Chris Doyon faces Federal Charges for Cyber-attack in Santa Cruz County

At Peace Camp 201o on July 10th, exhausted houseless people arrive and bed down for a welcome night's sleep as part of the protest against laws which outlaw sleeping at night. Photo by Becky Johnson

NOTE TO READER: Neither the SENTINEL nor the FEDERAL INDICTMENT against Chris Doyon states our issue properly. Peace Camp 2010 was NOT calling for an end to the CAMPING BAN. In 20 some articles they've NEVER gotten it right. We assembled to protest the INJUSTICE of laws which ban SLEEPING AT NIGHT and the ban which forbids using a BLANKET AT NIGHT. We also called for amnesty for past citations. We understand that cities have the right to regulate camping. However, the City of Santa Cruz does not REGULATE camping. It forbids it completely. And this in a City with over 1,000 houseless people and shelter for less than 10% on our best days. Peace Camp 2010 had NOTHING to do with the cyber-attack. We did not plan it. We did not approve it. We had no knowlege of it until it happened. And ED FREY and I both condemned it at the time. We have always been out to win over the hearts and minds of the citizenry that it is WRONG to forbid houseless people the right to sleep at night in a situation in which inadequate shelter exists. Finally, the County camping ban does not apply to the grounds at the County Building, so we were violating no county code by sleeping there. ---- Becky Johnson , ed.

Homeless activist indicted for county cyber attack: Voice of 2010 protests swept up in nationwide crackdown

By Jason Hoppin

Posted: 09/23/2011 01:30:47 AM PDT

ARTICLE FOUND ONLINE HERE.

SANTA CRUZ -- A homeless activist who appears to have been instrumental in last year's Santa Cruz camping ban protests was arrested Thursday for allegedly hacking Santa Cruz County computers in December, federal authorities allege.
A federal grand jury's indictment of Mountain View resident Christopher Doyon, 47, appears to be part of a nationwide crackdown on the hacker community. A second man also has been charged in the attack, which authorities say was planned as retribution for the breakup of a lengthy protest over the city's controversial outdoor sleeping ban.
According to the indictment, Doyon and Joshua John Covelli, a 26-year-old Fairborn, Ohio, resident, hatched "Operation Peace Camp 2010" on behalf of the Massachusetts-based group Peoples Liberation Front, which claimed credit for the attack and has been linked to the hacker group Anonymous.


Anonymous has been linked to a number of online hacking attacks worldwide, and played an instrumental role in a recent series of BART protests. Their members often appear in public wearing masks, particularly of the British 17th century revolutionary Guy Fawkes.
The county government computer attacks resulted in users not being able to access the county's website. No information was compromised or disseminated, county officials said.
The two-month protest over the camping ban began on the steps of the county courthouse and ended in front of Santa Cruz City Hall. Ultimately, the sheriff's deputies moved in early in the morning to break up the protest.


In letters posted on Peace Camp's blog, Doyon also described himself as homeless and some news reports on Thursday also described him as such, though federal authorities could not confirm it. Authorities provided no details on his arrest.



"All I know is that it went without incident," FBI spokeswoman Julie Sohn said.


A Chris Doyon of the same age was quoted in a Sentinel article last year about the camping ban protest, saying he believed people had the right to sleep wherever they choose.
Doyon was also one of five people ultimately charged with illegal camping, though he never showed up for trial. Prosecutor Sara Dabkowski said in May that a bench warrant had been issued for his arrest, but no further information was available Thursday.
Doyon once described himself as a spokesman for the group. At the time, he said he grew up in Maine and moved west to follow the Grateful Dead. He also vowed not to give up protesting the camping ban.
"This is a fight about aesthetics," he was quoted as saying. "One man's garbage is another man's belongings. I think millionaires are unaesthetic; I think Hummers are disgusting. You see the ridiculousness. This is class warfare."
The FBI and U.S. Attorney's Office offered scant information, but the indictments appear to part of a broader net cast by federal authorities.



Also Thursday, the FBI's Los Angeles office announced it had arrested a Phoenix man on charges he hacked Sony Pictures Entertainment's website.
Cody Kretsinger, 23, was arrested without incident, based on a Sept. 2 federal grand jury indictment unsealed Thursday. The indictment alleges Kretsinger carried out the attack as part of the group LulzSec, which has also been linked to Anonymous.
An FBI official told FoxNews.com that search warrants were being executed in Minnesota, New Jersey and Montana.

Covelli was previously indicted in July for allegedly hacking into PayPal. He was not arrested Thursday, and his next scheduled court appearance in the earlier case is set for November.
Both Doyon and Covelli were charged with conspiracy to cause intentional damage to a protected computer, which carries a maximum of five years in prison and a fine of $250,000, and aiding and abetting, which can carry a sentence of 10 years and a fine of $250,000.
Any sentence is subject to federal sentencing guidelines.

Doyon made a brief court appearance Thursday. His next scheduled appearance is Sept. 29.

__._,_.___

Six Months Jail for Sleeping -- $50,000 Bail Judge Jails Two Homeless Activists who refused 400 hours of Community "service"

NOTE TO READER: As always, a careful reading is required of any SENTINEL article about the Sleeping Ban. A good reading between the lines is in order, as always. Not that I fault writer, Cathy Kelly. She is more thorough than most, but conforms, as they all do to a certain...shall I say bias? At issue:

Missing from Kelly's article is that the DA asked for 400 hours of community service from Frey and Johnson, which is excessive. They were convicted of sleeping which is non-violent and has no victim. Also missing from Kelly's article was that Gallagher issued a $50,000 bail should Frey want to be at liberty to file his appeal. Also, the "registered sex offender" was originally luridly called a "child molester" in a previous SENTINEL headline. That charge was later retracted. The man arrested, ha, at age 14 impregnated his 12 year old girlfriend. He is now 27. He does not belong on any sex offender's registry and poses no threat to anyone. While Kelly accurately reported that Gallagher did deny the juror misconduct, he did so by labeling our recordings of jurors saying that one juror did commit misconduct in a recorded interview after the verdict with DA Dabkowski participating. Gallagher ruled the tape "hearsay" and quashed any further investigation involving the juror misconduct. Refused to allow Frey access to juror names or contact information so he could depose the jurors and bring back those charges in a "non-hearsay" form for the Judge. Gary Johnson said he'd be unable to comply with the probation restriction to "obey all laws" since he is homeless and has to sleep at night. "I can't go three years without sleeping."When pressed as to where Johnson could sleep, Gallagher said "You can sleep in jail" and ordered him immediately jailed. The law says nothing about "sleeping in public" and only prohibits "illegal lodging". Lodging is not defined by the law. So Kelly got most things right. Of course, she wasn't there. She must have interviewed Dabkowski later on because she didn't return my phone call. ---Becky Johnson

(my apologies for the formatting. For better reading quality, go to the SENTINEL website and read it there.)


FROM THE SANTA CRUZ SENTINEL --- JUNE 10 2011 "Two 'Peace Camp 2010' Protestors
(sic) Jailed for 6 Months"

By Cathy Kelly

Posted: 06/10/2011 08:47:35 PM PDT

found online here.

SANTA CRUZ - Two men arrested during a lengthy homeless protest last year on the steps of Santa Cruz County Superior Court and City Hall were sentenced Friday to six months in County Jail.

Homeless activist and attorney Ed Frey, 69, and Gary Johnson, 47, were "remanded into custody" directly from the courtroom of Judge John Gallagher.

