Did fraternity cultivate "an environment
of animosity towards homeless"?
A jury will decide whether an Oregon State University fraternity is responsible for the shooting of a homeless man.
One of its members, Josh Grimes, shot Dennis Sanderson in the leg in October 2006 with a .22-caliber rifle, aiming from a window of the Alpha Gamma Rho fraternity house. Grimes pleaded guilty and served a sentence of 150 days in jail and three years' probation for the shooting.
Sanderson's attorney, Mark McDougal argued a "nasty dynamic" emerged among the members of the OSU chapter, which led to "an environment of animosity towards homeless." He theorized that if Grimes had never been arrested, the shooting would have become a "badge of honor" for Grimes.
Derek Ashton, who is representing the fraternity, said the suit lacked merit. "What a country," he said. "Anyone who has a couple hundred dollars and an attorney can file a lawsuit."
Jury deliberations resume Monday.
Read the
Corvallis News Gazette report
here.
Teens busted for YouTube beat down of homeless man
Four young men accused of roughing up a homeless man in Pompano Beach and then posting videos of the beating on the Internet are facing charges of kidnapping and battery.
Detectives found the videos online while investigating a deadly Oakland Park beating.
James Cunningham, 54, was attacked in July 2008. In the video, he left a clue for detectives: He said the name of his attorney, Maurice Graham. The lawyer identified Cunningham to detectives.
William Sleight, 19, of Deerfield Beach, recorded the attack on his cellphone as the three other men kicked, taunted, slapped and dragged the homeless man across the asphalt, the Broward Sheriff's Office said.
The other suspects were identified as Brandon Edwards, 19, of Fort Lauderdale; Nicholas Bakum, 19, of Lighthouse Point, and Bradley Wunderlich, 21, of Parkland.
Edwards was also present during the fatal beating of a Wilton Manors man in April, the Broward Sheriff's Office said. He has not been charged in that attack. Craig Cohen and David Villanova were attacked near an Oakland Park diner. Villanova survived, but Cohen died from his injuries.
Read the
Miami Herald report
here. See the video
here (it apparently has been taken down from YouTube).
Arrestee in Ocoee homeless man's murder
wants more freedom
Joel Boner (center) was attacked outside his tent at an Ocoee homeless camp and stabbed in the back as many as seven times.John Hawthorne, 19, faces a second-degree murder charge in the Ocoee slaying of homeless man Joel David Boner. He's out awaiting trial on $25,000 bond, wearing a GPS anklet (they call that "electronic supervision"). Now he's asking a judge for a little more leeway.
Right now, Hawthorne is restricted from leaving his house. The problem is that he lives on 25 acres, and can't help his family maintain the property, his attorney argued in a motion.
Read the
Orlando Sentinel report
here. And see previous post
here.
More posts: Check out the
post about Joel Boner's family at Ericka Courtneys News Challenge. And don't miss
Justice for Joel Boner.
2 teens convicted in beating death of homeless man
A second teen was convicted this morning in the beating death of a homeless man in Pontiac, Michigan, more than a year ago.
Dontez Tillman and Thomas McCloud, both 15, face life in prison without parole for first-degree felony murder. The two were convicted in Wilford Hamilton's death.
In a new development, police say they have arrested a third teen in the 2008 beating deaths. Darrin Higgins Jr., 17, was arrested at his home, and charged with two counts of first-degree felony murder.
Police contend Higgins, McCloud and Tillman went on a three-day wilding spree in Pontiac in late August 2008, attacking people on the street and targeting homeless men.
Hamilton, 61, and Lee Hoffman, 65, both homeless, were found beaten unconscious and later died at local hospitals. Two other men survived, but one was seriously injured with a broken nose and broken ribs.
Read the
Detroit Free Press report
here. And see previous post
here.
Changing the subject: From welfare to poverty
to a living income
"For nearly forty years, the dominant political discourse about poverty in the United States has focused on welfare rather than poverty itself, even as disparities between the wealthiest and those at the bottom widened spectacularly," writes Peter Edelman, a professor at Georgetown University Law Center.
He says we need to change the subject. "It is past time to reinvent the public discussion and refocus it as a challenge not just to end poverty in this wealthy nation, but to see that everyone has a living income."
Read his article
here.
Beating victim testifies in homeless men's murders
He described it as a night of terror.
