Arnold Abbott is a 90 year old man with a heart for feeding hungry
people. Unfortunately the people he wants to feed are homeless and in Ft.
Lauderdale, Florida and in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida it is against the law to
feed people in public places. Ft. Lauderdale is one of 30 cities who in the
past two years have passed laws to outlaw or regulate the feeding of the hungry
in public places.
These cities must hope that by being inhospitable to the
homeless the homeless will just move on. Do they have any suggestions as to
where they should move to? Aren’t the homeless also citizens? I am not
unsympathetic to the sanitary and other challenges created by a homeless camp,
yet the solutions are not to deny their existence or to drive them away, but to
find ways to incorporate them into the community.
Arnold Abbott received a citation from the police and a
court date. He returned to his previous location and continued to feed people.
When he has his day in court he could face a fine and or jail time. If the jail
time is based on so many days per person fed in a public place I wonder how
long Jesus would have to spend in Jail.