Feeding homeless in public under fire

If you look on the sidebar of this blog, you'll see this from Matthew. It looks as if some people understand it and many others do not.

Matthew 25

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.'

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.'

It doesn't seem to matter much what city or state this happens in because the reaction to homeless people is the same. Some have compassion for the "least among us" and others, well, as you'll read, they find the homeless offensive. We need to wonder why that is.

Is is because they feel guilty they themselves have plenty to eat, a place to call home while there are so many others who have neither? What is offensive about homeless people getting something to eat because someone has compassion for them? Are we not supposed to be our brother's keeper?

There are some in this country who never think of what it would be like if they were the one in need. If they were hungry, homeless, abandoned, ill and in need would they feel the same way? It's just so much easier on the conscience of this nation to not have to see the homeless lining up for a meal once a day. So much easier to not be reminded that this nation is not the land of plenty for everyone.

I've heard things said by "Christian" people that shocked me when they come out with statements that "homeless people are lazy" and "homeless people want to be that way" among so many other comments. Compassion is sorely lacking in many claiming to be Christians when Christ Himself even said, "For the poor always ye have with you; but me ye have not always." (John 12:8) We should not be ashamed of homeless people or find them offensive. We should however find it offensive and be ashamed we have homeless and hungry people we do not want to take care of.

Senior Chaplain Kathie Costos

Feeding homeless in public under fire

Wednesday, September 3, 2008


ST. PETERSBURG — It's still bright outside when the hungry start to line up along Mirror Lake to wait for the Chicken Man to bring them their dinner.

Don McClendon and his wife, Barbara, have delivered free meals to the homeless here four nights a week for nearly nine years. The heavy plates come stocked with vegetables, bread and McClendon's namesake entree: chicken. Always chicken.

"If they are hungry, we have an obligation to feed them," McClendon said.

But McClendon's days as the Chicken Man could be numbered.

City officials say the public feeding of homeless and other low-income people has gotten out of hand, and they are looking to limit the practice, especially in downtown St. Petersburg, where business owners, residents and tourists complain that do-gooders are only attracting more homeless people to the area by feeding them.

"We have ongoing calls from people downtown who say this is interfering with their businesses and their lives," said Rhonda Abbott, the city's social services manager.

During an August meeting, the City Council directed the city's legal department to look into banning public feeding.

City Attorney Mark Winn warned that it would be difficult for the city to take any action that would not affect other residents who choose to eat outside.

"If you write an ordinance that says no feeding in the park, you can't take your family on a picnic because that is feeding. You can't feed your boyfriend grapes in the park," he said. "These people are basically doing conduct that everyone does. It just happens to be that some people find these folks offensive."
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http://www.tampabay.com/news/localgovernment/article793604.ece

Shooting rampage leaves 6 dead and 2 injured in Washington State

KING: 6 killed, 2 injured in shooting rampage
ALGER, Wash. – A terrifying shooting spree that stretched from a small northwest Washington town onto the state's busiest highway left six people dead and four more wounded on Tuesday.

The dead included a Skagit County sheriff's deputy and the wounded included a Washington State Patrol trooper shot while trying to chase the shooter down on Interstate 5, the State Patrol said.

The victims were not immediately identified

The man who turned himself in was known to authorities as "someone with a mental illness," Trooper Keith Leary said. State Department of Corrections officials are "99 percent sure" the man is Isaac Zamora, 28, who has a lengthy criminal record, spokesman Chad Lewis said. Zamora was released from the Skagit County jail on Aug. 4
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Haitians 'screaming for help' after storms

Haitians 'screaming for help' after storms
Story Highlights
Gonaives is surrounded by a lake of floodwaters

The known death toll in northern Haiti is 13

Haiti still recovering from Hurricane Gustav and Tropical Storm Fay in past two weeks

Steep terrain and deforested hills make Haiti vulnerable to floods


SAINT-MARC, Haiti (AP) -- Haitian families scrambled onto rooftops and screamed for help Tuesday in a city flooded by Tropical Storm Hanna, as U.N. peacekeepers and rescue convoys tried in vain to reach them.

Iris Norsil, 20, managed to flee the western coastal city of Gonaives and told The Associated Press that people there were isolated by muddy waters as evening fell, many seeking refuge on rooftops as wind gusts drove horizontal sheets of rain that flooded roads and buildings.

"They are screaming for help," Norsil said, as a U.N. aid convoy tried unsuccessfully to drive into Gonaives, now surrounded by a virtual lake of floodwaters. A team of AP journalists accompanied the convoy.

Another convoy carrying Prime Minister Michele Pierre-Louis had to abandon efforts at getting into Gonaives when one of the cars was nearly swept away, said Julian Frantz, a Haitian police officer who was providing security for the group.

