Source: floridatoday.com 12/9/21
Joshua Werbicki has made a home in the woods at 4820 Highway 192 near Melbourne. His driver’s license lists the campsite as his permanent residence. The GPS monitor he must wear as part of his probation requires him to stay at the camp at night.
But Werbicki and approximately 12 others say they were told the property owner now wants the site bulldozed this week. They said they were originally given until 8 a.m. Wednesday to vacate by the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office.
At least seven of them have GPS monitors registered to the site that required them to return there during the evening— putting them in an awkward legal position. If they stay, they could face trespass charges. If they leave, they would be in violation of their probation.
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‘Literally nowhere else they can go’
Bonnie Hamilton, a reentry specialist with the Reentry Center of Brevard, works to find housing for formerly incarcerated people in Brevard. She said she is currently working with some of the people at the camp near Melbourne, but right now there is “literally nowhere else they can go.”
“I’ve gone house-to-house when I see them for rent, seeing if they qualify for the area, if the Department of Corrections will allow them because they have all these barrier and obstacles — no bus stops, no schools, no park for some of the guys,” said Hamilton, noting that sometimes people are turned away because of their sexual offender status even if their case was more nuanced like they had been a 12th grader dating a 9th grader. “It’s literally cold calling, going to places, to houses, talking to homeowners, talking to leasing agents and trying to get them to see past their crime, past their status.”
Related: Florida Action Committee has additional information, including actions you can take.
Well, the purported legal conundrum should be a no-brainer. It’ long been the la of the land that when laws conflict, the conflict is resolved against the government. A person cannot be placed in a position where he has to break one law or rule in order to comply with another.
Then again, they are registrants in the Democratic People’s Republic of Florida…
It is obvious the people in elected and appointed positions, judges, the public, etc.. do not believe the constitution applies to everyone.
The supposedly greatest country in the world forcing people into homelessness for no valid reason other than this country throughout its history has always needed some group of people to kill, lock up, take away their constitutional rights, etc…and some people of a certain political party don’t want children to learn about the past atrocious actions of the white people in power so we can learn from those actions. (I am white by the way.) And what is more sicking is that many of the people in power had justified their actions through the twisting of religion.
I fail to see what everyone thinks is so great about this country when there are millions of “sex offender and families”, native Americans, people of color, etc… with constitutional rights being taken away on a regular basis, when leaders who are suppose to serve the citizens instead serve corporations and the wealthy, when there is a great income and wealth inequality, when elected leaders allow corporations to poison the air we breathe and the water and food we drink and when judges and politicians make it hard for people to vote for people who represent them.
A study was done a few years ago going back to when Bush Sr was president and the study concluded that @ 92% of the federal adopted laws primarily benefited the wealthy and corporations and the study concluded that there is no democracy when the government does not represent citizens except primarily the wealthy and corporations.
The country has a good constitution and bill of rights though I disagree with the electoral college to elect the president as that was put in to appease the slave holding colonies to get them to buy into the constitution and join the union of states. And I disagree that the president should only be elected by a little more than 500 people versus the popular vote like in all other democracies in the world.
And as Martin Luther King hoped, I too also hope that one day this country will live up to its constitution. But I don’t see that happening in my lifetime. Therefore once my parents are deceased I may strongly consider relocating to a more civilized country where I can have the right to work, live and travel where I want, etc…and not be worried about being sent to prison when no crime is committed, violance, vandelizm or even death due to a government forced label.
Sue for millions. Make the state come up with an applicable solution or pay all the registrants to find their own solutions with at least 6 figures apiece.