No refuge from rain for homeless meals

Clearwater police cite the coordinator of a meals program for trespassing after he uses a city parking garage during a storm.

By CHRIS TISCH, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published October 15, 2002

CLEARWATER -- The coordinator of a group that feeds the homeless every Monday evening in Clearwater was cited for trespassing after he moved people into a city parking garage to get out of the rain.

Bob Decaire, coordinator for TLC Ministries, said pouring rain and lightning prompted him to seek shelter for the homeless people he was feeding Monday evening.

The city allows the group to feed the homeless on a patch of land across the street from the Police Department once a week.

Clearwater police said Decaire moved about 75 homeless people and volunteers into a nearby city parking garage. Signs on that building warn that people can park there only if they are conducting city business. Decaire was not, said Sgt. Chris Squitieri.

Police asked him to move, then issued him a notice to appear in court on a criminal charge of trespassing after warning, a first-degree misdemeanor that usually carries a fine if the defendant is convicted or pleads to the charge.

Squitieri said police were concerned that feeding the homeless in the garage could lead to health problems if food or garbage were left behind. He also said that allowing feeding to occur anywhere in the city defeats the city's purpose of having designated areas where charity groups can feed the homeless.

"Unfortunately, we look like that bad guys here," Squitieri said. "You, unfortunately, have to draw the line."

Squitieri said officers could have arrested Decaire. In fact, officers could have arrested everyone in the building on trespassing charges. But they decided to act with restraint, he said.

Some of the homeless who gathered there were allowed to eat in the garage. Many gathered in a circle after their meal and prayed. Others ate in the rain after Decaire moved his feeding truck outside.

Decaire said he doesn't have a plan for what to do when it rains. But he said that an officer told him several weeks ago that he and his group could enter the parking garage if it was raining.

"I can't understand why, when it's raining, we can't be over there if we clean up after ourselves," Decaire said. "It's hard to feed hot food when it's raining."

Many of the homeless who came to get a hot meal also were upset. Decaire said he plans to seek the advice of an attorney about whether to fight the charge.

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