Floodwaters rose rapidly outside Gonaives, where Norsil and scores of other residents who abandoned the low-lying city shivered violently in soaked clothing, nervously eying the rushing, debris-clogged waters. iReport.com: Photos from Haiti
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http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/weather/09/02/haiti.hanna.ap/index.html

Another Vietnam POW comes out against John McCain

POW Imprisoned with McCain Goes on TV: McCain 'Not Cut Out to be President'
Brave New Films
Sep 02, 2008
September 2, 2008, Los Angeles, CA - Dr. Philip Butler on McCain: "I think I can say with authority that the Prisoner Of War experience is not a good prerequisite for President. John McCain is not somebody I would like to see with his finger near the red button. Dr. Philip Butler, a highly decorated combat veteran who was imprisoned alongside John McCain at the infamous 'Hanoi Hilton' prison in Vietnam, has gone on record with his opinion of the GOP presidential candidate in a short video interview with Brave New PAC. Click here to watch the video of Philip Butler.
Dr. Butler was shot down over North Vietnam in April, 1965 and was brought to the Hanoi Hilton prison, two and a half years prior to McCain's arrival. He spent eight years in captivity. Butler is critical of McCain's habitual use of his P.O.W. story to advance his presidential campaign.
"John has allowed I think the media to make him out to be the P.O.W., the hero, and in fact there were over 600 just like him who performed just as well." Echoing a similar assertion from General Wesley Clark two months ago, Butler continues, "I think I can say with authority that the Prisoner Of War experience is not a good prerequisite for President of the United States."Having lived across the hall from John McCain at the U.S. Naval Academy prior to combat, Butler was a close witness to McCain's famously volatile temperament. "He was very sensitive and touchy and just easy to anger," says Dr. Butler. "John McCain is not somebody I would like to see with his finger near the red button." Butler continues, "John McCain's temperament makes it clear that he is not cut out to be President of the United States."
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http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/ArticleID/11054

Tampa:Falkenburg detention deputy stops suicide attempt

September 02, 2008
Authorities: Faulkenberg Road jail inmate tried to hang himself
TAMPA -- An inmate at the Falkenburg Road Jail, 520 Falkenburg Road, was discovered in his cell trying to hang himself about 5 p.m. Monday, said Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Debbie Carter.

A detention deputy who opened the food slot in the inmate's cell for feeding, found Raphael Lopez, 28, standing next to the door with a sheet around his neck, Carter said. The deputy radioed for assistance, and the detention Emergency Response Team arrived and cut Lopez down.

Carter said it appeared the inmate wrapped a bed sheet around his neck and attached it to the door jamb. Jail medical personnel checked his vital signs while deputies started chest compressions. Fifteen minutes later, Hillsborough Fire Rescue officials arrived and took Lopez to Tampa General Hospital, where he remains in critical condition.
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http://blogs.tampabay.com/breakingnews/2008/09/faulkenberg-roa.html

Tucson:Help police find killer of former pastor and marine

Tucson's Most Wanted: Help police find killer of former pastor and marine

Posted: Sep 2, 2008 07:30 PM EDT
By Som Lisaius - email

This is a crime a lot people are taking very personally, because this man hurt nobody and he was a friend to just about every person he met.

He's a former pastor and a retired Lt. Colonel with the United States Marines. But now Leroy VanVerth is gone. And police need your help finding the person responsible.

Says Tucson Police Detective Bill Hanson, "A case where you've got an innocent victim, who is in the wrong place at the wrong time.

That man is 81-year-old Leroy VanVerth. And this is where he was victimized around 7:35 Sunday night. VanVerth and his wife stopped by their Winnebago parked near Mountain and Roger when somebody approached them on foot.

His wife was actually inside the RV at the time and could hear the man asking for directions to the bus stop.

"She doesn't hear anything after that, so she thinks the person's left," Det. Hanson says. "Short time after that she hears a scuffle, goes outside and sees her husband on the ground and male standing over him with something in his hand."

VanVerth and his wife had just returned from Oregon and were getting a few things out of their RV when this unidentified stranger walked into their lives and changed everything for this married couple of 62 years.

"It looks like maybe he's on the ground and he's kicking at the guy--and that's how he's slashed" Det. Hanson says.

Two deep gashes across both legs. It's unclear why he was cut or what the suspect was looking for. What is clear is that the wounds were very serious. And at 81 years of age with a strained heart, such a loss of blood was just too much.

Police are asking you to call 88-CRIME or 911 if you have any information related to this case.

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http://www.kold.com/Global/story.asp?S=8940480&nav=menu86_13_5

Ohio National Guard deploy to Louisiana

1,500 Ohio guardsmen to deploy for cleanup

The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Sep 3, 2008 8:39:04 EDT

COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Ohio National Guard is sending 1,500 troops to Louisiana to help with the cleanup following Hurricane Gustav.

