Prof Feeds Homeless, Faces Fine - San Bernardino, CA, USA FWD
Tom Boland (wgcp@earthlink.net)
Mon, 15 Nov 1999 12:18:58 -0800 (PST)
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Why do some communities impose legal barriers on feeding poor and homeless
people?
http://www.sltrib.com:80/1999/nov/11121999/nation_w/46434.htm
FWD Salt Lake Tribune - Friday, November 12, 1999
PROFESSOR FACES FINE FOR FEEDING HOMELESS
RIVERSIDE
PRESS-ENTERPRISE
SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. -- Feeding 50 hungry people doughnuts and sandwiches
in San Bernardino could end up costing a college professor thousands of
dollars -- and not for food.
San Bernardino laws are clear: Anyone distributing food in public parks
must obtain an operating permit and purchase $1 million in liability
insurance to shield the city from lawsuits.
The requirements are adding up to a hefty bill for Cal State San Bernardino
professor Sung-Kyoo Huh -- a father of three who buys doughnuts, orange
juice and lunch meat in bulk once a week to hand out to the homeless and
other needy people Saturday mornings. He spends $100 a week.
Huh is considering paying up to $1,000 a month for insurance, but he said
he has been stunned by the way San Bernardino officials have insisted that
he file the paperwork or else be issued a citation and face a possible
fine. Huh, who teaches accounting, accuses officials of trying to hamper
his good deeds by forcing him to adhere to costly policies.
Advocates for the homeless and needy say Huh's predicament is a symptom of
a national problem: Cities are toughening restrictions that affect the
homeless instead of addressing the underlying causes of homelessness, such
as low wages, lack of affordable housing and unemployment.
In San Bernardino, however, officials said they are only trying to enforce
laws to protect public safety. San Bernardino Police Lt. Jenifer Aragon,
whose officers patrol the park where Suh distributes food, said she has
better things to do than cite good Samaritans for feeding hungry people.
But she said she has no choice. Police have received numerous complaints
from residents who are afraid to use the park because it is overrun with
homeless people, Aragon said.
Huh, a Korean immigrant and a Christian, said he and his wife, Cheong Huh,
feel compelled to help the needy. They hand out food with their friend,
Sang-Won Ha, who began the ritual alone seven years ago.
"We came from Korea to study in the U.S. and we had nothing. My wife made a
joke that we couldn't afford McDonald's," said Huh. "We got too many
blessings. We think we owe it to help others."
Until two months ago, the city's restrictions on handing out food had been
unknown to Huh. It had been the same routine every Saturday at 6:45 a.m.
for the past year: Dozens of the city's poor would come for coffee and
doughnuts, a prayer and then ham-and-cheese sandwiches. They would disperse
within a half-hour, he said.
But this summer, police noticed Huh's gathering while on morning patrol and
asked to see his paperwork. He had none.
Paul Gattone, a staff attorney for the Southern Arizona People's Law Center
in Tucson, Ariz., said San Bernardino's insistence that Huh obtain
insurance is an attack on the homeless and the needy. In January, the
National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty released a report accusing
Tucson and other cities of trying to "criminalize homelessness" by
tightening restrictions on sleeping and begging in public places.
"That's popping up all over the place," Gattone said. "They're expressing,
'Oh we have concerns for public safety.' But the whole issue of public
safety has just been a cover for basically efforts to push homeless people
out of the public view."
END FORWARD
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