by Jack
It was yet another confrontation behind the old church. I’m told it happens almost daily. The church volunteers were trying to get into the office in the back of the church. There were three pretty rough looking bums camped out in front of the door way. One of the church people, a young man about 30, asked them to move along. He was polite enough, saying they couldn’t camp on church property. But, the bums, aka homeless, were not moving. One of bums, a little younger than the young man asking them to move, replied defiantly, “This here is church property, you can’t tell us to move.”
“It is church property and it’s also private property, you can’t hang out here, you can’t sleep here. You have leave or I will call the cops,” came his retort. The indignant bum fired back, “Go ahead, call the cops, they ain’t gonna do nuthin.”
The police were called and the bums were right.
Sure, they were asked to move and they did, but under protest and only after some delay. The cops didn’t do much, they just asked them to move along…case closed.
However, according to 601 of the Penal Code, they could have been arrested and/or cited for trespassing, but the police know this takes more time and trouble than it’s worth. So, they rarely take any action and the bums also know this. Not only that, but the police administration apparently is not eager for them to start arresting bums for petty offenses.
The logic is simple, again it ties up their resources and they have higher priorities. Cops don’t want to handle bums anymore than you would. They are packing a ton of clothes, some have dogs, they are stinking and filthy…so the cops would much rather counsel and release…. until the next time, and the next time and the next time. How much time does that take?
As a result of this passive approach, the feeling on the street is, the people of Chico (including the cops) really don’t mind them camping in the parks, sleeping on the sidewalks or taking up every park bench in the plaza. Heck, they can even wash up in the fountain next to city hall. Nobody does anything because they don’t mind. Chico is a bum friendly place. Come one, come all, to Chico, California….you won’t be hassled here!
To bolster this false notion of approval we have a handful of dedicated enablers. They regularly bring bottled water and sandwiches to the plaza park where the bums are hanging out. This is wonderful, because it saves the bums a 5 minute walk to one of the two downtown places that provide a free food. (By the way, asking for spare change is virtually out, now they ask for $5 or they want you to go buy them a restaurant meal – and people do it!)
Recently the Chief of Police told citizens, “If you want these homeless to be good neighbors, then you have to be good neighbors too.” In other words, if they are pooping or peeing in your downtown business doorway, then you must have done something to offend them, so you need an attitude adjustment. Be kind and they will be kind right back and not break out your window.
Hmmmm… I kinda think the Chief is still operating under the old rules established by the former City Council. I’m surprised the new Council has come down hard on that kind of logic. They were going to deal with this bum population problem – have they not made their wishes known to the police? I was told the council was all about strictly enforcing the laws, so the freeloaders from other states would stop migrating here.
The “turn a blind eye” approach for law enforcement has not been working out very well, so it might be time to kick butt and take names?
Summer is fast approaching and with it will come even more bums looking for a free ride, spare change and whatever they can steal.
Will this continue: “Go ahead and call the cops – they ain’t gonna do nuthin.”
The bums don’t ask for spare change anymore. Now they ask for five bucks or ask if you would go inside a store/restaurant and order them food.
Businesses who wish to remove the bums could install an out-of-reach sprinkler pointing to the areas where the bums congregate. Cold water does a lot to get them to move along . . . .
Even better would be the curtailing of all of the “freebies” by the enablers. I no longer donate to organizations that provide those kind of giveaways.
Ah, but according to the Tina Ethos, that church should be running a nice, clean, warm, basement shelter.
Apparently, this one does not, which is, if you are wondering, how the government got into the business.
Must you make it so easy for me?
It’s a free country Libby. People can give as they choose. I don’t know what church we are talking about and I don’t know what their charitable priorities are but I do know that the “civilians” have the same responsibilities as any of the rest of us. Chico does have plenty of services for anyone who WANTS to get o his feet. It’s obvious that being a hobo is a choice many of these have made.
The idea that the government got into the business because there wasn’t enough charity is absurd. The government (lefties) took the opportunity of an economic crisis THEY CREATED to begin the fundamental transformation of America from a free responsible contributing nation to one of dependency and using bullying and shaming tactics to accomplish their aims for POWER and MONEY.
Encouraging people to dependence and militancy is easy Libby. Easy is another word for lazy. You can;t be bothered to look past what you think is help to the destruction that follows. Encouraging people to become lazy so democrats can stay in power is UGLY…and definitely NOT a principle on which this nation was founded.
It seems to me that a shotgun and a warning to get off my property would work on both Libby and the bums.
Stop being nice. Jesus didn’t take any crap from bums or people like Libby.
“Jesus didn’t take any crap from bums”
This is hilarious.
Tina, Jack, Pie …
You are idiots … ignorant and deluded idiots. You can’t get housing without a job. And you can’t get a job without an address.
So you’re not getting the indigent off the street without some serious expenditure, which neither your locked church nor your county government are willing to pay for.
You are just going to have to learn to live with this. I’ve said it before, you have no grounds to snivel. It’s your doing.
Liberals created all of the policy you describe, Libby, and you call us idiots?
You are an idiot!
And don;t talk to us about getting the indigent off our streets, I understand you have quite a crisis brewing in your neck of the woods:
SF Gate, “Homelessness: Shame of the City
CBS Local, “Number Of Homeless Children In Bay Area Reaches All-Time High”
SF Gate, “How to solve San Francisco’s homeless pooping problem”
You live in one of the wealthiest, and most liberal, areas in the US.
You can pretend this is our “doing” all day long Libby but you cannot deny that the cities in America that have been in the worst shape have been run by Democrats for decades. Yours is an ideology that creates dependency and dependency is just one step above hopeless, a condition that is in abundance after seven and a half years of Obama economic policy and decades of adding entitlement programs that keep people in poverty much more often than they lift people out of poverty.
ITS YOUR DOING!
Chris, these people are not Christians …we knew and know that.
2 Thessalonians 3:10 (KJV) For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat.
Matthew 6:1-4 – Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.
Acts 20:35 – I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.
Libby you don’t have a clue what it is to be Christian, much less an American, you are of the communist point of view. ..a godless ideology.
We Christians are instructed to give, personally, but also not to cripple those who are capable. There are no instructions to give to the poor through forced redistribution by a government.
Libby got one thing right about myself by accident. I am not a Christian, but I have studied the bible and respect Christians.
I will only quote one verse. It applies here.
Luke 17:3
Be on your guard! If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him.
Would both Libby and Chris please publish their addresses? I know some people who would like to visit them. They live in and about Chico and all over San Francisco. People who would like to live on their front stoop. People who would defecate on their sidewalk. People who would rape and beat them to death, steal all their possessions and walk off laughing. Who would be calling the police then?
Tina, by Acts 20:35, the reporting church would have been unlocked, but it was not, was it?
And, Pie, we know that your possessions are your all. But if you actually believe that your Chico enclave is about to be over-run by the colored hoards … call your doctor and get you’re medication adjusted.
Color is an issue? I’ll notify any color of person you prefer.
Libby declines to publish her address. Not surprising. Libby may be a dope but she obviously does not care to have any belligerent bums sent to her own doorstep. A wise fool.