Police charge 90-year-old man, 2 pastors with feeding homeless

[babylonsister]

http://www.local10.com/news/police-charge-90yearold-man-2-pastors-with-feeding-the-homeless/29510268


Police charge 90-year-old man, 2 pastors with feeding homeless
Arnold Abbott says he intends to take Fort Lauderdale to court
Author: Bob Norman, Reporter, [e-mail]
Published On: Nov 03 2014 06:27:49 PM EST Updated On: Nov 03 2014 07:00:00 PM EST

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -
Fort Lauderdale police charged three men -- including two pastors and a 90-year-old man -- for feeding the homeless in public on Sunday, the first such cases made by the city after the a new ordinance effectively banning public food sharings took effect Friday.

The first to be charged was homeless advocate Arnold Abbott, 90, who has been feeding the homeless in Fort Lauderdale for more than 20 years. Also cited were two Christian ministers -- Dwayne Black, pastor of The Sanctuary Church in Fort Lauderdale, and Mark Sims of St. Mary Magdalene Episcopal Church in Coral Springs.

All three men face up to 60 days in jail and a $500 fine.

"One of the police officers said, 'Drop that plate right now,' as if I were carrying a weapon," said Abbott, who runs a nonprofit group called Love Thy Neighbor, Inc. "It's man's inhumanity to man is all it is."

In 1999, the city tried to stop Abbott from feeding the homeless on Fort Lauderdale Beach, prompting a lawsuit from Abbott, which he won. Now he said he will fight the municipal ordinance charge and be forced to take the city back to court.

"I’m going to have to go to court again and sue the city of Fort Lauderdale -- a beautiful city," said Abbott. "These are the poorest of the poor, they have nothing, they don't have a roof over their heads. How do you turn them away?"

Abbott said he won't turn them away and is planning to bring food to the beach this Wednesday evening with the expectation that he may be hit with another charge.

"I don't do things to purposefully aggravate the situation," said Abbott. "I'm trying to work with the city. Any human has the right to help his fellow man."

[gopiscrap]

1. That is so fucked up!

[ManiacJoe]

2. So feed them legally outdoors or feed them indoors.

[Blue Owl]

3. Miserable fucks, those cops

Total BULLSHIT!

[Nuclear Unicorn]

8. It's not the cops, it's the law. The people should nullify the law with mass disobedience. nt

[Brigid]

4. OK, so if I live in Fort Lauderdale,

and I buy two cheeseburgers and hand one to some homeless guy, I'm breaking the law?

[babylonsister]

7. That's what it sounds like.

[A Little Weird]

5. It's getting hard to recognize this country

How can feeding the homeless be illegal???

[ProdigalJunkMail]

6. if money is speech...

why can't food be???

sP

[Nuclear Unicorn]

9. My faith in anarchism has been reaffirmed. nt

[gratuitous]

10. Got exactly what they deserved

At least, that's my reading from the posts too numerous to count that say that churches need to be taxed for meddling in politics. Feeding the hungry - like it says you should do in the Bible - is a political act. Finally, the City of Ft. Lauderdale has listened to the cries of the people, and outlawed such blatant political activity. It's just one more step to fining and jailing these clearly unrepentant, recidivist malefactors who insist on breaking the law under the guise of carrying out their religious beliefs.

Nail 'em up, I say! Nail some sense into 'em! Terrific race, the Romans. Terrific.

[meow2u3]

11. Laws that criminalize feeding the hungry is the real persecution of Christians

Fundies: bitching about not being allowed to make your religion the law of the land is not persecution. Jailing people for feeding the hungry is.

Lemme guess: there's not a peep out of the mouths of fundies about this kind of REAL persecution.