6 month sentence for stealing food from trash

[TomInTib]

Steamboat Springs — One of the owners of a fresh produce store said Saturday that it is absurd that two men are in jail for taking spoiled fruit and vegetables from the store’s trash area.

On Wednesday, Giles Char­lé, 24, of Somersworth, N.H., and David Siller, 27, of Wayne, Pa., pleaded guilty to misdemeanor trespass and were sentenced to spend six months in Routt County Jail and pay $15 in restitution to Sweet Pea Produce. The men were on their way to the Rainbow Family of Living Light Gathering in North Routt County when they were arrested June 26.

The men admitted that they jumped a fence and took fruits and vegetables from the garbage area at Sweet Pea. They originally were charged with felony second-degree burglary and misdemeanor theft. They accepted the plea agreement offered by Assistant District Attorney Kerry St. James, they said, because they did not want to risk being convicted of a felony.

“Once I found out what these guys were being charged with, I contacted (St. James),” said Jonathon Hieb, who owns Sweet Pea with Katherine Zambrana. “I told him, ‘We’re not behind this prosecution. We don’t want anything to do with it.’ I thought for sure my input would have some kind of bearing, but he wasn’t hearing any of it.”

Hieb said St. James told him he was going to make an example of the men.

more of this crazy crap:
http://www2.steamboatpilot.com/news/2006/sep/02/sweet_pea_owners_we_didnt_want/?local_news

[serryjw]

1. Had NOTHING to do with the theft but

rather where they were going
Rainbow Family of Living Light Gathering in North Routt County
Damn SOB's,they hate anyone who wants peace.

[RB TexLa]

2. Now why can't prosecutors do this when the victim of the crime is married

to the criminal and say they don't want them prosecuted? :shrug:

[EFerrari]

13. They usually can. And they are usually wrong.

Because no real services are extended to the family, everyone involved is simply put more at risk as their situation is escalated by well meaning but ultimately stupid as shit outsiders.

There are a bunch of good reasons why dv victims don't prosecute and won't testify. And, we don't know better than these women what they need.

The guy is released, the guy has untreated mental illness, the guy gets scared and MORE violent -- you name it.

Prosecution doesn't mean safety. It actually means everyone gets more upset and more on edge.

[EstimatedProphet]

3. There is no theft here!

By definition, if trash is put out for pickup, the owner of the trash relinquishs all title to it. If it is before the trash is picked up, then the trash really has no owner.

[RB TexLa]

7. Not if it's still on private property and being picked up by a private

disposal company.

[EstimatedProphet]

15. I think theft is stretching it

Trespass, sure. Theft? The owners relinquish control when they throw it out. For example, if an animal takes some of it and dies, are they responsible?

[RB TexLa]

16. I'm not defending the prosecution, just saying trash in a dumpster

fenced in or simply on private property is not the same as trash on the right of way of a street. They haven't relinquished control, they have placed it in a big box owned by a private company they have contracted with to remove it.

[EstimatedProphet]

70. No, I know you're not defending it

I'm just arguing the point. You do bring up a good point too - a dumpster is not the same thing as a trashcan on the street.

Still, I'd hate to be in the DA's place in the next election when his opponent starts talking about how he prosecutes people for stealing trash to be able to eat. They'll make him look like a modern-day Inspector Javert.

[EFerrari]

12. No, but now maybe those poor people will think twice

before they look for food. :(

[Selatius]

18. I heard you can't feed the poor at public parks in Las Vegas anymore

Do you really think a person should go to prison for giving food to the poor in a park?

[EFerrari]

20. Of course not. I emailed that bastard mayor and city council.

When I lived in Santa Monica, they tried to do the same thing.

Fuck them -- trying to intimidate the poor and the people who try to help out.

[lisainmilo]

90. I agree!

This is outrageous! Until Democrats take over, I am afraid we will see more and more of the kind of crap. It just makes me sick!

