Rudy Eugene Victim Ronald Poppo's Family Didn't Know He Was Alive
(PHOTOS, VIDEO)
Posted: 05/31/2012
The family of the Miami homeless man whose face was chewed off by a naked assailant Saturday thought he was dead for years, CBS Miami reports.
"I tried to reach him, but I just thought he killed himself,” said Ronald Poppo's sister, Antoinette.
“And we really thought he was no longer on this earth.”
Antoinette Poppo said the family hasn't heard from Ronald, 65, in 30 years. Details of his life after he attended New York's prestigious Stuyvesant High School in the 1960s remain scarce, traced in a string of mostly petty arrests, hospital records, and a call to the Miami-Dade Homeless Trust last week from the Jungle Island zoo, where Poppo had been sleeping on the roof of the parking garage.
read more here
Showing posts with label homeless American. Show all posts
Showing posts with label homeless American. Show all posts
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Did you know Johanna Dilag?
Homeless Vallejo woman found dead, along with her dog
By Rachel Raskin-Zrihen,
Vallejo Times-Herald
Posted:04/25/2012
Some of the people who gave her food periodically offered Johanna Dilag and her dog Muggles a quiet send-off Tuesday after the two were found dead in their tent in a wooded area behind a Vallejo car dealership on Sunday.
"We held a little memorial for her," said Maria Guevara, founder of Vallejo Together who was familiar with Dilag and Muggles through the agency's Care to Share arm that feeds the homeless.
"We said a prayer and read The Rainbow Bridge -- a poem about deceased pets reuniting with their owners -- for the dog, and we had a moment of silence for her as a soul living on the planet; someone we cared for."
Fairfield native Mike Wagner, 35, a former waiter and carpenter who's been homeless in Vallejo about eight years, said he's known Dilag for several months. He and several others discovered the 37-year-old woman and her dog dead after not having seen the pair for about two days, he said.
"She lived by us," he said. "She liked to be left alone."
Wagner describes Muggles as a 4- or 5-year-old, short-legged, medium-sized orange and white animal of unknown breed.
Vallejo Police Department spokesman Sgt. Jeff Bassett confirmed Dilag's death and said there were no signs of foul play or suicide at the scene, though the matter is under investigation by the Solano County Coroner's Office.
read more here
By Rachel Raskin-Zrihen,
Vallejo Times-Herald
Posted:04/25/2012
Some of the people who gave her food periodically offered Johanna Dilag and her dog Muggles a quiet send-off Tuesday after the two were found dead in their tent in a wooded area behind a Vallejo car dealership on Sunday.
"We held a little memorial for her," said Maria Guevara, founder of Vallejo Together who was familiar with Dilag and Muggles through the agency's Care to Share arm that feeds the homeless.
"We said a prayer and read The Rainbow Bridge -- a poem about deceased pets reuniting with their owners -- for the dog, and we had a moment of silence for her as a soul living on the planet; someone we cared for."
Fairfield native Mike Wagner, 35, a former waiter and carpenter who's been homeless in Vallejo about eight years, said he's known Dilag for several months. He and several others discovered the 37-year-old woman and her dog dead after not having seen the pair for about two days, he said.
"She lived by us," he said. "She liked to be left alone."
Wagner describes Muggles as a 4- or 5-year-old, short-legged, medium-sized orange and white animal of unknown breed.
Vallejo Police Department spokesman Sgt. Jeff Bassett confirmed Dilag's death and said there were no signs of foul play or suicide at the scene, though the matter is under investigation by the Solano County Coroner's Office.
read more here
Thursday, January 12, 2012
OEF-OIF veteran records deputies punching homeless woman on bus
Deputies Punch Homeless, Mentally Ill Woman on Bus
by Kristina Chew
January 11, 2012
Two Los Angeles County deputy sheriffs have been videotaped hitting a woman with unspecified mental health and other disabilities. The incident happened on Monday night, on a Metro bus in Bellflower. Jermaine Green and his fiancee Violet Roberts boarded a bus and noted another passenger, a woman with a stroller full of pillows who clearly had “special needs.” The two deputies, one male and one female, boarded the bus at the next stop and confronted the woman, grabbing at her and telling her to get off the bus. The male deputy punched her — and Green recorded everything on his cell phone video camera.
