Goodbye Robert Bruce Facer, Rest In Peace

Spaceman Bruce (Robert Bruce Facer)....this is incredible

by Tara Munro on Friday, May 21, 2010 at 9:27pm ·

Robert Bruce Facer,

Blindbear, Amish sailor,

heart of PeaceCamp2010

Died Sunday in Monterey,

Resting In God's

Arms, Now

Rest in peace, Robert.

Robert, Blindbear to Santa Cruz street folk, with attorney Ed Frey, launched PeaceCamp2010 as a direct result of being given "sleeping ban" tickets in the City of Santa Cruz and having to defend himself for sleeping ~ in the courts here.

I last got to visit with him at Occupy Santa Cruz on a Sunday, week before he left to Monterey County. He was very loyal to God, had the integrity of Job. Once, even tho' Facer never gets in a motorized car of any sort, he walked to and visited my place of

worship, Santa Cruz Friends (Quakers). I wasn't there but he got to meet Lenore Diane that day.

When PeaceCamp2010 was under assault from the City of Santa Cruz, for "being" on Center Street together, shortly after those (we, including Facer and myself) demonstrators were ousted from the Courthouse patio by Sheriff Deputies, and with Gary Johnson and Star holding the front line, Robert would read scriptures, old testament often, aloud to me on the Library benches.

A few weeks later, even sitting on that bench reading a Bible after 7 pm became a crime as well.

I am so grateful he was my friend. Grateful, too, for Ronee Webster Curry for caring for him through the transition. More pictures and news at Ronee's facebook page.

I may share some of the stories people are offering about Robert Facer into this blog entry, soon.

Linda

THE LODGING LAW Trial Readiness Hearing Sept 14th

Yesterday in court, Judge John Gallagher accepted the Writ of Habeus Corpus filed weeks ago by my pro bono attorney, Jonathan Che Gettleman. He ordered the District Attorney to answer it by Oct 14th. Gettleman's reply will then be due seven days forward: Oct 21.

Then, a hearing about the Writ on October 28th will be held in Dept 2. The writ of habeus corpus attempts to bring together the actual setting and situation, with the incident of my getting a Lodging citation.

I am very much hoping that a closer peek at the Lodging law and it's history, which is as controversial as the law is vague here, will bring greater safety and relief to people all over California, especially homeless people with ever-diminishing safety options for sleeping. Maybe just a baby step, and maybe, God willing, we will effectively expose the misuse of this law?

In the best case scenario on October 28th, it could make furthering the trial unnecessary. Look for article I wrote about PeaceCamp2010 and about these unfolding trials and "trials", at thestreetspirit.org. Or get in touch with me for a paper copy, or -- if you are homeless -- to help vend them, and you get to keep the $1.00 per copy.

Dreaming Of A Democracy

PeaceCamp2010: There's Much More Than Sleeping At This Free Speech Demonstration

by Linda Lemaster, for Linda's Hearth

When I first visited PeaceCamp2010, I was moved to offer my support-- however little it seemed I might have to share with the fluid group of protesters. Most of the people I met the first week were totally focused on bringing attention to the public about an insidious sleeping-camping ban used to banish homeless people from any public areas and into hiding.

And because I had recently been in court as an 'expert witness' about local homelessness, I had already met some new friends who also turned up at this "Fourth of July Demonstration" which, it turns out, kept on going like the Energizer Bunny. In early July nobody I met realized PeaceCamp2010 would continue for several months, and then be shredded by County Sheriff Deputies.

Local attorney and sovereignty philosopher Ed Frey was deemed a hero to many of the homeless people who found their way into camp. PeaceCamp2010 located itself in front of Santa Cruz County's Superior Court where traditionally citizens gather to share ideals and to bring concerns to their government.

Frey had found the means to provide a porta-potty nightly, and mounted the rented utility on a small trailer behind his pickup truck. He was right: "potty" was the missing ingredient for many earlier pro-homeless and anti-sleeping-ban rallies and protests and demonstrations, including several events held at this very same location.