[BlueJazz]

4. You know when I hear such Extreme Injustices

...as in this post, I'm reminded of Harlen Ellison's novel:

"I have no Mouth and I must Scream"

[dsc]

5. I just can't get my head around this

I fail to see how this case could be lost. Theft implies stealing property which isn't abandoned. If I leave a couch on the curb to be taken as trash and you come and take it away I fail to see how that is theft.

[EFerrari]

21. It's already lost because hungry people can't bring it.

And the bastards know that.

[Selatius]

6. Kerry St. James believes in the War on Poverty in his own way

He's waging it against the poor. He can also claim he's "tough on crime" for when he decides to run for elective office. Two birds, one stone.

[napi21]

8. That's total BS. My husband works for a supermarket chain,

andthey throw out a tremendous amout of food. Shoppers won't buy bruised produce, and meat that is 3 days old...even though it's still good. They have a dumpster out back that no one can get into, so it's not a problem of people trying to steal it. Icertaily hold the position that ifanyone has tossed something, that means they no longer want or own it, so why would it be a crime for someone else to take it?

I guess I can sort of understandit to be a problem if someone had to JUMP A FENCE toget to it though.

[KayLaw]

63. I agree

But the property owners did say they didn't mind.

[Sydnie]

67. Heck the airlines recent;ly encouraged their laid off labor force

to do just that. How sad.

[bleedingheart]

72. our local store takes the bruised stuff and makes stuff from it for the

gourmet section...

So those bruised tomatoes...the bad spots are cut off and voila...bruchetta.

[Rosemary2205]

80. Grocery stored USED to donate that food to shelters

they had to stop when the lawsuits started piling up.

[PresidentWar]

9. How "Les Miserables"

A few hundred years out of date, but the Bush Reich HAS been trying to push us back to the Middle Ages....

[EVDebs]

89. The Bush "Javerts" are out in force....nt

[Taoschick]

10. This is stupid

We have an organic food store in town that deliberately places produce in boxes next to the dumpsters so that people can take it. If it's on the store's private property and the owners don't have a problem with it, why should the police care one way or another?

[NOLADEM]

11. Class warfare is underway

Bankruptcy 'reform', laws banning outdoor sleeping, and this shit.

What a national disgrace.

People are so hungry in the richest country in the world they are eating out of the damn trash, and what do they do to stop it? Outlaw it. Fucking brilliant. Just outlaw eating. I am sure they have other food and they are just chosing to do this, so outlawing it will work, right?

Disgraceful.

The people of Steamboat Springs have some serious reflecting to do.

Classist assholes.

[pinto]

14. Geez. Yeah, it was trespass. (Over the fence) But come on.

[LordLovesAWorkingMan]

31. The property owner should have the final say

trespassing isn't trespassing when no harm is done or intended, and nothing of value is disturbed.

Bullshit charges.

[pinto]

36. Agree. Someone ought to have looked the other way.

[aaronbees]

17. War on the poor continues

After the article, the store owner made a post down below in the comments section that essentially states St. James didn't want those Ranbow folks taking over the town. How utterly absurd; welcome to the police state, where those dirty do-gooders get tossed in jail over something trivial. :( That ADA doesn't know a thing about the spirit of the law.

[svpadgham]

82. He probably

thinks that Rainbow = Homosexual. Can't have them gay folk takin' over the town.

[LostInAnomie]

19. Congratulations, Kerry St. James!

You've won the prize for "Biggest Piece of Shit I've Read about Today."

It takes a special brand of asshole to prosecute people who are just trying to feed themselves. St. James isn't trying to make an example of thieves. He trying to send the message to the homeless that they are not welcome in that town.

[EFerrari]

22. The War on Hunger. n/t

[Joe Chi Minh]

88. Ironical in the extreme. The original St James doesn't mince his

words about the fate awaiting this St James and his kind.

