson said the money will give them the "ability to get back on their feet. They can purchase a used car, if they so desire. They can get an apartment." Hicks, 44, said he is going to use the money to rent out an apartment and join the labor union. "I'm going to get my own transitional housing," he said. "Like a typical citizen, I plan on looking through the newspaper and on foot for rentals. I have a game plan." Halfpap, 47, and Webber, 67, said they were still deciding what to do with the money. |
No wonder thay are laughing at us.
If they follow in the footsteps of so very many others before them, they won't be laughing quite so hard if they drink / gamble it away or simply lose it.
LOL
Gee whiz! You had better make sure the commode gets flushed!!!
12 to 15 feet? Is that a midemeanor or a felony (if caught with unflushed stool)?
Think of it this way; if they were thrown in jail then their heads were probably no more than 8 feet from the crapper in the cell. Yeah, that makes lots of sense.
I probably could have been arrested several times in my youth for falling asleep hugging the porceline god.
Carrot Top is homeless? Who knew?
I doubt, however, than any such stories will be forthcoming.
Do you believe that sh!t?
Actually, yes I do. I do believe that there's a very high likelihood that these guys will lose, drink up or otherwise squander the money, and that there will be no followup stories on this if that occurs because the MSM has a template of the 'homeless' as 'honorable, virtuous families who are down on their luck because of victimization by Evil Republicans". Having them handed such a windfall and then losing it all by themselves would violate that time-honored template, and the MSM is loathe to report on things that illustrate the false nature of Leftist dogma..
We've had decades of endless examples of this sort of behavior by the MSM, and that's why I believe it.
I bet at least one of them gambles their savings away trying to parlay it into more $$$$$$ money!
If they did not $hit - you must acquit! And give dem some walkin' 'round money!
I don't know about outside of Washington State, but ordinances covering sleeping out in the open fell under vagrancy laws which were repealed a long time ago. I know parks are off limits for that, and using vehicles, campers and tents usually come under the building code which is not something the police would specifically deal with. On another note, the liquor laws covering consuming in public were also decriminalized so not only do we get to watch vagrants in their natural environment, we can sometimes watch them get wasted. Sorry... thats one of my pet peeves.
I share your doubt.
since the story involved feces, they should go to a casino and play some craps.
Do you have a problem with that?
I thought the whole thing is ridiculous and humorous that the "VICTIMS" only get 10K and lawyers get 15K at "reduced rates". LOL!!! Perhaps you enjoy getting gouged at "reduced rates" of lawyers when LAWYERS still benefit over victims = is that clear enough?
Never mind - don't answer. I'm really not interested.
Thank you so much for the clarification. Although I do EMS, my work doesn't provide me with the "opportunity" to deal with the "homeless" an awful lot, and so I'm woefully ignorant on a lot of these issues. I'm guessing that the ACLU had a major hand in the repeal of the vagrancy laws, as they did in the toughening of the civil-commitment laws. People blame Ronald Reagan for "turning the mental patients out onto the street" but they don't understand (or don't want to hear) that it was the ACLU who brought suit against the State of California during Reagan's Governorship and in so doing forced the State to evict mental patients from the hospitals, depriving them of the care that they need. Reagan had no say in the matter because it was a California Supreme Court decision, but he gets the blame for creating the 'homeless' problem because that follows the Left's template of the Evil, Uncaring Republicans.
On another note, the liquor laws covering consuming in public were also decriminalized so not only do we get to watch vagrants in their natural environment, we can sometimes watch them get wasted. Sorry... thats one of my pet peeves.
I wasn't even aware that the public consumption laws were decriminalized...lawd, things have gotten bad. No need to apologize, I share your sentiment.
Thank you very much for the comprehensive enlightenment :-)
Don't you need a job before joining a union?
I hate being cynical, but when the same sort of story is repeated so very many times, it causes many of us to be less than optimistic about certain segments of the population.
My great hope is that I will be proven completely, absolutely wrong and these three guys will all use the money in the wisest possible ways, turning their lives around and becoming productive citizens whom we can all be proud of. Sadly, I have not been given any particular reason to have a lot of hope for this outcome.
Don't you need a job before joining a union?
That line in the story caught my attention also....I had similarly thought that you do indeed need to get hired first, then you join a Union, but I'm no expert on Unions and different Unions may have different ways of operating.
If any Union Experts happen to know, please feel free to explain :-)
This is happening in Pittsburgh as well. That is why the attorneys fees provision of civil rights law needs to be changes so that groups like the ACLU can not blackmail the taxpayers.
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