HUFF - Homeless United for Friendship and Freedom

Donna Deiss facing 'resisting arrest' charge; all other charges dropped

noreply@blogger.com (Sleep is a righ!) — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 17:58:00 +0000

Donna Deiss facing 'resisting arrest' charge; all other charges dropped

by Becky Johnson ( becky_johnson222 [at] hotmail.com )
Wednesday Jun 25th, 2008 11:18 PM

On the first real nice day of the year, a peaceful gathering occurred in Three Trees parking lot on W. Cliff Drive. Within minutes, SCPD Officer Christian LeMoss had broken Donna Deiss' arm, arrested her, and charged her with battery on a peace officer, possession of marijuana, and resisting arrest. Today only the resisting arrest charge remains.

donna_deiss_aug_2_2006.jpg

Santa Cruz, Ca. --- HUFF member and vehicular dweller, Donna Deiss, who had her right humerus bone fractured by Officer Christian LeMoss on May 9th, 2008 at the Three Trees parking lot on W. Cliff Dr. has had all charges but one dropped. She now faces a single charge of 148 (a) PC or resisting arrest. Misdemeanor charges of battery on a police officer and possession of marijuana have been dropped without explanation. Deiss is still scheduled for arraignment on July 2nd at 8:30AM on the lone remaining charge of 'resisting arrest.' "I plan to plead 'Not Guilty' and seek a jury trial," she told HUFF members.

The Santa Cruz Police Department had issued a press release three days after the incident in which they claimed "When the officer attempted to detain Ms. Deiss she threw a cup of hot liquid onto his face. Despite being burned, the officer was able to control and eventually take Ms. Deiss into custody ." Deiss claims the officer never properly detained her, was not in uniform, did not identify himself as a police officer, and had no reason to detain her, much less grab her violently, spin her onto a parked car, cuff her, then throw her on the ground breaking her arm. The cup of coffee she had been holding in her left hand spilled everywhere including on Ms. Deiss. No marijuana was found on Ms. Deiss at the time of her arrest.

http://www.huffsantacruz.org

Donna Deiss recovering

by Becky Johnson Thursday Jun 26th, 2008 1:40 AM

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original image ( 1280x960)

Donna Deiss gives an accounting of her experiences.

http://www.huffsantacruz.org

60 Year Old Homeless Wolman Says Police Broke Her Arm

noreply@blogger.com (Sleep is a righ!) — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 17:55:00 +0000

60 Year Old Homeless Wolman Says Police Broke Her Arm

by Robert Norse
Saturday May 10th, 2008 9:50 AM

Donna Deiss called in last night to report that yesterday around 5 PM, Officer La Moss (Badge #114) assaulted her, broke her arm, and then put her in handcuffs when he attempted to question her at Three Tree Lot near Lighthouse Field. Deiss was taken to the Watsonville hospital, had to wait hours for x-rays, which confirmed her arm was broken.

Deiss reported the following to me in a phone message last night and an e-mail this morning:

She was talking with friends yesterday on Westcliffe Drive near her RV. An undercover police officer, whom she later identified as Officer La Moss, arrived in a black unmarked car and said he wanted to talk to her and others in the group. She read La Moss a statement from the ACLU about the rights of community members vis a vis the police and walked to her RV.

The cop followed her. She got in and tried to close the door. Le Moss, not saying she was under arrest or detained, reached in and grabbed her right arm, pinching the skin as he twisted it behind her back, breaking it. She screamed her arm was broken, but his response was to call for backup. 4 more police cars arrived. She continued screaming for 911 and finally paramedics showed up.

The police said they were impounding her RV, which she lives in.

She was taken to Watsonville hospital, waited hours for x-rays and pain pills. She is charged with battery and an additional charge. X-raqys confirm her arm was broken. She needs an attorney and community support.

This is an account from Donna Deiss (with some additions from her friend Shane). Donna has previously been harassed by rangers as part of the "clear out the hippies" campaign at Three Tree Lot and the other lots around Lighthouse Fields. Recently the City's Parks and Recreation Department had its "No RVs" signs painted over by state Rangers, for apparently violating state law and policy regarding parking (i.e. RVS are allowed to park).

See related stories: "Harassment of Homeless in RVs, a Letter from Donna Deiss" at http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2007/10/08/18452903.php ,

"Superintendant Hammack Stonewalls on RV Ban in Coastal Parking Lots" at http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2007/09/12/18447267.php , and

"Coastal Access Denied to Motorhomes and Trailers in Santa Cruz" at http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2007/08/30/18444952.php for related stories.

Eyewitness Interviews to the LeMoss Assault on Free Radio; Did you see it? Let us know.

by Robert Norse Sunday May 11th, 2008 5:21 PM

Witnesses to the Officer Christian LeMoss's assault on Donna Deiss Friday afternoon including Deiss's own testimony was heard on Free Radio Santa Cruz today. It should be archived soon at http://www.radiolibre.org/brb/brb080511.mp3 .

Craig: if you can secure a copy of the police report, please post it. Or if you get informal information from officers about their perspective, let us know. All witnesses I've spoken to (5 so far, not including Donna).

Particularly important (and this is sad) are middle-class witnesses passing by on foot, bike, or by car. Or nearby residents. Please put the word out for these folks to get in touch with what they saw.

I encourage folks to show up at Santa Cruz City Council at 3 PM and/or 7 PM to speak at Oral Communications to let the community (via tv) know what they think of this kind of behavior. City Council will also (be forced to) listen.

Also reminding folks that there's a public meeting of folks purportedly concerned with police abuse and discrimination on Wednesday 6:30 pm (see http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/05/10/18498435.php)

Most telling perhaps would be a direct action protest and march, if anyone wants to organize it.

Witnesses to the event should give a call to me at 831-423-4833 or call me show on Thursday 6-8 PM on 101.1 FM at 427-3772.

Donna is charged with battery and resisting arrest. Her court date is June 16th. She faces up to a $2000 fine and up to 2 years in jail. Christian LeMoss on the other hand as far as I've heard is still on the beat--getting paid to do the beating.

Thanks to everyone who called in and are concerned about stopping police brutality.

