Would you Help A Homeless If It Were a Crime? »
Posted By Newperson 7 months, 2 weeks ago in FamilyA Metro Police official showed good judgment last month when he ended a practice among patrol officers of stopping well-meaning donors from assisting homeless people.
Deputy Chief Gary Schofield said he found out about the practice after a Metro officer prevented members of a Henderson church from giving food and clothing to homeless people living in tents at Foremaster Lane and Main Street in Las Vegas.
The officer told the group he was going to give them a written warning and that if they tried to help the homeless anywhere else, they would be “written up” there, too.
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Newperson
From the day we are born were all travelers just passing through. And i'm happy to have a wonderful loving wife to pass through ...
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Desdamona7 months, 2 weeks ago
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Ummm... no where in the article did I see any reason for why they would cite people for giving food and clothing to homeless people - like they caouldn't even come up with a reason when they tried. Other then prejudice against the homeless I can't see where a rule like this would even enter someone's thought process...
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jaspersneed7 months, 2 weeks ago
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The thought process tends to be limited to those with an authoritarian outlook on human life and society. It is common, though certainly not universal, among cops and others charged with carrying out the rules of the State, and finds its greatest justification in a longstanding false assumption -- the belief that somehow, somewhere in our society of laws it has been established that, "that which is not expressly permitted, is forbidden." With this kind of thinking there needn't be an actual law PROHIBITING donating to the homeless; the absence of a law specifically authorizing and/or regulating it is leeway enough for the authoritarian mindset to step in and assume "control" ...... for everyone's "own good", of course, or for "public safety"....
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sonofreasonComment removed: Hard Banned2 Replies
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Natureboy7 months, 2 weeks ago
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In San Francisco, in the 80s, they began arresting Food Not Bombs members who dared offer free food in public.
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The proposition of being arrested for offering a hungry person free food became so attractive that people began lining up to do it. Groups began volunteering. One day the cops would billy-club and arrest a bunch of nuns. The next day it was doctors. The next day longshoremen. Etc. The police persecution actually springboarded Food Not Bombs from a small local phenomenon into an international movement.
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Locky12Comment removed: Spammer, Abusive17 Replies
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TimALoftis7 months, 2 weeks ago
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This 11 year-old is certainly doing his part in helping the homeless;
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http://www.propeller.com/story/2009/05/20/11-year-... -
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cowboygrandpa7 months, 2 weeks ago
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Don't want laws that outlaw being a human being.
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Don't want police telling me that I can't help a down and out person if I choose.
Don't want the homeless to feel they are the scum of society.
Do want people to be aware that there are scammers out there to lazy to work and people who get the hand outs, that live better than some of the ones giving the hand outs.
Let each person follow their own heart. -
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Icantwait7 months, 2 weeks ago
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My Fellow Americans: If he had given that homeless person a green card and brought him down to the Welfare Department and then to the Department of Motor Vehicles. He could have solved all the problems this homeless individual had and he would not have been arrested. He would have gotten food stamps, monthly income, drivers license, and a car to drive. Obama would have put him up as his next success story. The Real American
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aceofspades17 months, 2 weeks ago
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Icantwait - what makes you think these homeless people are illegals, are they the only ones living on the streets? Guess in an earler day you would have enjoyed burning the Bonus Marcher's tents, or throwing the itinerate workers fleeing the dust bowl in jail. or spitting on all the mentally challenged people turned loose from the mental hospitals in NY . Life is hard enough for those who can cope with our current situation, it's impossible for those who can't.
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These are the times we must be our brother's keepers
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Natureboy7 months, 2 weeks ago
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This is a common phenomenon. Food Not Bombs has been busted in Las Vegas, Nev. and elsewhere for their terrible crime of feeding people (not just homeless, anybody) publicly with healthy vegan meals prepared from items that would otherwise have been thrown out by grocery stores, etc.
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Thing is, city governments treat the homeless as a dirty little secret. An Eyesore. Got to keep them off the streets, away from public areas. What would the tourists think if they see homeless people? That's the thought process. Then comes some do-gooder offering to publicly feed/clothe his homeless brethren, and they all come out from hiding. Scandal!
It is insane.
Do you think you are helping someone different from yourself when you help a homeless person? If you are like most Americans, you have one foot on the metaphoric banana peel of uncertain finances, and it will take one major illness not covered by your insurance to put you in a situation where you can't make the mortgage,and then, you too get to sleep outdoors in a cardboard box.
Some homeless likely aren't like you. A high percentage of homeless males (like half) are veterans. This is what they came back to. There are also those who are substance-addicted, and those who use alcohol and illicit substances to self-treat mental illness.
Ironies? Most of the folks on this thread who talk about how homeless people might stab you, or speak of "the ones" that deserve help versus "the ones (dehumanizing speech) that don't, are right-wing christians. WWJD, obviously he would side with the rich and powerful and call the centurions to have the poor removed from his sight.-
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cowboygrandpa7 months, 2 weeks ago
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Natureboy:
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I've been there from a car accident. Being a vet I thought I could get some help. Hahahaahahahaaaaa !!!!!
I had to wait for everything, including the surgery to repair my hands so I could work.
Went through my savings in a couple of months and lost my place to live.
Stayed with friends and family for a while, but when one doesn't get a disability check for six months, people can't afford to take care of ya.
Turned to alcohol for the pain, it worked but created more problems. LOL
Of course I lost my job,so no insurance.
The guy who hit me ??? No insurance, so to speak of.
It was hellish time. I finally got the creep who hit me to pay for the surgeries, so I could get back to work.
Lost everything financially, but gained everything as far as understanding the less fortunate, who are put there by circumstances beyond their control.
God is good and merciful. I have mercy on those who are less fortunate and even more fortunate than I. Because money is not all that, but people are.
Met a lot of really good people, who would give what they had to help ya , when they didn't know where their own next meal was coming from. They had faith.
Saw the mentally ill that this nation, despises as not being worthy of mercy and help. Wonder what God thinks of His creation when they turn their backs on those He loves and tests us with.
To me the truly mentally ill are those who love money and the things it can get more than their fellow man. To love an idol more than a living being is sad.
Peace.
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