A class action lawsuit was filed Aug 2nd on behalf of eleven
Sacramento homeless, Sacramento Loaves and Fishes, and 3 other
homeless organizations. Attorney Mark Merin is seeking to have his
lawsuit certified as a class action on behalf of people living
"without fixed nighttime shelter" -- as well as homeless people who
have had personal property confiscated and destroyed. According to
Merin's lawsuit, local ordinances prohibiting homeless people from
sleeping outside violate the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
because they punish people for being homeless.It also claims the
practice of taking and destroying personal property, "including
necessary survival gear, as well as irreplaceable prescription
medication, paperwork, memorabilia, valuables and tools," violates
their rights.
http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/304643.html
This lawsuit in Sacramento is like gazing in a crystal ball for you,
Redding City Council. Your future unless you make some compasionate
changes in the way you deal with the poor and homeless here.These
lawsuits have been won all over the country, and although there seems
to be a good faith effort on your part to hold possesions found and
confiscated by your homeless camp sweeps, without a written policy,
its just lip service. Does the California Department of Fish and Game
follow your unwritten policy ?, I think not.
300 more homeless children were found in your last homeless survey
City of Redding, and it just keeps getting worse.Will more tickets,
fines , and jail time solve the problem ? At Redding Loaves and
Fishes,we are against laws that unfairly single out homeless people
and criminalize them for everyday living and life-sustaining
activites.If anyone claims to be Christian, you should be against them
too.
If we Love God with all our heart, soul, strength, and mind, and our
neighbor, (poor, homeless,) as ourselfs, we do well. As Christians, we
cannot sue the breathren, but it is hard to tell who the breathren are
when the Redding City Council makes decisions about the poor and
homeless as if there is no God in heaven at all.
http://www.reddingloavesandfishes.com/
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