[buddhamama]

23. good to know our tax dollars aren't being wasted

our streets are safer :sarcasm:

absolutely frickin' absurd

[EFerrari]

24. CONTACT PAGE FOR THE BOULDER CO DA:

http://www.co.boulder.co.us/elected_officials/mary_lacy.htm

[TomInTib]

27. You are just too darn good, B..

I was wondering about you today.

[EFerrari]

30. I get worked up, lol.

:toast:

[Horse with no Name]

25. I think Keith needs this asshole nominated for Worst Person

in the World.
Really.

[EFerrari]

26. That's right! n/t

[Horse with no Name]

29. I think what makes me the angriest

Is to compare THIS sentence against progressives--men who are social workers and teachers-- as opposed to the Mormon kid who molested little boys in Phoenix who was let go because he was going on his mission and because his dad was a politico.
I am getting so sick of this shit I could scream!

[EFerrari]

33. I'll scream with you. I have a family member that is tonight

dancing on tables because he can't get services. If he stays out of jail, we'll all be lucky.

One, two three -- let's head to the nearest door and scream. :nuke:

[Horse with no Name]

35. .....

:hug: I know it has to be hard for you.

[EFerrari]

38. I'm trying to learn how to do powerless better.

ARgh!

Thanks, HWNN.

:hug:

[vickitulsa]

28. I have been dependent on food from store dumpsters more than once

in my life, and it's hard for me to imagine that any law enforcement officials would prosecute hungry individuals for taking such discarded items! Hard to imagine because it's ridiculous and wrong, not because I doubt some people would do such a thing. Seems there's just no low too low for some to stoop, as we keep seeing these days....

I well remember one summer when my husband and I lived across the alley from a smalltown grocery store dumpster, where I had the first view daily of store employees bringing out the "fresh" loads to the trash. I say "first view" because I learned quickly that I was not the ONLY person who checked the store dumpster frequently for edible goods. In fact, it became obvious to me as the days and weeks went on that there were several others who often drove down the alley checking for food there. At least one of these people I spoke to was collecting for a hungry family that was homeless, living in their old car and a tent.

I made it a practice to take only the amount of foodstuffs from the dumpster that my husband and I needed, never piling up extra in our own fridge, so that these others who needed the food could still find plenty. Dave used to laugh at me for the way my feet would stick up from the top of the dumpster when I had to "dive" a ways in to reach what was there for "recycling." I laughed too, but it was sad to realize we really NEEDED that food.

In the mornings after the meat department had ground its daily allotment of beef and pork, they would scrape off the last bits from the grinders and deposit it neatly in stacks on top of the pile in the dumpster -- still cold. Often they threw out meat that was still completely frozen -- even had my first taste of lamb chops that way! Once they put out a large case of frozen pork roasts.

A person had to be careful that the food was not spoiled or contaminated, of course, but that's easy enough to do. Dave and I said afterwards that those were days when we had some of the best eatin' ever! But our fortune was based that summer on our location so close to the dumpster area. Otherwise I don't think I'd ever have thought to find food there.

Many other people know otherwise, however. There are countless hungry folk out there in this rich country who depend on foodstuffs cast off by stores. As one poster indicated, shoppers won't buy produce that is slightly bruised or beginning to turn color, even if it's perfectly good. Neither will they buy other food products that have the slightest blemish or which are even one day past expiration dates stamped on them. It's just insane that others should go to bed hungry in this country when the quantities of perfectly edible food that are thrown away every single day are so huge.

I know there's at least one group (called "Second Harvest") which collects edible throwaway food from stores and markets to distribute to the hungry in an organized way. But to think that any police officers, sheriffs, and prosecutors would jail individuals who are hungry and took food from a store's trash area -- when the store's owners did not even mind! -- is outrageous to me.

I hope there's a LOT of backlash for this action on the REAL guilty parties involved!