The case began July 4, 2010, in what activists called Peace Camp 2010. Initially, it comprised a group of more than 50 who began sleeping and holding signs and more on the courthouse steps. It lasted roughly three months, before sheriff's deputies began warning, ticketing and arresting protestors under a criminal misdemeanor law for unlawful lodging and the protest died.

Protestors included one elderly woman with serious health problems who seemed committed to a cause she ardently believed in, and others who included, one day, a registered sex offender arrested near City Hall.

Without doubt, it was political. Sheriff's deputies waded in cautiously after protestors and others realized that though they were protesting the city's so-called "camping ban," they were actually on county property.

Frey faced three misdemeanor counts and Johnson faced four, prosecutors said.

In April, Frey represented himself and others in a legal challenge and jurors upheld the charges against most of the five people Frey was then representing. Friday, he was representing three people, one who didn't come to court, prosecutors said.

And though Frey alleged juror misconduct, Gallagher denied his request for a new trial.

The judge offered the two men a sentence of community service and probation with minimal supervision plus an agreement they don't camp at the courthouse, prosecutor Sara Dabkowski said. But the men declined. Johnson said, given his life situation, he could not abide by the probation directive to "abide by all laws," she said.

So Gallagher ordered the men to jail on the maximum six-month sentence for a misdemeanor criminal violation, Dabkowski said. They will be released after serving two-thirds of the sentence, or 108 days.

Dabkowski said Frey can appeal and has at least 30 days to file a notice of intent to appeal.

She said the three others who Frey represented at trial either did not come to court or have not been sentenced and that warrants have been issued for at least two of them. One, Eliot "Bob" Anderson, was not convicted, as the jury "hung" on his one count of violating the anti-lodging law, she said. The other two are Arthur Bishoff and Collette Connolly. Bishoff was due in court Friday, and was still being represented by Frey, Dabkowski said.

Because the law targets sleeping in public for those who don't have a home, Frey had challenged its essence on constitutional, human rights and other grounds.

After the protest, the city said tickets for violating the city's law against sleeping outside at night can be invalidated if a person gets a statement from the Homeless Services Center stating there were no beds for them that night.

In a July 11, 2010 guest editorial published in the Sentinel about that change, Frey stated that still amounts to "pre-judgment punishing" on top of the punishment of being awakened by police in the middle of the night when one has nowhere to lawfully sleep. The new policy requires "the accused to run three separate errands" to obtain a dismissal, he stated.

"We set our protest at the courthouse for one simple reason," Frey wrote. "That is the only place left where freedom, justice and peace in the world can start."

Friday, asked to comment, Santa Cruz Vice Mayor Don Lane said, "The risk you take when you do civil disobedience is you are expecting some consequences for that. That is part of what he took on here. They were really trying to make a political statement in this action."

Lane, a longtime advocate for the homeless, looks to the day when there is enough shelter to serve that population. But Lane said, "There are other folks who are advocates for civil rights, and that's fine. But that is not my focus. Their goal is to change that law (the city law), and my goal is to get people into shelter."

Dabkowski simply said it's her job to enforce the law.

A public defender, after court, volunteered the information that jail time costs the county $77 per day per person.

Is California's Lodging Law (647e) Constitutional?

Peace Camp 2010 on the morning of July 20th, before the Sheriffs began enforcing
647 (e). Photo by Becky Johnson

LINDA'S HEARING IS FRIDAY, November 12th, 10 AM in Dept 1
at 7o1 Ocean St. Santa Cruz County Superior Court

by Linda Ellen Lemaster
Monday Nov 8th, 2010 1:09 PM

Santa Cruz County's Superior Court hears Friday, Nov 12, Constitutionality of state Lodging law 647(e) used against demonstrating sleepers from Peace Camp 2010.

While I was attempting to support demonstrating homeless and other sleepers at PeaceCamp2010, I got a lodging ticket. So now am slated to appear in Superior Court Friday, November 12, at 10am to plea. Continued Arraignment? I have asked my Public Defender, Mark Garver, to ask for a court hearing to determine whether or not the lodging law is even constitutional these days. Am told I can demurer having to say "guilty" or "not guilty" until after this hearing.

While it is hard to imagine such an antique law being constitutional, use of similar cruel tools is spreading around the country, and especially "lodging" gets applied against homeless people. I feel this resumption of laws from the past is a form of retaliation against people for their status of being "homeless" and often without money or significant property.

Another concern I felt when I first GOT a citation for allegedly trying to sleep on cement: the legal words appear to be supportive of private property and it's agents, yet the presumed crime of "sleep" occurred on public property. I believe it was selected initially by PeaceCamp2010 creators because it could be a refuge, however briefly (PeaceCamp2010 lasted over 3 months but in two locations).

Consider witnessing this hearing to determine the constitutionality of California's Lodging law: Friday, November 12, 10 am. And join me if you want, I'll be "warming up" for it in the Court/County Bldg Atrium at 9:20am, or out on the same walkway PeaceCamp2010 occupied this summer if it's warm.

Let's talk. Lives are at risk by what unfolds. This story feels "incomplete" without mention of campers' totem, Porto Potty, but you'll have to show up to hear more.

Peace Camp 2010 ends protest phase, begins judicial phase

A homeless couple sleep together on the courthouse steps as part of Peace Camp 2010, a protest against the Sleeping Ban which criminalizes those who have no legal place in which to sleep at night. Photo by Becky Johnson July 12, 2010

by Becky Johnson
October 6, 2010

Santa Cruz, Ca. -- A note under the windshield wiper of the white, pick-up truck said it all. It said that the night of October 2nd would be the last night of the "protest phase" of Peace Camp 2010. Peace Camp 2010 founder and local attorney, Ed Frey, would no longer be bringing a porto-potty nightly to either City Hall at 809 Center Street in Santa Cruz, nor to the courthouse steps at 701 Ocean Street nightly between 8PM and 8:00AM.

"More than enough citations have been issued for multiple ordinances, including the new "trespassing" at City Hall citations," Ed Frey explained. " All three sections of MC 6.36.010 have been cited. And the State "anti-lodging" misdemeanor law have all been used, so we can now challenge them in court. We will continue to protest when and where it is needed, but there is no need for anyone to put themselves in harms way to intentionally be cited at this time."



On October 5th, Ed Frey appeared at 8:30 AM before Judge John Gallagher to represent Frank Lopez and Gary Johnson. But only Johnson's name appeared on the crowded docket. When called, Judge Gallagher expressed doubt as to why Johnson was on his docket at all, but did not explain why he was concerned. Gary Johnson faces a jury trial on October 18, 2010 at 10:00 AM in Dept 2 for his misdemeanor "lodging" on the courthouse steps last August.

Frey faces his own citations as well and is defending these pro per.

Frank Lopez of Peace Camp 2010 on the courthouse steps July 12th. Photo by Becky Johnson

But so far, the citations have not yet been filed, though in many cases, the 30-day time limit has long passed. Ed and defendant, Todd Hill, combed through the records at the Santa Cruz County Courthouse, but no record of Hill was in the county records.

From its inception on July 4th 2010 through October 2nd, Peace Camp 2010 provided a clean, well-lit (at times TOO well lit!) place to sleep each night using existing public spaces, and, with the presence of the porto-potty with hand-washing station, a hygienic and safe place for an estimated 1953 shelter/nights.

These people found safety in numbers, a welcoming atmosphere, a sense of belonging, mutual support, demonstrating for a good cause, and the comfort and sanitation of a bathroom at night. Peace Camp 2010 is not over. Just the demonstration/protest phase. Now our battle goes to court!!

