Arrests made for feeding homeless

www.usforacle.com...

Three more people, at least one of them a USF student, were arrested Sunday by Tampa police for feeding homeless people in a public park.

USF student Jimmy Dunson was arrested at Massey Park in downtown Tampa for the second time on a trespassing charge. Unlike March 28, when he was arrested on the same charges and detained but not taken to jail, Dunson was taken to Orient Road Jail, where he was still being held Sunday night, a police report said.

Others arrested include Chris Ernesto, 40, and Amberly Banks, 22. It could not be determined Sunday if the two are USF students. Banks was released on $500 bond.

The three will appear in court at 7:30 this morning in a preliminary hearing.

this is stupid. the guy did it to be a nice guy and he got arrested...

Says this is the second time he is in trouble for this. One time might be nice. A second time looks to be an agenda or a statement. I would lay odds that there are specific postings of park hours and rules, and that this individual was purposefully ignoring those. I would also bet that the homeless are not supposed to be loitering in the park either, but that is just speculation, I know.

The story doesn't say what time this occured or if the park was officially open or closed at the time. I expect that there is more to this than just a nice guy getting busted for "helping" people.

This guy wasn't arrested for being a nice guy. He was violating a city ordinance designed to keep the park clean and safe. The park is between Franklin and Tampa streets just south of I-275. It's a one block park or so. Anyone who has walked just north of the main "downtown" Tampa knows it's much nicer to not be accosted by the homeless and other undesirables.

Originally posted by titian
This guy wasn't arrested for being a nice guy. He was violating a city ordinance designed to keep the park clean and safe. The park is between Franklin and Tampa streets just south of I-275. It's a one block park or so. Anyone who has walked just north of the main "downtown" Tampa knows it's much nicer to not be accosted by the homeless and other undesirables.

Yes...far preferable for the homeless to remain invisible I guess. Out of sight, out of mind ? Get in your box and stay there !!!!

My opinion is that it is unconscionable to arrest anybody who does a good samaritan act. I would even go so far to say it was pure evil. What is wrong with people these days ? Has everybody lost not only their souls, but their hearts as well ?

I just think it's should be a crime, with the few good hearted people on this planet, to start discouraging basic human kindness and empathy.

Quite frankly, I have no idea how the police sleep at night, arresting people for feeding the homeless. This is a whole new low.

I was actually talking with someone (on another forum) who was there when this happened. Apparently you need a permit to serve food or something, and it's illegal to give food to the homeless. I think that's a bunch of crap. Why make it illegal for people to help others? Ridiculous.

@ "undesirables". There aren't too many of those here at ATS.

Let's pick on the people who attempt to make a difference. I've offered food to the homeless on several occassions. Once, I even drove around looking for a homeless person to offer him a meal from the olive garden.

Parks close around midnight in my town. It says this was his second violation. He is either raising a ruckus or someone has it in for him.

I was heading out to eat one night with a couple of friends, as we pulled up to Subway, there was a homeless man sitting by the door. He was all dirty and had a huge beard and long hair.

I wouldn't get out of the car, I told my friends that I was not going to go in and eat, knowing that this man probably had not had anything to eat today.

Finally we decided that we would go in and buy him some food too. As we approached him, he was eating a a sandwich from the restaurant, so we decided to give him 5 dollars. I figured he would probably buy something to drink with it, but I figure if that's what he wanted, at least it would help him out for the day.

I felt good about that.

I do not give money to the people who stand out holding the "work for food" signs. My dad once bought a bunch of hmaburgers from McDonalds and pulled up to a guy holding a sign and handed them to him, the man said thank you and god bless.... ???

LAME! LAME! AN LAMER! Arresting someone becuz they broke a freakin park rule! I dont care if it was the WW2 graveyard, if these people need food they need food, i mean the po po dont always give tickets to speeders or law breakers on the roads so why do they have to do this to someone helping out mankind?

Talk about getting your prioritoes utterly wrong.

So the 'law' says that it is illegal to 'serve food' without a permit. Thus making it illegal for people to feed the starving homeless unless the 'good Samaritan' has first gone out and given money to the local government for the priviledge. What a pile of bollocks this is.

Typical of the 'law obsessed borg types ' who run our countries though.
The law must be adhered to even though it will cause severe hardship and suffering and is mererly a way for the local government to screw more money out of those decent enough to care for their fellow human being. Feck that and feck the imbeciles who put these laws into statute.

As for the one person having an 'agenda' - so what ?.
I'm sure the homeless people he had fed don't give a monkeys if he has an agenda or not. He is doing them a good turn and acting more 'human' than any of the lawmakers around here.




[Edited on 20-4-2004 by Pisky]

As a former homeless person on several occasions, Ill put my two cents in.

The homeless are not allowed to sleep in the parks. So, we sleep in doorways or alleys. We get harrased by the cops for vagrancy and loitering. So, we move. We sleep under a bridge and get kicked out for vagrancy again. When I was sleeping in my car, several times cops told me i couldnt park there, had to move.

