Homelessness

Seminar Explores International Law Strategies to Stop Local Criminalization of the Homeless

The way the City of Costa Mesa has demonized homeless people, you'd think that would be the place for this seminar: "Opposing the Criminalization of Homelessness: Building a Human Rights Framework Event."Actually, the talk runs from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday in Irvine, in UC Irvine's EDU - 1111 Sem ... More >>

Bossy Bus Lady

[Hey, You!] 'On my ride, y'all better follow my rules'

Sergio Camacho Gonzalez Faces Trial in Murder of Fellow Homeless Man Hit in Head with Wood

Trial is scheduled to begin today for a homeless man accused of murdering another homeless man by conking him on the head with a piece of wood.Sergio Camacho Gonzalez, 39, is charged with felony murder with a sentencing enhancement for the personal use of a deadly weapon that could fetch him up to ... More >>

Karma Camp, New Non-Profit, Helps the Homeless With iPads and Mobile Showers

"Most people offer shelter and food--we are not that," says Greg Sipe says confidently. He's referring to Karma Camp, a nonprofit founded by Sipe and Sean O'Neill, that deals with the ongoing issue of homelessness and mental illness under what they say is a radically new, and bright light. While Si ... More >>

Lisa Becker Has Patience for the Patients

The bipolar activist wants to cure OC's problem with the homeless who are mentally ill

Lawsuit: OC's All Republican Supervisors Designed Welfare System To Cheat Indigent $38 Each a Month

Three homeless individuals are suing Orange County, CA for systematically crafting a welfare system that unfairly discourages applications and cheats qualified indigent people from receiving proper financial and medical assistance. That's according to an 18-page class action lawsuit that blasts the ... More >>

Fullerton Homeless Talk about Kelly Thomas After Slidebar Protest

In between the afternoon and evening protests at Slidebar in Fullerton over their role in the Kelly Thomas killing, the only people left buzzing around the area were there a group of homeless men. They walked leisurely around the Fullerton Bus Depot or sat on benches in the shade, and while they w ... More >>

Lawsuit: Fullerton Bar Manager Enticed Police with a Lie Before Officers Beat Kelly Thomas to Death

A fired security guard at the Slidebar Rock-N-Roll Kitchen in Fullerton has filed a lawsuit accusing Lit guitarist Jeremy Popoff, an owner of the establishment, with enticing police to harass Kelly Thomas on the day officers savagely beat the homeless, schizophrenic man to death in July 2011, and th ... More >>

Itzcoatl "Izzy" Ocampo, Accused Serial Killer of Orange Countians, to Face Death Penalty

The death penalty will be sought against Yorba Linda 24-year-old Itzcoatl "Izzy" Ocampo, the accused serial killer of four homeless men and a mother and grown son fatally stabbed etween October 25 and January 13, prosecutors announced today.Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas convened a ... More >>

Ron Thomas at CSUF Social Justice Summit: Defend the Homeless

"Here's that beautiful picture of Kelly on the right," said Ron Thomas, as he pointed to a portrait of his smiling son toward the end of his PowerPoint presentation on homelessness at Cal State University Fullerton's eighth-annual social justice summit on Saturday, April 14. "Right here, [Kelly ... More >>

Someone Tries to Set Ablaze Homeless Man Sleeping on Bus Bench

Here we go again: someone is apparently trying to kill homeless men in Orange County. This time, it was not a fatal stabbing, like the six Izzy Ocampo is accused of pulling off late last year and early this year, but an attempted death by fire. Anaheim Police Sgt. and spokesman Robert Dunn says it h ... More >>

Occupy Santa Ana Plans Anti-OC Homeless Action Tomorrow

Occupy Santa Ana activists plan a Tuesday afternoon action in hopes of demonstrating the alarming lack of available shelter space for Orange County's homeless population. The plan, which is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. and is called Shelter Tel-a-Thon, involves activists calling emergency county she ... More >>

"Orange County Bum Chronicles Documentary" in Downtown Santa Ana

A thoughtful citizen took the time to "document" the homeless in downtown Santa Ana last year. The three-minute "short" probably won't make the Sundance Film Festival, and it has only 15 views on YouTube (three of which are mine). Gentle readers, is the homeless problem getting better or worse in S ... More >>