Those wishing to contribute to the Peace Camp 2010 Legal Defense Fund may send donations to Ed Frey, 2820 Porter Street, Soquel, CA. 95073 or by calling his office at (831) 479-8911 to make arrangements.

SENTINEL disses Peace Camp 2010...again

Peace Camp 2010 co-founder, Ed Frey arrives on July 4th, 2010 at the County Courthouse steps with a porto-potty in tow to launch a night-time safe sleeping zone in protest of the City's Sleeping Ban. Photo by Becky Johnson

NOTE TO READER: Peace Camp 2010, which ended it's protest phase on October 2nd, was to demonstrate against the portions of Santa Cruz' Camping Ban which outlaws sleeping at night between the hours of 11PM and 8:30AM anywhere out of doors or in a vehicle within the City Limits on both public and private property. Use of a blanket is banned as well during those hours. Frey and other advocates claim that citing and arresting homeless people for sleeping and for staying warm with a blanket in a City with annual shelter for 8% of its homeless population constitutes a human rights abuse. With the SENTINEL continually calling the Sleeping Ban, the "camping ban" as though it didn't exist, the public remains unaware of the scope of the abuse. ---Becky Johnson, Editor

FROM: HITS AND MISSES SEPTEMBER 28TH 2010

Santa Cruz Sentinel

Santa Cruz, Ca.

Misses

Moveable protest:

found online at: http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/opinion/ci_16192152

The activists protesting Santa Cruz's camping ban uprooted again last week and returned to the county courthouse, where their poorly conceived protest began on July Fourth. They say they will remain at the courthouse until the city changes its policy outlawing "camping" on public property in the city. We continue to support the ban, which aims to eliminate some of the problems associated with homeless campers -- noise, trash, waste and crime -- and would ask the activists to consider why there is a lack of public support for their cause.

Peace Camp 2010 votes to continue protest

Gary Johnson sleeps legally at 10:30AM at Peace Camp 2010, one-half hour before the Sleeping Ban goes into effect. His protest includes signage saying "Legalize Dreaming" and "Sleep is not a Crime!" August 20, 2010 photo by Becky Johnson

by Becky Johnson
September 16, 2010

Santa Cruz, Ca. -- After the Santa Cruz City Council passed a modification of the Sleeping Ban at its September 14th meeting, Peace Campers held their own council meeting. At that meeting, the question was asked "Shall we disband our protest because of the action of the City Council to dismiss citations written to those on the Homeless Services Center waiting list?"

The vote was 7 - 0 with 2 abstentions to continue the protest. The general consensus was that forcing people to register for the waiting list did not meet our demands to have the Sleeping Ban and Blanket Ban suspended or repealed and past citations ( to the extent it is practicable) be dismissed.

The measure still calls for police to awaken, to detain, to cite, and to move-along sleepers even if no shelter exists. The policy ONLY calls for the City Attorney to dismiss citations if the person cited can prove they were on the waiting list for shelter at the Homeless Services Center. This is clearly NOT what Peace Camp 2010 is about.

If, when said and done, the policy requires police to skip or not cite those with a receipt for the waiting list, then this would be an improvement, however minor. But, unfortunately this is not. As Assistant City Manager Tina Schull said on Tuesday, "Any person cited who is not on the waiting list would not have their ticket dismissed." This, even if no shelter was available that night! Leave it to the City Attorney to more narrowly define what elements a homeless person is entitled to under the necessity defense!

Police cite Collette Donally, age 72 at 10:30AM for
"setting up a campsite with the intent of spending the night."
August 19, 2010 Photo by Becky Johnson

Sleeping itself should not be a crime. Sleeping harms no one. Denying sleep to a person who will ultimately be found innocent robs that person of their sleep, and causes immediate and irreparable harm.

"Not only is Peace Camp 2010 going to continue, but we're also going to start holding Koffee Klatches on occasion in the mornings," reports Linda Lemaster, a housed Peace Camp 2010 supporter.

Citations waived for homeless on shelter list: Santa Cruz camping ban altered to cover more than winter refuge

NOTE TO READER: The title to this article is misleading. Tickets are not "waived" but issued and require a homeless person to STILL be awakened, cited, moved along, and charged. However, they can then take their citation to the City Attorney for dismissal IF they can prove they are on the waiting list. What we need is a policy which LEAVES THEM ALONE if they are on the waiting list. --Becky Johnson, Ed.

By J.M. BROWN -- Santa Cruz Sentinel

Posted: 09/14/2010 09:02:39 PM PDT

found online at: http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/localnews/ci_16074932

SANTA CRUZ - The City Council on Tuesday unanimously voted to give homeless people a break if they are on a shelter wait list when they receive a citation for overnight camping.

Current rules allow the city to waive such tickets when the winter shelter at the former National Guard Armory site is full. It doesn't cover times when other year-round shelters are full, but the long-standing practice of the city attorney has been to dismiss citations written when such shelters are full.

Robert Norse, a longtime advocate for the homeless who has sued the city over First Amendment protections, called the change "a minor step forward."

But he and others argued that it does little to reverse a camping ban that criminalizes homelessness and sleeping outside. Critics said the rules also create a burden for homeless to visit the shelter every day to check on the wait list.

"It does no good to say you are on a waiting list because you still have to sleep outside," Norse said.

Norse suggested the council add a requirement that those on a wait list receive a receipt that could be shown to an officer, who would then be prohibited from writing a ticket.

Monica Martinez, director of the Homeless Services Center, said she supported the change because it makes the camping ban "more compassionate."

She said her center could issue some sort of verification that people are on a wait list but cautioned that a person, rather than taking advantage of a bed when it becomes available, keep the receipt indefinitely. She said it would be too onerous for staff to give the same homeless person a wait-list receipt every day.

The council's decision left details about wait list verification for the city attorney to work out with shelter providers.

Earlier this week, City Manager Martin Bernal acknowledged a key aim of the ordinance change is to determine, "Are people actually making an effort" to find shelter. He said the change is not in direct response to PeaceCamp 2010, a protest organized by Norse.

The demonstration against the camping ban began July 4 at the county courthouse lawn but was moved outside City Hall once it was clear that city police had no intention of citing participants on county property.

Since then, police have issued 107 citations, the majority of which are for the ban against camping from 11 p.m. to 8:30 a.m. Officers have also made 21 arrests for ignoring demands to leave the property an array of other charges.

Item #28 to alter Sleeping Ban on City Council Agenda

Costing $100 a night, noisy, and spewing exhaust fumes, the SCPD placed these bright klieg lights up every night for weeks in order to disperse the demonstration against the Sleeping Ban claiming they were necessary for "safety reasons." -- Photo by Becky Johnson Aug 18, 2010



by Becky Johnson
Sept 12, 2010

Santa Cruz, Ca.-- In what clearly is a victory for Peace Camp 2010, without any notice or press, Mayor Mike Rotkin has placed an item on the afternoon agenda this coming Tuesday, Sept. 14th which will change language in the Sleeping Ban for the first time in eight years. And during an election cycle too!




A homeless man sleeps legally at City Hall during the daytime. Sleeping is illegal in the City of Santa Cruz at night despite a thrice-declared shelter emergency. Photo by Becky Johnson



Plucky Peace Camp 2010 participants, Ed Frey, Collette Donally, "Scum", Todd Hill, Vamp, Robert "Blindbear" Facer, Sara, Jackie, Leigh no-last-name, and the irrepresible, Gary Johnson have been unshaken in their determination to violate the Sleeping Ban (MC 6.36.010 section a) each and every night literally on the Mayor's front lawn.