PeaceCamp2010 was like a living kalidescope. While a number of folks stayed with it, those regulars you might say, a majority of peoples' faces changed every few days. It was run as though we were all adults -- most refreshing. Sure, leaders emerged, receded, emerged again. Yet there was a "live and let live" air to the sleep demonstration that seemed to welcome all comers. The demonstration with it's signs and bodies continued daily even as the nature of community nad safety, and a survival dialogue, evolved among the growing-larger group. And there was press coverage. Mostly negative, feeding off stereotypes and expressed fears of the general housed population, then later on, the antigonism and fears of County Building workers who did not appreciate having to see the artifacts of homeless living on their way to work.

It was apparent that sleeping as a legit mode of protest went far over the heads of most passers-by. We were following a longstanding tradition that reckons sleep in this context as necessary speech. So many other venues had not worked, some even backfiring -- as evidenced by troll-busting backlashes, and by our inability to get our message shared without extreme distortion.

It is a painful thing to meet again and again new groups of politically innocent homeless folks becoming enthused self-help activists. They will be crestfallen when they realize how things REALLY work in "the system." But this time, it was different. The people involved were all survivors already, also they had a handful of housed allies such as Ed Frey when the camp began. So it appeared to me when I visited PeaceCamp2010 the first time, four days into the demonstrating, that there was a chance to be effective, and that fewer broken hearts would fall out.

Sleeping as Demo had worked for Mitch Snyder and the Community for Creative Nonviolence in 1984, tho' the Supreme Court ruled later that park bosses have subsantial rights to limit the gross number of sleepers demonstrating, to whatever extent they are protecting park resources. It was a court whose majority were as anti-homeless as was the general Reagan-enchanted population at that time. But at least those Supreme Justices understood Freedom of Speech as a Constitutionally protected right. Not so in Santa Cruz, for Honorable John Gallagher recently defined California's Lodging 647(e) as "sleeping...", and ignored everything having to do with our demonstration.

I have been striving for over 30 years to educate folks about the horrific and deadly results that come to poor and homeless people due to shortsighted, ignorant, and sometimes even mean spirited policies. Obviously, people are not hearing me yet. At PeaceCamp2010 I felt, "maybe THIS time we will be heard and understood, and some few folks will better survive?" I remained convinced that American people are largely compassionate -- they must be trussed up by fear, not paying atention? So I brought fresh water to the camp and spent some time listening to people, mostly one-on-one, yet we ate together and both informal and intentional subgroups formed naturally .

These homeless folks kept feeding me, so I stayed longer and I kept coming back. Yet I was floored when a news reporter from Channel 8 came by with his cameraman one late afternoon, and the several homeless folks still at PeaceCamp2010 declined being interviewed on-camera. Reporter: "So, can you point me to a spokesperson?" and the kids pointed to me; too late to panic! Grateful I'd had some considerable experience with homelessness, because I hadn't been hanging out among the political pow-wows.

Those kids were actually very busy -- watching gear and bedding for almost a dozen other folks, and getting to know someone else's dog for the day, while the dozen were away at jobs or doing their survival chores.

I had a lot of fun working with folks at PeaceCamp2010. One evening the vibes and the music were so great, even I (with my crumpled-up joints and pain centers amuk) was dancing. Backlit by bright yellow courthouse corridor nightlights, serenaded by magnificent violin, flute and guitar. Another evening, three drums and a young woman singing transfixed our senses.

By the time most everybody went to sleep, most of us were truly relaxed and in tune with each other. The warp and woof of community was enchanting, and I felt deeply reassured that many people will survive no matter the predations of the state and no matter housed people's fear- constricted territorial instincts. Once again showing everyone "Homeless Not Helpless".

LODGING CRIMINALS

"YOU CAN SLEEP IN JAIL," Said the Judge to the Homeless Man's Question: "Where Can I Legally Sleep?"


These are pictures taken on the last day of the "Lodging Five Trial." That's me, top photo, in the basement restaurant under the Santa Cruz County Building, which adjoins Superior Court, at 701 Ocean Street, Santa Cruz.

The bottom shot shows a reporter from the Santa Cruz Sentinel, local daily paper, interviewing Gary Johnson and attorney Ed Frey, right after the jurors left, post trial. Frey was attorney for four homeless defendants as well as for himself. He said he remains convinced that awakening sleeping homeless people to criminalize them is "cruel and unusual punishment."

Gary and Ed ended up jailed when they came back, early June, for sentencing. They had planned to talk with the judge about jury irregularities, but were not permitted to bring it up. The judge went overboard on their sentencing (see earlier reports on this blog or Indybay Santa Cruz for more details). So they were stuck directly into jail because the sentence was so extreme.