[TomInTib]

42. Damn, vickitulsa...

I almost did not bother to post that article when I ran across it, thinking that it would get only knee-jerk reaction to what is obviously an outrage.
That is something I usually try to avoid, being far too guilty of same on my own.

The picture you just painted is quite inspiring and has caused me great pause and reflection.

Thank you.

I am keeping this forever.

Tom

[JI7]

32. St. James is a piece of shit, i hope Olbermann or someone reports

on this so people can see what a joke this person is playing with our legal system like this.

[Nikia]

34. I thought that for crimes like theft and tresspassing

It was necessary for the affected parties to agree that a crime had been committed against them.

[EFerrari]

37. Maybe not if you're only trying to intimidate the helpless.

I don't think the actual law matters in those cases. :sarcasm:

[chaska]

39. self delete

[chaska]

40. This country has gone bat shit crazy...

It's time to start over, ya'll. Overthrow, abandon, whatever, the fascists have to go.

[silverweb]

41. Sounds like Colorado has it in for these guys overall.

From The Rainbow Children Of Light _website_ giving directions to the Gathering:

"When you first cross into Colorado, drive 150% legal as rumors has it there's a welcoming party of Colorado State Police just looking to write you up for anything.

[pitohui]

43. yes this is what i'm thinking

they were targeted as members of the rainbow community

i have dumpster dived, not professionally and less and less over the years as the compactors come in, but i have done it and occasionally still go out to keep my hand in

i've never been hassled, although i've been approached and asked if i want help, at which point i say what i'm looking for (boxes, coupons, etc) and assure them i can find it by myself if they are busy :-)

now i do make a strict rule of i would never jump a fence or break a lock on a dumpster and i NEVER leave a mess, always leave the area cleaner than when you arrived...but still...the worst i've ever heard is that someone might get a ticket for trespass...and i've never gotten that or even been threatened with, it's pretty rare...as a woman i also choose to "dive" in daylight hours because it's safer for me and i think it just looks less sinister all round, you are not sneaking up on anybody...but different divers have different m.o.'s and some prefer the quiet visit by night that attracts no attention

but that's a digression, my point is -- i would say this prosecutor was just looking for excuses to pick on these people

jumping the fence was trespass but once the store owners said it was okay by them, then there is not even grounds for giving a ticket for trespass, you can't steal from trash, ask the fbi who has won cases in court based on items taken from people's garbage w.out their consent -- once you put it in the trash you have indeed abandoned your interest in it

this is plain harassment pure and simple in my view

[EFerrari]

44. What happened to Colorado? Has it always been rich

white supremacist central? I had no idea.

[pitohui]

45. i sort of thought so but "always" is a long time

i dunno it's just sad that they can be shitty about something like this == it's fairly over the top even for colorado

at least it isn't like the poor men in texas in the 60s who got 40 years for two joints

[hootinholler]

56. One word:

Fundies.

Focus on the Family moved into I think Boulder area and it's gone to shit in a teacart.

-Hoot

[countryjake]

62. Back in the day...

if the troopers caught you hitchhiking there, they'd shave your head and throw you in jail for months. On a back-packing trip, we met a fellow in Wyoming, riding his bicycle cross-country. He had just been released after a stint in the Larimer County slammer at Ft. Collins, busted for riding his bike on the "freeway" (which bore no resemblance to today's freeways). He had been "sheared". Since we were heading to the same place he'd just made it out of, we decided to hop a bus from Cheyenne down to Ft. Collins, just to be on the safe side. Met another guy there in the mountains, whose hair was growing out after sitting for three months in another county jail, further south, busted for hitchhiking.

I'd say they've been known as being fairly harsh, but that was almost 40 yrs. ago. You'd think they'd have lightened up, a little.

[countryjake]

46. A country without a conscience, where is the outrage? K&R!

As someone who wouldn't get by without the help of the Gleaners, gardening skills, & supermarket garbage, stories such as this just make me shudder. It's getting really scary out here!

