Homeless vet ticketed by Houston cops for looking through trash can for food.

[powderman]

Houston cops ticket homeless vet for searching trash can for food  Published March 12, 2013
FoxNews.com     

•    James Kelly, pictured center. (KHOU)

  A homeless veteran says he was just looking for something to eat when he was ticketed by Houston police officers for rummaging through a trash can.
44-year-old James Kelly tells the Houston Chronicle he was cited for "disturbing the contents of a garbage can in (the) downtown business district."
"I was just basically looking for something to eat," Kelly told the paper. "I wasn't in a real good mood."
Houston city officials pointed out in an e-mail to the paper that a charitable food event was happening at the same time Kelly was cited, but referred all other questions on the matter to police.
 
"The ordinance is specific to the Central Business District," the Houston Police Department said in a statement. "It is a violation for anyone to remove any contents of any bin, bag or other container that has been placed for collection of garbage, trash or recyclable materials. An officer has probable cause to issue such a citation when a person is seen opening a lid and rummaging through contents of a dumpster or trash can."
Kelly, who spent about nine years in Navy, says he does not plan to stay in Houston, but has nowhere to live at this time.
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Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/03/12/houston-cops-ticket-homeless-vet-for-searching-trash-can-for-food/#ixzz2NKpLnmb8

[bobg]

    Use to be a women here that checked out the Mcdonalds dumpster every morning. Haven't seen her in years. Maybe the Mcdonald food killed her.     There is a guy here in town that checks out the trash every garbage day. He isn't looking for food just anything he can sell for scrap. No one bothers him.

[Shu]

Giving the homeless guy a ticket was smart. The homeless man can't pay the fine so he will be put in jail. He will have a home for a few weeks and 3 meals a day. The state will pay more for his temporary housing than the fine was originally.

[Old Fart]

I've seen guys work that game before Shu. Guess you can't blame them. Well you can, but from thier viewpoint it's a sweet deal.

[Shu]

Yep, I knew a heroin addict that got busted once a year to clean up and get methadone. Then start back on heroin once he got out. The heroin finally got him though.