Freedom Man

noreply@blogger.com (Sleep is a righ!) — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 14:55:00 +0000

Freedom Man

All Charges dropped against Tarot Card Reader,

Street Entertainer, Jason Paschal

by Becky Johnson

April 16, 2008

Graffiti in concrete on Elm St. sidewalk in Santa Cruz, Ca.on April 16, 2008 Photo by HUFF

ETCHED IN STONE

Santa Cruz, Ca. --- Outside the Elm St. Mission in Santa Cruz, the overtly racist term "nigger" is etched in stone, courtesy of the Santa Cruz Public Works Department and an unsecured piece of fresh concrete. "How long has that been there?" Jason Paschal asks two of his local friends. Neither of them know. "It shouldn't be there," he says. Jason, an African-American tarot card reader and street performer knows a thing or two about the word "nigger."

On July 15th, 2007, a man on a bicycle came up to street artist, Jason Paschal's protest table near O'Neill's Surf Shop on Pacific Avenue, said “O'Neill's been here longer than you have. Get the fuck out of Santa Cruz, Nigger!” and spat in his face. Paschal briefly pursued the man on foot, before placing a 911 call to report the assault. Police arrived and arrested Paschal instead. Nine months later, in Commissioner Stephen Siegel's court, all charges against Paschal were dropped.

HATE CRIME OR FAILURE TO DISPERSE?

Eyewitness Steve Harper, a homeless Vietnam Vet was interviewed by SCPD Vasquez at the scene. He was too far away to hear what was said. In his report, Vasquez wrote “Harper saw a bicylist ride up to Paschal and spit on him. Paschal was hit in the face with spit. The bicyclist then rode off and Paschal chased after him.”

Harper described the bicyclist as “a skinny, 6'02” white male with a Mohawk on a 21 speed bicycle.” Despite the vivid description, police were unable to locate the suspect.

Paschal was booked and released but the jail kept his insulin needles and insulin. His blood sugar levels were skyrocketing. And this was not the first time this had happened to him.

The next day, Jason himself located the suspect, Jeremy Burkett and his girlfriend on Pacific Ave. and placed another 911 call. Police arrived and were able to interview Jeremy Burkett. But he was not arrested or charged.

When police interviewed Jeremy Burkett, he admitted spitting in Paschal's direction. But no prosecution was recommended. Because 4 minutes prior to Paschal's 911 call, Bill Chapman, a shopper at O'Neill's had called police claiming Paschal “had been threatening people.” Later, SCPD Officer Vasquez interviewed Chapman and said “based on the details provided to me by Chapman, I determined that Paschal had been using offensive language that was likely to cause a physical, violent confrontation.” In his report he wrote “Paschal specifically called Chapman and his wife a “cunt.” This is odd because Chapman's wife was not accompanying her husband that day, and this appears to be the basis of the complaint. Paschal says “He came up, towering over my table, and said “What's YOUR problem?” I told him “Get the fuck away from my table, you pussy.”

Paschal was charged with two counts: Offensive words in a public place and failure to disperse. NONE of the eyewitnesses report that Paschal was asked to disperse and refused.

Chapman, interviewed by telephone on April 16, 2008 for this article, stated that on July 15th, 2008, he HAD seen spittle hit Paschal. He said “I don't think it made physical contact with skin.” When asked if that meant it had landed on Paschal's clothing he said “yes.” This directly contradicts his statement in Vasquez' police report, which says: “Chapman specifically stated that the unknown bicyclist had not spit on or near Paschal.”

Also in the report Chapman says he “did not believe that Paschal was physically threatening him.” When asked to explain the discrepancy, Chapman said “He was physically threatening the man on the bicycle. That's why I placed the 911 call. I was personally not bothered by Paschal's statements. But other people were.”

The other major point of dispute in this case is the language that Burkett used just before he spit either on or near Paschal. Chapman was standing near Jason's table and saw the altercation between Burkett and Paschal. In the police report, it says “Chapman stated that none of the people whom had been confronted by Paschal had used offensive or racial language.” Paschal says that Burkett spoke to him in pressured language and ended his statement with “Get the fuck out of Santa Cruz, Nigger!” All witnesses agree that he sped off on his bicycle when Jason gave chase.

The SCPD decided to investigate but chose to treat the case as two discreet events, despite that three 911 calls had been placed, all at the same location, and involving the same set of people and witnesses into both cases. Hence, Jason's Public Defenders were not looking at any reports of Jason as a victim of an assault, battery and possible hate crime. Nor could he get any records on that investigation via his Public Defender, Kristin Carter. The case, People vs. Jason Paschal, had became about the right to say “pussy” in a public place.

CRAZY RULING

Paschal had been arrested on two charges: 415 (3) PC: Offensive words in a public place and 410 PC Neglect or refuse to disperse rioters although NONE of the eyewitnesses report that Paschal was asked to disperse and refused. At his first hearing, the DA offered to allow him to plead to an infraction with a one-year stay away order from Pacific Ave. Paschal insisted he was not guilty and demanded a jury trial. He urged Carter to obtain records on his complaint against Burkett, but Carter resisted. Paschal asked her to obtain the police reports. She didn't. Finally, Jason had her removed in a Marston hearing and Elizabeth Caballero was appointed to take over the case. In a sidebar, Judge Thomas Kelly told Caballero that Jason could plead guilty, or no lo contend re, but if he insisted on pleading “not guilty” and demanded a jury trial, he must submit to a mental competency hearing to see if he was fit to stand trial.

Paschal moved to Southern California where he set up his Tarot card reading table on Venice Beach with little interference from local police there. He continued coming back to Santa Cruz for multiple hearings.

Frustrated that his Public Defender, Elizabeth Caballero, was simply accepting Kelly's conditions without question, Paschal sought help from a lawyer in Southern California. A call was placed to the California Bar Association and they investigated. Kelly was reprimanded for ruling contrary to commonly recognized law and Paschal's case was removed from his docket. Apparently people have a RIGHT to plead not guilty and have a jury trial!! Although, Kelly was stripped of Paschal's case due to his extrajudicial ruling, he hasn't changed his ways. Currently Warren West, a long-time homeless man, is wading through hearing after hearing in Kelly's court. On Wednesday, April 23rd, 2008 at 8:30AM in Department 1, West will again appear before Judge Thomas Kelly for a scheduled mental competency hearing since he too has insisted on pleading “not guilty” and has invoked his right to a jury trial.

ROSA PARKS WOULD NOT BE WELCOME HERE

Back in July of 2002, Jason Paschal, a tarot card reader, artist, and satirist began setting up his non-commercial display device (a card table) on Pacific Ave. in locations where such activity is permitted. He immediately troubled the merchants on Pacific Ave. who often called police to complain about him for a number of real and imagined concerns. Several times, police or merchants invoked "the Move-Along Law," MC 5.43.020(2) which compels “non-commercial display devices” to be moved along to over 100 feet away after 60 minutes. This law has been enforced very irregularly since its enactment under the administration of Mayor Emily Reilly. HUFF* has opposed the law as unconstitutional in that it limits freedom of speech, and is at risk for selective enforcement against unpopular activists or shabby individuals, while kempt, respectable groups or individuals would be left unmolested.

