British Expatriate Network

my civil rights are being breached why cant i fart in houstons libraries ??? ) (



http//story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&e=9&u=/ap/20050428/ap_on_fe_st/stinky_libraries

Don't they ever consider the fact that taking care of the homeless people in the first place might eliminate the problem?! roll

Your subject title is misleading, as is your flippant comment about the article. Homelessness and the issues facing people who are homeless is a serious problem.

It seems to me that the authorities should be giving the homeless somewhere to eat, wash and change clothes before stopping them using the libraries. It's shameful that those people have nowhere else to go and even more so that people who use the libraries are offended by them.

There are many *care centers * set up for the homeless and at times you are dealing with a population that ihas a *mental problem * drug addicts , crinimals etc and wont respond to state sponsored care that is offered and reject it .

finding them somethere to sleepand eat /wash will not in itself cure the problem of the homeless on our streets , its a much deeper problem that NO administration has yet been willing to address .

I actually thought we were meant to make as many flippant comments as we could lay our hands on :D :D

of coure a little humour sarcasm if you like never hurt anybody ....

But on a heavier note apart from what was said here i dont thinkany perant here would like to take there little ones to the library and be confronted with a smelly usually obnoxiuos person whether homeless or not ... most would walk out or at least protest .

those of us who use the library for the *purpose it was planned for * have rights two .

I dont think its a matter of who uses the library *homeless or otherwise * as long as they follow thefew simple rules laid down for the benifit of ALL citizens idont think its unreasonable for users of the library to act in a civilised manner , not give out abnoxiuos smells and not use the seats as beds .... as in all societys we have to have structure .


Going back top my oringinal flippant post about farting at the library library .
of course it would be unexceptable should i do that and smell the place up in front of you and your kids .

so we have the question .


would if be exceptabe and NON offensive to you if i did that or worse urinate if front of your kids in the library ..? if you would* not object * you win .

if it would ,nt be exceptable then why would it be okay if a *homeless* person did it ... ????

end of rant

I dont think its a matter of who uses the library *homeless or otherwise * as long as they follow the few simple rules laid down for the benifit of ALL citizens , idont think its unreasonable for users of the library to act in a civilised manner , not give out abnoxiuos smells and not use the seats as beds .... as in all societys we have to have structure .


Going back top my original flippant post about farting at the library library .
of course it would be unexceptable should i do that and smell the place up in front of you and your kids .

so we have the question .


would if be exceptabe and NON offensive to you if i did that or worse urinate if front of your kids in the library ..? if you would* not object * you win .

if it would ,nt be exceptable then why would it be okay if a *homeless* person did it ... ????

end of rant

I guess that depends on how pervy my kids are.

You have to remember that Texas , especially the Gulf Coast area which includes Houston, does have a lot of homeless people because of the climate (the same applies to Santa Monica/LA as well)so they will try and use any facilitiy they can that is free to sleep, clean-up and even bathe in if they can.

There are plenty of homeless shelters in Houston and the City does a lot to help them but a lot of them dont want to be helped.

So why do they end up in libraries and not the care centers? I mean why would they prefer to wash and eat in libraries than the care centers? I would think that there's a problem with the care center's (be they local authority or charity driven) for whatever reason. Probably underfunded like most things.

Well then the regulations are probably right. True, i can't imagine that they have a lot of homeless people in Alaska! :lol: I also think that there are enough smelly people around who aren't homeless... :D

EXACTLY as i wrote in a earlier post , its not fully understood by those who dont have a large homeless problem :)

Its not that people don't want to be helped - its sometimes that what the so called carers think of as help is not what the homeless want.

Some of this is understandable - shelters have rules, such as no alcohol, no dogs etc which can be restrictive.
Others are less helpful - particularly some of the religious ones where there is undue pressur to join the group or attend prayer meetings, where the so called carers see it as there role to 'save' people.

as was said by Adeshell - you should ask why someone would choose to try and bathe in the bathroom of a library rather than shower at a shelter. Homeless people are people - they make intelligent, rational choices based on their options and cicumstances.

If those choices look irrational from the outside it is most likely because the observer has no real concept of the circumstances.

I started my legal career as an advisor in a homeless shelter. In one year I alone saw and assited over 2000 homeless people (we provided figures to our funders, so that is how I know). I have never, ever, met a homeless person who 'chose' to be homeless - merely people forced to accept the least worst option.

Stop asking what we should do about 'the homeless' and start asking why in such a rich country we have homeless people at all.

And for good measure, consider this. In both the UK and the USA, the single largest group of homeless people are veterans.

http//www.nationalhomeless.org/veterans.html

These are not society's drop outs, they are, in America at least, all heroes - so why do we treat them this way?