Our judicial system -- indeed, our Constitution -- provides that the punishment needs to fit the crime, but apparently there is no mechanism to appeal same when there's such a breakdown. It appears to me to be a system that can be manipulated by those with extra money, yet for those who must work to survive, it grinds them up more than it seeks justice, or even seeks information.

After a few weeks, attorney Frey was released from jail, with the help of longtime, reknown criminal-law attorney Peter Leeming ~ but still no mea culpa from Judge Gallagher. The judge lowered their bail from $50,000 to $110, the latter a figure "from the schedule?" said the judge.

The day after he was released, Ed hooked up with the DA to get Gary released as well. Frey said later, "I told her (the DA on this case) it's only fair."


I believe this reporter's name is Katherine Kelly, will double-check and correct here if not. So far the Sentinel's reportage has been heavily biased to reflect the D.A. perspective and thus ignoring the needs and rights of both demonstrators and homeless folks.

Ed and Gary will be allowed to present their request for appeal on August first. My trial, for getting similar ticket for "lodging 647(e)" almost a year ago, on August 7, at PeaceCamp2010, is set for either trial or another hearing about a week into August.

We are hoping to collaborate in an event to promote support for the attorneys involved, at the new India Joze restaurant on Front Street in Santa Cruz, by then. Want to help?

Judge's Extreme Sentence for Sleep ~ ~ 400 hours volunteer work plus three years' probation ~~ Turns Into Six Months In Jail

Santa Cruz Indymedia

Police State and Prisons

Homeless activist Gary Johnson and
lawyer Ed Frey jailed for six months for PeaceCamp2010's Sleep Protest

by Robert Norse ( rnorse3 [at] hotmail.com )

Friday Jun 10th, 2011 1:00 PM

Homeless activist Gary Johnson--repeatedly ticketed and arrested in the 3-month long PeaceCamp2010 protest against the Sleeping Ban at the County Courthouse--was sentenced to 6 months in jail and taken there in chains. Activist-attorney Ed Frey, who initiated, supported, and was arrested, during the protest was jailed at the same hearing today. Judge Gallagher refused to suspend sentencing pending appeal, denied a motion for a new trial after several jurors complained of juror misconduct, and declined to answer Johnson's question "how can I take probation to obey all laws, when you've defined "sleeping" as lodging to the jury, making it a misdemeanor crime? How can I not sleep for six months during probation?"

I got a phone call this morning from Becky Johnson who was at court for what Gary Johnson (no relation) and Ed Frey thought was a hearing on their motion for retrial in the case of four defendants (Frey, Johnson, Collette Connolly, and Art Bishof).

After denying the motion, Gallagher announced he was also holding a sentencing hearing, which may violate the rights of the defendants--since, I'm told, there has to be advance notice of a hearing. He initially sentenced Frey to 400 hours of Community Service and 3 years probation, which Frey refused. Gallagher then sentenced Frey to 6 months jail (the maximum sentence). Johnson was also given the same sentence. All this is a second-hand account from the eye-witness testimony of Becky Johnson who was in court.

Apparently the ante for those who peacefully protest the Sleeping Ban has been raised to half a year's jail time. Recent modifications in the City's Sleeping Ban law that provide for dismissal of tickets if one has signed up for a "Waiting List' at the Homeless Services Center. (See "Camping Ordinance Revisions Pass at City Council" at http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2010/09/16/18658837.php ).

Frey has been an outspoken and principled activist who provided nightly portapotty support for the homeless protest (a first in Santa Cruz), something even the City was unwilling to provide. He has been a regular pro bono defender of homeless victims of the Sleeping Ban like Robert "Blindbear" Facer (see "Mayor Mike Rotkin debates Ed Frey on Free Radio Santa Cruz at http://peacecamp2010.blogspot.com/2010/07/mayor-mike-rotkin-debates-ed-frey-on.html ).

Gary Johnson continued the principled protest against the Sleeping Ban as others tired, retired, or fell away. SCPD and Sheriff's Deputies adopted a variety of new repressive measures against him and those activists that continued the protest (see "Lights, Camera, Tickets! Klieg Lights at City Hall--Throwing Light on the Shelter Shortage" at http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2010/08/19/18656364.php

Frey's debate with former Mayor Rotkin can be found at http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2010/07/08/18652988.php .