Said Green, who had just returned home after serving in the army for six years with tours in Iraq and Afghanistan:
“I couldn’t believe it. He seen me taping. He looked up at the camera a few times, and he still hit her like that, and I can’t believe he didn’t try to diffuse the situation at all.”
“In the Army, they gave us extensive training for rules of engagement. There’s proper protocols and steps you take. This lady didn’t do anything, she wasn’t combative and he actually turned combative on her.”
When Green refused to hand over the video, the deputies told him he could be arrested and asked if he had any warrants. Green answered, “”I said no, I’m a veteran, I just came back, I have six years, I have no record, and he said ‘We’ll see about that.’”
read more here
by Kristina Chew
January 11, 2012
Two Los Angeles County deputy sheriffs have been videotaped hitting a woman with unspecified mental health and other disabilities. The incident happened on Monday night, on a Metro bus in Bellflower. Jermaine Green and his fiancee Violet Roberts boarded a bus and noted another passenger, a woman with a stroller full of pillows who clearly had “special needs.” The two deputies, one male and one female, boarded the bus at the next stop and confronted the woman, grabbing at her and telling her to get off the bus. The male deputy punched her — and Green recorded everything on his cell phone video camera.
Said Green, who had just returned home after serving in the army for six years with tours in Iraq and Afghanistan:
“I couldn’t believe it. He seen me taping. He looked up at the camera a few times, and he still hit her like that, and I can’t believe he didn’t try to diffuse the situation at all.”
“In the Army, they gave us extensive training for rules of engagement. There’s proper protocols and steps you take. This lady didn’t do anything, she wasn’t combative and he actually turned combative on her.”
When Green refused to hand over the video, the deputies told him he could be arrested and asked if he had any warrants. Green answered, “”I said no, I’m a veteran, I just came back, I have six years, I have no record, and he said ‘We’ll see about that.’”
read more here
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Memorial service pays tribute to Central Floridians who died homeless
Memorial service pays tribute to Central Floridians who died homeless
By Kate Santich, Orlando Sentinel
6:36 p.m. EST, December 20, 2011
Marcia Lazzati lived in the woods near Sanford before losing her battle to a cancer discovered too late. Seventy-year-old Luis Ramirez died alone in his car in a Walmart parking lot, where he had spent the final six months of his life. Barbara Duvall and George Lee were struck and killed just trying to cross the street.
And Jennifer Owens, who looked to be only 30 years old, was found dead in her tent in the woods last New Year's Day, probably from untreated diabetes.
On Tuesday, their names were among the three dozen read at a memorial service for homeless individuals who died this year in Orange, Osceola and Seminole Counties. Two of them were known only by first names — "Tim from Osceola" and "John aka Hobo" — and the personal details of many of the rest were vague.
read more here
By Kate Santich, Orlando Sentinel
6:36 p.m. EST, December 20, 2011
Marcia Lazzati lived in the woods near Sanford before losing her battle to a cancer discovered too late. Seventy-year-old Luis Ramirez died alone in his car in a Walmart parking lot, where he had spent the final six months of his life. Barbara Duvall and George Lee were struck and killed just trying to cross the street.
And Jennifer Owens, who looked to be only 30 years old, was found dead in her tent in the woods last New Year's Day, probably from untreated diabetes.
On Tuesday, their names were among the three dozen read at a memorial service for homeless individuals who died this year in Orange, Osceola and Seminole Counties. Two of them were known only by first names — "Tim from Osceola" and "John aka Hobo" — and the personal details of many of the rest were vague.
read more here
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
The homeless brother I cannot save
We read about numbers of homeless, but families know their names. they become homeless for all sorts of reasons. One of the big ones is mental illness. We read about families so fed up, they can't take it anymore and turn their backs on these people, but some families did all they could. This is about a sister who clearly loves her brother but because of mental illness he lives on the streets. If you have someone in your family living on the streets, you may find some sort of comfort from reading this heartbreaking story from a sister. If you judge the homeless as just being lazy, then you should read this to understand why so many are homeless. Society turned their backs on the mentally ill a long time ago.
The homeless brother I cannot save
By Ashley Womble
A year ago, Jay traded my parents' home for the street. But the more I try to help him, the more I lose myself.
Like any New Yorker, I was no stranger to homeless people. I passed by them on my way to the shiny glass tower where I worked for a glossy women's magazine: the older lady perched atop a milk crate in the subway station, the man curled up in a dirty sleeping bag and clutching a stuffed animal. They were unfortunate ornaments of the city, unlucky in ways I never really considered.