The City has responded with Sleeping ban citations, blanket ban citations, statewide "anti-lodging" misdemeanor law citations, new "trespass" laws at both City Hall, the Central Library, Klieg Lights, private security guards and smear campaigns in the press. Yet the motley crew persist. Now an item on the agenda.

Is there a crack in the shell?






"No trespassing" on public property signs were posted without notice, public hearings, or discussion at City Hall making City Hall off-limits to the public for the first time in over 150 years of existence. The first people cited under the new "trespass" law were members of Peace Camp 2010. Photo by Becky Johnson August 21, 2010

Weathering the Police Storm at City Hall

A homeless man falls asleep on the plaza in front of City Hall illuminated by police-rented
Klieg lights August 20, 2010 Photo by Becky Johnson

Article found online at: http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2010/08/29/18657054.php

by Robert Norse

The SCPD appears to be using a new harassment strategy at Peacecamp2010. The protest movement in its struggle to maintain a nightly presence at or across from City Hall, has faced repeated seizure of property, ticketing for new "offenses", and the changing agreed-upon standards of behavior at the protest. Political signs, their table, and the chairs they sit on--earlier reclaimed by the protesters with difficulty is now being seized again, eliminating their visible presence.

A small but persistent band of Peacecamp2010 [PC2010] demonstrators has gathered each night at City Hall, under near-blinding klieg lights powered by a smelly noisy generator, to defy the City's anti-homeless 11 PM - 8:30 AM Sleeping Ban.

In response, City police have escalated from harassment wake-up's and ticketing threats.

They moved beyond infraction citations under MC 6.36 (the Camping Ordinance which includes the Sleeping, Blanket, and Camping Bans) and threats to arrest if the protesters dare to sleep, cover up, or "encamp" a second successive night. They've tried the enforcement "strategy" used at the County Building last month-- misdemeanor tickets and arrests under the sweeping and selectively enforced "anti-lodging" state penal code 647e.

They've set up glaring lights on a platform installed in a parking spot in front of the City Hall entrance, complete with a generator, noisily spewing toxic fumes and making ordinary conversation problematic. They've rushed through without public comment an administrative edict by Parks and Rec boss, Dannette Shoemaker, making any protest or presence at City Hall after 10 PM a "trespass" offense--even though City Hall is public property, and has been open to the public 24/7 for over 150 years.


New signs posted at City Hall close access
to the grounds for the first time in 150 years.
Photo by Becky Johnson August 21, 2010

They've confiscated political signs, tables, chairs, and personal survival gear without any citations, making the retrieval of property difficult and the retriever liable to an "unattended property" citation, even though the property itself was claimed--and the claim ignored by harassing police. They closed down the police lobby on Tuesday and shut down property claim times, stonewalling those who had marched to the station on August 24 in attempt to reclaim their stolen blankets and sleeping bags.

Those who returned the following Thursday, looking for their confiscated possessions, were told that "since they weren't causing a hubub, they COULD process the return of their possessions." Clearly any homeless person associated with the protest is being punished by the denial of due process.

Protesters have moved from the City Hall grass, to the red bricks, to the front area of City Hall, to the library frontage across the street, then to the sidewalk--all under pressure from police to vacate a new area, suddenly declared "illegal".

Two days after some protest property was successfully reclaimed by "Castaway" Crow, the police confiscated and removed their chairs, table, signs, and blankets.Everything had been moved to the sidewalk to get them out of the "No Trespassing" zone, and were carefully arrayed to leave a passage free on the sidewalk. Still "Get it Done" Gary received a new category of ticket-- "blocking the sidewalk".

"The Officer told me 'You shouldn't have to swerve to walk past them,' " Gary reported.

The next night, apparently dazzled by rhetorical points made by the ever-loquacious "Ocean" police skipped citing him, only to return the following night to ticket him for "trespass" because one of his signs impinged on the red brick "closed after 10 PM" area. "Looks like my citation collection is almost complete," noted Gary. "I seem to be collecting at least one of each."

Last night Gary, one of the first protesters arrested and one of those there the longest, placed his sleeping bag in a well-lighted parking spot In front of Gary was the sputtering portable generator fueling the Klieg lights; behind him, attorney-activist Ed Frey's white pick-up truck used to haul, park, and service the only bathroom facility open after midnight in Santa Cruz--the Protest Portapotty. "What about the toxic fumes from the generator three feet away?" I asked. "Got to," he replied, "It's the only safe spot in the where approaching cars won't inadvertently park on top of you."

Gary Johnson falls asleep in the gutter to protest the Sleeping Ban without violating the new, trespassing laws. Photo by Becky Johnson August 27 2010

Will protesters get the same right to occupy space as vehicles? Not the case in public parking lots down town where Vice-Mayor Coonerty's Parking Lot Panic law made it illegal to assemble, socialize, or even sit in your vehicle. Watch this site for updates.

City Manager Martin Bernal may have trotted out a new illegitimate City strategy that ignores and crushes First Amendment rights because simple ticketing under the Camping Ordinance and the state Lodging law may not pass muster because of the acknowledged absence of walk-in emergency shelter from April 15 to November 15. Hence we we see new "trespassing" and "blocking the sidewalk" citations, abusive and repeated seizures of unmistakably First Amendment protected signs as well as vital homeless survival gear, and false inflammatory charges of criminal behavior at the site ("child molesting") without any factual back-up.

Meanwhile "Nuff Said" Nancy McCradie, a decades-long Sleeping Ban survivor and fighter from Santa Barbara, suggests fighting 647e by sleeping on top of bedding since that law specifies "in" not "on" in its wording.

Judith Scherr of Free Speech Radio News came down to Santa Cruz last week and created a radio segment being broadcast nationally about Peacecamp2010 and broadcast on KPFA radio. Hear it archived at http://www.fsrn.org/audio/protest-over-homeless-rights-brings-issue-santa-cruz%E2%80%99s-city-hall/7391 .

Locally Bathrobespierre's Broadsides, the Free Radio Santa Cruz twice-weekly show, continues to archive developments at Peacecamp2010 at http://www.huffsantacruz.org/brb-descriptions.html . I've answered a local hit piece against Ed Frey in the Santa Cruz Weekly at http://news.santacruz.com/2010/08/24/santa_cruz_attorney_takes_up_plight_of_the_homeless .

And the Sentinel has moved from inflammatory SCPD press releases to complete silence as police ramp up the pressure against poor people fighting an unjust law in a very hard economic time.

Becky Johnson contributed to this article. All photos by Becky Johnson.

Free Speech Radio News: Protest over homeless rights brings issue to Santa Cruz’s City Hall

Report by Judith Scherr
August 27, 2010

found online at:

http://www.fsrn.org/audio/protest-over-homeless-rights-brings-issue-santa-cruz%E2%80%99s-city-hall/7391

In Santa Cruz, California a two-month long protest continues in front of City Hall.

Since July 4, a group of homeless people and their advocates have been holding “peace camp 2010” to protest a four-decades-old law prohibiting people from sleeping in public places and vehicles overnight. Groups say law enforcement is targeting the homeless and ticketing them for sleeping outside, even though they have no place else to go. FSRN's Judith Scherr has the story.

Sentinel Misinformation Allows Police to Install "Don't Sleep Here" Klieg Lights

KOIN Also Breaks "No Shelter" Story, Usually Ignored or Denied


THE BAD AND THE GOOD
The Santa Cruz Sentinel's inflammatory and libelous stories characterizing Mark Greer, a homeless activist at the Peacecamp2010 homeless protest, as a "child molester" was ignorantly echoed by KION's Matt Denesnera [See story following this article below].