CRIMINAL POSSESSION OF A MILK CRATE

SCPD Sgt. Loran Baker threatened to cite Paschal for harmlessly setting up his rocks and crystals atop the concrete water box on the sidewalk. When Paschal returned to Pacific Ave. with his own table on July 30, 2002, Baker had him physically arrested and taken into custody for misdemeanor "possession of a milk crate."

During Baker's arrest of Paschal (who is a diabetic), they discovered his insulin needles and charged him with a 4140 BP ; possession of hypodermic needle/syringe and for a 11364 HS Possession of a controlled substance paraphernalia when he found his pipe. Paschal also had a small baggie of marijuana and a bottle of insulin with 5 doses remaining. Baker pulled the needles out of Jason's backpack, held them up above him to show to anyone passing nearby on the sidewalk and said "Is this what we want in our town?

Fearing an arrest for a pending warrant for a marijuana charge in New Hampshire from 1998, Paschal gave a false name. For this, he was tried, convicted, sentenced, and served 10 days in jail. In addition to suffering from diabetes, Paschal has a neurological disorder as well as epilepsy. All three conditions are helped by use of medical marijuana. So the narcotics paraphernalia and marijuana possession charges disappeared since they were entirely groundless in the first place.

TAROT CARD READING WITHOUT A LICENSE

On another occasion, Officer Willie Brandt gave him a ticket for giving a "Metaphysical reading without a license” when he performed a tarot card reading for a donation. The City of Santa Cruz does not issue Metaphysical Licenses! Those charges were eventually dropped “in the interest of justice.” Paschal is self-supporting and does not utilize traditional homeless services. He pays for his own food and shelter on a daily basis and does not consider himself homeless. He accepts donations for his psychic readings, and to date no client has filed a complaint against him for fraud.

DEFACING NEW HAMPSHIRE

This was Sgt. Loran "Butchie" Baker's mission: to run Jason Paschal out of town. Rather than apologizing to him for seizing his needles and insulin, and fully aware that Paschal was a legitimate medical marijuana user, Baker continued to press for a way to remove Paschal from downtown. Though frustrated that New Hampshire showed no interest in extradition, Baker again jailed Paschal on a 11357 (b) HS “ possession of less than an ounce of marijuana” on November 7^th, 2002. The case was again dismissed.

New Hampshire was reluctant to send officers across the entire continent to pick up a parole violator who had already served 8 months in prison, 4 months in a halfway house, and had 8 months left to serve. All this for a single incident when as a teenager, he sold half an ounce of pot to an undercover agent. A person awaiting extradition can only be held for 30 days. So Baker held him for 30 days. But still, authorities there failed to performing an extradition. Paschal was again released.

But Baker did not give up. January 17, 2003 he had Jason arrested again for possession of marijuana. He continued to call multiple agencies in New Hampshire and demanded they come and pick up Paschal. They didn't. After 30 days, Paschal was released again.

On April 1, 2003, Baker jailed Paschal, this time for only the old warrant and put New Hampshire on his speed dialer. On May 3rd, Baker's campaign paid off. New Hampshire agreed to send federal marshals to transport Paschal back to serve the rest of his sentence for that half ounce of grass sold five years before.

Marijuana plant at WAMM parade in Santa Cruz, Ca. 2005 Photo by Becky Johnson

Ironically, as Jason Paschal, a legitimate medical marijuana user sat in jail awaiting extradition to New Hampshire, a non-medical marijuana state, Mayor Emily Reilly and Supervisor Mardi Wormhoudt held a press conference in front of the Santa Cruz County Courthouse to support a lawsuit by the Women and Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana (WAMM) against the Federal DEA seeking an end to raids on patients' gardens. New Hampshire Deputy's arrived and transported Paschal in chains back to a New Hampshire prison. On May 3rd, the day he arrived back in New Hampshire, the iconic granite "Old Man of the Mountain" stone face, memorialized on the NH state quarter, the State Emblem, and on the 1955 US 3-cent postage stamp, slid off the mountain forever.

180 DAYS IN THE HOLE

During the four months he was incarcerated, a prison guard there witnessed a cop punch Paschal in the neck and call him a "nigger. " The guard reported the incident to the State Police who launched an investigation. As a result of the investigation, not only was the cop disciplined, but they also found that Paschal was currently serving what was to have been 180 days "in the hole" ( solitary confinement) in direct violation of the prisons' own regulations. He was released from New Hampshire 4 months early and paroled to his family home in Arkansas for the remainder of his four month sentence.

RETURN OF THE REVEREND

Over his mother's strong objections, Paschal, who sometimes portrayed himself as The Reverend Doctor Electronic Galaxy Jay returned to Santa Cruz and Pacific Avenue. Partly it was the life he had made for himself, and partly it was a feeling that he needed to right a terrible wrong that had been done to him.

LICENSE TO SMEAR

One day, a female worker at Gelatomania came over to Jason's table. She told him that the police had come into their business and told all the staff there that Paschal was a pedophile and that they should watch their children around him. She said they had been going from business to business warning people about Paschal. Since then, Paschal has been regularly confronted in public by people who claim he is a "child rapist."

(A search performed at the Office of the Attorney General's "Megan's Law" website for the State of California for the name, Jason Paschal, returned no results.)

FAILURE TO SERVE AND PROTECT

While his tarot card reading table was popular with some, others targeted him for taunts or abuse. When a man Paschal describes as a "Neo-Nazi Skinhead" sporting a shaved head and two tattoos of the SS on his arm, panhandled Jason for a dollar, he gave it to him. “But I told him "I thought you guys were too proud to panhandle. You're always talking about white pride." The man suddenly grew angry and threw rocks at Paschal who called police and filed a complaint. The next day, Jason sighted the man down near the riverbank and he again called police. They arrived and arrested the man, but no prosecution ensued. When Jason called back to see what progress had been made in the case, they said "we couldn't get in touch with you because you are homeless so all charges were dropped." Jason, who is housed, had a working cellphone the entire time and had never gotten a single call. He was furious that the police, who were so diligent in citing and arresting him, had only made a token effort to do a proper investigation when he was the victim of an assault.

