A “bullying” builder who was caught on camera kicking a homeless woman in the head before stealing her only possessions has been given a suspended sentence.
Daniel Preston, 24, admitted assaulting Elin Mitchell, by beating in an alcohol-fuelled attack and then stealing £10. She was in a doorway in Bournemouth town centre when she was attacked last summer.
Her money was later recovered but in a statement she said: “He kicked me in the head and took my money. It makes me scared to be out on the streets now," said Mitchell, who escaped with minor injuries.
Imposing a six-month prison sentence, suspended for 18 months, Recorder Philippa Whipple QC described the offence in Bournemouth Crown Court as “a really disgraceful act”.
“You picked on a vulnerable single person and not only did you steal from her what little money she had, you kicked her to the side of the head," she said. “It was bullying, intimidating, foul behaviour. You were so drunk at the time you can’t remember.”
Lawyer seeking homeless man who returned lost money
A relieved lawyer is looking for the Good Samaritan who found his envelope of cash lying in a and then turned it over to police in West Chester, Pennsylvania.
Robert Stauffer lost $1,440 stuffed inside a credit union envelope.
A man, who police say is homeless, found the cash and then flagged down a patrolman to turn over the money.
“To find out it was somebody down on his luck who returned every penny, I’m very appreciative,” Stauffer said after claiming his money at the police station. “I want to thank him. He may be down on his luck, but things will change because when you do good things for people, these things have a way of coming around ... Good deeds are always rewarded.”
Stauffer has asked the police to help him get into contact with the man so he can “reciprocate his generosity.”
Update: John Kavanaugh, who sleeps on an a park bench, found the envelope. "It could have been somebody's rent money or something, you know," he said. "They could use it. It could set you back."
Homeless man: Diamond ring isn't mine, so who does it belong to?
Mike Secaur found a diamond ring in some change a lady driving by gave him as he stood at an intersection in Pontiac, Michigan.
A homeless man who has lived on the streets around Pontiac, Michigan, for nearly two years is trying to track down a woman he thinks accidentally gave him a gold ring with small diamonds when she handed him a handful of change.
Michael Secaur said he was standing on a corner asking for spare change when a woman in a vehicle handed him money -- and the ring.
"My first thought was to go pawn it but I'd only get about $20 to $50," Secaur said. "It's probably worth more to the woman who had it."
He said he would recognize the woman if he saw her again.
Secaur, a former kitchen manager, said he had a wife, three children, two cars and a house before losing everything to divorce and what he described as minor legal problems.
A homeless man who was pulled away from the lectern during a city council meeting last summer is being prosecuted on charges that he violated meeting decorum by using words some consider vulgar.
Richard Shapiro is charged with violating a Carlsbad, California, ordinance on maintaining proper meeting decorum. Police removed him when he said a word some use as a term for wimps.* Shapiro contends that his right to free speech was violated.
The District Attorney’s Office is prosecuting the charges against Shapiro, which are infractions -- basically tickets with a fine of about $100. The DA does not typically handle infractions
Shapiro is representing himself in the criminal case.
Judge Richard E. Mills asked why the district attorney is prosecuting this case, as it is likely that even if Shapiro is found guilty it would be difficult to collect fines because he is indigent. Deputy District Attorney Garret Wong answered that it is to serve justice.
Read the San Diego Union-Tribune report here. --------------- * Any ideas what that word might be? I'm stumped.
Last year's Leadership Pasco class wanted to do something to help the homeless. So they raised $40,000 to build two portable showers to give people a decent place to clean up.
Each trailer includes two showers, a sink and features propane-fueled hot water and air conditioning. The showers have a 200-gallon capacity and are stocked with towels and soap.
But the portable showers have stalled. They've been sitting in project director Kim Bogart's back yard since August because the Homeless Coalition of Pasco County can't afford to buy liability insurance for them.
The cost: between $2,400 and $2,700 each year. The package includes protection against damage and against a claim if somebody were injured in the shower.
A hot shower isn't going to immediately bring someone out of homelessness, said the Rev. Dan Campbell, president of the homeless coalition. But it's a key service for people who spend almost all of their time outside.
Homeless man set on fire in a fight; girlfriend saves his fife
A homeless man was severely burned after being set on fire at a makeshift camp for homeless people in Fort Lauderdale.
William Stouffer, 51, sustained very severe burns over a substantial portion of his body and is in a fight to recover from his catastrophic injuries.
Police say they are in search of John Gibbons, 58, who is accused of setting Stouffer on fire after the two fought. Police said Gibbons used some type of accelerant to douse the victim. He then lit the man's body, watched him catch on fire, and ran away.
Stouffer's girlfriend, Kimberly Shawn, said that she was happy to have bought bottled water on the same day. She used it and a blanket to put out the flames. She then called for paramedics.
The attack happened shortly before 4:15 a.m. behind a Burger King, just before the restaurant opened.
Homeless man killed when underground dwelling collapses
Search teams found a man buried beneath 10 to 15 feet of dirt after a week-long search in Palm Desert, California.
A homeless woman went into a fire station on Feb. 12 and reported her 30-year-old friend missing. The woman told firefighters her friend had built an underground dwelling under a sand dune in the desert. When she tried to find her friend, she found the underground dwelling had caved in.
Firefighters rushed to the sand dune and removed several hundreds of pounds of dirt but could not find a body. The search was stopped after four hours.
Riverside County deputies continued searching for the missing person in the area but could not find him. On Feb. 18 heavy earth-moving equipment was brought in to dig in the sand dune once again. A search dog trained in locating dead bodies signaled a body was in the area.
Search teams dug through nearly 15 feet of dirt and found the man had died. The coroner’s office has not yet identified the body.
