Feed the homeless, go to jail?

[RLF]

05/08/2008

SANTA ANA (CNS) - Members of a group threatened with citations if they continue feeding the homeless in a picnic area at Doheny State Beach in Dana Point will file a lawsuit today, claiming their constitutional religious and speech rights are being abridged.

The lawsuit will be filed in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana by lawyers for the Orange County office of the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, said the ACLU's Tessie Borden.

Members of Welcome INN -- Interfaith Needs Network -- served meals at the state facility two days in a row in February. On the third day, they were approached by park rangers who said they were engaging in an unlawful assembly, Borden said.

The rangers threatened to issue citations, although none were ultimately written, she said.

Members of the group ``tried to work it out with state authorities,'' Borden said. ``They wouldn't budge.''

James Siler, INN president, said his group was ``not disturbing the peace.''

``We are not inciting a riot,'' Siler said. ``We are simply feeding our friends in the same manner that most of us have done for years. This is not much different than when families or others gather in the park.''

Borden said the volunteers bought parking permits to bring in the provisions, but the ``guests'' who gathered to eat walked to the park.

Officials say a public recreation area is not an appropriate spot for feeding the homeless.

``We have been asked to provide homeless services before,'' said Roy Stearns, a state Department of Parks and Recreation spokesman.
``The park system we have is not set up to be an answer to social services'' but exists as a recreation and vacation venue, he said, adding that churches and community centers would be more appropriate as sites for feeding the homeless.

Stearns said he has not heard of a similar lawsuit filed in the past.

``Mostly I'll have to say we haven't read it to know how to respond,'' he said.

Borden said the lawsuit will seek to ``overturn an unconstitutionally broad state law that allowed park rangers to interfere'' with the group's work.

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