Paschal went off. He marched down Pacific Ave. to the Downtown Information Center and loudly complained along the way about the racist police not assisting him when he had been attacked by white supremacist, Nazi skinheads. Several people called police to complain. Paschal eventually had a run-in with a young man who claimed his father was a police officer. That man later claimed that Jason had challenged him to a physical fight, but Paschal says it happened the other way around. "He challenged ME to a fight, and I refused," Paschal said.

BANISHMENT ORDERS

Jason was charged with disturbing the peace. Attorney Anthony Bole who represented Paschal for the misdemeanor charge, told him a disturbing story. He had been approached by Judge Heather Morse who told Bole that she had been to lunch with Judge Robert Atack. Bole told Paschal that Judge Atack said he had seen Mr. Paschal's table with a sign that said “They don't want to keep Santa Cruz weird, they want to keep it white!” Then, Paschal, not knowing he was speaking to a judge, ended up calling him "A Mormon." Atack was so put off by the encounter that he told all the judges that if Paschal ever appeared before them, they should do what they can to punish him, or get him out of town because “we don't need people like him around here.” Bole counseled Paschal to plead to the deal offered as he was sure he couldn't get a fair trial in a Santa Cruz County Courthouse. Jason plead to an infraction "excessive noise" charge along with a one year stay-away order from Pacific Avenue. Reminiscent of Jim Crow days, Paschal was told he “could continue to frequent Pacific Avenue businesses but only through the back door.”

The ruling to ban Paschal was based on a single event, not a series of crimes as the public is led to believe is necessary to produce such orders. HUFF considers stay-away orders to be medieval, the equivalent of banishment, and used far too often with far too little provocation. They are also ripe for selective enforcement against activists and homeless people.

Banned from Pacific Avenue, he left the area and returned to Venice Beach where he continued reading tarot cards for tourists there. When the year long stay-away order had expired, Paschal returned to Pacific Avenue. But it wasn't to read tarot cards. Not this time.

TELL IT LIKE IT IS

On July 15, 2008 Paschal set up his table on Pacific Ave. across the street from the Cinema Nine. This was a day of protest. Having had it with the campaign of police, merchants, and the DA to banish him from the downtown,harass him, and fail to protect him as is their sword duty, Paschal planned to tell everyone who came by his table about the injustices he had suffered. He set up his table and told people not to shop on Pacific Avenue because the merchants "were a bunch of racists" and that it was bad karma to spend their money there. Paschal was not there to make friends.

The manager of O'Neill's Surf shop, Mark Mackay placed a call to the police about a man who was urging people not to shop on Pacific Avenue and accusing the merchants and the police of being "racist." The police arrived but did not cite or arrest Paschal. Instead, they told him they had received a complaint from O'Neill's Surf shop and he now had one hour before he must "move along."

Twenty minutes later, Jason moved his table to another location, this time about 20 feet away from the door of the O'Neill's Surf Shop. From a seated position behind his table, he urged people to not spend money at O'Neill's. This caused quite a commotion at O'Neill's where two male managers, customers, and passersby congregated by the door, watching as Paschal hawked at any person coming or going.

Some kids who had been inside O'Neill's came over to Paschal's table and placed some O'Neill's Sex Wax there. He yelled at them and told them to leave his table alone.

When Bill Chapman, a customer of O'Neill's walked out of the store with some bagged purchases in his hand, Paschal told him that buying from O'Neill's would lead to bad karma. Chapman walked over to Paschal's table and towered over him. “What did you say?” Chapman demanded. “Get the fuck away from me, you pussy!” Jason told him. At that point a tall, skinny white man with a 10 inch Mohawk hairdo on a bicycle circled around Jason's table. “He came up to me and said “O'Neill's has been here a lot longer than you. Get out of town, nigger!” In Vasquez' police report, Chapman says he spat nearby. However, interviewed by phone for this article, Chapman reported that Paschal had indeed been spit upon. In either case, Paschal was arrested and taken into custody. Again his needles and insulin were seized and not returned to him when he was released after booking, his blood sugar levels soaring.

Despite Harper's vivid description, police were unable to find the suspect. Jason did that himself the next day when he spied the man on Pacific Ave. walking with his girlfriend. Jason again called police and they eventually were able to track down her boyfriend to interview him.

Interviewed by police the next day, the spitter, Jeremy Burkett, denied both that he called Paschal “a nigger” or that he spat in Paschal's face. This completely contradicts Steve Harper's testimony, that Paschal had been hit in the face by Burkett's spit.

Sgt. Baker was assigned to investigate the merits of Paschal's case, that he was the victim of an assault, with extenuating circumstances which could amount to a racially -motivated hate crime. He reported “ I have had previous contact with Paschal and know he is regularly involved in disturbances Downtown. He has been arrested on numerous occasions for incidents where he challenges other to fight or actually gets involved in a fight.” Never mind that, with few exceptions, the arrests Baker made of Paschal turned out to be bogus.

Surprisingly, Baker did not find enough evidence to charge Burkett with a crime. He did state that “if spittle did actually strike Paschal, this may have constituted a misdemeanor battery per PC 242” and mysteriously considering Harper's testimony that “there is not a witness that corroborates either side of the issue.”

IN THE INTEREST OF JUSTICE

When Paschal's first Public Defender, Kristin Carter, didn't support his decision to refuse to plea to a lesser charge, Jason fired her in a Marston Hearing. He almost fired his second attorney as well. “I am NOT going to plead guilty to a lesser charge when I did nothing wrong. If I can't say “pussy” on a public street then I have no freedom of speech at all. My whole lifestyle is about freedom. I have the freedom to travel. I have the freedom to work or not to work every day.

“I like my lifestyle. I meet a lot of beautiful people, I smoke only the best chronic, and I'm always hearing music. I work out of doors surrounded by beautiful crystals. I consider myself a mirror of society. And sometimes what I reflect is bad.

“Some people in Santa Cruz don't want to hear the negative. They try to put the negative out of their lives and only emphasize the positive. That's how neurolinguistic programming works--all they want is to think about positive comments and they refuse to see the negative. It's what “The Secret” is about. How to get everything. But the downside is they can't look at suffering going on around them. They just can't see it. They are so positive all the time that they have actually become obnoxious to be around. I kind of have to tell them to come down to earth.

