Three arrested, accused of illegally feeding homeless

[trumad]

We live in a seriously fucked up country

Members of Orlando Food Not Bombs were arrested Wednesday when police said they violated a city ordinance by feeding the homeless in Lake Eola Park.

Jessica Cross, 24, Benjamin Markeson, 49, and Jonathan "Keith" McHenry, 54, were arrested at 6:10 p.m. on a charge of violating the ordinance restricting group feedings in public parks. McHenry is a co-founder of the national Food Not Bombs movement, which began in the early 1980s.

The group lost a court battle in April, clearing the way for the city to enforce the ordinance. It requires groups to obtain a permit and limits each group to two permits per year for each park within a 2-mile radius of City Hall.

Arrest papers state that Cross, Markeson and McHenry helped feed 40 people Wednesday night. The ordinance applies to feedings of more than 25 people.

"They intentionally violated the statute," said Lt. Barbara Jones, an Orlando police spokeswoman.

"They basically carted them off to jail for feeding hungry people," Coleman said. "For them to regulate a time and place for free speech and to share food, that is unacceptable."
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/breakingnews/os-homeless-feedings-arrests-20110601,0,741633.story

[Ken Burch]

1. God forbid anyone STOP the homeless from starving

:sarcasm: :puke:

The herd MUST be culled...

:eyes:

[phasma ex machina]

6. Ergo endless war to keep Moloch well fed. nt

[Hugabear]

2. Wow...

You and I posted the same thing within a minute of each other.

I'm speechless how callous some people can be.

[RSillsbee]

3. That's right by God

if we have people feeding the homeless what will we have next? People volunteering at soup kitchens? Helping their elderly nieghbors w/ the yard work?

We can't be having that now

[Ken Burch]

11. Next thing you know, some crazy Galilean rabbi will start healing the lame or something

:eyes:

You've GOT to nip these things in the bud.

[RSillsbee]

13. God forbid

Who knows they might even love their neighbor as their self

[Ken Burch]

14. ...and THAT's why we need OLD leadership in Caesarea...I mean, Washington!

("I'm Pontius Pilate and I approved this message")

[Liberal Veteran]

30. If the lame need help, they can damn well walk to the hospital!

And present their insurance cards like the rest of us.

:P

[Ken Burch]

35. Or hop there on the good leg...of, if nothing else drag themselves

with their one good arm.

[K8-EEE]

4. WWJD?

Unbelievable!!

[dkf]

5. Our local officials asked the churches not to do this too.

They are trying to get people off the streets, but the homeless go to the churches and then are in those communities on the streets.

Our state is trying to make sure everyone has access to shelters and services but most of the people others call in to ask help for are refusing it.

On a sad note someone mentioned to me that certain of the homeless women deliberately do not practice good hygiene as it keeps them from being raped. Very depressing.

[Angry Dragon]

7. Where are all the bachmanns, palins and all the others

that keep on saying that this country was chosen by god??
Why are they not speaking out about this??
Oh..... that's right their god only cares about which of the regressives he wants to be the next president........

[Newest Reality]

8. So,

do you still think that is air you are breathing?

If you get the metaphor, then maybe that will be the game changer for you, right now.

That's why the Ten Commandments are held up by conservatives and pretenders above what Jesus said, (and I am not religious or anti-religious). They are all negatives and Jesus was promoting positives and what you SHOULD do in real life.

If someone was dying and you administered CPR, that would be fine. If someone is hungry and potentially starving to death, you would administer food. As in any critical situation, it would be both ethical and logical to do so and that act would take precedence to anything else.

So, they tell you it is illegal to feed the hungry? Well, you have more problems on your plate than just this one event, or others like it. You are now seeing a dominant paradigm taking hold that will eventually come to effect you, no matter who you are, unless you are one of the few, the chosen, the select, the most wealthy an powerful.

If you have a sense of values, ethics, be they religious, philosophical or otherwise, this is a good time to reflect on the overall implications of what the current givers of law are telling you about your world, your fate, and what might even befall your children when they are place in the hands of people who are now reversing the meaning and value of life itself and telling us that their laws are more important than we are as actual, living beings.

How far will this dark phase of obviously fallacious nonsense prevail before we are all compelled to stand up and go back to what is most self-evident, true and condoning of life itself? You don't need a book or an authority to figure that out and most people could easily agree on what is obvious without sects, creeds, science or any other form of commentary.