Anthony Pace, a warehouse manager of a Salvation Army store in Pontiac, Michigan, took the witness stand and and described how he was brutally beaten in a random attack by a group of teen boys as he walked home from work late one night in August 2008.
Two of the boys police say were in that group, who both were 14 at the time, now are charged with murder, accused of killing two homeless men during a three-day beating spree leading up to Pace's assault.
Pace was one of the lucky ones, prosecutors said. He escaped and got medical attention.
The homeless men weren't so fortunate. Dontez Tillman and Thomas McCloud, both now 15, face life in prison if convicted of stomping and beating to death Wilford Hamilton, 61, who was found in a Pontiac alley. McCloud also is charged with murder in the stomping death of Lee Hoffman, 65, who was found nearby.
Read the
Detroit Free Press report
here.
Is Hillsborough's proposal
for a homeless shelter "half-baked"?
In the opinion of the
St. Petersburg Times, it has become increasingly clear why Hillsborough County has the worst homeless problem of any county in Florida.
"Just a week after derailing a thoughtful, detailed plan by Catholic Charities for a homeless camp east of Tampa, the County Commission's follow-up amounted to a half-baked idea from Commissioner Kevin White, who proposed creating a homeless shelter in an office park on the north side of town. Hillsborough needs a sound approach, not political stunts, to address its homeless problem."
Read the
St. Petersburg Times editorial
here.
Poverty is up, but how much?
The way you measure poverty makes a big difference in the results you get.
The Census Bureau reported Tuesday that 15.8% of Americans lived in poverty last year, using an alternative gauge that differs sharply from the
13.2% official poverty rate the agency released last month.
Why the difference?
The official measure, created in 1955, does not factor in rising medical care, transportation, child care, or geographical variations in living costs. Nor does it consider non-cash government aid when calculating income. As a result, official figures released in September may have overlooked millions of poor people, many of them 65 and older.
So to help give a more rounded understanding of poverty in the country, the Census Bureau releases alternative measures developed by the National Academy of Sciences.
Read
The Christian Science Monitor report
here. And see previous posts about how the poverty rate is measured
here and
here.
Thousands wait in line for Section 8 housing
Photo by the Daytona Beach News-Journal
Thousands of people lined up today in Daytona Beach and DeLand for a chance to apply for government-subsidized housing.
It's the first time in five years that new applications for the federal
Housing Choice Voucher Program, commonly known as Section 8, have been accepted in Volusia County.
In Daytona, the line extended to the road and then stretched across a bridge. Some people had been waiting for five hours.
If people qualify, it could be years before they make their way to the top of the list and actually obtain housing assistance.
Read the WFTV report (with video and slide show)
here.
Update: Read the more comprehensive report from the
Daytona Beach News-Journal here.
Should attacks on the homeless
be added to hate-crime laws?
There's momentum building around the country to include people who are homeless in state and federal hate-crime law.
Maryland, Maine and Washington, D.C., have added attacks against homeless people to their hate-crime laws. Florida is considering
harsher penalties for attacking homeless people.
But is being homeless a fixed part of a person's identity? Or do moves like this dilute the strength of hate-crimes legislation?
These questions were debated
* recently on NPR's All Things Considered. Listen
here.
---------------
* The speakers include our friend and colleague Michael Stoops of the National Coalition for the Homeless.
Homeless woman dies in jail cell
With 63 arrests since 2004 and at least 16 convictions, all for misdemeanors or violations of city ordinances related to public intoxication or trespassing, Sunny Swanson was well known to police.Around campfires deep in the woods, sometimes with a drinking buddy her friends called "The Shadow," Sunny Swanson talked about her dream -- getting off the booze and finding an apartment.
But that dream ended when the 38-year-old homeless woman was declared dead by an emergency room physician at St. Elizabeth's Hospital after passing out in a cell in the city jail in Belleville, Ilinois. An autopsy was inconclusive but foul play is not suspected.
Read the
Belleville News-Democrat article
here.
Random beating illustrates vulnerability
of a silent population, experts say
The attackers came from all directions, as best that Darrick can remember.
It was early, 4:30 a.m in Chicago. Darrick, 37, who was homeless, was on his way to the "L" so he could nap on a train.