“I come from a long line of fighters. I'm a warrior. I'm a spiritualist. I like to be confrontational sometimes... if the situation warrants it being confrontational.I'm a big man. I weigh almost 250 lbs. But I can't fight back physically. I have to use my words. Most of all, I cherish my freedom. I am well aware that this country started out as a Slave Nation. As far as I'm concerned, they should give the entire state of California to African Americans to atone for that.”

ALL CHARGES DROPPED

When asked if he felt vindicated that all charges against him have been dropped, Paschal said “no.” “Now I have to go after the DA and find out why they haven't prosecuted the man who assaulted me and called me “a nigger.” I have to file a complaint against Sgt. Baker for making false and prejudicial statements about me in his police report. I am considering suing several parties for false arrest, such as Chapman for telling dispatch that I had threatened him when he was only offended by my language. I feel O'Neill's played a role as well. They filed the complaint for the first “move-along” and may have instigated others as well. The whole Downtown Association bears the blame too.”

He wonders how long the word “nigger” has been etched into the sidewalk on Elm St. and how long it will take before Public Works removes it.

Becky Johnson can be contacted at becky_johnson222@hotmail.com

KEYWORDS: Stay-away orders, Move-along law, Jim Crow, Sgt.Loran Baker, Jason Paschal, Mayor Emily Reilly, Pacific Avenue, HUFF, Homeless United for Friendship & Freedom, O'Neill's Surfshop, Downtown Association, hate crime, homeless, Santa Cruz Police Department, Vietnam Vet, Mark Mackay, Bill Chapman, Steve Harper, Warren West, marijuana, Sex Wax, Becky Johnson.

This article can be reprinted for free by non-profits or not-for-profits which work for social justice.

Article by HUFF*

Homeless United for Friendship & Freedom

309 Cedar St. PMB 14B – Santa Cruz, CA. 95060

www.huffsantacruz.org (831) 423-4833

Latest version update: April 22, 2008

Sleeping Ban Lawsuit Update

noreply@blogger.com (Sleep is a righ!) — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 17:40:00 +0000

Sleeping Ban Lawsuit Update
by Bob Patton
HRO and legal committee member

Many people don’t know that Santa Cruz homeless rights advocates and well known civil rights attorneys are preparing a lawsuit against the city of Santa Cruz for anti-homeless laws that violate constitutional rights. For those who have been following the issue you will find this important information.

For year’s efforts by many community members who lobbied local law makers to do the right thing for the homeless, not just the easy thing fell on deaf ears.

In early 2006 we began an outreach program to national legal organizations that support legal actions on homeless issues. This was slow and it became obvious results would not soon be forthcoming. A key turning point in our effort accrued when the U.S. 9th. Circuit Court ruled against Las Angles Camping ordinances. With this hopeful decision in L.A. in early 2007 we began to contact local legal council in a grass roots effort to bring relief from these same types of laws, and the harsh enforcement in Santa Cruz.

We now have attorneys David Beauvais, Kate Wells and Brett Bennett interviewing people that have received citations under the Santa Cruz “Camping Prohibited” laws in preparations for the law suit. These restrictive laws include 6.36.010(a) the Sleeping Ban, 6.36.010(b) the Blanket Ban and 6.36.010(c) the Camping Ban.

The largest problems with these laws are that they criminalize the homeless for using public spaces, and sleeping and camping at night. It is well documented that there is a lack of adequate emergency shelter in Santa Cruz. People are being criminalized when they make their own shelter or try to form protective groups. Other outward problems are lack of adequate medical care, community prejudice, political cowardice and rigorous Police enforcement. It’s not quit clear how homeless people are expected to live.

Our focus is on defending, restoring, and establishing civil rights for homeless people rather than lobbying for more services. We believe people should be free from police, state, and community harassment. Free to organize and to form self-help communities. It is to these ends we are willing to spend time and effort. We are looking forward to hearing from anyone about whatever legal help you can bring to the issues or questions you have.

We are looking for volunteers to work with attorneys and plaintiffs, help with community education on the issue, write letters and make phone calls.

We are in need of funds, any donations (tax deductible) can be sent to the address below.

Community Defense Inc.

For: Santa Cruz Anti-Sleeping Lawsuit

P.O. Box 7649

Santa Cruz, CA 95061

Endorsed by:

Santa Cruz Human Rights Organization (HRO), www.humanrightsorg.org

(831) 425-4467 or 345-9685

Homeless United for Friendship & Freedom (HUFF), www.huffsantacruz.org

(831) 423-4833

Housing Now! In Santa Cruz, Linda4homes4all@sbcglobal.net

Humanity for Homeless, http://humanityforhomeless.blogspot.com/

This update was compiled by Bob Patton HRO and legal committee member.

Peaceful Parking Lot Percussionists Pounce On Police Peeper

noreply@blogger.com (Sleep is a righ!) — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 19:32:00 +0000

Peaceful Parking Lot Percussionists Pounce On Police Peeper
by Robert Norse
Thursday Jan 31st, 2008 3:55 PM

The readiness of the community, the courage of the drummers, and the caution of the police returned every Wednesday tranquility to the Drummer's circle yesterday. Farmer's Market Drum Report Back by Rico gives a succinct statement in a story below. Police Surveillance at the Farmers Market Drum Circle by Nick nicely spotlights Officer Auldridge's Constitution-Shredding -As-Usual.

Drummers Back Sound in the Beat in Lot #4

In a low-key but triumphant resumption of the weekly Drum Circle next to the Farmer's Market, tomtom regulars returned to their spot under the towering Magnolia trees in parking lot #4. Nervously on the lookout for cops with pocket watches doing the Fifteen-Minutes-and-Get-Out Hippiewatch, the drum crowd was considerably smaller than the week before. Last week, the few survivors of earlier police assembly-wrecking expeditions had clumped together on the sidewalk, avoiding the parking lot. Yesterday, folks came directly to the traditional gathering place in the center of the lot, apparently willing to risk citations and determined to resist intimidation.

Food Not Bombs' colorful bike trailer showed up around 3:15 PM with buckets of veggies and boxes of bread. The hot food went fast. The dwindling supplies were reinforced forty-five minutes later with Jumbogumbo Joe Schultz's Vegan Surprise—a hot orientalism brew—which lasted until dark.

Stepping out of a time machine, libertarian community activist Jhond Golder strode the lot, sporting a tri-cornered “patriot” hat and a large white “Don't Tread On Me” flag on a 12' pole. “Bathrobespierre” Robert Norse (that's me, the writer) parked his bumper-sticken strewn car in the lot itself, and affixed a “Copwatch” sign to his rear window. I then set up several dated, but informative, displays documenting ACLU and National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty opposition to the Parking Garage Paranoia Law (the daddy of the current Parking Lot Panic law).