Six months in jail (even four months for "good behavior") is likely to cost Ed Frey his law practice and his home.

Becky Johnson should be writing a more extensive account of the shocking court repression shortly.

Those interested in supporting Gary and Ed can contact HUFF at 831-423-4833 or e-mail me at rnorse3 [at] hotmail.com .

VEHICULARLY HOUSED ACTIVIST CROW (LL: and PeaceCamp2010 survivor) ANNOUNCED HE WOULD BEGIN A MORNING PROTEST AT THE COURTHOUSE FROM 7:30 AM TO 9 AM MONDAY THROUGH FRIDAY.

Linda's Hearth note: These two men are still in jail -- despite the state's determination to exit a huge percentage of incarcerated from California's overcrowded prison system. The problem came to a head when the federal government's lawsuit ordered our legislature and Governor Brown to obey a court order, because they had not been able to make health and safety changes to the prisons. Six months in jail because of one interrupted night's sleeping "crime". I hope I can join Crow on Monday morn?

To Sleep, Perchance to Dream . . .

What Does Lodging Mean Today?

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.

by Linda Ellen Lemaster

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 1o am 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 demurr 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 teh courthouse entryway was selected initially by PeaceCamp2010 creators because it could be a refuge, however briefly (PeaceCamp2010 lasted over 3 months but in two locations).

Hopeful that the Court can deliberate from a place beyond provincial alliances, and keep it's focus on what will unfold in the future because of it's interpretation of justice, and will consider who becomes hurt and who benefits by it?

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.

Linda's Hearth note: I posted this article in Indybay santa Cruz today. Come to court with me on behalf of standing up to the Big turnip Blood Combine machine that's spitting out more and more homeless people than ever.

Peace Camp 2010 ~ ~ my reverie after a nite on cement

A WET AND WILD NIGHT ON THE TOWN

This note is simply a plce-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 invloved with what I'm calling the Movement to End Homelessness in our Country, since Scotts 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 children's hometown, City of Santa Cruz, people were still fretting about 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 newsperson, I've pushed this one little concern, evidentally in vain. People who are otherwise 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 displaced people, 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 Federal status crime, in light of the pattern, nationwide, of random and viscious attacks against visibly homeless sleepers. Most of us feel we 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 believe that if we realize we are contributing to a hateful reaction in many others, we can change one little habait of language.

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 "HUFF" 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" (ie private property. back yard invisible to the streets) 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 or Care and Homeless Action Patnership, a collaborative who's tasks include helping get state and federal funding for this growing population distributed optimally in Santa Cruz County. Both proud and grateful for all the others who volunteer, still I wish more of the communities we live in were represented. I also serve on the CofC's evaluation committee yearly, because of my understanding, both of the services and housing meant to help homeless people off the streets or into relative safety, and of the grind daily faced by the "unserved" homeless folks.

As 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 some among 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 when it's 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 knowlewdge and history and perspective 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 morSuchI 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 give compassionate folks in our communities the opportunity to make offerings as well; very important engagement. To me, this is so very important.

I have fallen in 'deep like' with many of the "regulars" at 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 antiboitic ointment', or chewable Vitamin C, or a ride to a clinic can make 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 with "the unfortunate." I follow the teaching of Mitch Snyder, who pointed out how many of us behave as tho' homeless people in public settings are "invisible." He said simply, be kind.

The Spiritual tradition which I follow also 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, with no male "protectorate", I got a ticket for "lodging". Bet it will turn out to be an expensive decision/nite. But I was very deeply concerned just then about 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. I believe there was something of a life-n-death illness to be healed. Seeing such, all the ifs, ands, and butts that make it easy to hesitate from taking a more radical or direct pathway were pouf, nowhere around!

Earlier, I had offered "ride to hopsital?" but he explained how that would likely create just TWO DAY'S of relief from the illness, 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. Nor is there post-op care for people without gobs of inflated money.

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.

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


Linda's Hearth note:
whewn I figure out how to get the photos (many of which are great) out of my sweet little, totally automated digital camera, I will put them here and take away my confessional editorial. Meanwhile, for what it's worth, my perspective.