Arrested for Feeding Homeless ??

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3 ARRESTED IN ORLANDO FOR ‘ILLEGALLY’ FEEDING THE HOMELESS
Posted on June 3, 2011 at 11:56am by Jonathon M. Seidl Print »Email »

Did you know that in some Orlando, FL parks it’s illegal to feed large groups? It is. And that means that some people who want to feed large groups of homeless people find themselves at odds with the law. So much so, that some of those people were arrested on Wednesday for intentionally breaking it.

Jessica Cross, 24, Benjamin Markeson, 49, and Jonathan “Keith” McHenry, 54, were all arrested on Wednesday night and charged with violating the ordinance restricting group feedings in public parks, the Orlando Sentinel reports.

The trio is part of a controversial group called Food Not Bombs, which unashamedly trumpets a social justice agenda.

“Food Not Bombs shares free vegan and vegetarian meals with the hungry in over 1,000 cities around the world to protest war, poverty and the destruction of the environment,” the group’s site says. “With over a billion people going hungry each day how can we spend another dollar on war?”

Outside the courthouse, McHenry wasn‘t afraid to state the group’s mission:

A picture on their website, which seems to be a variation on the socialist fist, sums it up:

The Orlando Sentinel sites arrest papers that say the trio was arrested for feeding 40 people in Lake Eola Park.

“They intentionally violated the statute,” Lt. Barbara Jones, an Orlando police spokeswoman, told the Sentinel.

But Douglas Coleman, speaking for Orlando Food Not Bombs, said the arrests were ridiculous.

“They basically carted them off to jail for feeding hungry people,” Coleman, who was not present, told the Sentinel. “For them to regulate a time and place for free speech and to share food, that is unacceptable.”