A Homeless Woman Embarrasses the County
With Orange County’s providing only 2,000 shelter beds for its 20,000 homeless, a situation begs for correction.
When the Buena Park prosecutor’s offer of a 15-day jail sentence in exchange for a guilty plea was refused, he found himself in the unenviable position of prosecuting a 66-year-old woman whose only crime was being poor and homeless. The actual charge was couched in a homeless misdemeanor statute forbidding “camping out” and “storing camping paraphernalia.”
Orange County homeless and social justice activists owe a debt of gratitude to Diane Grue, the courageous homeless woman, and her pro bono defense attorney, Jon Alexander. They will force the county and the city to build the necessary number of beds, which should have existed before the case.
I hope I am not alone in feeling that Orange County, and society in general, have an obligation to save the less fortunate from degradation, not just death.
Joseph F. Mallard
Huntington Beach
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