Guard spokesman James Sims said the deployment could begin Thursday or Friday. Units from Columbus, Newark and Coshocton will be among those sending troops.

Last week, the Guard sent a CH-47 Chinook helicopter and five crew members from a battalion based in Akron at the request of Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal. The crew went to help the state prepare for Gustav, which hit the Gulf Coast on Monday. http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/09/ap_ohio_gustav_090208/

Also

Army, Air Force pounce into action on Gustav

By Kris Osborn - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Sep 3, 2008 8:35:04 EDT

Army medium tactical trucks are hauling food, water and supplies to Gustav-damaged areas. Black Hawk and Kiowa Warrior helicopters are patrolling from the skies on search-and-rescue missions looking for victims. And Air Force planes have evacuated up to 16,000 residents — all as the U.S. military draws upon its home-stationed assets to help the Federal Emergency Management Agency respond to Hurricane Gustav, a Category 2 storm that rocked the Gulf coast of Louisiana on Monday.

The Army National Guard has been called upon by the governors of four states, sending more than 10,000 troops to Gustav-impacted areas. Deployments include 3,400 troops in Louisiana, up to 5,000 in Texas, and 3,000 in Alabama.

Overall, the National Guard has twice as much of the needed equipment to respond to hurricanes along the Gulf Coast compared with three years ago, when Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, said Maj. Gen. William Etter, the director of domestic operations for the National Guard Bureau, at a FEMA briefing Friday.
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http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/09/defense_gustav_090208/

Palin and GOP proud of original sin?

My fellow Alaskans: independent views hit McCain's running mate
Ewen MacAskill in St Paul The Guardian, Wednesday September 3 2008

She could be just a heartbeat away from the highest office in America. But yesterday it emerged that Sarah Palin once supported a party that wants her home state, Alaska, to break away from the Union - the latest in an embarrassing series of disclosures that have cast doubt on the judgment of John McCain in selecting her as his running mate in November's presidential election.

McCain's selection of a woman was hailed a smart move when he announced it on Friday. But each day since has brought fresh details of her life and politics, supporting the view that McCain made an impulsive choice and that his campaign team either failed to thoroughly vet her, or did not have enough time to do so.

The revelation that Palin was a member of the secessionist Alaskan Independence party motto - "Alaska First" - sits awkwardly with McCain's campaign slogan, "Country First" and will be controversial in a country whose oath of allegiance includes the phrase "one nation, indivisible". The AIP believes that the 1958 vote which led to the state joining the Union was corrupt and wants a re-run, with the aim of eventual independence. Party officials said yesterday that Palin had attended at least one convention before leaving in 1996 to join the Republicans. The McCain camp yesterday insisted she had been a registered Republican since 1982.

But a video of Palin's address this year to the independence party's convention while Alaska's Republican governor also surfaced yesterday on YouTube. A smiling and gracious Palin wished the delegates a successful meeting, ending with the words "God bless you".

The father was later named in media reports as Levi Johnston, 18. The campaign team said it had gone public to end rumours that Palin's most recent child had in fact been Bristol's.

In a Myspace entry, which has now been blocked, Johnston describes himself a "fuckin' redneck" and says he is in a relationship and "doesn't want kids".

Revelations
· Palin's unmarried 17-year-old daughter Bristol is five months pregnant

· Palin has supported the Alaskan Independence party, which wants a vote on seceding from the US

· A lawyer has been hired to defend her in an ethics investigation in which she is accused of abuse of power over the sacking of a state employee

· John McCain chose Palin after meeting her only twice

· No FBI background checks were carried out on her despite Republican claims

· Palin campaigned for $27m in federal money when mayor of a 9,000-population town. It is a kind of funding McCain disapproves of
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/sep/03/uselections2008.republicans20082

There is a problem that really bothers me no one sees to have paid attention to. Given the fact Palin, along with McCain did not fund education for sex, Palin claims to be in favor of abstinence only education, how is it that the "pro-life" people find this event something to be proud of? If anything this has sent the wrong message to young girls all across this nation. It tells them that their parents would be proud of the fact they are just teenagers who get pregnant as long as they decide to keep the baby. What happened to original sin on this issue? Sex without marriage? They speak of the "choice" Bristol made but in their mind no one should ever have the ability to make a choice at all. So how was "making the choice" to have the baby even an option to Bristol?

Aside that the use of condoms would have more than likely prevent the pregnancy and sexual transmitted diseases, wouldn't it have been something to be proud of to not have raised Bristol thinking that sex at her age was ok? Isn't that the impression Palin's supporters just gave the teenagers across this nation, as well as by the looks of it the UK as well considering they picked up on this story too?

Most of us have people in our own families who have had their kids really young but they were not public figures holding themselves up to be "moral" leaders and in a position where they feel they are entitled to judge the actions of other people. What happened to the Republican party? Sex with hookers is ok with them for a married man who paid to cheat on is wife? Sexual advances on young pages in the Congress is ok?