The ancient “46 Strikes Against the Parking Garage Paranoia Law” was displayed for the curious. It and other documents can be found in the early discussion of the law at http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2006/04/25/18177761.php
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2006/03/19/18090531.php,
and http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2006/04/09/18140881.php .

At one point a motorcycle cop drove through the parking lot but otherwise police were nowhere to be seen. There was no sign of the eager and dutiful Officer Auldridge, who had cheerfully wasted chunks of city time and money driving away drummers on January 16th with warnings (see http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/01/16/18472946.php.)

The mystery was solved when a passing student, emerged from the nearby UCSC to reveal that the unstoppable Auldridge hunched on the stairway between the first and second floors indoors, videoing the criminals drumming, dancing, sharing food, and chatting in the parking lot below. Another example of political surveillance at its best? Of course, the city attorney could evenly and fairly charge every single person and spectator in the parking lot not retrieving or parking a car with an infraction—or they could destroy the film. Let's see what they do.

In response to this police behavior chilling the protest, flagwaver Golder moved his “Don't Tread on Me” flat adjacent to Auldridge's window peephole. I came closer with camcorder to catch some of Auldridge's thoughts and show the community their police department in action. But—perhaps understandably—the officer didn't want to be outed as a political snoop as I raised my voice to draw the attention of Farmers Market customers to the “new” Santa Cruz.

Otherwise things proceeded calmly and happily—as did on Wednesday afternoons before Coonerty's Parking Lot Panic Law was passed. A lone poi juggler danced and twirled. Hungry locals shared food and company around the Food Not Bombs buckets. A disgruntled local circled me on a bike shouting “asshole—you're an instigator!”.

I fumbled with the new HUFF camcorder, trying to capture dogs, kids, cops, customers, and passing cars in my viewfinder. I found it hard to do steady shots of the cardboard display devices with enlarged fliers documenting the checkered history of the Parking Lot—hopefully next time my expertise and equipment will improve.

On the sidewalk nearby Trash Orchestra regulars had traded in their homemade percussion bangbangs for juggling pins and were practicing on the sidewalk.

I'll be playing some audio tape this evening 6-8 PM on Free Radio Santa Cruz 101.1 FM, http://www.freakradio.org. It'll be archived by tomorrow hopefully at http://www.radiolibre.org/brb/brb080131.mp3

Meanwhile the police will be trolling the parking lots, looking for folks sitting in their cars, homeless people ducking out of the rain, or just anyone who makes them feel uncomfortable. And the power of 100 officers and a like number of city employees and merchants playing snitch will be doing their bit to quietly make public spaces inhospitable to those not marching to and from their vehicles.

We won this time. But we need to keep our eyes open round the clock. Every time a police officer or wannabe harasses someone in a parking lot, inform the officer that you'll be contacting the SCPD when you see a tourist lingering in a lot so that they can show how fair they are by doing the same to her or him. I know this idea offends everyone (including my fellow activists), but the law is a far deeper offense and it will be implemented round the clock throughout the week unless the community fights back.

As one Berkeley activist chalked on the sidewalk during the (successful) People's Park struggle of 1991 “A police state costs more than a welfare state—we guarantee it!”

Video Part I

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Video Part Two

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Taking Back the Tarmac--Santa Cruz Reclaims People's Parking Lot #4

noreply@blogger.com (Sleep is a righ!) — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 02:41:00 +0000

Taking Back the Tarmac--Santa Cruz Reclaims People's Parking Lot #4

by Robert Norse

Police disrupted and dispersed lawful public assemblies of drummers on December 26th, January 2nd, and January 16th. But this time the Community with the help of the Trash Orchestra and Food Not Bombs repeated their victory of January 9th holding the bumbusting Blueshifts at Bay. They were ably assisted by "Jumbogumbo" Joe Schultz's vegan victuals and renewed community outrage against keystone Cop capers cracking down on an accepted weekly tradition--the Farmer's Market Drum Circle!

The community won a victory today in Parking Lot #4, the lot behind Tacqueria Vallarta on Cathcart between Cedar and Pacific. There under the two tall trees the weekly Drum Circle bounced back from last week's police intimidation. Last week cops with ticketbooks dispersed the drummers, Food Not Bombs, and anyone loafing, loitering, or lingering with warnings of $100+ fines.

Today the crowd nervously returned, lured by food. It grew as the Trash Orchestra began to play. Drummers afraid perhaps of losing their instruments slowly joined in. The trumpeteer returned. Even spectateurs began violating the law by standing on the parking lot without visibly "retrieving or parking" a car or bike--to watch a violent police incident arresting a homeless woman. Even after sunset, the triumphant drumming continued and the crowd danced, children cavorted, and Santa Cruz took a deep breath of air from an earlier sweeter era. Police, except for the one incident involving Officer Kline, stayed away, presumably daunted by the potential prospect of giving out dozens of tickets and having to confront some who were willing to "risk arrest".

The City has a new ban on assembling or even lingering in a public parking lot or garage (unless for the express purpose of parking or retrieving a car or bicycle, and then only for 15 minutes). [http://www.ci.santa-cruz.ca.us/council/ordinance/2007/17.pdf ] It covers all 20 downtown parking lots as well as all 4 garages, and any new public lots that might be added in the downtown as well as in adjacent districts.

The Drum Circle has met for years, next to the Farmer's Market usually accompanied by Food Not Bombs around 3:30 or 4 PM. It's marked by dancing, juggling, hackeysacking, hugging, chatting, and other activities now forbidden in parking lots and garages all over the downtown in the name of “public safety”.

This afternoon, however, around 3 PM no one sat under the two large trees. Off to the side with their feet on the sidewalk, a thin line of regulars, many of them drummers without their instruments, sat looking downhearted and resentful. Some talked about the dozen tickets that were issued the night before in the rain as police harassed, ticketed, and then reticketed them for “sleeping”. Two confirmed that a police officer had told them the Drum Circle was "dead"; that there would be no more drumming in lot #4.

The week before on January 16th Sgt. Flippo, Officer Auldridge, and three other officers had bullied several dozen drummers away from the area with threats of tickets under the new Parking Lots and Garages Trespass law (I call it the Parking Lot Panic Law) The “warnings” “persuaded” the drummers to abandon their drum circle and move over to Pacific Ave. where a smaller group continued drumming.