Someone poured a beer on him, then broke the bottle over his head. Two others joined in, kicking and punching him.
Darrick suffered a concussion, and his ribs were fractured. He was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital.
His mother, alerted to the attack by a reporter, walked into his hospital room the next day. He hadn't seen her in months.
"How'd you find me?" he asked.
She told him, "I'll always find you."
Darrick has been living on Chicago's streets for about eight years. Because of the violent nature of the attack, he is not comfortable sharing his last name. His mother also fears giving out her name.
On any night, about 21,000 people are homeless in Chicago, according to Chicago Coalition for the Homeless figures from 2006, the latest available. Typically, less than one-fourth spend the night in a shelter.
There are no Chicago statistics on attacks on the homeless. Nationally, such attacks are counted only when a person was targeted because he was homeless.
It was not clear whether Darrick's attackers knew he was homeless. Still, experts said he and other homeless people face risk of assaults every day.
"Every now and then, a homeless person commits a crime and it gets a lot of press," said Ed Shurna, executive director of Chicago's homeless coalition. "Homeless people are victimized much more than they are the cause of problems, just because they are vulnerable."
Police described the attack on Darrick as random. Three Chicago men -- Juan Mendoza, 25, Adrien Brito, 25, and Gilberto Galvez, 22 -- have been charged with aggravated battery.
Read the
Chicago Tribune report
here.
"Criminalizing panhandling does nothing
to address the state of homelessness"
Alan Graham, President/CEO of
Mobile Loaves and Fishes, has a great response to Austin's plan to expand its ban on panhandling:
Panhandling is a symptom of homelessness. Criminalizing panhandling does nothing to address the state of homelessness. Study after study supports that. The answer to homelessness is long-term, affordable, sustainable housing.
Read his entire statement
here. And see previous post (about the newspaper editorial he's answering)
here.
Are you listening,
Sanford? Are you listening,
DeLand?
Check out Alan's blog
here and his tweets
here.
Church wins fight for homeless ministry
Just for Jesus serves mostly disabled veterans, low-level offenders, evicted homeowners and renters, and people referred by mental-health agencies.A Pennsylvania church that houses homeless people has won $100,000 in damages and attorneys' fees from the borough that tried to shut down the program.
Brookville agreed to pay the damages and fees to First Apostles' Doctrine Church, located about 80 miles northeast of Pittsburgh, as part of an agreement with the
ACLU of Pennsylvania. The ACLU filed a
lawsuit against the borough in November 2008 on behalf of the church and the Rev. Jack Wisor, its pastor and founder of its ministry to the homeless, "Just for Jesus Challenge Homeless Outreach."
To the church, providing housing and Christian counseling to homeless people is part of its religious convictions and mission.
It's a perspective that some local government officials don't seem to understand, said Witold Walczak, the ACLU of Pennsylvania's legal director and a lawyer for the church.
"There seems to be this narrow view of religious use as simply being conventional church services, worship services," Mr. Walczak said. "Religious liberty encompasses far more than that."
Read the
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette report
here. Get background info about the case
here.
A giant step backwards:
Hillsborough commissioners reject tent city plan
Mimi Paez (center) claps after a request for a homeless encampment was turned down.
Photo by
The New York TimesWhen retirees say they have bought guns to protect themselves from a plan to house the homeless a quarter mile from their neighborhood, Florida politicians pay attention. When 200 people show up at a 9 a.m. meeting, some wearing yellow T-shirts that say “no tent city,” elected officials tend to go along.
That may be the lesson of a 4-to-3 vote Tuesday by the Hillsborough County Commission, which killed a plan from
Catholic Charities to create an encampment for the homeless in Tampa.
Read
The New York Times report
here.
Whose sensibilities would be spared
by an expanded ban on panhandling?
Whose sensibilities would be spared by an expanded ban on panhandling?, asks
The Austin American-Statesman.
"We can't get past this: If a well-dressed person has the right to ask you for change for a meter, then a poorly-dressed person has the right to ask you for change for food (regardless of how it's really spent)," the newspaper says.
Read the editorial
here.
Mistake sends 700 gourmet meals to soup kitchen
A mix-up over dates ended up sending 700 gourmet meals intended for the
Presidents Cup golf tournament to a San Francisco soup kitchen.