[EFerrari]

47. Don't forget to rec the thread so more DUers can see.

:kick:

[TomInTib]

52. This has just totally pissed me off.

Thanks for the help on this, sfexpat2000, this is just a further example of how far off-axis we have become.

[EFerrari]

53. No kidding. n't

[Rainscents]

48. What the hell???

This is fucking crazy... sending someone to jail because they stoled food out of the garbage can? What would Jesus would had done... feed them.

[Swamp Rat]

49. k&r

:cry:

This nation has sunk so low. :cry:

[EFerrari]

50. It's fucking unbelievable. Criminalizing people for taking food

that others have thrown away.

:nuke:

[AlamoDemoc]

51. K&R

[dweller]

54. BUSH/CHENEY 04 -- EAT THE POOR

still relevent.
dp

[hootinholler]

55. That will show those god-damned hippies!

Just in case: :sarcasm:

-Hoot

[Bluebear]

57. I'm surprised they didn't "SHOOT TO KILL" them as looters.

What this country has become.

[NMMNG]

58. .....

And the War on Povertythe Impoverished continues to gain momentum. As it becomes fashionable to harass if not prosecute people for "stealing" spoiled food that has been thrown away, homeless people who sleep in public locations (though they have nowhere else to go), people who give food or other assistance to the homeless, "panhandlers" and the like--our government cuts back constantly on benefits to the needy which only helps ensure that more and more people will become homeless.

What's next--making poverty and homelessness punishable by death?

[whatelseisnew]

59. k&r

[wiley]

60. About 30 million poor kids just became criminals

Just like the Republicans like it, and have been working towards for decades. No, wait, they just want to persecute 45 million families and use a few kids in cynical political ploys.

[ArbustoBuster]

61. The DA's actions are inexplicable.

Let us say I run ArbustoBuster Foods. Someone jumps my fence and takes something out of my trash. I decide that this is okay by me, so I tell the DA not to prosecute. The DA prosecutes anyway. Has this country gone insane?

This also caught my eye: "St. James also asked Judge James Garrecht to fine the men $42 for each day they serve in jail, the standard cost of care for inmates. Garrecht refused." What the hell? They charge people to lock them up? That's like charging the family of an executed man for the bullets used by the firing squad - in other words, the only reason you would do this would be to intimidate the incarcerated.

[ikojo]

66. Yes, more and more prisoners are being asked to

pitch in for the cost of their care. I think it happens in St Charles Missouri (heavily repuke). Where they expect the primarily poor prisoners (because in the US your chances of being incarcerated are pretty much dependent upon your ability to afford a lawyer and even middle class people can afford good lawyers because many will mortgage their homes) to afford paying for their room and board is beyond me.

When will the class revolution ever happen in the US?

[druidity33]

64. i'll bet you...

they both had dreadlocks. Nothing pisses off the asshole cops more than the dreads. They just go batshit for some reason.
:shrug:

[ikojo]

65. So, when Northwest Airlines suggested a few

weeks ago that soon to be laid off employees not be afraid of picking through trash if they see something that interests them, they were putting those folks at risk of incarceration? I guess it would deal with their housing needs after they lose their paycheck. :sarcasm:

[w4rma]

68. How can they prosecute for trespassing when they weren't trespassing?

The owner isn't supporting the prosecution. And if the owner says they weren't trespassing then they weren't trespassing.

[formercia]

69. Here in Maine

There's a small rainbow group that lives near where my in-laws have a camp. One day we tried getting there and the sheriff had set up roadblocks and was interrogating every vehicle trying to access the area. Turns out it was a small gathering that was to take place.
The rainbow people for the most part cause no trouble. Since they have no leadership, there's no one to dictate who can or cannot be a 'member'. Any group will attract a few desperadoes.

What happened to pursuit of happiness?

[haydukelives]

71. I am speechless

I lived in Steamboat Springs from 1984 till 2004
I always thought the community was more progressive than this
The people in Steamboat just have too much money.