This week, Suzanne, a lead drummer vowed, they would take citations if necessary—and then if threatened with arrest, move over to Pacific Avenue. I felt a twinge of frustration, since I thought it would really take the absurd and chilling spectacle of repeated arrests. How else could we generate the publicity necessary to beat back the latest repressive moves of Mayor Ryan Coonerty and City Manager Dick Wilson's anti-homeless, anti-hippie Parking Lot Panic law? The absurdly expanded police power was not something middle-class people would even notice, if selectively enforced.

Even worse, if people decided to restrict their own rights and give up these traditional spaces, (“everyone their own cop!”), this constitutional coup would work like a charm. Ten square blocks of precious public space in the city-owned lots and garages would evaporate as areas of public use. Anyone lingering in a lot could be detained on “reasonable suspicion”, ID-checked, and questioned. Another “useful tool” for the police department as SCPD spinmeister Zack Friend might put it. People would quickly forget what rights they used to have and follow the newest orders from SCPD Police Chief Howard Skerry's Downtown Dicks.

As happened two weeks before, the arrival and involvement of the Trash Orchestra and the presence of video and audio cameras recording seemed to stiffen the resolve of folks there. The actual reoccupation of the drum circle space under the trees was prompted by the arrival of a truck carrying hot vegan soup and (!) slices of tritip steak from master chef and caterer India Joe Schultz.

There was no mainstream media on the scene; Good Times apparently did have a reporter there. I heard afterwards that City on a Hill sent a reporter, though s/he never spoke to me. Indymedia's experienced photographer Bradley was snapping pictures. And I was fumbling with a camcorder in my maiden voyage (hopefully to be posted tomorrow).

Though police were reportedly grouped, if not massed, over by the Metro, only one squad car braved the Drum Circle reinforced by the Trash Orchestra. Officer Kline and a female officer took down “Crazy Mary”, a homeless local who has been documenting ranger misconduct in the Pogonip, police harassment around McDonalds on Ocean St. anti-homeless policies at Finn's Cafe also at Ocean. Officer Kline apparently also collided with the bike cart of another homeless man—Jack. Angry drummers and locals shouting “let her go” surrounded Kline's squad car. Though asked repeatedly what the charges against Mary were, Kline reportedly declined to say (even though Mary was one of the people asking).

He and other police officers, according to Angela, a witness to what she termed a police “hit-and-run”, then refused to take a police report of a hit-and-run, but only agreed to take Jack's “claim”. Angela may be reporting on this story independently.

The final score: Police trash a bike cart, arrest one homeless woman, and make one squadcar sweep through the parking lot. Drummers, soup servers, dancers, and community onlookers retook the parking lot without the hassle of further warnings, overt surveillance, and/or citations. And no rain--in spite of repeated predictions!

Good work, Santa Cruz.

But can so much energy be mustered even once a week? And what about the rest of the time when police have free license to hassle?

It's time to consider other avenues like a systematic campaign of ticketing tourists, demanding police warn and cite up-scale tourists in the lots and garages, and even taking such folks into custody ourselves and presenting them to the police to "sign their citations." Once the Downtown Association and Chamber of Commerce start receiving complaints about this absurd law actually being equally enforced, it will be sent back to the shop for major repairs.

Perhaps a loiter-in in front of the Downtown Association or Coonerty's Bookshop Santa Cruz to identify the heart of the cancer that is pushing these repressive laws?

One parking lot back in the people's hands--at least one afternoon a week. Only 19 more to go! Check out the location of the forbidden lots and garages at http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2007/09/21/18448912.php .

Two tips of the hat to the Tough-toned Trash Orchestra which not only led the Take-Back today, but also rehearsed without crowd backup on the 3rd floor of the River St. parking garage for 2 hours in violation of Coonerty's "roust the riffraff" law.

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Lawsuit interview with David Beauvais

noreply@blogger.com (Sleep is a righ!) — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 18:00:00 +0000

Civil rights attorney David Beauvais down in Santa Cruz rounding up plaintiffs for a lawsuit against the City and city police, talks about Santa Cruz's harsh and unique "Sleeping Ban" law. MC 6.36.010 makes the act of falling asleep on all public property and much private property a $97 crime for 1300-1500 shelterless people each night.

Santa Cruz Sleeping Ban Struggle

noreply@blogger.com (Sleep is a righ!) — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 05:17:00 +0000

Santa Cruz Sleeping Ban Struggle (for Street Spirit newspaper)

by Tim Rumford
The December issue of the S.F. Bay Area homeless monthly newspaper will include the following story on the Sleeping Ban, championed by Mayor Ryan Coonerty. Street Spirit is available through HUFF (423-4833) as well as in the Main Branch of the city library.

The Santa Cruz Sleeping Ban is a local law that defines sleeping at night as “camping” and prescribes a $97 fine for falling asleep outside a house or hotel within City limits. Using one’s vehicle as housing is illegal, even though the city provides no alternatives. The County has been out of compliance with its affordable housing element for decades. Since there’s shelter space in winter for only 160 of the city’s 1500-2000 homeless residents, the law in effect makes it a crime to be homeless at night, unless you stay awake.

The continued flow of money and consumerism has become more important then human life or the basic rights we are all supposed to equally share in, or so it seems from the perspective of those that run our city. Every time we allow a right to be taken away from any class of people we are destroying our own rights. By allowing the government to make and keep such laws we only open the door for more.

Criminalizing the act of sleeping or any necessity would seem a joke. People have to sleep and will regardless of what law are in place. The problem is telling someone they cannot sleep because they are poor or because they have no house is paramount to having “Black Only” drinking fountains. Sleeping allowed for those with homes; sleeping banned for those without.

Recently in Santa Cruz the Sleeping Ban debate has become heated. After a week-long protest camp out in August, where Homies for the Homeless created a safe zone for 30-40 homeless people at City Hall [see September Street Spirit], the Santa Cruz Police Department and the local newspaper, the Sentinel vilified the protesters--though the only tickets issued were for sleeping.

In subsequent stories--the Sentinel highlighted graffitists who painted “Fuck the Sleeping Ban” on City Hall. In their on-line forum, the bigots that rule over the Sentinel forums offered up solutions from lining up the homeless to be shot, pesticiding them, and returning to the “troll busting 80’s”. As Bob Patton of the Human Rights Organization wrote in response, “The South will not rise again.”