On the positive side, Denesnera's story does cover, briefly, the central issue of the Peacecamp2010 protest--harassing, citing, and arresting homeless people for sleeping in public places when there is no legal shelter is an institutional crime by the authorities. It is a crime that does greater violence to individuals and society than the so-called "crime" of sleeping outside (as banned by SCMC 6.36.010a, SCMC 6.36.010b, SCMC 6.36.010c and CPC 647e.

The shelter issue has also been spotlighted by attorney Ed Frey and others who took the issue to the Homeless Services Center board on Thursday (8-19) evening.

See "Correcting the Record at the Homeless Services Center Today" at http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2010/08/19/18656366.php & "No Homeless Shelter & the Sleeping Ban: Shelter Providers & Mayor Rotkin Speak" at http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2010/08/21/18656488.php .


THE DAMAGING SMEAR OF THE "CHILD MOLESTER" LABEL
Without researching or interviewing, Sentinel reporter Jennifer Squires smeared the protest as dangerous and Greet as a convicted pervert, a venomous charge repeated by Deputy Police Chief Kevin Vogel in the second story. This "terror tale" apparently gave Vogel's Sleepbusters a pretext to make Peacecamp2010's sidewalk sleeping area more hostile by installing huge 15' high Klieg lights on a platform with a noisy and fume-spewing diesel generator running it through the night.

The company supplying the lights and generator confirmed the cost was $100 per day ($400 per week). The city also apparently recruited a second First Alarm security guard to patrol the sinister sleepers. The whole affair is reminiscent of the Bush-Obama post-9/11 propaganda justifying the war on terror. Indeed the "lights and noise" environment smacks of the U.S.-run Guantanamo, Abu Gharab, and Bagram concentration camps.

Greer's girlfriend Sara, however, reports that there is no substance to the "molester" charge. She's lived with Greer for some time, she says, and CPS has given Greer a clean bill of health. Greeg's background as an "unregistered sex offender" comes from his arrest at age 14 for a sexual relationship with a girl one year younger.

Because juvenile authorities claimed he'd failed to complete a program, he has been required to register every month, which he has done. Sara says he got permission to travel, and was one day late in registered because Santa Cruz police arrested the pregnant Sara on a warrant for camping from San Luis Obispo. (Sara says the authorities there laughed at the warrant and released her, so she returned her to find Greer in jail.

Greer, who gave his name as Jason or Shadow, is in jail here in Santa Cruz, for providing "false information" (that is, a false name). Some audio from Greer can be found at http://www.radiolibre.org/brb/brb100819.mp3 .

The defamatory Sentinel stories
Child molester arrested at Santa Cruz camping protest
http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/localnews/ci_15812882 (8/17)
and
Santa Cruz police light up camping protest with floodlights
http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/ci_15820566?IADID (8/18)

A partial presentation of Sara's story was buried in a Sentinel article today by Cathy Kelly " Peace Camp protestors ticketed again; Santa Cruz mayor visits camp" at http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/localnews/ci_15842800.




The full KOIN story:

Santa Cruz Homeless Protest Brightened by Floodlights
Posted: Aug 19, 2010 7:47 PM PDT Updated: Aug 19, 2010 7:58 PM PDT

by Matt Denesnera, KION

found online at: http://www.kcba.com/Global/story.asp?S=13016011

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. -- At dusk, Santa Cruz police fire up floodlights in front of City Hall, illuminating what's left of Peace Camp 2010.

Authorities installed the lighting citing public safety concerns, particularly after a convicted sex offender, who failed to register with police, was arrested here earlier this week.

"When you've got a child molester out there who's on the run from the law -- he had several outstanding warrants from San Luis Obispo County -- it really takes this to a new level in terms of safety," said Santa Cruz deputy police chief Kevin Vogel.

The homeless and their advocates are protesting the city's sleeping ordinances and, in the past, they have asked for amnesty for all sleeping tickets dating back to the late 1970's.

Demonstrators said they're just looking for a safe place, but it's apparently hard to come by. They told Central Coast News there is nowhere to go, and that's why they are taking their grievances to the steps of the city government.

Officials with the Homeless Services Center on Coral Street confirmed that shelter space is limited; they said they practically have a year-round waiting list.

"Right now, we have about a two week waiting list for women, and four week waiting list for men," explained Monica Martinez, executive director of the Homeless Services Center.

Some protesters said that leaves them with few options.

As for a solution to the complex issue of homelessness, Martinez said it involves working with various agencies to provide services for those on the streets.

As a security guard shut off the generator powering the floodlights in front of City Hall Thursday morning, demonstrators said they have no plans to leave.

"We want to see the world change," said homeless advocate Rick Branthoover. "Not because of us, but there are alot of other people who need help, too."

Police aren't letting up either: "As long as these protesters continue to flaunt this community's laws, we will continue to enforce the law," said deputy chief Vogel.

Submitted by Matt de Nesnera, Central Coast News Reporter

mattdenesnera@kionrightnow.com

Peace Camp 2010 : My Reverie after a Night on Cement

A WET AND WILD NIGHT ON THE TOWN
by Linda Lemaster

This note is simply a place-holder message. I haven't been home enough to write anything myself worthy of sharing. I have been spending whatever time I could during the past week at PeaceCamp2010.

I have been involved with what I'm calling the Movement to End Homelessness in our Country, since Scott Creek struggles in the late 1970s; since before the word "homelessness" was indulged by news reporters and memorialized by Paul Simon in song. When I started paying attention to this stuff, in my then-hometown, City of Santa Cruz, people were still fretting about the overuse of the word "vagrant" and calling gatherings of displaced people UTEs, which stands for Unidentified Transient Elements. It was dehumanizing, said some. So they stopped using it in print. Then began "homeless" and homelessness".

For decades I've been a nag: "Don't use it as a noun," I'd lament. It is a descriptive, an adjective. It demeans people further when used as a subject or noun. Homeless PEOPLE. At least in the first entry in a story, whether to a bureaucrat or to a news person, I've pushed this one little concern, perhaps in vain. People who are clearly committed to humane values continue to say, The Homeless! I believe this cluelessness (by most folks who do it) is not intended to help dehumanize the displace folks, but it does so. It makes it much easier to get that "them or us" hostility going. It has been a tool to push folks into this caste-system-like status.

So I say again, for the gazillionth time it feels like, "HOMELESS" is an adjective. In the past year, many more people have become supportive of making 'homelessness' a status crime, in light of the pattern, nationwide, of random and vicious attacks against visibly homeless sleepers. Most of us can't do much about such a big and urgent social "problem." But we can retrain ourselves to use more appropriate words in our everyday speech, can't we?

I have continued to engage in work I feel/felt would lead to undoing homelessness as federal social policy. I have continued to check out the tent cities and encampments and those rare gatherings that would resist growing homelessness. I once put together a great (well reviewed) Civil Rights & Homeless People panel for a Housing California conference, and I helped to organize and execute a wonderfully uplifting and educational "Tent City Convention" which invited folks from all up and down the west coast, including Canada, to spend a long weekend together and share problems and solutions for organizers. Thanks to Thomas Leavitt and his family, we were able to put together a "safe place" (i.e. private property) for that gathering of about 50 folks.

I have continued, as my health has permitted, to be an active participant in our County's Continuum of Care and Homeless Action Partnership, a collaborative who's tasks include helping get state and federal funding for this growing population distributed optimally in Santa Cruz County.

