Homeless help
National Veterans Homeless Support Inc. helps homeless veterans and other homeless people. Call 888-787-6847 or visitNational Veterans Homeless Support Inc.
TITUSVILLE -- — Police have cleared out 11 homeless camps throughout the city in a push to remove people who are trespassing on private property.
Titusville Police Department and fire officials say the camps are a safety hazard, and a growing problem in the city, partly resulting from the increased unemployment.
But George Taylor Sr., founder and president of the Titusville-based National Veterans Homeless Support Inc., said he is concerned about the efforts to clear out local homeless camps.
He said he is documenting what happened and will consult his organization's legal advisers to be sure procedures were properly followed.
"This a veterans' town and this is a veterans' county, and they will not get away with it," Taylor said.Titusville Police Lt. Jeff King, a patrol division official who supervised the detail that cleared the homeless camps, said the increased safety concern necessitated the effort.
King said police in recent months had to respond to some fights at the camps, as well as incidents of harassment of the public or public intoxication by homeless people.
The increase in homeless camps "seems to be more of a problem than I can ever remember," said King, who has been with the department for 16 years.
In addition, Titusville Fire Department Battalion Chief Scott Gaenicke said officials traced at least two wildfires this year in wooded areas of the city -- one near Garden Street and the other near South Street -- to homeless camps.
Taylor said his group monitors about 85 homeless camps in Brevard County, including about 25 in Titusville. Those 25 camps have about 70 to 80 residents, with more than half of them military veterans, Taylor said.
King said the police department "identified some trouble areas owned by individuals or businesses" that were suspected sites of homeless camps, and contacted the property owners to see if they wanted the camps cleared.
Locations where the property owners didn't want the homeless camps removed were not disturbed, King said. People who lived in the homeless camps that were targeted received warning of trespassing before the camps were cleared, he said. After issuing the warnings, police returned to see if the homeless people had left and if their personal items were removed.
King said any items found at the 11 sites -- like reclining chairs, tents and barbecue grills -- were cleared out by crews from the city's Public Works Department, under police supervision.
Two law enforcement officers from the Florida East Coast Railway assisted in the detail, which included homeless campsites near railroad tracks, he said.
King said most of the cleared sites were off State Road 50/Cheney Highway, State Road 406/Garden Street and U.S. 1, as well as near the site of the former Sand Point Plaza, just north of downtown Titusville.
J.R. McGovern, whose business is located near the Sand Point Plaza area, said he could see both sides of the issue. He is aware of the safety issue, noting a brush fire earlier this year in the woods near his marine dealership, Mosquito Lagoon Outfitters, may have stemmed from a homeless camp.
But McGovern said he also is sympathetic to the plight of homeless veterans. As an active member of the Titusville Patriots Tea Party organization, McGovern said he plans to work with other members of his group to come up with ways to help the homeless.
Taylor said he was at an out-of-town veterans' convention when the police visits to homeless camps occurred. On Monday, he was working on alternative living arrangements for the homeless who had been displaced.
Contact Berman at 321-360-1016 or dberman@floridatoday.com
It is a SHAMEFUL Day In America Today
Shame on so called Americans that turn their backs on true Americans that put it ALL on the line to protect our liberties & freedoms, then have to come home and fight for their very survival in the land of plenty for the land they so much that they were willing to pay the ultimate sacrifice. Shame on the Politicians that allowed their few belongings to be destroyed, defaced and buried under the land they fought so bravely and gallantly for.
There is a reckoning that our veterans & fellow Americans will wage for their brethren, Lord be willing. Shame on the politicians that have no compassion & empathy for our first defenders & kick a veteran when their down then through them into the streets & under the bus. Is it only popular to say, "Support our troops" when they are in uniform, then strip them of their dignity when they return & face life's adversities. I wonder how much that "Raid" operation cost tax payers, and how many homeless veterans it would have fed if the would have use those funds for the greater good. Shame on the politicians that can sleep tonight knowing what they have done, as the lay in their cushy warm designer bed sipping on their VSOPs. Shame on the heartless politicians that have no conscience. Election day will be our reckoning for those that wave an American flag in a parade, climb on their proverbial soap boxes to read their carefully scripted & composed double talk, cheer for our troops in harms way for popularity sake, then turn their back on them when they have now way
God Bless America, God Bless our Troops & God Bless Our Homeless Veterans. Let us pray for our homeless heroes & let us pray that the Lord soften the stony hearts of those that forget our homeless heroes, that they realize the errors of their ways.
I hope that each of you that here about this atrocity, will immediately got to www.NVHS.us and pledge $1 a month for a year for their March to a Million campaign to eliminate homelessness for our Veterans in Florida. Our register for one or more legs of the World Record Ride, be sure to mention that you NVHS referred you so that that portion of the funds raised goes to them to help our homeless heroes. God Bless You and Thank You for your support.
