Video report
- For their own good
 Fifty years ago, they were screwed-up kids sent to the Florida School for Boys to be straightened out. But now they are screwed-up men, scarred by the whippings they endured. Read the story and see a video and portrait gallery.
- More video reports
|
Fill out this form to email this article to a friend
Homeless man wins panhandling case
Since he stayed on a median, it's legal. Though city codes prohibit it in some other areas.
By ABHI RAGHUNATHAN
Published June 19, 2007
|
Steve Angel is all smiles outside the South Pinellas County Courthouse as he chats with his girlfriend, Maryann Cooney (left) and his attorney, Summer Vecchioli of the Fleming Law Group, after his panhandling ticket was dismissed Monday.
|
 |
|
[Times photo: Cherie Diez]
|
|
ADVERTISEMENT
 |
|
[Times photo: Cherie Diez]
After Steve Angel (left) was fined, he told his friends at the Fleming Law Group, who agreed to help.
|
|
ST. PETERSBURG - Steve Angel didn't just shrug when he was given a $73.50 fine for panhandling. He fought the citation in court. On Monday, he won. After listening to a few minutes of testimony and arguments, Judge William Overton found Angel not guilty. As he sauntered out, Angel smiled and held two thumbs up. Officer Nicolas Bevan said he cited Angel, 49, after he saw him holding a sign asking for money. The reason: "conducting business on median." But as Summer Vecchioli, Angel's attorney, pointed out, panhandling on a median is perfectly legal under the statute the officer accused Angel of violating. Plus, Vecchioli got officer Bevan to admit that he hadn't seen Angel walk into the streets or solicit any business. He was standing on the median, smiling and holding a sign. "He was simply asking for a donation," she said. Angel, who is homeless, spends most nights in the parking lot behind the Fleming Law Group, and considers attorney Lucas Fleming and other employees friends. When he told them about his May 5 citation, the law practice decided to represent him. Officer Bevan declined to comment after the hearing. Police spokesman Bill Proffitt said officers would be told to cite panhandlers under the state statute only if they stepped off medians and into roadways. City codes prohibit panhandling in some other areas, like parts of downtown and near ATMs. "The ruling makes sense given what the statute says," Proffitt said. Cecilia Miller, 56, who has seen Angel panhandling, showed up at court and gave him $40 for dinner after the judge's decision. "I'm just so happy right now," Angel said, holding his girlfriend Maryann Cooney's hand. "I'm just so, so happy." Times photographer Cherie Diez contributed to this report. Abhi Raghunathan can be reached at araghunathan@sptimes.com or 727 893-8372.
[Last modified June 19, 2007, 00:00:59]
Share your thoughts on this story
Comments on this article
|
by Alex
|
06/20/07 12:01 PM
|
|
Very cool. Great job by Summer V. ,and shes cute too. : ).
|
|
by Jane
|
06/20/07 08:48 AM
|
|
jg, I'm a liberal democrat and support a living minimum wage. I also posted earlier that the able-bodied Angel should get a job. And you should get over yourself. I see him at 34th/54th S on a regular basis too. He's healthy enough to work.
|
|
by Jamie
|
06/20/07 03:15 AM
|
|
I don't like panhandling either, but the guy didn't break the statute. We may not like his situation, but we cannot overlook the law because of that.
|
|
by Dave
|
06/19/07 11:23 PM
|
|
Try this little thought experiment. You have $5 in your pocket. No credit cards. No house or shelter. No friends. No cell phone.
How do you build a decent American life?
|
|
by Jen
|
06/19/07 10:31 PM
|
|
A bigger issue is how many people live off our tax $ with government assistance, which homeless don't usually get. That actually does cost you all something. This firm helping a homeless guy should be a non-issue. Some people are being mean here.
|
|
by Jen
|
06/19/07 09:11 PM
|
|
Most of the rest of us work hard, but we have better lives than the homeless, too. If Fleming law group wants to donate their time, I don't see why anyone has a problem. Where the homeless should live is an issue in every state and city.
|
|
by Missy
|
06/19/07 08:21 PM
|
|
Finally - the United States is a free country, sometimes. If you want to talk about wasted money, look to the Pentagon and American CEOs. They take a lot more of your money than this guy. But what scares me is the kids in the roads collecting money.
|
|
by Sally
|
06/19/07 05:27 PM
|
|
Bill is right--change the law. These folks need to get off the mediums before someone really gets hurt and my taxes go up another zillion percent paying for the lawsuit.
|
|
by Sherry
|
06/19/07 03:39 PM
|
|
I am not a proponent of pandhandling. What happens when he or another gets hit by a car? Maybe his attorney could hire him as a janitor. Maybe the city should have a special collection box that we can send to,someone can doal them money at City H
|
|
by Adam
|
06/19/07 03:36 PM
|
|
Isn't it illegal to set up make shift buildings? Where is the Investigation I want building and safety over there for illegal dwelling. Cite them make them build it to code.
|
|
by jg
|
06/19/07 03:34 PM
|
|
Furthermore, most of you (cons)ervatives are the main ones shouting support the troops but turn your nose up at them when they return from war & end up homeless after not getting all that "support" that ya'll boaster so much about in the public eyes!