So, tell me. Where the # are the homeless supposed to go? These #ing idiot cops and all these nice clean suburban types cant get it through thier #ing heads:

If we had family or firends who gave a # about us, we wouldnt be sleeping in the #ing park, now would we? If we had somewhere to take us, wed #ing be there. But obviously, if were sleeping in doorways, aprks, our cars, what have you, its a clear sign, that thats our last resort.

Tired of homeless sleeping in the park? then quit spending money on foreign aid and bombing worthless countries like Iraq and set up centers for Homeless to sleep, get retrained and rehabed, and back in the workforce. Back on track with life. But, if you think that building a new stadium, or dropping a couple more tomohawks, is more important, than dont bitch about all of us smell unwashed people sleeping in your pretty little parks.

And for this nice guy giving the homeless food? Well him giving them food at least gives them something to do other than steal for it! But now that you cant feed the homeless, they can go back to mugging or breaking into places for money.

I hope they break into the #ing donut shop and eat all the donuts ten minutes before the cops get there!

I buy books of McDonalds coupons and then give them out.

1) You know they have to use it for food
2) Not illegal

Fattening up the homeless! LOL!

Thats actually an excellent idea. Because it would be used for food...HOT FOOD. After sleeping on cold hard pavement all night, believe me, nothing feels better than hot fresh food in your mouth.

But, youd have to get Mc Donalds to take part, cuz buying so many cupons would be rather expensive unless u got alot of money, and trust me, from my expeirences, those people with any kind of money....forget it.

I love the irony, in the land of the free its illeagal to help people that are less fortunate, leftwingers are called commiee�s and takers of freedom by raising taxes to fund wellfaresystems, yet its illeagal to by your own free will to feed a starving man...land of the free was it??

Originally posted by disturbence
I love the irony, in the land of the free its illeagal to help people that are less fortunate, leftwingers are called commiee�s and takers of freedom by raising taxes to fund wellfaresystems, yet its illeagal to by your own free will to feed a starving man...land of the free was it??

I almost posted a thread 'Can you be Republican and Christian", but decided not to do do since the answer was so obviously 'No'.

Tampa is a place where scientologists or whatever they are allowed to walk around and solicit members and money for their cult and it allowed because they are a "religion."

This is allowed and feeding the homeless gets you arrested. Who is running this city?

First you couldn't feed birds in the park now you can't feed the homeless. Thats just sad, and doesn't make any sense. You can't give them a piece of gum atleast.

As long as homeless people (and I have been homeless before) have no incintive to get productive, they will stay homeless. Many homeless people have resources that they don't take advantage of. No, they don't want to stay in the shelter because they can't take their Alcohol in. They don't want to get one of the many menial labor jobs that are available (and yes they are available) because they don't want to be tied to a schedule or they don't want anyone ordering them around. Now, of course those are generalizations, but many homeless people are exactly where they have chosen to be. If you want to feed them, bring em home and feed em there. If you are that concerned about where they sleep why don't you offer up your couch?

I think ZeddicusZulZorander has the best solution for helping the homeless on an individual basis.

Originally posted by Ambient Sound
As long as homeless people (and I have been homeless before) have no incintive to get productive, they will stay homeless. Many homeless people have resources that they don't take advantage of. No, they don't want to stay in the shelter because they can't take their Alcohol in. They don't want to get one of the many menial labor jobs that are available (and yes they are available) because they don't want to be tied to a schedule or they don't want anyone ordering them around. Now, of course those are generalizations, but many homeless people are exactly where they have chosen to be. If you want to feed them, bring em home and feed em there. If you are that concerned about where they sleep why don't you offer up your couch?

I think ZeddicusZulZorander has the best solution for helping the homeless on an individual basis.

No matter the stance on the arguement of why the homeless are homeless, there is no way anybody could ever convince me that a reprehensible law prohibiting myself from handing a homeless person a sandwich is right.

In fact, my conscious would never let me forget it if I DIDN'T. And that's what I live by.

Without laws like that the parks would not be usuable for the majority of people who pay taxes. No that's not the answer to helping the homeless, but that is the answer for keeping the parks in order.

There was a family here where I live feeding many homeless, but they quit because they couldn't afford the cost of making their kitchen legal. Personally I think those enforcing the rules should leave giving people alone, but they have this spiel that we are all being protected by having these rules blah blah blah.

Bottom line is if your going to help you still have to follow the law, if you don't like it try & get it changed.

Whle there is a growing homeless population of lazy youth & maybe some folks who made some bad decisions, for the most part I believe the majority of homeless people are mentally ill and are in need of mental health care. Until we decide to help these people for real, we will have to put up with the current situation.

I know this topic is a few days old, but I came across this picture on another forum I post in. It's one of the guys getting arrested, but sticking it to the man through "non-violent resistance". I love it.



Heres a link to that other forum thread.

www.brainimus.com...