My Anthem

Monday, November 10, 2014

When the LAW is an ASS, overseas and in Malaysia Boleh2!

Chef, 90, faces jail, fines for feeding the homeless

By By Zachary Fagenson | Reuters – Sat, Nov 8, 2014
By Zachary Fagenson
MIAMI (Reuters) - For decades,  has hauled pans filled with roast chicken and cheese-covered potatoes onto a south Florida beach park to feed hundreds of homeless people.
For his good deeds, Abbott finds himself facing up to two months in jail and hundreds of dollars in fines after new laws that restrict public feeding of the homeless went into effect in Fort Lauderdale earlier this year.
“I’ve been fighting for the underdog all my life, so this is nothing new,” Abbott said.
He was first cited last Sunday, along with two clergymen and a volunteer from his nonprofit, Love Thy Neighbor.
On Wednesday, several police cars waited for Abbott at a downtown Fort Lauderdale park, and officers pulled aside the frail man, clad in a white chef’s coat, soon after the first plates were ready to be served.
“The ordinance does not prohibit feeding the homeless; it regulates the activity in order to ensure it is carried out in an appropriate, organized, clean and healthy manner,” Fort Lauderdale Mayor John P. Seiler said in a statement.
Abbott moved to Florida from Massachusetts in 1970 and was a civil rights activist and wholesale jewelry salesman. He and his wife first began feeding the homeless on their own in 1979. He started the foundation and feeding full time in 1991 after his wife died, in a tribute to her memory.
The dispute highlights a debate between two schools of homeless rights activists: Those who argue that banning public feeding criminalizes the homeless, and others who say feeding and panhandling helps keep them on the street.
Since January 2013, 21 cities across the country have passed laws restricting public feedings and 10 more have similar rules under consideration, according to an October report from the National Coalition to the Homeless. Nationwide, at least 57 cities have limited or banned public feeding.
"One of the reasons these kinds of ordinances are being embraced is that this is what cities can do without spending money,” said Jerry Jones, the coalition’s executive director.
A widely agreed-upon solution - giving the longtime homeless beds as they work their way into treatment programs - is too costly for many municipalities that struggle with homelessness.
But advocates for the homeless say that ignores the costs of not addressing the issue in a compassionate way.
“What’s the cost if somebody presents themselves five times annually to an emergency room?” asked Ron Book, a high-profile Florida lobbyist who chairs Miami-Dade County’s Homeless Trust with a tax-backed, $55 million budget.
(Editing by David Adams; Editing by Bernadette Baum)


Dear ER and fellow Malysians, DON'T EASILY FORGET! Let's prove the long retired but not forgetten PM Dr Mahathir who often admonished the citizens:  "Rakyat Mudah Lupa! "


Updated: Thursday July 3, 2014 MYT 3:56:40 PM

Tengku Adnan: Soup kitchens banned within 2km radius of city centre

by choong mek zhin
Packets of food is distributed for free to the homeless at several locations throughout the city by Pertiwi Soup Kitchen on several nights a week.
Packets of food is distributed for free to the homeless at several locations throughout the city by Pertiwi Soup Kitchen on several nights a week.
KUALA LUMPUR: Soup kitchens will no longer be allowed to operate within a 2km radius of Lot 10, which covers a large portion of the city centre, effective immediately, said Federal Territories Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor.
"This activity just encourages people to remain homeless and jobless. There have been many such people whom we have found jobs for, who returned to that life because they said it is easier," he said at press conference to present official appointment letters to representatives on the Non-Islam House of Worship committee in Menara DBKL here Thursday.
A Google Maps image of the city centre showing the two-kilometre radius around Lot 10.
He added that the sessions also resulted in littering and this in turn attracted scavengers that brought about diseases.
"We already have all kinds of garbage-related problems in the city and spend more than RM90mil a year collecting it. I do not see my actions as harsh but necessary in order to create a disciplined society," he said.
Tengku Adnan added that the soup kitchens have not been officially notified of this and a meeting with them to discuss it will be held soon.
However, he said they would be given the next two days to comply with the decision and action will be taken against those who continue to run the activities.


DESIDERATA: GOoDnews is that the Minister/DBKL were forced by People's Power to GO-STAN -- another train we msut admonish the powers-that-be! -- on the idiotic policies! I have faith that the Miami's citizens will rise up to support gOod old but determined to do good and follow-your-heART 90-year-old Arnold Abbott! Ten salutes Sdr Arnold, a socialist after DEsi' heART!
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