Chapter 2
How I got Involved in the Homeless Issue
Dave Ritter was taunted by Fresno police officer Mike Smith who called him a “human cockroach,” told him to get a job and said that his girlfriend was a whore.Many people in the community believe that the Rescue Mission helps the homeless, serves them meals and is the place of last resort where anyone can go to get off the mean streets of Fresno. You are about to learn that there is a whole lot more to the story.
Chapter 3
Bulldozing Homeless Encampments
In January 2004, homeless people had established shelters on Santa Clara Street. There were 50–100 people living there before being evicted on February 2.These police officers, arriving on bicycles, had come to evict the homeless on Santa Clara Street.The sanitation workers would move through a section of the homeless encampment, throwing personal property into the street, where it was picked up by a bulldozer and destroyed.The bulldozers put load after load of homeless people’s property into the back of a garbage truck where it was crushed and taken to the dump.Sometimes a homeless person would refuse to leave. When that happened, the police would move in and force that person to “move on.”Erick Grove was part of a homeless encampment on H Street that was destroyed by Caltrans on the same day the City of Fresno destroyed the Santa Clara Street encampment.Both Caltrans and the City of Fresno used bulldozers to take and immediately destroy homeless people’s property.Bonus photo (not in book). I always thought this photo, taken by Dallas Blanchard, illustrated the situation well. The City of Fresno simply took and immediately destroyed homeless people’s property, giving them no opportunity to have it returned.
Chapter 4
The Rescue Mission
Larry Arce, CEO of the Fresno Rescue Mission, sent his “disciples” to take and destroy homeless people’s property.Bryan Apper with St. Benedict Catholic Worker, commenting on this photo, said, “We not only recovered this woman’s quilt, we also recovered a water bottle that was a gift to her from the Mission at their much-publicized ‘birthday party for the homeless’ the Saturday before. The top brass of the Mission watched as we recovered these items. In our negotiations, Larry Arce said that his crew had just cleaned up trash. We also recovered a brand new Bible, which was also a gift at the birthday party, held it up and asked, ‘So this is what you call trash?’”A typical raid by the Fresno Rescue Mission on a homeless encampment, where its “disciples” would come, take property and destroy it.
Chapter 5 Dispatches from the War Zone
For a while, in early 2006, homeless people would pick up and move their tents and other property from one side of the street to the other to avoid having it destroyed by city sanitation workers and the police.Officer Rey Wallace (left) tells homeless advocate Liza Apper to allow city sanitation workers to destroy homeless people’s property. She refused, later getting into a tug of war with Wallace. Wallace once told me that “the homeless people that live here are the luckiest homeless in Fresno.” Surprised by the statement, I asked him what he meant. “They have maid service. We come out and clean up for them about every other week.”City sanitation workers picked up one shopping cart after another (each filled with homeless people’s property) and put them into the back of a garbage truck. The carts and property were crushed, compacted and taken to the dump. One cleanup crew supervisor was overheard saying, “I wish I had a nickel for every cart we destroy.”There were many acts of resistance to the demolition of homeless people’s property. These two women put their bodies in front of a bulldozer at the E Street encampment and refused to move.
Chapter 6 The Lawsuit Against the City of Fresno
Attorneys representing homeless people filed a lawsuit and held a press conference on the steps of Fresno City Hall. They were seeking to stop the city from taking and immediately destroying homeless people’s property.Pam Kincaid spoke at the press conference announcing the lawsuit against the City of Fresno. Kincaid was the lead plaintiff in the lawsuit.Liza Apper (left) stood in front of this tent and refused to allow the bulldozer to destroy it. Shortly after the bulldozer left, Twist (a homeless man) emerged from the tent. He had been sleeping and would have been picked up by the bulldozer, put into a garbage truck and taken to the dump if Liza had not held her ground. Nobody knew that Twist was in the tent until after he came outThe homeless plaintiffs in the lawsuit against the City of Fresno and their attorneys celebrate the $2.3 million settlement in federal court.
Chapter 7 The Disturbing and Tragic Death of Pam Kincaid
Pam KincaidPaul Alexander, the lead attorney representing the homeless in their lawsuit against the City of Fresno, attended the memorial service. On a card describing how he remembered Kincaid, Alexander wrote: “Courage. We will always keep Pam in our hearts.”Steve drew a rainbow and said that “she is a rainbow.”
One thought on “Dispatches from the War Zone photos”
Mike Rhodes has done a lot for homeless people. I was fortunate to be able to buy one of these books of his from him. However, after my friend, housemate and landlord of seven years, Fred Brengelman died in September, 2019, his son Erik Brengelman has made things rough for me, to get me out of the house which he apparently inherited. Many of my books were stuffed into a box and taken to a storage space that I have. Included was this book of Mike’s. In mid-December Erik went into my room where I had been living, without my permission, and put a lot of my stuff outside on a patio. Erik changed the locks in mid-December also. I had moved some of my stuff to another residence. However, a bicycle is my means of transportation, along with the buses. My storage space is a long ways from where I am now staying.
Before Fred died I had thoughts that when he would die, I might either inherit the house or become homeless. He told me that I was about the only one who cared whether he lived or died. I deserve better treatment than I have been given by Fred’s son Erik.
Erik has called my possessions “garbage”. Just after his father Fred died, Erik told me: “Why don’t you be a good man and go down the hall to your garbage and find you another place to live?”
Mike Rhodes has done a lot for homeless people. I was fortunate to be able to buy one of these books of his from him. However, after my friend, housemate and landlord of seven years, Fred Brengelman died in September, 2019, his son Erik Brengelman has made things rough for me, to get me out of the house which he apparently inherited. Many of my books were stuffed into a box and taken to a storage space that I have. Included was this book of Mike’s. In mid-December Erik went into my room where I had been living, without my permission, and put a lot of my stuff outside on a patio. Erik changed the locks in mid-December also. I had moved some of my stuff to another residence. However, a bicycle is my means of transportation, along with the buses. My storage space is a long ways from where I am now staying.
Before Fred died I had thoughts that when he would die, I might either inherit the house or become homeless. He told me that I was about the only one who cared whether he lived or died. I deserve better treatment than I have been given by Fred’s son Erik.
Erik has called my possessions “garbage”. Just after his father Fred died, Erik told me: “Why don’t you be a good man and go down the hall to your garbage and find you another place to live?”