Homelessness should be a crime

Here's another article from Madison, Wi. from Susan Lampert Smith, bless her heart, she's trying.

I also responded to this. My response follows:

Lampert Smith: Let's talk about homeless issue
By SUSAN LAMPERT SMITH Wisconsin State Journal
Fred Mohs should win an award as Madison 's most politically incorrect curmudgeon.
But give him credit, he 's stirring the pot on an important Madison issue: What to do about the growing population of homeless people in Madison?
In case you 've been lounging on a tropical beach somewhere, here 's the latest tempest.
Mohs, who has lived downtown for 50 years and owns a lot of it, has grown weary of the homeless. In his view, they 've taken over the State Capitol basement and the downtown library, and some of their number have committed crimes ranging from last summer 's State Street murder to the burning of the St. Raphael Cathedral.
Last week, Mohs told the First United Methodist Church, located just down Wisconsin Avenue from his home, that if it continues to shelter the homeless, church members can forget about parking in his Manchester ramp.
The church responded that the poor are more important than parking.
"The bottom line is that this is a caring community, we do care about people here, it 's part of our culture, " said Madison attorney Bill White, a church member and spokesman.
While White may sound like he 's on the side of the angels, and Mohs, the devil 's advocate, they agree that the current situation of full shelters every night is a bad one.
"I 'm proposing that (Mohs) and I take our show on the road, " White said. "Why not use it to highlight the issue of homelessness in Madison? "
You can hear the next installment of their debate on this morning 's 10 a.m. edition of "Outside the Box with Mitch Henck " on WIBA-AM.
The main buzz on the issue is coming from private citizens rather than local government. Last month, a group called Welcome Home held a press conference to highlight the fact that it had tried to rent a South Side home for homeless men, but that they were evicted.
Organizer Kristen Petroshius rented the home, owned by Duane Steinhauer, under the pretense that she was living there alone, Steinhauer said. He was contacted by town of Madison building inspectors, who told him there were an illegal number of people living in the single family home. The inspectors had been contacted by police.
And who called the police? Steinhauer said the previously homeless tenants called the police themselves because they were fighting with each other.
(Petroshius later told Isthmus that the home was a "wet shelter " for people who had been drinking and thus couldn 't get into the regular shelters.)
Needless to say, the Dane Street neighbors were not thrilled.
And there 's the problem. Mohs thinks the homeless are bad for his downtown neighborhood. But what neighborhood would feel differently?
That 's why we need more people talking, and more leadership on the issue.
Contact Susan Lampert Smith at ssmith@madison.com or 608-252-6121.

My response:

In reference to the article about homelessness, I just gotta get this off my chest! Simply, homelessness should be a crime. Why, you gasp? I am not talking about the temporary victims of house fire, flood, and other catastrophes. They have family, friends, insurance, motivation, etc. Help them. I am talking about the classic 'Hobo', the street beggar, the vagrant man or woman who clutter the cities, streets, eyes and if you get to close, the nose. I'm not a cruel man nor am I promoting cruelty. The better idea for homeless people in my kind opinion is to require them to get off the streets or out of the city, all cities. Jail won't get it, but handing a five dollar bill out the window on a street corner won't get it either. Stop the bleeding heart crap. Is it good for a person to get frost bite and lose body parts that turn black and slough off in the cold weather because of no safe place to sleep or hang out? Is it good for them to become silent victims of street crime or worse yet, be perpetrators of street crime? Duh, the answer to those questions is 'no'. Vagrancy used to be a crime. Return the law and enforce it. Oh, you say, what about the drug addict, the prostitute, the mentally ill. Arrest the first two and others like them. Snatch the ill off the street for their own good and place them in the long term care necessary to keep them safe. Bottom line is, all homeless people need help. Letting them do what they want, where they want is a subculture of anarchy and danger. Restore order in their lives and the streets. This is a traveling man's humble opinion. Thank you