Protesters have continued Sunday afternoon tabling at the Bookshop Santa Cruz--owned by the Coonerty family where Ryan Coonerty is chief worker. The Coonerty’s do by far have the most power over the shaping of downtown the than any other merchant in a long time.

Chanting and singing homeless Xmas carols, the protesters sport “Banned at the Bookshop” stickers (in response to letters from Coonerty banning them from the bookstore for their “cowardly” protest". They’ve also taken polls on the prevalence of police profiling the poor, urged a boycott of the bookshop, and encouraged homeless people to become plaintiffs in a new lawsuit against the Sleeping ban.

Ryan Coonerty, who is becoming Mayor as I write this, has recently participated in a debate over the Sleeping Ban on Community TV Voices from the Village LIVE. You can watch the debate on-line at
http://www.indybay.org/ or at
http://humanityforhomeless.blogspot.com

HUFF (Homeless United for Friendship & Freedom) activist Robert Norse was not allowed in the debate, despite his knowledge of the laws, and endless years battling City Council and protesting the Sleeping Ban and other laws that are aimed at the poor. The City would be wise to embrace these people for their knowledge alone. This was evident during the debate.

Coonerty refused to debate if Norse was part of the panel. Norse explained subsequently that he hid behind a curtain (“to avoid scaring Ryan away”). When the host called for audience questions, Norse emerged to challenge Coonerty to allow safe sleeping zones and the right to sleep not anywhere-and-everywhere, but somewhere.

Vice mayor Coonerty came across as a representative of business. His lack of knowledge concerning the ordinance, fines, available shelter and financing astounds me. He states they do not take State and Federal funds. This is untrue. The Walk in Shelter is not permitted to allow Medicinal Marijuana patients because of the federal money they receive. Craig Canada is banned from the shelter for just this reason [see Street Spirit August 2007]

Coonerty did not even know the cost of a Sleeping Ban ticket quoting 60.00 dollars when in reality it is $97.00 dollars. Regardless the reason for his ignorance, it shows a tremendous lack of concern for the impoverished in Santa Cruz. This also became evident at a subsequent Sustainable Living Community TV discussion, where his stances on the issues were said to be a "path to a City that caterers only to the elite" by some in the panel.

Throughout the years the City Council has ignored public commentary regarding this subject and continued passing laws aimed at the homeless. Recently the Council passed a law championed by Coonerty banning the public from public parking lots except to park a vehicle or walk directly through; the target: homeless people and “undesirables”. Santa Cruz’s Food Not Bombs will not be able to legally serve food in the parking lot where it has done so for the last decade.

For years 4 SAFE (Society for Artistic Freedom and Expression/ Street performers Against Foolish Enforcement) has held weekly musical munch-in’s on the sidewalk on Santa Cruz’ downtown Pacific Avenue. Last week SCPD moved to use noise ordinances to order people along.

Santa Cruz is now among the top 15 Cities with the worst laws in the country penalizing poverty according to the National Coalition to end Homelessness. Sleep-crime ticketing is up 50% from last year. In the nearby wilderness areas, City Ranger John Wallace’s beefed-up forces harass and cite campers and regularly destroy the property of homeless people in violation of the 4th Amendment (and the Federal Court’s recent Kincaid decision in Fresno).

Downtown authorities resort to primitive social engineering “solutions” like removing benches where poor and street people gather from the main street, putting in change-making machines (which create a 100’ no sitting/no panhandling zone around them), and increasing the terror component of police actions (four police officers surrounded a cowering homeless man in front of the outdoor restaurant Kianti’s recently, for sitting off to the side on the sidewalk.

A deepening pattern of anti-homeless police behavior is emerging. Craig Canada, recently assaulted by a Pizza My Heart patron after Canada bought a slice of pizza and tried to use the bathroom, found himself taken to jail and charged with battery. Donna Deiss, of the vehicle dwellers group, LIVE (Living in Vehicles Excellently) is facing citations for refusing to move her vehicle from a beach side parking lot, restricted to eliminate homeless RVs. Shane Maxfield, Deiss’s former partner is an AIDS-disabled man, who faced a court trial for sitting with his bunny Fluffy on the sidewalk in front of the Pacific Cookie Company.

Sleep--as any fool knows--is a human necessity--hence a human right. SCMC 6.36.010b, known as the "blanket ban", makes it illegal to set-up any bedding, even just having a blanket covering you on a park bench, between the same hours, 11 p.m. and 8:30 a.m.

In Los Angeles, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) took on the Jones case which ended recently in a settlement. The Jones settlement was controversial in some quarters since it was reportedly done without the permission of the plaintiffs or input from homeless advocacy groups. The Jones settlement enjoined police from arresting homeless people from sleeping on the sidewalk from 9 PM to 6 AM, provided sleepers were 10’ away from businesses and until the City built 1250 units of supportive housing.

In Santa Cruz, the local ACLU sat on its hands for decades when approached about Sleeping Ban human rights violations. Even after the Jones precedent from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals came down in April 2006, the Santa Cruz ACLU expressed no interest in either initiating a lawsuit or supporting one being prepared by local activists.

When Norse and Bernard Klitzner of the Human Rights Organization came to a public meeting of the ACLU with a sign urging the ACLU to end the Sleeping Ban, Board of Directors member Mike Rotkin called the police to have them banned. Ironically, the police declined to do so, even though Rotkin was also a former mayor and sitting Council member (and an avid supporter of the Sleeping Ban). Coonerty himself claims to be a “constitutional lawyer” who teaches classes at nearby colleges. For details of the ACLU fiasco see http://www.indybay.org/

Activists are pressing on with a lawsuit to ban police ticketing of the homeless for the “crime” of sleeping. They face new hurdles. The Jones Decision’ which found it Cruel and unusual punishment to cite someone for sleeping if adequate shelter was not available, can no longer be cited as precedent, due to the precipitous ACLU settlement there mentioned above which vacated and de-published the decision.

Despite this, San Diego has ordered police to stop busting the homeless for sleeping at night; Richmond changed its law to stop ticketing if there is no shelter space; Fresno, under pressure from activists and attorneys, faces a full-scale class-action trial next summer for destroying homeless property. Sacramento has begun its own lawsuit against its Sleeping Ban. Santa Cruz human rights supporters have plenty of company.

http://www.humanityforhomeless.blogspot.com

Sleeping Ban Debate on Voices from the Village

noreply@blogger.com (Sleep is a righ!) — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 20:15:00 +0000

You can watch the four part video debate below , approx hour in length altogether.

Part I

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Part II

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Part III

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Part IIII

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