Monthly Archives: February 2007

What Would Jesus Do About Jacksonville?

From the 13th juror:

“If Jesus came to Jacksonville to feed the masses, he would need a city permit to hand out all those miraculous loaves and fishes.”

>> Read “Jacksonville homeless feeding ordinance challenged in federal court.”

Divided By Class: A Morning In Court

My friends Marshall (a campus ministries director) and Will (a pastor) went to court this week for a mutual friend (formerly homeless) with serious health problems that prevented him from going himself. In his blog, Marshall writes about the way that prosecutors treated those in the courtroom. The class divide was evident. Reading about it made me both angry and weary. I urge you to read it, too.

“The Assistant DA who was running the courtroom I had to go to (our friend’s charges were being dealt with in two separate court rooms at the same time – how does that work?) made no effort to be pleasant. It was simple traffic court, but she made no ability to speak with kindness. It was clear that she wanted to establish that she was in charge and her rules were the only ones that counted.”

“The power dynamic was clear – there was a way of talking, a way of operating, and if you didn’t know how to talk and operate in that way, you were in trouble. At first I thought of this as a racial divide, but really it was a class divide.”

>> Read “A sad morning in court,” at “Joy In The Margins” blog by Marshall Benbow.

Forgotten Mentally Ill, Homeless Man Left In Jail

From FOXNews.com, in Crownpoint, Indiana:

“Officials cannot explain how they allowed a homeless, mentally ill man accused of stealing a soda to languish in jail for 17 months.

Edward Perez’s attorney, his court-appointed psychiatrist, the judge in his case and jail officials all apparently believed he had been released a year ago.”

I guess that if anyone had cared, someone would have noticed. Sickening.

God bless that man. I cannot imagine.