As leader/facilitator for Housing NOW! in Santa Cruz, I have continued to provide organizational and technical support, as well as occasional respite support, to my friends and neighbors here. Recently, I had to dust off my hat as an "expert on homelessness" and again become a court witness for the persecuted and prosecuted homeless population. In short, I have learned there are a LOT of ways we can each and all face this growing "problem". I try to do whatever I can that makes sense and that could stem the tide of wasted American lives, even if only a little bit.

While I believed, years ago, that I'd be able to "do more" once my children were grown, it isn't really happening yet. I bring all this nonsense and knowledge to my involvement when I stand with protesters, demonstrators and individually stranded homeless folk. As a committed pacifist, sometimes, there's no match between demonstrators and what I can share. Sometimes there is.

With the emergence of Peace Camp 2010 (see blog -- same name -- for their contact info and more) I have been enjoying a supportive role in this experiment of "being allowed to be": to be visible, to find each other, to sleep in less fear, and much more. I believe isolation is a killer and a crazy-maker, and homeless people keep becoming isolated, and often die totally alone.

The gatherings of homeless people also gives compassionate folks in our communities the opportunity to make offerings as well; very important engagement. For me, this is so very important.

I have fallen in 'deep like' with many of the "regulars" in Peace Camp! Checking in, for the past month, sleeping in borrowed van nearby, some nites; doing what I can. Sometimes a little tube of 'triple antibiotic ointment', chewable Vitamin C, or a ride to a clinic makes a person's day. Sometimes just a cup of hot tea.

While I have very little (in typical terms), it is so much more than I had when I was homeless with my kids!

I believe this work is my calling, or maybe the reason I was born. It requires me to be of support and to be friendly to "the unfortunate." The Spiritual tradition which I follow requires me to help people who are less fortunate than I am, and I've been very lucky to learn how "easy" this can be when one is willing to be flexible and awake.

Well, the other nite I quite literally fell asleep on the job.

The first night I slept outside with Peace Camp 2010 folks, I got a ticket for "lodging". Bet it will turn out to be an expensive decision/nite. But I was very deeply concerned about just then was one of the men there, who was quite ill, and I felt I needed to keep an eye on his welfare. (It was obviously the most important thing just then, for me.)

Earlier, I had offered "ride to hospital?" but he explained how that would likely create just TWO DAY'S of help, and then set up a greater health emergency, unless there was money for the hospital's release directions. My own hospital experiences match his assessment. And there is NOT real health care access for most homeless people. And I couldn't think of any other way to safeguard this man's physical health, so I slept on the cement with about ten folk who had no other options, alongside one housed girlfriend sharing such concerns, too.

Homelessness kills, and I'm just too tired of knowing some of it's absolute victims.


Linda Lemaster is a long-time Santa Cruz resident and activist. She served as chair of the City's official Homeless Issues Task Force, founded the Welfare Mothers Support Group, and has been deeply involved in the struggle for homeless rights and services throughout her life.

SCPD now enforcing "'anti-lodging" law at City Hall

by Becky Johnson
August 17, 2010

Santa Cruz, Ca. -- At 1:45AM, Santa Cruz Police swept through Peace Camp 2010 in a wave of ticketing, rousting sleeping bodies and telling them that "they can't stay in a place where people don't want them to be,." They wrote three citations, made no arrests, and left. None of them were for the Sleeping Ban.

Instead, in yet another legal turn more twisted than a Seaside Company roller-coaster, officers issued three 647 (e) misdemeanor "anti-lodging" laws instead of the famed "Sleeping Ban" which is the purpose of the protest.

It can't be fun for them. Last night, seven different raids resulted in zero tickets. "We have a new strategy here at Peace Camp,"explained spokesman, "Curbhugger" Chris Doyon. "No tickets if we can avoid them." Two campers, at each end alerted those sleeping of the police raid, so that by the time officers arrived, people were sitting up and no sleeping citations were issued.

The night before, 5 citations were written, and a pregnant woman was arrested.

Tonight they "caught" three. But the Sleeping Ban was not the law they chose to cite under. Could their legal department have told them to stop citing under the law? Officers had no answer for those who begged officers for a place they could go and legally sleep.

"You've been warned," one officer told a sleepy couple he had awakened. "If you stay in this place where people don't want you to be, you will be arrested." It's not like they could stay in the shelter.

According to DANIEL WHITE of the Homeless Services Center, the only shelter that they could stay in during summer is the Paul Lee Loft. It has a 4 - 6 week waiting list and a 30 day limit on staying there.

A reporter from the City on a Hill Press took photos as 72-year old, COLLETTE CONNALLY was awakened, id-checked, cited for illegal "lodging" and left with a yellow citation. Campers rolled out their blankets and went back to sleep. Never a dull moment at Peace Camp.

Early morning SCPD Raid on Peace Camp 2010 - 1 citation issued

by Becky Johnson
August 13 2010

Santa Cruz, Ca. -- Peace Camp 2010 has completed its second night at City Hall and the score

Sleeping is legal during the daytime and one of the Peace Camp demonstators takes advantage on August 11th at their new location, City Hall. Photo by Shmuel Thayer/SENTINEL

so far is 2 citations issued for illegal sleeping and one arrest. "Ocean" was arrested last night when he refused to give his name after being rudely awakened by officers in the wee hours of the morning. Ocean was handcuffed and booked into Santa Cruz County Jail.

Meanwhile, after 5 days in jail, Peace Camp 2010 protester, GARY JOHNSON has been released. Gary refused to cooperate with authorities while in jail, refused bail, and went on a hunger strike which he continued throughout his stay. He had been placed in solitary confinement at his own request. GARY donated all of his meals to his fellow inmates, which encouraged them greatly. Two days before his release, his worried brother found a sympathetic sheriff's deputy to check on him. The deputy returned saying Gary was "fine" and that "he'd been eating food for two days." Apparently that report was not correct.

"Police lie," commented protester, LEIGH.

While Peace Camp 2010 is attempting to go back to it's original raison d'etre by starting at 8PM each night and disbanding at 8AM, leaving the public building open and clear for business as usual, a small core of protesters remains during the daytime. For this, the City has bought and paid for a security guard from 8AM to 5PM daily who tells them where they can smoke a cigarette and to keep off of the grass.

Yesterday, RED and TODD HILL reported a hostile encounter with Parks and Rec groundskeeper, MIA DUQUETTE when she threatened to "blow them" if they didn't move.

"I guess she was doing some work around the grounds. She came by to inform everyone that she was going to be using use a leaf blower and that we" should move ourselves and move our things" because "she wouldn't want things blowing around and getting in our eyes," reports TODD HILL.

"I have a pretty decent sarcastic meter and her sarcasm was off the charts". HILL gathered his things and moved off. He did not witness what happened next.

"She had told Christopher that she was going to blow everyone in the space," both RED and CROW reported, the co-owners of an 8-month old miniature chihuahua puppy.

"She put the blower directly on him. She put the blower directly in my puppies face." RED reacted defensively and attempted to flee the scene.

"I walked backwards 10 0r 15 feet and she followed me and put the blower directly in my face."

DUQUETTE was seen a short while later, furiously hoeing on the grounds.

By contrast, both Officer FORBES and the security guard stationed to watch Peace Camp 2010's daytime tabling effort, have been courteous and restrained. Officer Forbes went out of his way to attempt to determine the owner of a shopping cart stuffed with salvaged electronic gear and an old mattress lodged across the street in back of the public library. A City truck came and picked up the garbage to cheers from those at Peace Camp who don't want those kinds of eyesores associated with their protest.

"Curbhugger" Chris Doyon is still suffering from lingering pneumonia which he succumbed to his first night in jail, and now is being exacerbated by sleep deprivation.

