It is clear the business community is supporting the police and court actions against homeless people in Santa Cruz.
Marta
> Date: Wed, 20 Oct 1999 14:03:19 -0700
> From: Becky Johnson <wmnofstl at cruzio.com>
> To: Coalition on Homelessness <coh at sfo.com>
> Subject: California Homeless Civil Rights Update for SF
Coal on Homelessness's
> November Street Sheet
>
> California Homeless Civil Rights Update
>
> Story for the San Francisco Coalition on Homelessness’s
November 1999
> Street Sheet 10-20-99 by Robert Norse
>
> Homeless activist Steve Argue [see Street Sheets 8/99,
9/99] was found
> guilty of felony assault on a SCPD Officer David Lafaver
for punching the
> brutal blueshirt in the nose to get him to release a young
mother who
> Lafaver was torturing with a particularly painful and
unorthodox "pain
> compliance" hold. Argue faces a potential five years in
state prison for
> the blow in the hostile courtroom of Judge "Artichoke
Heart" Atack, who
> barred the media from recording the trial, refused to
allow continuance
> time for defense witnesses to testify, and excluded
evidence that Argue
> was beaten and peppersprayed with the canister literally
forced into his
> mouth.
>
> Probably from behind bars, Argue will be suing the police
and their city
> bosses for a brutal false arrest last November when he was
held four days
> in jail for selling the homeless paper Street Spirit.
Meanwhile Santa
> Cruz’s impotent but struggling Citizens Police Review
Board is debating
> how to handle a complaint against the head of the SCPD,
Police Chief Steve
> Belcher, who is accused of covering up the Argue newspaper
arrest.
>
> Street minister Jerry Henry is again the target of a
merchant-sheriff
> "social cleansing" campaign at the Rancho Del Mar shopping
center in Aptos
> just South of Santa Cruz. Henry defends & advises young
and homeless
> people who hang out at the mall. After dropping bogus
charges in August
> [see Street Sheet 9/99] merchants and police have
escalated their war to
> banishHenry from the intentionally abusive to the
breathtakingly absurd.
>
> On Columbus Day (October 11th), Henry was jailed for
"trespass to
> interfere with a business" (PC 602.1) and held on $2500
bail. Four days
> after relatives posted bail on this groundless charge,
Henry was
> re-arrested on the same charge (with "resisting arrest"
thrown in for good
> measure) as he peacefully vigiled at the Shopping Center.
This time bail
> was set at $25,000. When his relatives and their
bailbondsman arrived at
> the jail, Judge Robert Yonts raised bail to $100,000 (on
two charges with
> a maximum penalty of $2000 and 2 years in jail). Henry has
never been
> convicted of anything, is not accused of any violent
crimes, and has never
> missed a court date. Yont’s colleague, presiding Santa
Cruz Judge Heather
> Morse then colluded with complainant Claudia Easterby, a
Gottschalk’s
> supervisor apparently behind much of the vendetta against
Henry, by
> refusing to hear in a timely manner a Writ of Habeas
Corpus filed to free
> Henry, finally throwing it out "for lack of jurisdiction."
Morse released
> her homeless-advocate hostage only after he agreed to a
banishment order
> from the Rancho Del Mar.
>
> This order had been sought for years by Easterby, other
merchants, and the
> police in half a dozen other bogus charges filed against
Henry. What they
> could not get in a public trial, this cabal imposed behind
closed doors
> with a huge bail requirement ($100,000 for a $2000
charge), which forced
> Henry to agree to a temporary banishment order rather than
spend the next
> four weeks before trial in jail. By the time Henry reached
court the next
> Monday, anti-homeless district attorney Jim Jackson had
cooked up a total
> of eleven misdemeanor charges against Henry, including
resisting arrest,
> public nuisance, and trespass—all of which were designed
to punish Henry
> for his high-profile non-violent advocacy on behalf of
young people swept
> up in the merchants new "young and homeless, get out!"
program at Rancho
> Del Mar. Santa Cruz homeless activists may join Aptos
youth in their
> picket against Gottschalks in protest.
>
> More than a dozen violent attacks on young and homeless
people in Santa
> Cruz in a month’s period has not moved Santa Cruz City
Council to set up
> safe park-and-sleep zones, a campground, or a repeal of
the Sleeping Ban.
> The Council’s own Homeless Issues Task Force [HITF] has
called for a
> repeal of the entire Camping Ordinance (which includes the
Sleeping Ban),
> which Mayor Beiers seemed determined to ignore. The HITF
has also called
> for rent stabilization or reduction and is preparing to
hold hearings on
> "trollbusting" to determine and document the extent of
anti-homeless
> violence. With steady input from Homeless United for
Friendship & Freedom
> (HUFF) activists, the HITF has also issued an advisory on
the Eichorn
> (necessity) defense, now permitted to homeless defendants
for defending
> their "camping" charges. HUFF is gathering steam and
volunteer signatures
> for a "Season of Compassion" round of high-profile
protests to span the
> Thanksgiving to Christmas shopping season to put maximum
pressure on the
> merchant community for an end to the city’s 11 PM ? 8:30
AM "go to sleep,
> pay a $54 fine" [which is still being enforced in some
courts as $162
> fines because of city attorney negligence].
>
> In addition to the City’s prohibition against homeless
sleeping, deputy
> sheriffs are now enforcing a Santa Cruz County ban on
sleeping in
> vehicles, parks, beaches, and on or near roads and
sweeping up the poor.
> Previously rare County "camping" tickets are now being
reported in greater
> numbers. Downtown, former squeegee woman "Patches" [see
Street Sheet 9/99]
> was barred from washing car windows at the New Leaf
parking lot after
> suffering a heart attack there. The local Taco Bell added
insult to injury
> by barring her and her partner for "sitting too long" at
tables, even
> though they were paying customers and hadn’t breached the
20-minute limit
> for homeless-looking customers.
>
> For more information on the Argue and Henry cases, call
HUFF at
> 831-413-4833, write 309 Cedar St. #14B, or e-mail
wmnofstl at cruzio.com
>
> Join the statewide search for justice on the California
Homeless Civil
> Rights homepage at http://www.cruzio.com/~chhc/hcr.html
>
> ------------------------------------------
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> dhm