90-Year Old WWII Veteran Arrested for Feeding the Poor

[Leonhard]

[KingsGambit]

Nope, America is definitely not a Christian nation.

[Jedidiah]

Not any more. It once was, in spite of atheist outcry.

[Leonhard]

It seems this had more to do with local people's outcry that gatherings of homeless people was lowering their property value. And there's some legitimate concern to this, if you pass out food this should be done safely, and in a way that disrupts city life as little as possible... however I don't think the solution is to arrest people who do this.

[KingsGambit]

It seems this had more to do with local people's outcry that gatherings of homeless people was lowering their property value. And there's some legitimate concern to this, if you pass out food this should be done safely, and in a way that disrupts city life as little as possible... however I don't think the solution is to arrest people who do this.

I think it's telling that they're more concerned about their property value than they are about a bunch of people being homeless in their town.

[Leonhard]

I think it's telling that they're more concerned about their property value than they are about a bunch of people being homeless in their town.

I agree, though there is something to be said for the concerns of public safety. Here that concern has just utterly taken the place of charity. He shouldn't be arrested, or even fined, at most he should be getting instructions for where these things would be better to perform.

Getting arrested for passing out soup to people who don't have any... its ridiculous. As if the police didn't have real problem to attend to.

[jpholding]

From what I can see he wasn't arrested, just issued a citation.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/c...6702418?page=2

Fort Lauderdale police have said that the men were not taken into custody last weekend and that they were given notices to appear in court from that encounter, adding the matter will ultimately be decided by a judge. The police spokeswoman Greenlaw said those charged "were well aware of the changes to the ordinance and its effective date."

[Leonhard]

Thanks for the correction, this makes it somewhat less of a wrong affair.

[Jedidiah]

He was not taken into custody, but he is going to continue. They will have to arrest him eventually, then they will have egg on their face for real.

[Spartacus]

http://www.fortlauderdale.gov/news/2...ors_update.htm

There's the city's press release on the matter.

[jpholding]

Thanks for the correction, this makes it somewhat less of a wrong affair.

It's a tough thing. There are good reasons to not serve food outside, especially in Florida; he could end up serving people plates full of bug soup, or end up giving a whole group of people some sort of stomach disorder. All with good intentions, but if a group of people got sick from one of his meals, there'd be a hue and cry about how nothing was done to regulate outdoor feedings.

The article explains also:

Mayor Jack Seiler said he thinks Abbott and the two pastors have good intentions, but that the city can't discriminate in enforcing the ordinance. He said it was passed recently to ensure that public places are open to everyone and stressed that the city was working with local charities to help with the root causes of homelessness.

"The parks have just been overrun and were inaccessible to locals and businesses," Seiler said.

I'm reminded here of ministries that are upset because Joyce Meyer gets a bug in her nose about helping out in some area, like feeding people in the Third World. Meyer is more popular, so she draws funding away from these established ministries; but she's also far less competent, so she ends up just getting in the way of ministries that have been at the job for decades. And it ends up doing more harm than good.

If all goes well the judge in this case will let Abbott off with some sound advice, and Abbott himself will agree to work with more established services to fulfill his mission. That would be a win-win for all.

[Adrift]

It's a tough thing. There are good reasons to not serve food outside, especially in Florida; he could end up serving people plates full of bug soup, or end up giving a whole group of people some sort of stomach disorder. All with good intentions, but if a group of people got sick from one of his meals, there'd be a hue and cry about how nothing was done to regulate outdoor feedings.

He's feeding homeless people who are probably no strangers to eating out of dumpsters. The lifestyle of a homeless person is already fraught with the risk of bugs and stomach disorders. If I had to choose between eating a plate of food handed to me by a couple pastors and a WWII vet or getting my next meal from behind the local Publix, I think I'd choose the former before the latter.

If homeless people are more attracted to local charity like this rather than the state-funded alternatives, maybe there's a problem with the state-funded alternatives.

[jpholding]

He's feeding homeless people who are probably no strangers to eating out of dumpsters. The lifestyle of a homeless person is already fraught with the risk of bugs and stomach disorders.

Catching said disorders at one's own risk is one matter. Mr. Abbott appears to be a conscientious person. I don't think he'd want it on his conscience to have caused harm to others by his own hand.

If homeless people are more attracted to local charity like this rather than the state-funded alternatives, maybe there's a problem with the state-funded alternatives.

I don't know anything about "state funded alternatives." Organizations like this one:

http://www.ourm.org/

are doing just fine. We donate to them regularly.

Is it really that much of a burden to prepare and distribute food indoors? OURM does. And now Mr. Abbott has apparently agreed to just such a compromise:

http://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/H...282079821.html

Homeless advocate Arnold Abbott held another feeding for the homeless, but says he is willing to compromise with Fort Lauderdale's mayor on the location of his weekly Sunday meal distribution.

"I'm not married to the park," said Abbott. "I'm happy to go indoors wherever he could designate since he says he knows of many, many places."

Hopefully, the beginning of the type of win-win result I was talking about.

An even larger question in my mind right now, in light of the re-election of Scott as governor here, is whether any of his multi-million dollar donors (or even Scott himself, with his current net worth of $132 million) would be willing to step to the plate to (say) buy Mr Abbott a facility or a food truck or some other means to continue his service in such a way that this would no longer be a concern. I somehow doubt it since Scott was on the spot cutting funds to help the homeless early in his first term. If indeed what you refer to as state funded alternatives are deficient, that deficiency lies on his doorstep.