I took a walk through Hobo Heaven today. It clearly states a closing time of 10:00 p.m.--so that means that the Northwoods police dumper was assisting the dumpee in illegal trespass.
Does NLEC have a curfew? If so, is it before 11:00 p.m. (the time that the bum dump occurred)?bsharmastl wrote:Just curious if Rice is the one who gains from all this, and if somehow he has given people an open invitation to drop homeless near his place.
phobia wrote:I don't think "free home" and "food" are effective lures.
Agent009 wrote:After living in tucson i would say the homeless, and especially the amount of panhandling does not even compare to that in St Louis. Not even close.
I think some people in st louis need to get out of town more.
The story is on stltoday.com.loftlover wrote:ThreeOneFour wrote: Since KMOV is already familiar with the area, there's a story for sweeps week in February or May.
314's comment got me thinkin' - this would be a great story for the press to make an issue of. Any members have contacts with local media that may be interested in pursuing? This is too bizarre to let die!
Web claim of dumping homeless man is disputed
By D. Paul Harris
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
01/23/2007
A claim that Northwoods police dumped a homeless man on a street corner in St. Louis is posted on the city's website but disputed by an official with the North County suburb.
It was a case of mistaken identity and an erroneous recount of the events of Jan. 11, says Northwoods Police Chief Gregory Moore, that led to the posting.
The posting read: "At around 11 p.m. tonight, at the corner of 14th and Locust, I saw my first 'dumping' of a homeless person. A Northwoods police cruiser pulled up to the corner and deposited a homeless man at Lucas Park (not even NLEC).
Thanks to MayorSlay.com for continuing to point out this outrageous abuse of the city."
Richard Callow, who edits the mayor's Web page, wrote in an e-mail, "From our viewpoint, this whole story makes the Mayor's point: 'there is a serious lack of homeless services outside the city limits, and some other communities and agencies take advantage of what the city is doing.'"
Homelessness in the region is an ongoing issue. In 2005, the city and county received federal funds of $7.3 million, with $1.1 million going directly to emergency shelters. In the same year, the city and county unveiled a 10-year plan to end chronic homelessness, typically defined as a person with a disabling condition such as mental illness who has been living on the street for at least a year, or who has been homeless four or more times in the past three years.
Although it is hard to determine the exact number of homeless people in the area, city and county officials agree it's an issue that needs to be addressed — but not by dumping.
However, Moore says the man was not homeless and was dropped off in the city at his own request. Although Moore says it's all a misunderstanding, he will not give the name of the man or the officer involved in the incident.
The unidentified man was picked up from the Justice Center after Northwoods received a report from St. Louis police that they had a man in custody who fit the description of someone they were seeking, Moore said.
A Northwoods police officer went to the city to pick up the man from the Justice Center, whose officials would not comment for this story.
It was later determined that the man in question had a similar name and address to someone else, so he was released from custody.
According to Moore, the man said, "Well, I'm stuck out here. Can you drop me off downtown, and at least I can eat at Rev. (Larry) Rice's before I go home?"
"And that's what the officer did," Moore said. "That was only right since we had brought him out here and he wasn't the guy (we were looking for)."
City resident Michael Allen, who posted the item, says he thought the man was homeless because of his "general appearance."
"I heard about this sort of thing happening before," Allen said. "That's my only suspicion in that regard."
Allen says the man went into Lucas Park and started walking east, instead of west toward Rice's facility.
"I only know what I saw," Allen said. "I don't know what happened leading up to what I saw."
There is a story in today’s daily newspaper about an item that appeared in this space a week or so ago. If you missed it, MayorSlay.com — not the City website — ran an item from a reader who said that he and some friends saw the Northwoods police drop a homeless person off in downtown’s Lucas Park. Given downtown neighbors’ continuing concerns about such practices, that seemed worth reposting — and, even, worth some real reporting.
Too bad, then, that the newspaper’s reporter left some important loose ends in his story. Here’s some of what the newspaper story did not report:
publiceye wrote:In response, at mayorslay.com:
There is a story in today’s daily newspaper about an item that appeared in this space a week or so ago. If you missed it, MayorSlay.com — not the City website — ran an item from a reader who said that he and some friends saw the Northwoods police drop a homeless person off in downtown’s Lucas Park. Given downtown neighbors’ continuing concerns about such practices, that seemed worth reposting — and, even, worth some real reporting.
Too bad, then, that the newspaper’s reporter left some important loose ends in his story. Here’s some of what the newspaper story did not report:
Read the rest of the response.
It's terrible that the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter left out those three important facts. The title of the newspaper article, Web claim of dumping homeless man is disputed, makes it sound like an anonymous (and possibly fabricated) accusation was made--but that's definitely not the case.
- Too bad, then, that the newspaper’s reporter left some important loose ends in his story. Here’s some of what the newspaper story did not report:
- Northwoods police dropped a person off at downtown’s Lucas Park just before midnight on a cold night. If he had a home or an apartment, why didn’t the police take him there?
- The person was homeless — and the Northwoods police had pretty good reason to know it. The address the person gave on his arrest report was a homeless shelter.
- Northwoods police apparently did not check whether the New Life Evangelistic Center or other downtown facilities were closed for the night by then. If they were closed, why didn’t Northwoods police take the person to a shelter that was open, instead of leaving him in a public park? The City of St. Louis, for instance, operates an emergency shelter at 12th and Park.
Resurrectus wrote:[Graphic photo unacceptable]
The photo that I posted of the bus, with a decal of a guy being squashed like a bug against the front, was obviously a joke. I wouldn't exactly label the picture on the decal as graphic since it was actually on an ad that was suitable for a real pedestrian-friendly public bus.Arch City wrote:Many of the postings are really beginning to get crude. Please be mindful of your postings or this thread will be locked.
The news article is on stltoday.com:bsharmastl wrote:I heard in the news today, that a homeless man died in this cold wave that we are in. I thought they got shelter in NLEC building (or in some other shelters set up for this). Is this not correct? I am just trying to educate myself on this whole homeless situation and always thought that NLEC gave them food and shelter.
bsharmastl wrote: In any case, the way it is handled in STL (NLEC) does NOT give them ANY help in trying to get a job.
I think the city has started seeing this, but it will take time to change mindsets
All your other points are excellent. Can you elaborate on this one? I am not sure I understand.publiceye wrote:
Since half the calls to the homeless hotline in the city come from the county, where do you think mindsets ought to change next?
