Posted on 11/07/2001 3:59:48 PM PST by B4Ranch
Solana Beach 'bullying' homeless man, friends say By Dana Littlefield November 7, 2001 SOLANA BEACH -- Neighbors and local business owners are rallying behind a homeless man they believe is being treated unfairly by city and county officials. Robert Thomas Northcut, 49, who has lived on the streets of Solana Beach for more than a decade, was arrested last week on suspicion of trespassing on a city-owned traffic median where a war memorial sits. Sam Georges, a lawyer from Solana Beach, and Chris Tatem, owner of the Do-It-Yourself Dog Wash in Solana Beach, helped get Northcut out of jail. Now they and several other residents are working to handle his legal problems, including reuniting him with his dog, which was taken to a county animal shelter when he was arrested. "The only thing I own is that damn dog," Northcut said Monday while lying in the grass overlooking Fletcher Cove. "He's my dog and he's faithful to me." Even before Northcut's arrest, neighbors banded together to help him out and bring him food. They even cared for his dog, getting it neutered, vaccinated and registered with the county. "It's not one person; it's the whole community," said Tatem. They said that Northcut doesn't panhandle or bother their customers and that he just wants to be left alone with his dog to live outdoors. Putting him inside a building, Georges said, would be like "taking a coyote and chaining it in the garage." Northcut's German shepherd -- named Thomas Jefferson, or T.J. for short -- remains in custody at the county animal shelter in Carlsbad for lunging and barking at city and transit employees. The dog bit a man in May, according to animal control officials, and city staff members say it threatened several maintenance workers and one department head. Northcut admitted that his dog has bitten people, but said T.J. was just protecting his master. The dog had been abused before being rescued in Tijuana and nursed back to health by Northcut and Tatem. "He's a very feisty animal. He's addle-brained," Northcut said. "He's a lot like me. He's all nervous like me." Members of the county Dangerous Dog Task Force are expected to decide today whether to issue a notice declaring T.J. a public nuisance. If that happens, a hearing will follow, and the dog could be required to wear a muzzle or be fenced off from the public entirely. Northcut said he and T.J. set up camp at the war memorial after he heard reports on a portable radio of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. For the next few days, Northcut, who said he is a Navy veteran, raised and lowered the U.S. flag on a pole near the memorial to half-staff to honor victims. "He was taking care of the war memorial," Georges said. "It was his effort to 9/11." He said that the city is "bullying" Northcut for crushing plants that surround the World War II memorial where Northcut and T.J. had been sleeping, and that the county should return his dog. "He's just lost without his dog," Georges said. "If the city doesn't want him around, there are definitely more humane ways to get him away from there." City officials said the traffic median, on Plaza Street and surrounded by cars heading to and from Fletcher Cove, is not a safe spot to hang around. A "No Trespassing" sign is posted near the flagpole, which shares the crowded median with a large fountain and the memorial. "There really isn't a place for people to congregate," said City Manager Bob Semple. "It wasn't meant to be used for people to gather there." Northcut has been cited several times for trespassing at other spots in the city. Jennifer Lynch, the Vista attorney whom Georges asked to appear in court last week on Northcut's behalf, disagreed with Semple. "To say that there's no trespassing at a war memorial is unconscionable," Lynch said. A court hearing on Northcut's trespassing charge is scheduled for Nov. 15. ________________________________________________________________________________________ Copyright 2001 Union-Tribune Publishing Co.
STAFF WRITER
Thank you. You are right. Next time I have the opportunity I will do the same.
I don't care where your candy ass is from.
Learn punctuation and grammar. What liberal board did you originate from?
That's why I was surprised to read your thread 4 post #149 where you said
"I was doing the look see before I suggested that you might be a heartless son of a gun! why are you so freaked over that?"
You need to ask him why?
Am I supposed to be impressed with the large case?
Unfortunately for you, your goron lost the election. Try salon.com
This is the kicker. Now I'm REALLY mad as he!!!!!!!!
Since when, Mr. "Simple-minded" Semple, isn't a flag pole on PUBLIC PROPERTY with a US FLAG ON IT NOT a place for the public to gather??????!!!!!!!
My long-distance phone bill is gonna go up tomorrow - big time!!!!!!
I saw the hate that many have seen in your posts towards Mr Northcut and his dog,
and I saw that you didn't read what was written about what happened to him,
as you continue to gloss over that which doesn't serve your needs
you know the little things like inconsistencies in what was in the cities' e-mail and the phone conversations posted here
and why it took so long to figure out that the dog was dangerous and had bitten someone!
Little things that you don't want to deal with, or acknowledge.
So based on today's revelations, what is your solution to Mr. Northcut's problem?
And do believe that his dog should be put to death as NAMMARINE does?
The bottom line here is that this person, Mr. Northcut, is a Veteran. He has earned the right to be different in many of our eyes. But it isn't really that. I think all of us realize that mentally ill folks also need to be protected and taken care of. Unfortunately those liberals who believe that putting people in facilities is not fair have created an intolerable situation in our streets. Many of the vets in the street probably also need some kind of mental health attention and we can not force them to get it either. Why is Northcut any different? Maybe just because these guys consider him like they do a brother. He is the one they are willing to go to battle for because he is a brother.
We really do need to look a little deeper here. But maybe we need to do it one person at a time. Maybe it seems like hypocrisy to say that we want Northcut and TJ to go ahead and live outside, but I don't think it is. It is simply easier to relate to his plight and understand his choice has nothing to do with being a derelict.
I had an uncle (great uncle) who was a real character. He loved panning for gold and riding the rails. He was, for all intents and purposes, a hobo. He hurt no one but loved the outdoors and the freedoms it provided. He loved not having the complications of a roof over his head. Back then, of course, there were camps across the countryside where all the hobos would congregate and live their lives. There was even a hobo village along the railroad tracks here in Santa Barbara! But someone came along and decided that they needed to be run out of town. The village that had been there for years was destroyed. I think part of the reason is that people began to confuse that outdoor hobo lifestyle of choice with the sudden influx of mentally ill people roaming the streets because they truly were unable to function. There is a difference. The hobo villages had structure and rules.
Just thinking.
If you didn't have any friends that is exactly what would happen. It just happens that RT Northcut has thousands of friends who have taken the time to email and phone these City officials to let them know he is not just a 'wacky Vet' with no friends.
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