[Kingshakabobo]

73. .

:kick:

[formercia]

74. Sounding more and more like France

before the revolution.

[proud patriot]

75. This is an outrage

x(

[Cleita]

76. So I guess it begs the question of who owns the trash?

I was always under the impression that once I threw something away, it was no longer mine but the property of whomever wanted to pick it up. I think we need to go back to the legislative drawing board on this one.

[OzarkDem]

77. Wealthy right wingers have taken over

many of the ski towns in the Rockies. They want cheap labor in these isolated areas, but don't want to have to deal with people who can't get by on the wages they pay. Its ridiculous and out of character.

I'll make sure to boycott Steamboat Springs and will tell others to do the same.

[guinivere]

78. How very Marie Antoinette. So, it is a crime to be poor?

What the fuck. A couple of poor guys are going to be made an example of. Hope that makes St. James feel good about himself.

How about trespassing and a stern talking to.

[PresidentWar]

84. Debtors Prisons weren't that long ago......

..along with "vagrancy laws" which actually made it an arrestable crime to "without visible means of support".

Isn't that what the rethugs are trying to do anyway? Bring back the bad old days of the Industrial Era before workers' rights, civil rights etc?

[ninkasi]

79. This is an outrage

For a long time, I realized that the attitude toward the poor was mainly one of indifference. I know that these feelings could affect some people regardless of political affiliation, but the indifference was mainly by the conservatives. They were the feelings of the "I've got mine, now you get yours", and they pretty much ignored the plight of those in need.

That indifference has transformed itself into outright loathing, and an almost sadistic attitude now. The country, under Republican rule, has gotten a lot more cold hearted, and much less charitable. Look at the administration's handling of the aftermath of Katrina.

The fact that the food was being thrown away, and the owners didn't want to prosecute, should have stopped the men from being prosecuted. Instead, the ADA not only wanted to make an example of them, and charge them for their own incarceration. The district attorney's office has made an example, all right, but not the kind of example they wanted.

The example is the downright cruelty, and the attempt to try to dehumanize the less fortunate. They are making poverty, or want, into crimes. How many crimes do the rich commit, in their willingness to grab everything they can get. How many white collar crimes are actually prosecuted.

I am sad to see our society becoming so brutal, and so willing to crush people who are in need, instead of being willing to lend a helping hand. Instead of a helping hand, they are
delivering kicks until the person is down, then crushing them with a boot on the neck. Thank you for posting this, Tom, maybe enough people will be outraged enough to let the DA's office exactly how they feel.

[degreesofgray]

81. Why not just put them in gallows

and let the public pelt them with lettuce and tomatoes? :sarcasm:

Can debtor's prisons be far behind?

[AtomicKitten]

83. so, police can rifle through your trash and that's fair game

but citizens cannot? Bullshit.

And this is also a sad commentary on the effects of this catastrophic economy on the masses.

[John Gauger]

85. The law, in it's infinite justice,

prohibits the rich as well as the poor, from sleeping under bridges, stealing bread, and begging in the streets - Anatole France.

[Joe Chi Minh]

87. I love that one!

[Joe Chi Minh]

86. And what she did, above all, was make an example of herself.

Prov 22: 22-23
"Do not rob the poor, because he is poor,
or crush the afflicted at the gate;
for the Lord will plead their cause
and despoil of life those who despoil them."

Deut. 15:7-8
"Is there a poor man among you, one of your brothers in any town of yours? Do not harden your heart or close your hand against that poor brother of yours, but be open-handed with him and lend him enough for his needs."

Jer 22:3
"Practise honesty and integrity; rescue the man who has been wronged from the hands of his oppressor; do not exploit the stranger, the orphan, the widow; do no violence; shed no innocent blood".

Such a clarion cry for vengeance to be brought down on her, and from her own mouth. Oh, it seems it's a he.