Read the Southwest Riverside News Network report here.
Update: Steven James Morgan has been identified as the homeless man found buried under mounds of dirt. He was 30 years old. Foul play has been ruled out and the death is considered accidental. Read the Desert Sun report here.
Here's a video of me talking about my recent appearance before the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals to present oral arguments in the case of Orlando Food Not Bombs versus the City of Orlando. It was filmed by T.J. McCarthy of 4D Pictures, with the Wednesday evening food-sharing at Lake Eola Park as a backdrop.
The Florida Independent had the most comprehensive report on Tuesday's en banc rehearing before the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta. Read it here.
Gov. Rick Scott's budget slashes spending for homeless
Last year, agencies that help Florida's homeless received nearly $7 million in state funding to assist more than 74,000 people.
But that money was wiped out of the Gov Rick Scott's budget, which calls for elimination of the state's Office of Homelessness.
His dramatic slashes to the budget target some of the state's most vulnerable groups.
"It is probably the most callous, destructive, hurtful, archaic budget that you could put forward in a state like this," said Rep. Mark Pafford, a Democrat from West Palm Beach who is co-sponsoring a bill that would provide tax breaks to businesses that give homeless people jobs.
The Office of Homelessness, which last year had a budget of $19.2 million, has been a target before, said Rayme Nuckles, who leads the Homeless Coalition of Hillsborough County. "Historically, those individuals in the state who are the most vulnerable always end up taking the brunt of the cuts. So we're always prepared to advocate for the needs of those who are less fortunate."
But what's disturbing about Scott's proposal, he said, is that rather than just not funding the Office of Homelessness, as has been suggested during previous budget crunches, Scott proposes repealing the legislation that created it.
State senator apologizes for "hateful and bigoted" e-mail about the homeless
State Senator Nick Kettle has apologized for an e-mail about a hearing on homelessness that advocates on the issue described as hateful and bigoted.
Kettle, a Republican from Rhode Island, sent this e-mail urging Tea Party members to fill up the hearing room:
I need as many tea party supporters there for this one. Get there early to fill up the room before the homeless folks! Help me ask why this homeless person has better clothes than I? I need some support when myself and Senator’s Maher and Pinga raise the tough questions to end this dog and pony show of Chairman Tassonni’s [sic]
Thanks, Nick Kettle
Several advocates for the homeless condemned the e-mail. John Joyce, co-director of the Rhode Island Homeless Advocacy Project, said the message was inappropriate and expressed hatred and prejudice towards the poor and homeless.
Homeless camp puts down roots -- with the city's OK
A lot of cities view homeless encampments like weeds that have sprung up in the civic garden. Sacramento and Fort Worth, for example, have shut them down.
Seattle, though, is taking a different approach: It wants a city-run camp on city-owned property.
Residents share in the camp's management. Peggy Hotes, one of the camp's organizers, thinks that helps people get back on their feet.
"I've seen people come in here with their heads down," she says. "Then they're elected to something. And they see that they can participate in making things better, to help solve the issue of homelessness."
Deputy Mayor Darryl Smith admits that a permanent tent city is not the ideal response to homelessness. But he thinks it's worth a try.
"No one seems to have come up with a perfect situation or a perfect location to do something like this," he says. "But we don't want excellent — what we're grasping for ... [is] something basic that can really help people."
Another state considers adding homelessness to hate-crime laws
The homeless and the people who care for them successfully implored lawmakers to add homelessness as a category to Colorado’s hate-crime laws.
“Hunting season for the homeless is a year-round event,” said Vernon Lewis, a 38-year-old man who is homeless.
The bill sponsor, Sen. Lucia Guzman, D-Denver, said Colorado ranks fifth in the nation for the number of crimes against the homeless during a 10-year period.
After an emotional hearing, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted 5-4 in favor of the measure. It now goes to the Senate Finance Committee.
A month after Pinellas Safe Harbor opened its doors to homeless residents, city and county officials consider the program a great success.
Perhaps a little too much of a success.
The shelter facility near the county jail, designed to house homeless offenders whose crimes are minor and non-violent, quickly filled to near-capacity. With about 300 spots in what will eventually be a 500-bed shelter, Safe Harbor peaked around 290 last week.
And those are all volunteers. Ultimately, the shelter intends to open to homeless Florida Department of Corrections and county jail inmates who are accused of minor crimes such as public urination or shoplifting and are re-entering society.
At the end of this week, the shelter will take a handful of test cases before it expands to begin the jail diversion program
Read the St. Petersburg Times report here. And see previous post here.
“We’ve been told we can’t put a tent up nowhere in this city for six months or they will come back and arrest us again,” said Gary, 48, an Army veteran (right).
Said 31-year-old David: “We’re looking for other alternatives.”
After the Kansas City cops evicted them from their encampment hard by the freeway ramp, David Strobl and Gary R. were even more homeless than they were before.
Survival gear, personal mementos — every bit of it gone.
Arrested for camping illegally, they lost almost everything they owned while in jail for, essentially, the crime of being homeless.
Gary’s birth certificate and military discharge papers. The few family keepsakes that David cherished.
“I lost my mother’s wedding ring,” he said. “My baby book, the only pictures I had left of my mother. I pleaded with them the night they arrested us to let us get some of our valuables, if you’re going to come back and destroy the camp. But they said it was too late. We couldn’t take nothing except for what we had in our pockets.”
The story that Gary and David tell is by no means unique in Kansas City. From coast to coast, authorities routinely show little respect for the property rights of a growing chronically homeless population.
A poverty lawyer (and, by the way, law professor) comments on social justice issues, news and court decisions ... with a few other random thoughts thrown in here and there
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