We are life itself. We live. We must breath, drink, eat and be clothed. We need shelter. Those are not preferences or political views, they are truth. And here we are, sitting back, watching absurd laws go against that truth? Can we continue to stomach this and consider ourselves honest and forthright? How do we manage to ever tolerate what is against what we are, these days?

[Serve The Servants]

9. "They intentionally violated the statute", said Lt. Barbara Jones

Yeah well Babs, that "statute" is FUBAR...

I'm beginning to think that a complete lack of any critical thinking ability has become a pre-requisite for becoming a member of our nation's law enforcement agencies.

[Liberal Veteran]

28. Yeppers. Rosa Parks did the same thing.

It's called civil disobedience.

[DesertFlower]

10. Jesus Hussein Christ. nt

[MrScorpio]

12. This is disgusting

Arrested for helping people who are down and out.

Would the fucking city of Orlando rather have the homeless just die of starvation on their streets?

[etherealtruth]

25. It appears that is their plan to resolve the problem of homelessness

I'm not even sure I mean that sarcastically.

Peace be upon those that violate this statute.

[leveymg]

15. Christ would be in jail.

Since Jesus is being held without bail pending trial for his 14th offense, bring on the plague of locust.

[joshcryer]

16. Naw, every single person Jesus fed was a hard working free market entrepreneur...

...against taxation and government.

[leveymg]

17. and a good Christian. . .

[quaker bill]

18. They went with the intent of being arrested

It is a protest. These folks are friends of mine. Some of them attend our Meeting.

There are plenty of completely legal ways to feed the homeless in Orlando. Given that this is all you want to do, there are plenty of ways to accomplish it. I know this for a fact, because I do it.

I support OFNB and their political statement. However, it needs to be understood as a political statement. They want to feed the homeless in high visibility areas as a political statement, thus "food not bombs".

It is not about the mission of getting food to the poor, as there are a great many completely legal ways to do that, most of which are currently begging for more support. I have no doubt OFNB would be welcome to volunteer at many of them.

The thing is, I have been a regular volunteer feeding the homeless for over 10 years. The Orlando Sentinel has never written a single word about it. OFNB gets this and chooses a different path.

How do I know they went with the intent of being arrested? Because I am on their e-mail distribution list.

[Pacifist Patriot]

22. This is a very important component to the story.

[Liberal Veteran]

26. That's all good and well, but I'm not real big on cities passing "disappear the homeless" laws...

It makes it too easy to play out of sight, out of mind.

[tekisui]

19. knr, I have been following Florida cities' anti-homelessness ordinances for a while now.

[ladjf]

20. I'm no Bible scholar. However, I believe that I can safely say that

Jesus wouldn't approve of the anti-feeding ordinance.

[Javaman]

21. They should throw a "party".

We see people all the time getting various spaces to BBQ or have kids birthday parties.

while I find the ordinance extraordinary distasteful and disrespectful and completely ridiculous, I'm also of the mentality of "two can play at this game".

reserve a spot for a "party" then proceed to feed their "friends".

[AsahinaKimi]

23. Republcians Paradise...

A place where every homeless person can starve to death, because its against the law to feed the
animals poor. Republicans (あほやろ ) make me :grr: :argh:

[femrap]

24. That does it for me....

f*ck Florida and Disney.

[Snoutport]

27. this makes me sick...

[fascisthunter]

29. Fascist police State

working exclusively for the wealthy... this is a perfect example.

[Ya Tzarone]

31. In Canada, the city council would be dismissed via Provincial Special Ordinance

We don't like it when people starve.

[Canuckistanian]

34. Welcome to DU!

Interesting profile you have there. I'm from Toronto too, originally.

[John_Adams]

32. I've heard that they have laws against feeding bears...

but people...?

There must be more to this story.

[Kaleko]

39. See post # 18.

And hi, new member of DU :hi:

[Curmudgeoness]

33. That is a just cause to be arrested for. Next day,

there should be ten people feeding the homeless. Arrest them too. Next day, there should be a hundred people feeding the homeless.

I am terrified about ever seeing the inside of a jail cell, but for this, I would be willing to be arrested.

[Downtown Hound]

36. Meanwhile, not a sinlge banker or torturer arrested or prosecuted. n/t

[Shagbark Hickory]

37. chrissakes. They're people not fucking alligators.

[TroubleMan]

38. Sounds like a good case for jury nullification.

I can't think of a better case for it in recent times.