<http://www.sltrib.com:80/1999/nov/11121999/nation_w/46434.htm>
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."