Floodlights, noise, 24 hr security guards placed at Peace Camp 2010

NOTE TO READER: Our protest is a legal demonstration attempting to redress the government grievance of the Sleeping Ban. Claiming the lights make anyone "safer" is ludicrous. Not mentioned in the article is that a private security guard has been stationed at Peace Camp 2010 for almost 2 weeks now. When asked, the guards will not say who has hired them. Despite this scrutiny, people continue to sleep and be cited for Sleeping, illegal use of a blanket, illegal "lodging", and for setting up a campsite with the intent of spending the night. It's impossible to determine why one code is used for one person, a different code for another person, and some only get more and more citations while others are arrested. ---- Becky Johnson, Ed.


Santa Cruz police light up camping protest with floodlights
By Jennifer Squires
Posted: 08/19/2010 01:30:51 AM PDT

found online at: http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/localnews/ci_15823598

SANTA CRUZ -- The day a convicted child molester was arrested at a homeless camping demonstration on the City Hall lawn, Santa Cruz police officers hauled in large floodlights to illuminate the protest.

Deputy Santa Cruz Police Chief Kevin Vogel said the aim of lighting the protest is to protect public safety. The lights went up Tuesday night and will be there until the demonstration ends.

"The lights at City Hall are simply an additional security measure and were put in place for the safety of our community," Vogel said Wednesday. "With yesterday's arrest of the convicted child molester at City Hall, it's apparent that the City Hall protest has reached new proportions."

Mark Greer, a 29-year-old local transient, was arrested at the demonstration Tuesday under the state anti-lodging law but he gave the officer a fake name, according to police.

The discrepancy was sorted out at County Jail, where he was fingerprinted and his real name popped up. Jail records showed he is registered sex offender and has five warrants from San Luis Obispo County.

As part of his child molestation conviction, Greer is required to register with police every month, but hasn't checked in with law enforcement since June, police said.

Vogel said Greer's arrest, along with fights, trash and other issues at the camp-in demonstration, show participants can't police themselves.

The so-called Peace Camp protest launched July Fourth at the county courthouse
and moved to City Hall a week ago. Participants are calling for an end to the city ordinance that prohibits camping outside between 11 p.m. and 8:30 a.m.

Police have been going to the demonstration nightly to ticket and arrest participants. Two people were ticketed around 2:30 a.m. Wednesday for violating the camping law. Vogel said it seemed there were fewer protest participants than on prior nights.

Illuminating the demonstration with floodlights costs about $100 a day, police reported.

More tickets issued at Santa Cruz camping demonstration; protestor arrested for alleged stealing another man's bedroll

By Jennifer Squires

Posted: 08/14/2010 01:30:55 AM PDT

found online at: http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/localnews/ci_15776512

SANTA CRUZ -- Police ticketed three demonstrators camping on the City Hall lawn were ticketed early Friday and, later in the morning an argument between two protesters led to an arrest, Santa Cruz police reported.

Friday was the third day the Peace Camp 2010 protest has been held at the city complex.

The demonstration targets the city's camping ordinance, which prohibits sleeping outside between 11 p.m. and 8:30 a.m. It launched in front of the county courthouse on July Fourth and moved to City Hall early Wednesday.

An argument between two protesters around Friday morning merited drew police. One demonstrator claimed another demonstrator stole his bedroll the night before and a security guard told police he overheard the alleged thief threaten the bedroll owner with a knife, Vogel said.

David Hooser, 50, from Washington state, was arrested on suspicion of disturbing the peace and theft, police said.

"It's a sad commentary when the participants of Peace Camp 2010 are the ones disturbing each other's peace," Vogel said.

Demonstrators are calling for the City Council to lift the so-called "sleeping ban" and exonerate everyone cited under the law since 1978. They say the tickets are unreasonable because there isn't enough shelter for the city's large homeless population.

City leaders and some homeless advocates have said the protest represents a small group of homeless and that those people are choosing not to take advantage of the city's many homeless services.

The numbers of campers at the protest has declined from nearly 60 at the courthouse to eight when police went to the demonstration around 2:40 a.m. Friday, Santa Cruz Deputy Police Chief Kevin Vogel said. He credited the reduction to police enforcement.

The camping tickets are less than $100, but if people rack up more than three city ordinance citations and fail to pay the fines, the violations become a misdemeanor.

Of the three people ticketed Friday, two listed the Homeless Services Center on Coral Street as their address. The third told police she was from Indiana but transient, Vogel said. He did not say how long she had been in the area.

Homeless camping protest plans to 'sprout like magic mushrooms' at Santa Cruz City Hall

by Jennifer Squires

Aug 11 2010

Article found online at: http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/ci_15734629?source=most_viewed

SANTA CRUZ - Demonstrators protesting the city's camping ban planned to shift their effort from the county courthouse steps to the City Hall lawn early Wednesday.

The so-called Peace Camp 2010 started July Fourth on the Santa Cruz County Superior Courthouse lawn, but after four consecutive nights of sheriff's deputies ticketing and arresting participants, the demonstration planned to relocate to city property around 3 a.m. Wednesday, demonstration leader Christopher Doyon, 45, reported.

"We are going to sleep and we are going to violate the sleeping ban in a very specific way," Doyon said.

He expected at least 10 participants and planned an early morning press conference.

A city ordinance prohibits camping between 11 p.m. and 8:30 a.m. Peace Camp participants aimed to attack that law, but their demonstration on a county-owned patch of grass in front of the court building caused confusion about what laws applied and which police agency should enforce them.

Sheriff Phil Wowak said that, although the city ordinance applies to the county land because it falls within the town limits of Santa Cruz, the municipal law is only enforceable by Santa Cruz city police.

In the past week, sheriff's deputies have cited more than 20 Peace Camp participants for violating a state anti-lodging law and several, including Doyon, have been jailed for refusing to leave the courthouse encampment.

Doyon said Peace Camp would "vanish like the fog in a breeze" from the courthouse steps and "sprout like magic mushrooms" at City Hall.

The renewed demonstration in front of City Hall will target the city ordinance. It also will be a sleep-only protest without people staying all day, making food and playing music. However, a small contingent will staff an informational table during daytime hours, he said.

The original Peace Camp demonstration drew criticism because it became an all-hours hangout with concerns about trash, human waste and drug use. This week, Wowak hired a private security guard to patrol the protest during the day.

Doyon said the change of venue in no way constitutes a concession by demonstrators, who are calling for the Santa Cruz City County to rescind the sleeping ban and forgive all camping tickets issued since 1978.

"I don't consider it a breakup at all. We're going to move," Doyon said.