Feeding the Homeless
From the Desk of Mace

People can't be prohibited from feeding the homeless in city of Las Vegas parks. SO now people have the same rights as pigeons. Who says the law is for the birds?

U.S. District t Court Judge Robert Jones slapped a permanent injunction on that city ordinance .But Las Vegas remains free to enforce its trespassing laws in parks, designate park areas for children's use only and require permits for park gatherings of more than 25 people. The summary judgment in favor of Las Vegas was issued on 8/23/07 by Jones. It's the latest development in a 14-month-old federal court action that set the ACLU of Nevada and advocates of the homeless against city laws perceived as unfairly targeting the indigent.

Arguments that the ordinances were selectively enforced and unconstitutional on several fronts failed to persuade Jones, who found that the plaintiffs had not met the burden of showing that discriminatory intent behind the laws existed.

The ACLU disagreed with Jones and said that they plan to appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.

Las Vegas City Attorney Brad Jerbic was pleased by the outcome, which he said affirms the city's position that the trespassing ordinances were solely intended to discourage criminal behavior in parks. The ordinance allows city marshals to ban individuals from parks if they commit crimes on city property. "It never had to do with being homeless; it had to do with conduct," Jerbic said.

(Ok Brad, are you selling ocean front property on the strip also?)

Nevada ACLU Executive Director Gary Peck said he was heartened that Jones had struck down the anti-feeding ordinance. "What is most disappointing is that the court either seemed to misunderstand or miss entirely the facts and legal precedents that should have controlled its decisions regarding our other claims," Peck said.

The battle between the city and the ACLU and homeless advocates such as Gail Sacco, who brazenly fed the homeless, has been waged on several fronts during the past year.  Sacco, a plaintiff in the federal court lawsuit, has been cited multiple times for feeding the homeless in city parks. She has handed out fruit and bread, distributed water and fed groups with homemade pots of rice and beans.

Sacco said she is glad the ordinance prohibiting that has been permanently enjoined. But she is concerned that the city law requiring permits for large gatherings will lead to future problems. It's hard to predict how many people will show up when she is at a park.” I don't want to go to jail just for feeding homeless people," Sacco said.

She has never stopped feeding the homeless or the hungry, Sacco said.  She said she will continue to challenge the city ordinances and support the ACLU in its appeal.

"We'll keep fighting it," she said. "What's right is right. What happened to the inscription on the Statue of Liberty? “The tired, poor, huddled masses yearning to be free? Better make sure you don’t congregate in any of the Las Vegas parks!

Las Vegas’ doors remain effectively locked to the most desperate and in danger; those that the Statue of Liberty once beckoned to her shores. But that was then and this is now!. With the immigration bills pending in Congress and public sentiment being what it is today, The indigent need not apply. Maybe the inscription on The Statue of Benny Binion in Las Vegas should read :Give me your tired, your poor. Your huddled multimillionaire soccer players yearning to breathe free!

International soccer star David Beckham (who signed a contract for TWENTY FIVE MILLION DOLLARS with the Las Angeles Galaxy, major league soccer team) and wife Victoria, formerly Posh Spice of the Spice Girls, don’t wait months or years to enter the United States legally. Beckham’s status, bankroll and his attorney see to that. He receives approval for his visa within two weeks. Accommodating U.S. State Department officials grant him after-hours appointments and have asked him to pose for photos.

I our system of justice, I thought all people were equal. I thought that was guaranteed by the U.S. constitution. I thought the reason that our symbol of justice is a woman blindfolded  is for the  reason that everyone is equal  in the eyes of the law. But times change. I think the current state of the law is accurately characterized by one of my favorite quotes from George Orwell’s animal farm “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” Till next time Mace

Mace Yampolsky is criminal defense lawyer located at 625 South Sixth Street Las Vegas Nevada 89101. His office number is 702-385-9777.  His website is www.macelaw.com.  His column appears weekly in this newspaper. If you would like to comment on this article, he can be reached by email at mjy@macelaw.com