|
|
by Sherry
|
06/19/07 03:32 PM
|
|
I have been reading about Mr. Angel and I have a comment . Monday, July 18th, 12:00 noon I was stopped on 54th and 34th South waiting for the light to change. Mr Angel was in the third lane of traffic talking to a motorist. He is always jumping
|
|
by jg
|
06/19/07 03:27 PM
|
|
I see a lot of comments on here saying to Mr Angel to get a job,but albeit these are the same ppl that would vote against raising minimum wage!Do the math, someone earning minimum wage as it is now still wouldn't be able to afford housing here in FL.
|
|
by Patrick
|
06/19/07 01:49 PM
|
|
I have absolutely no respect for someone who can work but decides not to. Yes, I am looking down my nose at them because I am better. It takes courage to get up every morning and work, not sleep behind a building and beg for booze money.
|
|
by Mike
|
06/19/07 01:13 PM
|
|
Looks like I need to find a new attorney - certainly won't support Fleming anymore. And Paul - you are welcome to live by your own rules as long as I don't have to confront, feed, clothe, or shelter your drunken lazy a$$.
|
|
by Mo
|
06/19/07 12:45 PM
|
|
Get a job? That's all u can say? Are you Steve Angel? Have you lived his life? Do you know his story? Have you walked a mile in his shoes?
Some people have all the answers yet don't have a clue about someone elses reality; nor human enough to care
|
|
by mike
|
06/19/07 12:38 PM
|
|
These people are parasites. There was a time when we called a bum a bum. People had pride and took care of their business. Now these perfectly healthy scumbags leach off of society and demand that we appreciate their right to be parasites.
|
|
by Jo
|
06/19/07 12:28 PM
|
|
Is that shed in the background provided by that law firm for Angel? Maybe that is an illegal structure
|
|
by Jane
|
06/19/07 12:11 PM
|
|
Your tax dollars at work. Tie up a public defender, tie up the courts. If this guy can push a lawsuit and show up at court, he can show up at work.
|
|
by E.C.
|
06/19/07 12:09 PM
|
|
I wish the people who prolong this problem by giving these people money would instead donate it to a reputable charity. Instead their actions trash our neighborhoods as vagrants urinate on our yards, defecate in my office stairwell, and steal.
|
|
by Wayne
|
06/19/07 11:26 AM
|
|
Paul most people do not have a problem with the homeless. However when they intrude on others right by begging (you can fluff up the term by using panhandling) they become a detriment to society. If you are not a contributor you are a detractor.
|
|
by JT
|
06/19/07 11:15 AM
|
|
This situation is not right. What will happen if Mr.Median Business Man falls into traffic or has some other accident? Suppose the Fleming Law Group will sue the city for not providing safer panhandling areas. Change the law and outlaw panhandling.
|
|
by Jim
|
06/19/07 10:32 AM
|
|
This is too bad, I wish they could get rid of the guys standing on corners begging. This is a set back.
|
|
by Archer
|
06/19/07 10:21 AM
|
|
Furthermore, these people are not a plus to the neighborhood, they are a detriment. They are cheap, illegal protection for the lawyer. He lets them crash at his place & they protect it while ripping off the rest of the neighbors. What a neighbor?
|
|
by bill
|
06/19/07 09:43 AM
|
|
It sounds to me like we need to change the law and outlaw begging in the medians. Our roads are too crowded, and too dangerous, to allow people to be in the roads or the medians, distracting drivers. The liberals go too far with this type of stuff.
|
|
by Paul
|
06/19/07 09:41 AM
|
|
I don't understand why people always look down on homeless people with comments like 'get a job', etc. If someone wants to leave free of life's rat race, it their choice, not yours. You gotta admire someone who live's by their own rules.
|
|
by Dale
|
06/19/07 09:40 AM
|
|
Liberals and Lawyers = Enablers
|
|
by Bill
|
06/19/07 09:38 AM
|
|
This guy has been living there for years. Many call him the security guard. Soon he will get homestead rights. Seems many homeless enjoy calling Historic kenwood Home
|
|
by Dee
|
06/19/07 09:01 AM
|
|
Maybe all of those who criticize Angel should walk a mile in his shoes.
|
|
by mikey
|
06/19/07 09:00 AM
|
|
This is about free publicity for the law group. I'd like to be a fly on the wall when the next homeless person goes into their office with a problem, but no money.
|
|
by Gene
|
06/19/07 08:56 AM
|
|
At least they did not SLASH him.
|
|
by Frank
|
06/19/07 08:20 AM
|
|
Homeless loser: 1
Honest taxpayer: 0
|
|
by James3rd
|
06/19/07 06:49 AM
|
|
I don't understand this guy, He goes through all this just to get handouts. If he put forth his efforts to finding and working a job he might find one, oh that's right,he probally dosen't have an I.D. or S.S. card or address to get a job,go figure!!!
|
|
by Kathy
|
06/19/07 06:22 AM
|
|
Score 1 for the little guy !!
|
|
by Paul
|
06/19/07 06:08 AM
|
|
My wife/kids encounter Angel and his girlfriend daily walking the dog, they are both well spoken and friendly but choose to sleep behind the lawyers office? He claims to make our neighborhhod safer while others there sip from brown paper bags??
|
|
Subscribe to the Times
Click here for daily delivery
of the St. Petersburg Times.
|
News
Print
Email story
Comment
Letter to the editor