Until one hot summer day in 2009 when my little brother Jay left his key on the coffee table and walked out of his house in West Texas to live on the streets instead. In the days that followed I spent hours on the phone with detectives, social workers and even the FBI, frantically trying to track him down. A friend designed a "Missing" poster using the most recent picture I had of him wearing a hoodie and a Modest Mouse T-shirt, a can of beer in his hand and a deer-in-headlights expression on his face. I created a Facebook group and contacted old acquaintances still living in our hometown of Lubbock, begging everyone I even remotely knew to help me find him. No luck. If it had been me, a pretty young white woman, chances are my face would have been all over the news -- but the sudden disappearance of a 20-year-old guy with paranoid schizophrenia didn't exactly warrant an Amber Alert.
In the year and a half that mental illness had ravaged my brother's mind, I'd learned to lower my expectations of what his life would be like. The smart kid who followed politics in elementary school probably wouldn't become a lawyer after all. Instead of going to college after high school, Jay became obsessed with 9/11 conspiracy theories. What began as merely eccentric curdled into something manic and disturbing: He believed the planners of 9/11 were a group of people called "The Cahoots" who had created a 24-hour television network to monitor his actions and control his thoughts -- a bizarre delusion that appeared seemingly out of nowhere. Eventually, his story expanded until "The Cahoots" became one branch of the New World Order, a government whose purpose was to overturn Christianity, and he had been appointed by God to stop it.
read more here
The homeless brother I cannot save
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Homeless Man Rescues Fallen American Flag
Homeless Man Rescues Fallen American Flag
Daniel Novick-KFOX News Weekend Anchor/Reporter
Posted: 3:56 pm MDT July 4, 2010
Updated: 2:04 pm MDT July 5, 2010
EL PASO, Texas -- There is typically an American flag that flies high in front of METI Inc., a federal contractor in East El Paso. But instead, the flag is lying flat inside and the flag pole is on the ground outside after a storm last Sunday.
"The wind and the rain knocked over the flag pole, causing the flag pole to lie on the parking lot overlooking Boeing Drive," said Rebecca Orozco with METI Inc.
But it is the condition in which employees found Old Glory that shocked everyone, until they checked their surveillance video.
"After watching the surveillance videos we noticed that it was a good Samaritan who we suspect was a homeless man that came to the rescue of the flag around 1:40 in the morning," Orozco told KFOX.
In the surveillance video you can see the homeless man in driving rain and wind carefully folding up the American flag military style and then placing the flag pole off to the side.
"It was an amazing experience to see that, it was very heartwarming to see that a homeless man or a good Samaritan who was walking around that area at that time of the day in the rain will come to the rescue of the U.S. flag," said Orozco.
Orozco said she wouldn't expect that kind of act in a late night storm from anyone, especially someone who has so little to give.
"Knowing that so many people have turned their back on him, he never turned his back on this country," she said.
KFOX found the man who didn't turn his back on the flag. His name is Gustus Bozarth.
"It's a small respect, folding the flag like that," said Bozarth.
He lives in the back of a warehouse just feet from the flag he saved.
go here for more
Homeless Man Rescues Fallen American Flag
Daniel Novick-KFOX News Weekend Anchor/Reporter
Posted: 3:56 pm MDT July 4, 2010
Updated: 2:04 pm MDT July 5, 2010
EL PASO, Texas -- There is typically an American flag that flies high in front of METI Inc., a federal contractor in East El Paso. But instead, the flag is lying flat inside and the flag pole is on the ground outside after a storm last Sunday.
"The wind and the rain knocked over the flag pole, causing the flag pole to lie on the parking lot overlooking Boeing Drive," said Rebecca Orozco with METI Inc.
But it is the condition in which employees found Old Glory that shocked everyone, until they checked their surveillance video.
"After watching the surveillance videos we noticed that it was a good Samaritan who we suspect was a homeless man that came to the rescue of the flag around 1:40 in the morning," Orozco told KFOX.
In the surveillance video you can see the homeless man in driving rain and wind carefully folding up the American flag military style and then placing the flag pole off to the side.
"It was an amazing experience to see that, it was very heartwarming to see that a homeless man or a good Samaritan who was walking around that area at that time of the day in the rain will come to the rescue of the U.S. flag," said Orozco.