"I was handcuffed for four hours straight, and even then not allowed to use the bathroom. I was left in a freezing cold room with only my tee-shirt." DOYON was charged with PC 647 (e), the State anti-lodging law. But at City Hall, so far at least, the State law is being ignored.

That's not the only law being tested. Confusion has arisen over the newly passed smoking ban which bans all smoking at City Hall and on adjacent sidewalks. The ban also bans smoking at all "City buildings" but SCPD officers have been directly smokers to go across the street by the library to smoke, despite saying right on the side of the library "City and County Library." It is also run and funded by the City and is clearly is a "city" building.

One officer told protesters that the public sidewalk is okay but smoking on the brick sidewalk is not. A different officer told them to go across the street. The ordinance itself bans smoking "at all public buildings," which would make smoking in the street the only legal option.

"They just make it up as they go," says LEIGH.

Many ignore the ban and openly smoke anyway. Confusing things even more, one of the trashcans on the City Hall plaza has an ashtray. City Councilmember, DON LANE, who was a big pusher of the anti-smoking ordinance, is also one of the "pro-homeless" city councilmembers. Yet he supports the ban on Sleeping after 11PM citywide.

In today's SENTINEL, in a op-ed piece called "Snooze, You Lose", LANE's position is characterized as being " that people sometimes fail to make the distinction between protesters and transients -- and those who by circumstance or health find themselves without shelter and need help."

Is LANE arguing that we should only shelter the "good" homeless and arrest or cite those who remain sleeping outside of the shelters? Does he think "bad" homeless people should be routinely punished with sleep deprivation as a matter of law? With friends to the homeless like LANE, we don't need enemies. But then LANE has enriched himself off homeless efforts before.

Previously LANE was hired as the only paid employee to aid the Homeless Issues Task Force in 1999-2000. LANE then produced the final report minus the recommendation of that task force that the entire camping ordinance be thrown out or possibly re-written. More recently he urged that smoking be "confined to private places" even though many homeless people smoke tobacco and have no "private places" in which to smoke.

In the wee hours of August 13th, 4 police cruisers arrived with 6 officers to cite or arrest the sleepers. People quickly jumped up, many rolling up their bags, and only one citation was issued to one of the new, homeless youths.

"We at Peace Camp 2010 wonder how the citizens of Santa Cruz feel about this insane waste of resources deployed against a few peaceful people," wrote DOYON on twitter about the raid. The County must be wondering the same thing as they consider what comes next after making 9 arrests and issuing 25 citations for misdemeanor "lodging." 25 jury trials potentially await with defendants who, all but one, qualify for a public defender.

Contrary to reports, no one is TRYING to get cited. "We're trying to get the Sleeping Ban repealed," Doyon said. "No one WANTS to get arrested."

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.

Santa Cruz homeless protest relocated to City Hall lawn: Officials vow to enforce camping ban

By JENNIFER SQUIRES and J.M. BROWN - Santa Cruz Sentinel

Posted: 08/11/2010 07:37:33 PM PDT

Attorney Ed Frey uses his truck mirror to put on his tie before heading... (Shmuel Thaler/Sentinel)

Article found online at: http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/localnews/ci_15748265

SANTA CRUZ - One person was ticketed when a six-week protest of the Santa Cruz camping ban took up residence on the City Hall lawn early Wednesday.

The so-called Peace Camp 2010 changed tactics overnight when campers moved their demonstration from the county courthouse steps to the city property. Protest leader Christopher Doyon said they moved so they could better target the city ordinance that prohibits camping from 11 p.m. to 8:30 a.m.

Wednesday morning, a few men rested under a tree on the City Hall lawn while a woman and her puppy sat amid cardboard protest signs.

"We have not heard anything from City Hall," the woman, who goes by Red, said. "Basically, we'd like people to notice."

A First Alarm security guard patrolling city property noticed the camping demonstration around 5 a.m. and notified police. A 20-year-old Salinas man was cited, according to police.

Officers will return nightly to ticket demonstrators, Deputy Santa Cruz Police Chief Kevin Vogel said.

"We're not going to issue any warnings," Vogel said. "The people involved in this protest have been warned for the past six weeks."

The Peace Camp demonstration began July Fourth on a swath of county-owned land in front of the Santa Cruz County Superior Courthouse. Initially billed as a sleep-only protest, the activity morphed into an all-day hangout and drew criticism because of health and safety concerns.

Demonstrators were cited for violating a state anti-lodging law, not the so-called "sleeping ban" that has been contested on and off in Santa Cruz for years.

The sleep-in was designed to specifically violate the municipal ordinance, but county officials said they couldn't enforce the city's law and city police said they wouldn't write tickets on county property.

Demonstrators moved to encourage the City Council to rescind the camping law and forgive all tickets ever issued under it. Red said it's unfair for people to have to pay hundreds of dollars in fines for falling asleep.

She said she started living on the street in May when her motor home broke down, was towed and sold at auction. She can't go to the homeless shelter because her pup, 8-month-old Wiley, isn't allowed. Also, according to protesters, all of the beds at the Homeless Services Center on Coral Street are taken.

"There's no room at the shelter," Red said. "There's absolutely nowhere for us to go."

City attorney John Barisone typically dismisses camping tickets if the shelters were full the night the citations were issued. However, Vogel said officers would continue to cite campers at the City Hall demonstration regardless of the situation at the shelter.

"The plan is enforcement," he said. "City Hall is not a place for people to sleep during the nighttime hours."

Councilman Don Lane, a longtime volunteer at the Homeless Services Center, said he supports ticketing those who violate the camping ban.

"The folks who are protesting are not really doing any favors to the greater homeless community in Santa Cruz, most of whom aren't involved in that protest," Lane said, adding that the demonstration tests the community's will to help those who truly need it. "People don't always make a distinction between activists trying to make a political point and the average homeless person who is just trying to get services and make their life a little better."

Although Lane knows shelter beds can be hard to come by, he said he doesn't believe the demonstrators have necessarily tried to seek shelter.

"From their perspective, they want the (camping) law to be enforced and get arrested to make a political point," he said. "What we're trying to do is say to people who are vulnerable to homelessness, 'At least go over and get on a waiting list.'"

Monica Martinez, executive director, confirmed there were no beds available Wednesday and that only five people signed up for the list, which is consistent with the five to 10 people who sign up on average every day. The center has 46 beds available for 30 days at a time, and every Monday beds open for those who are leaving.

"It could take a couple of days or it could take a couple of weeks, but those people who want beds get beds at the center," she said.

The River Street Shelter, a separate facility on the same Harvey West property as the Homeless Services Center, has a 32-bed emergency shelter for adults to stay up to 30 days, but about 60 percent of the space is set aside for referrals from the county mental health agency for clients to stay up to 90 days. The remainder of the beds are subject to a waiting list that requires checking in every two days.

Santa Cruz Deputies Bust Up Homeless Camp

19 Citations Issued, 7 Arrested

POSTED: 9:30 am PDT August 8, 2010
UPDATED: 3:23 pm PDT August 9, 2010

by KSBW TV

found online at: http://www.ksbw.com/news/24555679/detail.html

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. -- Santa Cruz sheriff's deputies raided a homeless protest camp at the county courthouse after midnight Saturday, arresting seven people and issuing 19 citations.Deputies said about 70 people have been camping out in front of the building since July 4.On Monday, sheriff'sThe group was protesting the city's camping ban, which prohibits sleeping on private property from 11 p.m. to 8:30 a.m.Officials said the deputies confronted the campers at about 12:15 a.m. and told them they were violating the state's anti-lodging law.Deputies said about half of the demonstrators left and those who refused to sign the citation or leave were arrested.