It started Wednesday morning, when city event coordinator Martha Cohen tried to find out what smelled so good at one of the tournament tents. Lunch, the caterer told her. But the golf event wasn't scheduled to start until the following day. Someone had mixed up the dates.
So Cohen called
St. Anthony's Foundation, in the Tenderloin, and by noon, the homeless were feasting on a menu that included parmesan crusted cod with linguini, carved mesquite-smoked beef brisket, parsley buttered potatoes, Caesar salad and shrimp pasta salad.
Read the
San Francisco Chronicle report
here.
DeLand may outlaw panhandling downtown
The City of DeLand is drafting a new law to regulate panhandling.
In its draft form, the new law draws a distinction between panhandling, which the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled is a form of free speech, and “aggressive panhandling,” which is defined as panhandling by a group, or panhandling accompanied by profane language, threats or deception.
If adopted by the DeLand City Commission, the new law would make it a misdemeanor to panhandle aggressively anywhere in DeLand, or to panhandle in any manner in the Downtown DeLand business district and on certain main roads.
It would also prohibit panhandling of any kind after sunset.
A significant hurdle for the City Commission will be deciding whether the city can afford the new law in one of the leanest budget years in recent memory. Because panhandling is not against state law, the city must pay Volusia County $70 per day for the cost of jailing anyone who is arrested for the municipal crime.
Read the
West Volusia Beacon report
here.
Florida ranks nearly last for percentage
of kids covered by health insurance
Florida ranked 50th in the nation for the percentage of its children
covered by health insurance, according to a
scorecard released
by
The Commonwealth Fund.
Overall, Florida ranked 44th among all 50 states and the District of Columbia for the performance of its health system, based on measurements that included access to care, prevention and treatment of disease, costs, and avoidable hospital use.
Broken down by quality indicators, Florida ranked 48th for the percentage of adults under 64 who were insured, 47th for the percentage of children who had access to mental health care when needed, and 45th for the percentage of children who had seen a dentist and had a checkup in the past year.
Florida ranked among the top three in one area: spending money.
Read the
Palm Beach Post report
here.
They still don't want you to sleep on the beach,
so they're fixing up a parking lot
A temporary sleeping area for the homeless in a parking lot is being created in Laguna Beach, California. It's expected to open next month.
Laguna Beach repealed a ban on sleeping on the street earlier this year after the ACLU filed a lawsuit alleging the rule was unconstitutional. The lawsuit was later settled.
The new sleeping area will house 50 homeless people in modular portables. Duffel bags will be provided for people's belongings, and a bus will transport them from downtown to the parking lot.
Costs to run it come out to about $20,000 a month, plus $65,000 to set it up.
Some residents questioned how effective the sleeping area could be if homeless people chose to stay at the beach instead. Arnold Hano, a member of the city's Advisory Committee on Homelessness, suggested adding showers and lockers. "We've got to make it attractive enough to lure them away," he said.
Read the
Orange County Register report
here. And see previous posts
here,
here and
here.
Home runs for the homeless
The Philadelphia Phillies and the Colorado Rockies have a chance to hit a home run for the homeless in their playoff series that begins today.
The mayors of Denver and Philadelphia are this year eschewing the traditional gimmicky playoff sports bet — Philly cheesesteaks! Rocky Mountain oysters! — and instead wagering money to help the needy.
The homeless-outreach initiative in the winning city —
Denver's Road Home or
Philadelphia's Project H.O.M.E. — will receive a $2,000 donation.
It's not much money -- $2,000 is roughly a third of what Rockies star Todd Helton made per pitch faced this season -- but it will go to good use.
Read the
Denver Post report
here.
This kind of thing sure beats the usual
silly civic wagers on sports.
Homeless man gets 15 years
for stealing cereal and milk
Mark Anthony Griffin leaves the courtroom after being sentenced.
Photo by
The LedgerA homeless man has been sentenced to 15 years in prison after trying to steal a box of Lucky Charms and a can of milk from a store in Lakeland.
Prosecutors requested Griffin be sentenced as a "
prison releasee reoffender," which enhances the punishment against defendants convicted of certain crimes within three years of being released from prison.
Chip Thullbery, of the
State Attorney's Office in Bartow, said prosecutors took into consideration Griffin's long criminal history before seeking the 15-year prison sentence. "The state believes Mr. Griffin does not wish to stop committing crimes," he said.