Orozco said she wouldn't expect that kind of act in a late night storm from anyone, especially someone who has so little to give.
"Knowing that so many people have turned their back on him, he never turned his back on this country," she said.
KFOX found the man who didn't turn his back on the flag. His name is Gustus Bozarth.
"It's a small respect, folding the flag like that," said Bozarth.
He lives in the back of a warehouse just feet from the flag he saved.
go here for more
Homeless Man Rescues Fallen American Flag
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Soldiers arrested for beating homeless man
Homeless coalition protests vicious beating
By Jennifer Baker
Sensitivity training toward homeless people for the military. Moving all the homeless into available housing.
Those are just some of the proposals that will be outlined in an 11 a.m. press conference Friday at the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless, 117 E. 12th St.
The development comes after a 52-year-old man was severely beaten April 10 in a homeless encampment in Spring Grove Village.
Cincinnati police say four skinheads – including three active-duty soldiers in the U.S. Army – targeted Johnson because he is homeless. The four men had been out drinking in Northside bars before they went out in search of someone to beat up.
So far, three of the suspects – two soldiers and one resident of Norwood who is not in the military – have been arrested and taken into custody. The fourth, a soldier from Fort Bragg, North Carolina, remains at large.
read more here
Homeless coalition protests vicious beating+
By Jennifer Baker
Sensitivity training toward homeless people for the military. Moving all the homeless into available housing.
Those are just some of the proposals that will be outlined in an 11 a.m. press conference Friday at the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless, 117 E. 12th St.
The development comes after a 52-year-old man was severely beaten April 10 in a homeless encampment in Spring Grove Village.
Cincinnati police say four skinheads – including three active-duty soldiers in the U.S. Army – targeted Johnson because he is homeless. The four men had been out drinking in Northside bars before they went out in search of someone to beat up.
So far, three of the suspects – two soldiers and one resident of Norwood who is not in the military – have been arrested and taken into custody. The fourth, a soldier from Fort Bragg, North Carolina, remains at large.
read more here
Homeless coalition protests vicious beating+
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Multiple Pedestrians Ignore Dying New York Hero
This homeless man showed more courage and compassion for someone else than everyone on the street that night. A man with nothing ended up having more than the others can ever imagine. He knew what it was like to care about a stranger and be willing to sacrifice his life to save someone else.
May God have mercy on the people walking by him as his life slipped away when they could have saved him.
Multiple Pedestrians Ignore Dying New York Hero
(April 24) -- A homeless man who was stabbed while saving a woman from a knife-wielding attacker lay dying in a pool of his own blood for more than an hour while several New Yorkers walked past without calling for help.
Surveillance video obtained by the New York Post shows that some passers-by paused to gawk at Hugo Alfredo Tale-Yax early Sunday morning and yet kept on walking.
One man came out of a nearby building and took a cellphone photo of the victim before leaving. Another leaned over and vigorously shook the dead man before walking away. But most people never stopped.
Firefighters arrived more than an hour and 20 minutes after Tale-Yax collapsed. By that time, the 31-year-old was dead.
"They needed to help and call the police. I don't get it," resident Ramon Bellasco, 46, told the Post.
go here for more
Multiple Pedestrians Ignore Dying New York Hero
Sunday, April 11, 2010
From hard life in LA teen heading to West Point
LA Teen Beats Odds to Earn Admission to West Point
Mara Gay
Contributor
(April 9) -- This is what it looks like to beat the odds.
Tyki Nelworth, 18, was accepted to the United States Military Academy at West Point last week after enduring a lifetime of obstacles that would have stopped most people from accomplishing much of anything.
Nelworth's mother is in jail, his father is dead and he has had no permanent home.
At one point, he was taken from his mother because of suspected child neglect, and his sister told him he was a "crack baby."
read more here
LA Teen Beats Odds to Earn Admission to West Point
Mara Gay
Contributor
(April 9) -- This is what it looks like to beat the odds.
Tyki Nelworth, 18, was accepted to the United States Military Academy at West Point last week after enduring a lifetime of obstacles that would have stopped most people from accomplishing much of anything.
Nelworth's mother is in jail, his father is dead and he has had no permanent home.