Cops, Church, Advocates and Crisis Counselors to Meet with Public About Homeless Killings

​With more murders expected to bring more charges against a Yorba Linda man accused to preying on homeless men in North County (see this post), the multi-agency Homeless Homicide Task Force is joining forces with the Community Service Programs (CSP) Crisis Response Team, the Orange County Rescue M ... More >>

Joshua Evans, Homeless Family Man-Turned- Army Sergeant, Pays It Forward

​Despite today's blog posts from yours truly, not all stories from the long holiday layover involved homeless men being fatally stabbed, Christmastime murder-suicides or New Year's Eve party stabbings. Take the inspiring tale of U.S. Army Sgt. Joshua Evans. Six years ago, the Long Beach man was jo ... More >>

Give Bijan Gilani a Job

[Moxley Confidential] Meet Orange County's most brilliant, classiest homeless person

Homeless Veterans Need Your Help

​Telling you about the National Guard armories that opened last night and will open tomorrow night to provide winter shelter for the homeless, we mentioned the nonprofit running the program for the county was in need of various clothing, grooming and food items. That group is not alone. A charity ... More >>

[UPDATED with Arraignment:] Murder Charge, Counts Against 2 Cops in Kelly Thomas Beating Case

Courtesy of Orange County District Attorney's OfficeOfficer Manuel Ramos​UPDATE, SEPT 21, 4:03 P.M.: At his arraignment this afternoon, which the Weekly's Marisa Gerber attended, a handcuffed Fullerton Police Officer Manuel Ramos pleaded not guilty to felony second-degree murder and involuntary ma ... More >>

Kelly Thomas Memorial Concert and Canned Food Drive

Fullerton Downtown Plaza

[UPDATED with First-Hand Insight From Villagara:] OC District Attorney "Incapable" of Impartial Probe into Kelly Thomas's Police-Beating Death: ACLU

Villagara​UPDATE, AUG. 5, 4:26 P.M.: Update written by Marisa Gerber.Hector Villagara is no stranger to Orange County. Before he took on his current role as executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Southern California, he worked in the ACLU's Orange County office.It was h ... More >>

Sharon Quirk-Silva, Fullerton Councilwoman, Blasts Fullerton Police Chief Anew, Asks for Better Treatment of County's Homeless in Wake of Kelly Thomas' Death-by-Cop

​Fullerton councilwoman Sharon Quirk-Silva shocked political observers yesterday when she asked for the resignation of the city's police chief, Michael Sellers, in the wake of the Kelly Thomas death-by-cop scandal. And in a letter today to constituents, she offers further reasoning."I feel that th ... More >>

[UPDATED with PD Protest PHOTOS:] Kelly Thomas' Retired Deputy Father Blasts Fullerton Police for 'Killing My Son'

​UPDATE, JULY 18, 7:12 P.M.: The Fullertonian's Alex Stouffer was at this afternoon's Fullerton Police Department protest with camera in hand, and some of the resulting shots have been graciously shared with the Weekly.Among those who turn up in Stouffer's lens is Ron Thomas, the father of 37-year ... More >>

What This World Needs Now

[Hey, You!] A lotta love out there—even for the homeless

A Believe-It-or-Not Interview With Imperial Stars

[Mental Notes] Are the 'Traffic Jam' band idiots or marketing geniuses? Or both?

An Interview With Imperial Stars, Part 1: Band Has No Regrets, Worked With Madonna, And Been Offered a Reality TV Show. For Realz?

imperialstars.com​On Tuesday, Christopher Wright, Paul Arabella (aka David Paul Hale) and Keith Yackey got on a semi, headed for the 101 freeway and blocked three lanes of traffic at 10:20 a.m. to play one song. The Garden Grove trio, collectively known as Imperial Stars, played the ... More >>

An Interview With Imperial Stars, Part 1: Band Has No Regrets, Worked With Madonna, And Been Offered a Reality TV Show. For Realz?

imperialstars.com​On Tuesday, Christopher Wright, Paul Arabella (aka David Paul Hale) and Keith Yackey got on a semi, headed for the 101 freeway and blocked three lanes of traffic at 10:20 a.m. to play one song. The Garden Grove trio, collectively known as Imperial Stars, played t ... More >>

Imperial Stars' Stunt Begets More Terrible Songs Remixes

www.imperialstars.com​For today's Imperial Stars news, we bring you an e-mail from one of our readers: "Making this story even more hilarious...the guitarist, Keith Yackey was once an associate pastor at Calvary Chapel Saving Grace in Yorba Linda, then moved to Belgrade Montana to open anothe ... More >>

Should Attacks Against the Homeless be Classified as Hate Crimes?

