HOMELESS VETS TELL OF THEFTS

city asked totransient sweeps

Third generation Marine and U.S. Naval Academy graduate Rick Duncan stood inside the entrance to City Hall on Tuesday and said he would no longer tolerate abuse of homeless veterans or any other street people targeted by the city-funded Keep Colorado Springs Beautiful. City officials should hear him out.

The three-tour combat veteran had arranged a press conference to announce that his organization, Colorado Veterans Alliance, would file a federal lawsuit today against the city and Keep Colorado Springs Beautiful, which was shown on tape throwing out sleeping bags, pillows and jackets belonging to homeless people who live under a bridge. The same video features a Colorado Springs police officer opening and sorting through two suitcases without a warrant, despite court precedent that says homeless people have Fourth Amendment protections against warrantless searches on public property.

Duncan and the Colorado Veterans Alliance also will seek an injunction to stop further operations the city and Keep Colorado Springs Beautiful refer to as "transient sweeps." Duncan said he has sworn affdavits from homeless veterans who claim Keep Colorado Springs Beautiful has deprived them of Veterans Administration paperwork, medications, photos, identiflcation documents and even medals earned in service to their country.

Duncan was visibly upset during his presentation, and rightfully so. He said the city and Keep Colorado Springs Beautiful exhibit an attitude that so-called transients have no rights to their possessions or their privacy. He referred to a statement by Keep Colorado Springs Beautiful director Dee Cunningham, who told The Gazette that anything the homeless own is fair game during a transient sweep.

"They are not a commodity, they are American citizens," Duncan said of the homeless.

Retired Army officer Patrick Ayers, a disabled veteran, accused Keep Colorado Springs Beautiful of stealing sleeping bags and coats in order to run the homeless out of town. Ayers said he would begin a recall petition on Mayor Lionel Rivera if the City Council doesn't stop funding Keep Colorado Springs Beautiful and sever all ties with the organization byof day Thursday.

"We may not succeed, but we will hurt him politically," Ayers said.

"You're making an assumption ..." City Council member Jerry Heimlicher said, interrupting Ayers.

"I'm not making an assumption, I'm making a promise," Ayers said, interrupting Heimlicher.

Heimlicher said elected city officials will meet with police and members of Keep Colorado Springs Beautiful at 3 p.m. Thursday to discuss recent allegations of homeless abuse.

"This will be dealt with," Heimlicher promised.

Heimlicher, the only elected oflcial on hand for the veterans' press conference, said he has concerns about allegations by the Veterans Alliance and the media that Keep Colorado Springs Beautiful and the police may be abusing or mistreating the homeless, and violating their civil rights. Several times during the press conference, Heimlicher said he's mostly concerned about veterans.

Heimlicher tried to defend warrantless searches, saying the police often ffnd guns, knives and hypodermic needles among the possessions of the homeless. He said most homeless "panhandlers" use the money they collect to buy alcohol. He explained the city would like to help them, but City Hall is "way underfunded." As the city endures funding challenges, he said, people give approximately $1 million in handouts to beggars so they can buy alcohol and cigarettes. He said the $1 million ffgure is an extrapolation, based on an estimate of handouts that go to Denver's homeless.

Then Heimlicher steered the conversation to the heart of the issue. By Heimlicher's admission, city officials and leaders of agencies they fund would like to get their hands on the cash generous donors hand out on the street. He said the city must find a way to "divert" the money given to street people so it can be used to help the homeless in a manner professionals see fit.

The lesson in this: Always follow the money. A city-funded organization is doing the bizarre, taking survival items from people who live on the street. In addition, Heimlicher and other city officials have pushed for meters that will collect change, which might otherwise be handed directly to the homeless, and divert it to city-sponsored entities. To direct donations to the meters, citizens will be told "don't give" directly to panhandlers, who are drunks. It's a well-orchestrated funding maneuver, on the backs of our poorest citizens.

So long as city officials view the homeless as a funding source, and a problem to solve, we can anticipate organized efforts to make life on the street more difficult. We'll be told how city officials want to help, even though some on the street don't want, need or welcome help from City Hall or agencies it funds.

This doesn't need to be so complicated, Mr. Heimlicher. All the city must do is stop giving handouts -- $87,000-plus for 2008 and 2009 -- to an organization dedicated in large measure to throwing out items our homeless need to survive. The scandal isn't homeless people who beg and drink; they always have and always will. The scandal is that City Hall would pay a group to pick up sleeping bags, jackets and service medals from the poor. It's unconscionable.

In addition to stopping the confiscations, city leaders need to instruct their police department to stop conducting illegal searches of property that belongs to the homeless. In this country, it's not lawful for police to open a suitcase and sort through underwear without a warrant, regardless of what police think they might ffnd. This is wellestablished law. If the homeless have no property or privacy rights because they live on public turf, then neither do people who set up camp in a national forest. Imagine having a ranger steal your tent and sleeping bag and sift through personal items simply because you went for a hike. And consider this: A car parked on a public street is personal property left on public property. That doesn't give police a right to search the trunk without a warrant. The homeless don't always smell and look like everyone else. But that has no bearing on the law, which guarantees equal protection without regard for social status.

This is not an occasion for city officials to seek more money, with some pipedream of curing alcoholics. It's not an occasion for more programs and social engineering, with the impossible goal of ending homelessness. Instead, it's an occasion for the city to leave the homeless alone, unless they seek help or break the law. It's an occasion for the city to stop paying an organization that endangers our poor. It's an occasion for city officials to explain to police the requirement for a warrant before searching private property -- even on public land.

In America, we have no right to a home. We do have a right to forego a home. By exercising that right, we surrender no others. It's time for city officials to respect those facts of life in the USA.

KNOCK IT OFF, SIGN BANDITS

The Gazette has lost count of the letters detailing thefts of presidential campaign signs. The letters run about 50-50, and say one of two things: 1. Barack Obama supporters steal signs; and 2. John McCain supporters steal signs.

Theft of a sign shows blatant disrespect for free speech and property rights. People who commit such crimes shouldn't bother to vote. So here's our advice to those who steal political signs: Knock it off.

Copyright 2008 ProQuest Information and Learning All Rights Reserved ProQuest SuperText Copyright 2008 Freedom Newspapers, Inc.