At one point, he was taken from his mother because of suspected child neglect, and his sister told him he was a "crack baby."
read more here
LA Teen Beats Odds to Earn Admission to West Point
Monday, February 22, 2010
Olympian's strength built from life on the streets
Olympian's strength built from life on the streets
By Steve Almasy, CNN
February 22, 2010 8:51 a.m. EST
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
As a child, bobsledder Bill Schuffenhauer often lived on the streets
His mother and stepfather were addicts
He turned to athletics in junior high and became a star decathlete
After his track career ended, he tried out and made bobsled team that won silver in 2002
Vancouver, British Columbia (CNN) -- Many kids dream of being in the Olympics one day. When U.S. bobsledder Bill Schuffenhauer was a child in Salt Lake City, Utah, he had no idea the Olympics even existed.
All he knew was his parents were drug addicts, that his mother was a prostitute who was often beaten in front of him. He knew that if he was going to survive, he had to do whatever it took to make it.
He stole from people; he ate from garbage cans; he got locked up in juvenile detention for breaking into a bike shop when he was trying to get something he could sell for money so he could eat.
He had few friends, most of them acquaintances of his mother or the other street kids, many of whom were in gangs. His mom and stepfather were constantly getting evicted. When he wasn't homeless and living in a park, he lived in foster homes. He skipped school a lot. He drank and got high on weed.
Life was hard and at times terrifying, and he dreamed of finding a real home.
"I knew that there was something better," Schuffenhauer, 36, said last week as he readied for his third Olympic Games. "And although there were a lot of horrible things that happened, it's made me a stronger person."
Just around the time he was entering junior high, Schuffenhauer's maternal grandmother, Sadie Muniz, took him. She lived in the town of Roy, Utah, about 30 minutes north of Salt Lake City. As tears began to build, he talked about her steadying influence and how she was always there to pull him up or pull him back when he started messing up again.
read more here
http://www.cnn.com/2010/SPORT/02/22/olympics.bobsledder.homeless/?hpt=T3
By Steve Almasy, CNN
February 22, 2010 8:51 a.m. EST
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
As a child, bobsledder Bill Schuffenhauer often lived on the streets
His mother and stepfather were addicts
He turned to athletics in junior high and became a star decathlete
After his track career ended, he tried out and made bobsled team that won silver in 2002
Vancouver, British Columbia (CNN) -- Many kids dream of being in the Olympics one day. When U.S. bobsledder Bill Schuffenhauer was a child in Salt Lake City, Utah, he had no idea the Olympics even existed.
All he knew was his parents were drug addicts, that his mother was a prostitute who was often beaten in front of him. He knew that if he was going to survive, he had to do whatever it took to make it.
He stole from people; he ate from garbage cans; he got locked up in juvenile detention for breaking into a bike shop when he was trying to get something he could sell for money so he could eat.
He had few friends, most of them acquaintances of his mother or the other street kids, many of whom were in gangs. His mom and stepfather were constantly getting evicted. When he wasn't homeless and living in a park, he lived in foster homes. He skipped school a lot. He drank and got high on weed.
Life was hard and at times terrifying, and he dreamed of finding a real home.
"I knew that there was something better," Schuffenhauer, 36, said last week as he readied for his third Olympic Games. "And although there were a lot of horrible things that happened, it's made me a stronger person."
Just around the time he was entering junior high, Schuffenhauer's maternal grandmother, Sadie Muniz, took him. She lived in the town of Roy, Utah, about 30 minutes north of Salt Lake City. As tears began to build, he talked about her steadying influence and how she was always there to pull him up or pull him back when he started messing up again.
read more here
http://www.cnn.com/2010/SPORT/02/22/olympics.bobsledder.homeless/?hpt=T3
Friday, February 5, 2010
Chicago police officers capture 'faces of poverty'
Chicago police officers capture 'faces of poverty'
Thursday, February 04, 2010
Theresa Gutierrez
News Team February 4, 2010 (CHICAGO) (WLS) -- Some Chicago police officers doubling as photographers have captured images of poverty in the city while they are on the job. Their work is on display in a new exhibit.
Fourteen Chicago police officers took 28 photographs depicting poverty and the rarely captured lives of Chicago's homeless population. They are also students in Adler's master in police psychology program.
Lt. Patty Casey came up with the idea for the class project.
"It's difficult knowing sometimes that or feeling you don't make a difference and that's why we're trying to do this so that we can make a difference and bring it to the public's attention," said Lt. Casey.