Griffin has more than 50 prior convictions -- mostly misdemeanor charges like petit theft, trespassing, disorderly intoxication, breach of peace and resisting an officer without violence.
At a Sept. 25 sentencing hearing, Joseph Griffin said his brother's behavior and criminal history are the result of alcohol abuse that began when Mark Griffin was 16 years old. "He needs help," said Joseph Griffin, an elementary school principal. "If he gets the help, he won't be in court."
Circuit Judge Donald Jacobsen said he agreed, but he had no choice under
the law but to impose the 15-year prison sentence. "Personally, I think the money could have been better spent in treatment rather than incarceration for 15 years, but that is not my decision," said Jacobsen.
Read
The Ledger report
here.
That 15 years will cost the taxpayers of Florida $450,000 or thereabouts. Surely we could get him treatment for that kind of money.
Confessing to mixed feelings about panhandlers
"Do they really need the help?" asks Allen Johnson, a reporter in Greensboro, North Carolina.
* "Am I simply providing drug money?
"Of course, there are ways to give so you can be sure your money goes to a good cause: United Way, food banks, the Salvation Army and myriad other causes.
"But a human being on the street isn't a cause; he's a person. And he can be hard to ignore -- especially when you discover you personally know him."
Read his column in the
Greensboro News-Record here.
---------------
* Greensboro recently made significent revisions to its ordinance governing public soliciting, begging and panhandling. The changes amount to a de facto ban on panhandling in the downtown area, and would strictly limit panhandling throughout the rest of the city. Read more over at Chosen Fast.
Fort Lauderdale cops cleared of charges
they unfairly targeted homeless people
Broward prosecutors have dismissed a claim that Fort Lauderdale police officers unfairly targeted homeless people to win days off or gift cards to a movie theater.
The complaints were brought last year by veteran officer Michael Hennessy, who said senior officers developed incentives that resulted in the unfair treatment of homeless people in Fort Lauderdale.
Officers were promised time off in return for three arrests during a shift, or four during two consecutive shifts, and a point system was devised for enforcement actions. A day off would be earned for 70 points. And a scavenger hunt was developed, giving officers a list of tasks to complete and promising a $50 gift card to Regal Cinema.
Hennessy said one item on the scavenger hunt was a homeless person violating the open container law with an alcoholic drink other than Natural Ice beer. "If you were homeless and you happened to be drinking a beer other than Natural Ice, you were a target," he said. "How is that fair?"
The police department never disputed the existence of the incentives over a brief period in 2008, but has consistently denied that they were unfair.
Read the
South Florida Sun-Sentinel report
here.
May my clothes please the court ...
A lawyer who wore jeans and a baseball cap to court filed a federal suit after he was told his attire was inappropriate, alleging violations of his 1st and 14th Amendment rights.
The federal judge did not see it that way. A courtroom is a "staid environment," said Judge
Nicholas Garaufis, and a judge can enforce "commonly shared mores of courtroom civility." But the judge acknowledged that when the attorney is not in court, he "is free to express the ideas he wishes to express, and to wear the attire he chooses to wear."
The case is
Bank v. Katz. Read the
New York Law Journal report
here.
I'll admit that I've worn jeans and sneakers to court (no baseball cap), but it was an unanticipated, emergency hearing on a Friday afternoon.
Trial date set in stabbing death of homeless man
A trial has been scheduled for May 17 for a teen-ager accused of stabbing a homeless man to death in July.
John Hawthorne, 19, is charged with second-degree murder in the death of Joel David Boner, 32, in July. The trial is set for May 17.
Ocoee police said Hawthorne and a friend found a camp where some homeless people live on land once owned by Hawthorne's family. Hawthorne and Boner argued, and Hawthorne cut several items belonging to Boner, leading to a fight. During the fight, Hawthorne pulled out a 6-inch pocketknife and stabbed Boner, police said.
Hawthorne and his friend went home, showered and cleaned themselves up but did not offer any assistance to the victim, who stumbled onto the road, police said. Emergency personnel later took Boner to Orlando Regional Medical Center, where he died.
Read the
Orlando Sentinel report
here. And for more detail on the case, check out the
Orlando Weekly's "An inauspicious death: When a gay homeless man is murdered, does anyone care?"
here.