We cannot control what other people do but we can help them to learn from us. If we teach and raise our kids to value themselves based on what's inside of them, their feelings, their dreams, their hopes, then maybe there wouldn't be so many kids having sex before they are really responsible enough to know what they are doing. My God! When we have girls spending more time deciding what to wear than who they share their body with, we have a huge problem. Things have gotten so twisted around that it's ok to be in high school and pregnant? That used to be a shameful condition to be in, not one to be brought into the public as something to be proud of.

Palin said she's proud of her daughters decision to keep the baby? This makes no sense at all. It would be different if she had been all for choice but she wants it eliminated from anyone else making any kind of "choice" when it comes to their own lives. She's proud her underage daughter is pregnant? The GOP is proud of this as well? It would have been better for everyone to simply say "no comment" instead of holding this up as something to be proud of.

I wanted to not post on this anymore but it's getting ridiculous hearing the comments from the Republicans coming out as if they should celebrate this. It's sending the wrong message to a generation who will now think it's ok to have sex without the slightest idea what they are getting into. After all, abstinence only "education" sets them up for all of this and Palin's reaction to all of this has proven it. Being proud of your daughter is one thing but proud of this?

Now it also looks as if there has been a lot of deception as well between what the American people have been told about Palin and what is not true. We also now know that the vetting process did not include anyone who knew Palin in Alaska. What else don't we know about her?

Band to pay $1M in case over deadly club fire

There are more pictures online.

Band to pay $1M in case over deadly club fire
Story Highlights
Fire at Rhode Island night club killed 100

Great White, an '80s rock band, agrees to $1M settlement

Pyrotechnics at band's show started deadly blaze

PROVIDENCE, Rhode Island (AP) -- The 1980s rock band whose pyrotechnics sparked a nightclub fire that killed 100 people have agreed to pay $1 million.

The settlement offer from Great White to survivors and victims' relatives was revealed in court papers Tuesday.

Roughly $175 million has now been offered by dozens of defendants to settle lawsuits over the blaze in February 2003
http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/09/02/club.fire.settlement.ap/index.html

I was living in Mass when this happened and it was so horrific watching it on TV. This is what happened.

At least 96 killed in nightclub inferno
Governor: DNA might be only clue to identity of some victims
Friday, February 21, 2003 Posted: 11:45 PM EST (0445 GMT)

WEST WARWICK, Rhode Island (CNN) -- Ninety-six people died Thursday in a fast-moving fire at a Rhode Island nightclub, Gov. Don Carcieri said Friday afternoon, adding that only a handful of the bodies have been identified.

With 35 people in critical and serious conditions, the governor said it would not surprise him if the death toll were to rise above 100.

Because some bodies are badly burned, Carcieri said, family members might have to wait for DNA testing to learn their loved ones' fate.

Dorothy Palazzo is searching for her cousin, who attended the music show at The Station concert club in West Warwick.

"We're hoping that he walks in that door," she said. "He's got a great wife, beautiful children waiting for him to walk through the door and come home."

Other families made the rounds of hospitals and morgues, several showing photographs of the missing in hopes that someone saw them escape the club.

Pyrotechnics used by the heavy metal band Great White ignited the inferno. Owners of the nightclub have said they did not know the band planned to use fireworks, but Great White lead singer Jack Russell said, "Our tour manager set that up with the club." (Full story)

At least 187 injured people were taken to nearby hospitals, where 81 were admitted, the governor said. Ten were flown to the nearest burn centers in Massachusetts.

Investigators are sifting the charred wreckage for personal identification and belongings that might help identify the victims, he said.

Families are being asked to bring photographs of the missing to a crisis center that has been set up at the nearby Crowne Plaza Hotel. Grief counselors and clergy members are on hand to help families.

CNN still has the link up

http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/Northeast/02/21/deadly.nightclub.fire/

Jacksonville FL:Jags' Collier shot, has life-threatening injuries

Sep 2, 9:06 PM EDT


Jags' Collier shot, has life-threatening injuries

By MARK LONG and RON WORD
Associated Press Writers

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) -- Jacksonville Jaguars offensive tackle Richard Collier was shot and critically wounded outside an apartment building early Tuesday as he and a former teammate waited for two women they had met at a nightclub, police said.

Collier, 26, and former Jaguars defensive end Kenneth Pettway were waiting in a Cadillac Escalade when a gunman fired into the vehicle, said Jacksonville Sheriff's Office spokesman Ken Jefferson. Collier was shot several times, but it wasn't clear where he was hit.

Collier was in critical condition at Shands Jacksonville Medical Center, a nursing supervisor said early Tuesday. Later, spokesman Chris Turner said the hospital was no longer giving updates on Collier's condition. Jaguars coach Jack Del Rio said Collier's family had requested privacy.
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