Adler school instructor Frank Gruba McCallister says the class aims to make police officers more sensitive and compassionate to their surroundings.
read more here
http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/local&id=7258624
Thursday, February 04, 2010
Theresa Gutierrez
News Team February 4, 2010 (CHICAGO) (WLS) -- Some Chicago police officers doubling as photographers have captured images of poverty in the city while they are on the job. Their work is on display in a new exhibit.
Fourteen Chicago police officers took 28 photographs depicting poverty and the rarely captured lives of Chicago's homeless population. They are also students in Adler's master in police psychology program.
Lt. Patty Casey came up with the idea for the class project.
"It's difficult knowing sometimes that or feeling you don't make a difference and that's why we're trying to do this so that we can make a difference and bring it to the public's attention," said Lt. Casey.
Adler school instructor Frank Gruba McCallister says the class aims to make police officers more sensitive and compassionate to their surroundings.
read more here
http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/local&id=7258624
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Woman, 97, has a front seat to homelessness
Her son's would not let her go into a home to die alone, so they all live in a car just so they can stay together. How many other people just take care of themselves and abandon their family members instead of remembering what Christ had to say about how we are supposed to treat even strangers?
Woman, 97, has a front seat to homelessness
Bessie Mae Berger and her two sons, 60 and 62, live in a rusty 1973 Suburban. Getting a place is hard because they insist on staying together.
By Bob Pool
October 16, 2009
She's 97 years old and homeless. Bessie Mae Berger has her two boys, and that's about all.
She and sons Larry Wilkerson, 60, and Charlie Wilkerson, 62, live in a 1973 Chevrolet Suburban they park each night on a busy Venice street.
For the most part, it's a lonely life -- days spent passing the time away in public parks, parking lots and shopping centers around the Westside.
Occasionally, when they need cash, Bessie sits by the side of the road and seeks handouts. She holds a cardboard sign in her lap: "I am 97 years old. Homeless. Broke. Need help please."
read more here
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-bessie16-2009oct16,0,3547096,full.story
35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'
37 "Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'
40 "The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'
Matthew 25
Bessie Mae Berger sleeps in the front seat of the 1973 Chevolet Suburban she shares with sons Larry Wilkerson, 60, and Charlie Wilkerson, 62. Among the items on the dashboard: lottery tickets. (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)
Woman, 97, has a front seat to homelessness
Bessie Mae Berger and her two sons, 60 and 62, live in a rusty 1973 Suburban. Getting a place is hard because they insist on staying together.
By Bob Pool
October 16, 2009
She's 97 years old and homeless. Bessie Mae Berger has her two boys, and that's about all.
She and sons Larry Wilkerson, 60, and Charlie Wilkerson, 62, live in a 1973 Chevrolet Suburban they park each night on a busy Venice street.
For the most part, it's a lonely life -- days spent passing the time away in public parks, parking lots and shopping centers around the Westside.
Occasionally, when they need cash, Bessie sits by the side of the road and seeks handouts. She holds a cardboard sign in her lap: "I am 97 years old. Homeless. Broke. Need help please."
read more here
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-bessie16-2009oct16,0,3547096,full.story
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Orlando 3rd 'meanest' city for homeless, study finds
Orlando 3rd 'meanest' city for homeless, study finds
Advocacy groups rank Top 10 cities that 'criminalize' homelessness
Kate Santich
Sentinel Staff Writer
July 14, 2009
The City Beautiful? How about "The City Mean"?
Two national advocacy groups for the homeless ranked Orlando as the third "meanest" city in the nation Tuesday, citing a trend toward criminalizing activities that come with living on the streets, such as sleeping in parks or panhandling.
In a report from the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty and the National Coalition for the Homeless, Orlando ranked behind Los Angeles and St. Petersburg on a Top 10 "meanest cities" list, which also included Gainesville (No. 5) and Bradenton (No. 9).