Copyright 2010 by KSBW.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Deputies arrest five, cite 17 at homeless camp at county courthouse

Collette Connally walks through Peace Camp 2010 the morning after the Saturday night crackdown by Santa Cruz County Sheriffs. photo by Bill Lovejoy Aug 8 2010.

By Alia Wilson

Posted: 08/08/2010 01:30:23 AM PDT

found online at: http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/localnews/ci_15709169

SANTA CRUZ -- Deputies rousted the homeless protest camp at the county courthouse just after midnight Saturday, arresting five people and handing out 17 other misdemeanor citations, Sheriff Phil Wowak said.

Up to 60 people have been camping out in front of the county government building since July Fourth protesting the city's camping ban, which prohibits sleeping on public or private property from 11 p.m. to 8:30 a.m. Saturday's visit marked the third time deputies have come to the camp late at night to document the names and the number of people there, taking photos and video.

"We have always respected the demonstration and the right of free speech by the persons demonstrating," Wowak said. "We will continue to allow for the appropriate, legal use of the property for demonstration but that right does not extend to lodging on the property or any other violation of the law."

Around 12:15 a.m., deputies woke up the nearly 40 people sleeping outside the courthouse to inform them they were in violation of the state's anti-lodging law, California Penal Code section 647 section E, Wowak said. The law states it is illegal for anyone to lodge in any building, structure, vehicle or place, whether public or private, without the permission of the owner.

About half the people at the demonstration left when deputies arrived, demonstrators said, while the others were cited. Those who refused to sign the citation or leave were arrested, Wowak said, while one of the people arrested had an outstanding warrant for petty theft.

The city ordinance against camping does apply to the property but it is enforceable by city police only, Wowak said. The state law deputies enforced can be used by any peace officer and has been used by other jurisdictions for similar incidents.

"They went very methodically from person to person waking everyone up, photographing them and asking for their names and IDs," said Becky Johnson, a camp organizer. "I don't know who invoked this section of the penal system. We're looking at 20-25 cases of 647e potentially in the Santa Cruz County court system."

According to Johnson, deputies first came to the so-called "Peace Camp" to hand out a flier that stated: "You are lodging here without permission of the owner or the person entitled to control this property therefore you are not entitled to be here."

The flier said nothing about violating the city's camping ban, Johnson said. Citing the state's lodging code is a tactic not previously deployed by law enforcement.

"I have not heard of anyone being cited for that in this area for several years," Johnson said.

About an hour later, deputies returned and cited those still there, alerting them that if they did not leave, they would be arrested. Those who did not leave were arrested a short time later. Wowak said there were five arrests, one for refusing to sign the citation, others for refusing to leave and another for an outstanding warrant for petty theft.

Those cited and arrested were charged with a misdemeanor violation and are subject to prosecution in Superior Court, Wowak said.

"Our goal was to avoid taxing the judicial system, but I think at this point the crowd wants this type of process to occur, unfortunately," Wowak said.

About a dozen demonstrators remained on the courthouse steps Saturday and planned to stay and sleep and "fully expect the sheriff to come back and fully expect to be arrested," Johnson said.

"They can't keep it invisible," said "Peace Camp" spokesman Chris Doyon, 45, regarding the night raids. "This is a human rights issue that goes way beyond any personal considerations. We have the basic right to live, sleep, eat and exist. This is an unacceptable social policy. Santa Cruz is supposed to be better than that, better than the U.S. norms."

Doyon was the person arrested for the outstanding petty theft warrant, jail records showed. Amber Gulzow, 19, Romero Garcia Jr., 19, and Gary Allen Johnson, 46, were arrested for refusing to leave, and Timothy Smith, 39, was arrested for refusing to sign the citation, sheriff's Lt. Fred Plageman said.

Johnson said she was surprised that law enforcement was using the state penal code to break up the camp because the misdemeanor charges will require public defenders be assigned to the indigent homeless people who were cited and potentially result in jury trials.

Wowak said deputies will continue to police the property and make arrests when people refuse to comply with the law as long as they are able and as long as necessary.

"I'm glad sheriffs finally decided to prosecute these people," Mayor Mike Rotkin said. "Their own demonstration had problems with fistfights and someone brandishing a metal pipe. It was messy, between the trash and urinating. They presented their own evidence why the sheriffs should enforce the camping ordinance.

"Out of about 1,000 to 1,200 homeless people, the city cites one person a night on average. People are finding shelter. It's the people looking for trouble that are going to get it."

Vice Mayor Ryan Coonerty said the community is extraordinarily generous in terms of providing services to those in need, but the degradation of the demonstration is a fast way to reduce public support for those services.

"Santa Cruz offers a huge amount of resources for those in need but they have to want to turn their lives around," Coonerty said. "I hope these protesters would access some of those services to get the employment and housing they need and then turn around and help others who have fallen between the cracks.

Photos by Bill Lovejoy of the SENTINEL Aug 7 2010

Arrests made, citations issued at Peace Camp 2010 as deputies bust up the protest of city's camping ban

by Alia Wilson

August 7, 2010

found online at: http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/ci_15704659

SANTA CRUZ - Deputies rousted Peace Camp 2010 just after midnight Saturday and according to homeless activists arrested five people and handed out multiple misdemeanor citations.

Up to 60 people have been camping out in front of the county government building since July Fourth protesting the city's camping ban, which prohibits sleeping on public or private property from 11 p.m. to 8:30 a.m. Saturday's Sheriff's visit marks the third time deputies have been to the camp late at night to document the names and the number of people there, taking photos and video.

Sgt. Roy Morales of the Sheriff's Office returned a phone call Saturday morning to say he was aware some arrests were made but had no information on how many people were arrested or what they were arrested for. He said he thought they would issue a press release later in the evening.

"We cited some people and took a few to jail," Morales said "but I don't know how many."

Around 12:15 a.m., deputies woke up the nearly 40 people sleeping outside the courthouse to inform them they were in violation of the state's anti-lodging law California Penal Code section 647 section e, according to Peace Camp co-founder Becky Johnson. The law states it is illegal for anyone to lodge in any building, structure, vehicle, or place, whether public or private, without the permission of the owner.

"They went very methodically from person to person waking everyone up, photographing them and asking for their names and IDs," Johnson said. "I don't know who invoked this section of the penal system. We're looking at 20-25 cases of 647e potentially in the Santa Cruz County court system."

According to Johnson, deputies first came to the Peace Camp to hand out a flier that stated: "You are lodging here without permission of the owner or the person entitled to control this property therefore you are not entitled to be here."

The flier says nothing about violating the city's camping ban. Citing the state's lodging code is a tactic not previously deployed by law enforcement.

"I have not heard of anyone being cited for that in this area for several years," Johnson said.

About an hour later, deputies returned and cited those still there alerting them if they did not leave, they would be arrested. Those who did not leave were arrested a short time later, Johnson said. That amounted to five arrests, by her count, one for refusing to sign the citation and another for an outstanding warrant for petty theft.

Johnson, who was at the courthouse camp for a couple of hours this morning, said there were about a dozen people there who planned to stay and sleep and "fully expect the sheriff to come back and fully expect to be arrested."

Johnson said she was surprised that law enforcement was using the state penal code to break up the camp because the misdemeanor charges will require public defenders be assigned to the indigent homeless folks who were cited and potentially result in jury trials.

All photos by Bill Lovejoy at the Santa Cruz SENTINEL Aug 7 2010