​That's what Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate & Extremism at Cal State San Bernardino, is trying to do today.The OC resident is in Washington, D.C. today because he just testified before a Senate committee to argue that attacks against the homeless be labeled a hate cr ... More >>

ACLU Honors Law Firm for Helping Quash Laguna Beach's Anti-Homeless Ordinance

​Just shy of a year after Laguna Beach agreed to settle a federal lawsuit over the city's treatment of disabled homeless people, a law firm has been honored for its "outstanding pro bono work" in the case. Irell & Manella, which has offices in Newport Beach and Los Angeles, recently received ... More >>

Food Network Chef Arrested in Alleged Murder-For-Hire Plot

​LA-based chef Juan-Carlos Cruz, who hosted the cooking show Calorie Commando on the Food Network from 2004-2006, has been arrested and is being held in LA County Jail for allegedly asking homeless men to commit murder.  One of the homeless men went to police, upon which "investigators l ... More >>

[UPDATED:] Mechanic Arraigned for Allegedly Setting Homeless Man Ablaze

UPDATE: Details of five-year sentence handed down today below. ​Mechanic Hector Manuel Medina previously shooed a homeless man away from the alley behind Medina's Santa Ana auto shop. When the 32-year-old saw the 64-year-old transient in the alley two weeks later, the mechanic got a gas canister f ... More >>

Orange County Gets $11 Million to Fight Homelessness

 ​A federal agency has awarded a different kind of financial stimulus than you are used to hearing about lately, granting more than $11 million to the County of Orange in homeless assistance funding.Part of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Continuum of Care Super Notice o ... More >>

Taco Bell Crime of the Week!

​How tough are the times? People are not just holding up Taco Bells, they're now seeking refuge in their recycling bins. From Northern California:A homeless man sleeping in a restaurant recycling bin was nearly killed when the container was emptied into an Allied Waste Management truck for compact ... More >>

OC Cities Fail to Crack 10 Meanest List, Must Try Harder

Photo by HulagwayBoxed in.No Orange County cities cracked the top 10 Meanest Cities list included in a report released today by the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty and the National Coalition for the Homeless. But Laguna Beach, Santa Ana (by way of Dana Point) and just-beyond-our-re ... More >>

Laguna Beach Settles Lawsuit Over Homeless Ordinance

Laguna Beach agreed today to settle a lawsuit over the city's treatment of disabled homeless people, according to the ACLU of Southern California.   "Under the agreement, the city's police officers will not cite, arrest or harass people under state law simply for sleeping in public places, ... More >>

[¡Ask a Mexican!] Does Only Bart Simpson Say '¡Ay, Caramba!'?

ACLU Sues Laguna Beach for Giving Homeless the Boot

The ACLU filed a federal civil rights lawsuit today against the city of Laguna Beach for its "unlawful and inhumane policy of harassing and intimidating disabled homeless people." The suit alleges that the city's prolonged arrests of its small, disabled homeless population under the guise of an anti ... More >>

New Orange County Homelessness Benefit CD Provides Some Shelter From the Storm

[Hey, You!] A Ticket for Your Thoughtfulness

Wiley Coyote

The Rev. Wiley Drake has a history of helping illegals, as long as they dont criticize Bush

Days of Whines and Runny Noses

Hey, kids: quitcherbitchen

You Cant Count On Me

As homeless gather for census dinner, county officials are out to lunch

The Frugal Gourmet

Costa Mesa soup-kitchen volunteer feeds families after brush with deportation

Green No More

The Force Is With Him

In a department once noted for its cruelty toward the homeless, Santa Ana cop Randy Beckx produced a revolution

'Jesus, Remeber Me?'

Homeless kids spend Good Friday in shadow of Santa Anas Glamour Slammer

Food Not Bombs

Rocking, rolling and water guns

Not Hot, Not Cold, Just Real

In the Name of the Father

Growing up Wiley Drake Jr.

How to live on the streets

How to get there How to stay there