Although a city of Orlando spokeswoman called the label unfair, Tulin Ozdeger, the law center's civil-rights program director, said: "We're definitely seeing a prevalent attitude among many cities in Florida that encourages these ... criminalization measures. We think there needs to be a political shift in attitudes to move toward solutions instead of penalizing people."
read more here
Orlando 3rd meanest city for homeless, study finds
Just a reminder
FL 430 funded beds but 18,910 homeless veterans as of 2006 report
http://www.nchv.org/page.cfm?id=81
One of the biggest factors in Vietnam veterans becoming homeless was the fact that when they came home, there was a timeline to file claims of a year. With PTSD issues increasing since the time many of them came home, it took longer in too many cases for them to understand that what was "wrong" with them was connected to their service. To this day, we're still seeing Vietnam veterans seeking help from the VA for the first time. It's not that they suddenly found themselves needing help. It's because they didn't know what they needed help for or how to get it. I still have them asking what PTSD is. We did a lousy job getting Vietnam veterans help even though they were responsible for all the research and programs the VA and mental health community have right now. Let's not make the same mistake again because we're already seeing homeless Iraq and Afghanistan veterans needing help to heal. Not healing does lead to homelessness in too many of them.
The other issues on homelessness is the economy and lack of jobs. People in need of mental healthcare are also a factor. For all the reasons we can find for why people end up homeless, there are very few excuses we can come up to justify not helping them.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Homeless man commits suicide at Crystal Cathedral
Man commits suicide at Crystal Cathedral
By Tony Barboza Wed, 18 Feb 2009 9:52:16 PM
Steve Smick, a former Whittier resident who police say was homeless, shoots himself at the foot of a cross while a volunteer is conducting a tour.
By Tony Barboza
February 19, 2009
A man walked into the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove on Wednesday, knelt down at the foot of a cross and fatally shot himself in the head.
The man entered the sanctuary about 9:40 a.m. and gave a handwritten note to a church volunteer. He then walked to the front of the pews, knelt before the cross and removed a semiautomatic handgun from his backpack.
click link for more
Monday, November 3, 2008
Five homeless shot dead in Los Angeles
Five homeless shot dead in Los Angeles
Five homeless people -- three men and two women -- were found shot dead on Sunday in Los Angeles area, a police spokesman said.
The five bodies were found under two major highways north of Long Beach, 50 kilometers south of Los Angeles, said police sergeant Dina Zapalski.
She said police were alerted to the apparent murder victims by an anonymous caller Sunday morning. She offered no additional details about the grisly discovery.
"There's two female adults and three male adults," said Los Angeles County Coroner's Office Assistant Chief Ed Winter.
click post title for more
I wonder if the person or people who did this realize Christ Himself was homeless?
Friday, September 26, 2008
Orlando Food Not Bonds wins right to feed homeless in court
Hallelujah! Orlando has it's heart back and compassion for the least among us as Christ commanded His followers to do and simple human kindness requires of anyone with a conscience.
Federal judge: Orlando's law against feeding homeless a civil rights violation
Willoughby Mariano | Sentinel Staff Writer
5:26 PM EDT, September 26, 2008
A federal judge has permanently barred Orlando from enforcing a rule barring large group feedings of the homeless in Lake Eola Park because it violates activists' basic civil rights.
In a ruling released this afternoon, U.S. District Judge Gregory A. Presnell criticized the city's ordinance saying there was no "rational basis" for it.
"Rather than address the problem of homelessness in these downtown neighborhoods directly, the City has instead decided to limit the expressive activity which attracts the homeless to these neighborhoods," the ruling states.
click post title for more
Monday, July 14, 2008
Communities worry about effect of taking in the homeless
Everyone may say we should take care of the homeless but it has to be in someone else's neighborhood. What a shame this is.
Shelter plan upsets neighbors
Communities worry about effect of taking in the homeless
By Lynn Anderson Sun reporter
July 14, 2008
Mayor Sheila Dixon has promised to end homelessness. But that goal - which has been applauded by residents and advocates alike - is creating headaches for neighborhoods that have played host to homeless shelters in recent months.
When the city set up a 24-hour winter shelter in Baltimore's Greenmount West neighborhood last year, some residents worried that the presence of homeless men and women might dampen revitalization efforts. There were similar concerns when another shelter opened on East Fayette Street.
And when the Fayette Street shelter closed this month, there was more public consternation, this time from residents of Butchers Hill and Edmondson Heights, where two new shelters have opened to accommodate the city's homeless residents.
