Fort Lauderdale police charged
three men -- including two pastors and a 90-year-old man -- for feeding
the homeless in public on Sunday, the first such cases made by the city
after the a new ordinance effectively banning public food sharings took
effect Friday.
The first to be charged was
homeless advocate Arnold Abbott, 90, who has been feeding the homeless
in Fort Lauderdale for more than 20 years. Also cited were two Christian
ministers -- Dwayne Black, pastor of The Sanctuary Church in Fort
Lauderdale, and Mark Sims of St. Mary Magdalene Episcopal Church in
Coral Springs.
All three men face up to 60 days in jail and a $500 fine.
"One of the police officers said, 'Drop that plate
right now,' as if I were carrying a weapon," said Abbott, who runs a
nonprofit group called Love Thy Neighbor, Inc. "It's man's inhumanity to
man is all it is."
In 1999, the city tried to
stop Abbott from feeding the homeless on Fort Lauderdale Beach,
prompting a lawsuit from Abbott, which he won. Now he said he will fight
the municipal ordinance charge and be forced to take the city back to
court.
"I’m going to have to go to court again
and sue the city of Fort Lauderdale -- a beautiful city," said Abbott.
"These are the poorest of the poor, they have nothing, they don't have a
roof over their heads. How do you turn them away?"
Abbott
said he won't turn them away and is planning to bring food to the beach
this Wednesday evening with the expectation that he may be hit with
another charge.
"I don't do things to
purposefully aggravate the situation," said Abbott. "I'm trying to work
with the city. Any human has the right to help his fellow man."
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