Both neighborhoods say they feel they are being forced to shelter the homeless. They have complained that city officials gave them little notice, and that they have real concerns about housing homeless adults near children. The Butchers Hill shelter is in a city recreation center near a school with summer classes; the Edmondson Heights shelter is in a high school to which some students will return for team practice in August.
click post title for more
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Orlando mayor defends regulations for feeding the homeless
Orlando mayor defends regulations for feeding the homeless
Mark Schlueb Sentinel Staff Writer
June 25, 2008
A confident Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer took the stand in federal court Tuesday, defending the city's regulations on feeding the homeless in public parks.
It was the final day of a trial that pitted the rights of the homeless against the city's responsibility to protect its parks and citizens.The homeless advocates who are suing the city over the 2006 rules are the ones who called Dyer to testify. But that decision may have hurt their case.
Attorneys for Orlando Food Not Bombs and First Vagabonds Church of God questioned Dyer for less than five minutes, and he had no problem coming up with answers.
The city's lawyers then questioned the mayor for 20 minutes, discussing his administration's programs to help the homeless and the complaints the city had received about feedings that regularly drew dozens of transients to Lake Eola Park.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Shelter Plus Care caring for disabled and homeless
Shelter Plus Care Program helps the homeless
Updated: June 23, 2008 06:13 PM EDT
LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) - Chronically homeless people who also have disabilities have a new opportunity to get housing. Shelter Plus Care is part of the Weed and Seed initiative and will be funded through state agencies. For the next 6 years, the program will receive $700,000 to help those in need with rental assistance. The first recipients will be two grateful men. Frederick Clark became homeless several years ago after he suffered a hip injury and lost his job.
"It started through an injury I had, where I finally had to have a hip replacement, and through drug addictions, and chronic depression and through those situations I became homeless," Clark said.
Clark said ever since times have been tough.
" It's been a battle and a struggle," Clark said.
Dennis McKim, a lifelong resident of Lafayette and a Military Veteran said being homeless is like wearing your house on your back.
go here for more
http://www.wlfi.com/Global/story.asp?S=8543232&nav=menu591_3
Updated: June 23, 2008 06:13 PM EDT
LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) - Chronically homeless people who also have disabilities have a new opportunity to get housing. Shelter Plus Care is part of the Weed and Seed initiative and will be funded through state agencies. For the next 6 years, the program will receive $700,000 to help those in need with rental assistance. The first recipients will be two grateful men. Frederick Clark became homeless several years ago after he suffered a hip injury and lost his job.
"It started through an injury I had, where I finally had to have a hip replacement, and through drug addictions, and chronic depression and through those situations I became homeless," Clark said.
Clark said ever since times have been tough.
" It's been a battle and a struggle," Clark said.
Dennis McKim, a lifelong resident of Lafayette and a Military Veteran said being homeless is like wearing your house on your back.
go here for more
http://www.wlfi.com/Global/story.asp?S=8543232&nav=menu591_3
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Orlando Mayor to take stand in homeless feeding trial
Orlando's mayor expected to take stand in homeless-feeding trial
Mark Schlueb Sentinel Staff Writer
June 22, 2008
When Orlando's controversial rules on feeding the homeless go on trial in federal court this week, Mayor Buddy Dyer likely will have to answer some tough questions.
The advocates for the homeless who sued for the right to feed the hungry plan to call Dyer to the witness stand.
"He was the guy in charge when this ordinance was proposed and written and enacted," said Jacqueline Dowd, one of the attorneys for the feeding groups. "He's been somewhat vocal about the issue of homelessness in Orlando, and I think some of his public statements are going to be at issue."
Dyer is the most high-profile person on a list of possible witnesses that includes Orlando's police chief, city clerk and economic-development director, homeless advocates, police officers, Lake Eola-area business owners and even a homeless man.
click above for more
Mark Schlueb Sentinel Staff Writer
June 22, 2008
When Orlando's controversial rules on feeding the homeless go on trial in federal court this week, Mayor Buddy Dyer likely will have to answer some tough questions.
The advocates for the homeless who sued for the right to feed the hungry plan to call Dyer to the witness stand.
"He was the guy in charge when this ordinance was proposed and written and enacted," said Jacqueline Dowd, one of the attorneys for the feeding groups. "He's been somewhat vocal about the issue of homelessness in Orlando, and I think some of his public statements are going to be at issue."
Dyer is the most high-profile person on a list of possible witnesses that includes Orlando's police chief, city clerk and economic-development director, homeless advocates, police officers, Lake Eola-area business owners and even a homeless man.
click above for more
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)