Local News
St. Louis Man Living in Cotton Belt Building Suing Over New State Law
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Ronald Benson outside his abode in the Cotton Belt building.
A federal lawsuit filed by seven unhoused individuals seeks to stop enforcement of a new Missouri law banning sleeping and camping on state-owned land. On December 21, seven individuals who are currently unhoused filed suit against the Missouri attorney general saying that the law, which went into effect on Sunday, is both vaguely worded and essentially criminalizes homelessness. Attorney Stephanie Lummus, with the Cook Group, is representing the seven plaintiffs. After filing the suit, she asked the court for a temporary restraining order to stop the law from taking effect, but that was denied. She says that in the coming weeks, she’ll be asking Judge Matthew T. Schelp to issue a temporary injunction, which would pause enforcement of the law while the suit makes its way through the courts. Ultimately, she is hoping the law is declared unconstitutional. The new law prohibits “unauthorized sleeping, camping, or the construction of long-term shelters” on state-owned land, such as highway overpasses or state parks. But Lummus says the law doesn’t provide any explanation about what counts as “unauthorized.” Lummus says that she is hoping to have the lawsuit eventually certified as a class action. “You’ve got constitutional issues on the line,” she says. “You’ve got people whose freedom is subject to go away. You can get basically thrown in a cage for being poor.” The law was part of a bill signed by Governor Mike Parson last June. Though it was introduced as a seven-page bill focused largely on county financial statements, by the time the bill passed it had transformed into a 64 page behemoth on different political subdivisions including the homelessness statutes championed by Representative Bruce DeGroot (R-Chesterfield) and Senator Holly Rehder (R-Sikeston). Anyone caught breaking it could face a class C misdemeanor charge – a crime punishable with up to a $750 fine and 15 days in jail. Any municipality caught not enforcing the law could get slapped with a lawsuit by the Missouri attorney general. And any municipality with a homelessness rate higher than the state average within a year of the bill’s passage could lose state funding until they rectify the problem. DeGroot previously said in an interview with the RFT that he thinks his proposal will help the unhoused. He and Rehder thought that instead of combating the issue through permanent housing, Missouri should direct public funding toward mental health services and short-term housing. Degroot said the federal government’s Housing First model “just doesn’t work.” Prioritizing short-term housing was a less expensive and possibly safer option for the unhoused, he claimed. In addition to banning “unauthorized” camping and sleeping, the new law redirects state funds otherwise used for permanent housing construction for the unhoused to mental health treatment and other services, including short-term housing. Lummus’ suit isn’t the first to call the new law into question. In September, three Missourians represented by Legal Services of Eastern Missouri and Public Citizen Litigation Group asked a judge to block the bill from taking effect. The suit claimed the law violated Missouri’s constitutional requirement that legislation stick to only one subject. One of the plaintiffs represented by Lummus, 63-year-old military veteran Ronald Benson says he’s lived in the old Cotton Belt building near the Mississippi riverfront for four years with his dog, Rebel. “I’ve made this into a pretty nice little home,” Benson says of his living area on the south end of the mural-adorned building that was once a freight depot but has been long abandoned. “One of the rooms is pretty much like a little apartment,” he says. “It’s 13 by 16, big enough for one person.” click to enlarge The Cotton Belt building near the riverfront, just north of The Arch.
It gets cold, Benson says, but with the help of a small propane heater and an antique wood burning stove, he manages. Benson says that he initially moved into the building with the permission of the people who owned it at the time, but he has trouble getting in contact with the building’s current owner Justine Petersen Properties. It took him two years “off and on” to build the space into what it is now. Benson signed onto the lawsuit as a plaintiff because he’s stayed on state-owned land in the past and is likely to in the future. “Sure homeless people do create problems,” he says. “But it’s nothing like so that they need to herd us around like a bunch of cattle, which is pretty much how they treat us.” We welcome tips and feedback. Email the author at [email protected] or follow on Twitter at @RyanWKrull. Coming soon: Riverfront Times Daily newsletter. We’ll send you a handful of interesting St. Louis stories every morning. Subscribe now to not miss a thing.Follow us: Google News | NewsBreak | Reddit | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter
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Local News
Fenton Man Charged in Sword Attack on Roommate
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A warrant is out for a Fenton man’s arrest after he allegedly attacked his roommate with a sword.
Police say that on Sunday, Angelus Scott spoke openly about “slicing his roommate’s head” before he grabbed a sword, raised it up and then swung it down at the roommate.
The roommate grabbed Scott’s hand in time to prevent injury. When police arrived at the scene, they found the weapon used in the assault.
The sword in question was a katana, which is a Japanese sword recognizable for its curved blade.
This isn’t the first time a samurai-style sword has been used to violent effect in St. Louis. In 2018, a man hearing voices slaughtered his ex-boyfriend with a samurai sword. His mother said he suffered from schizoaffective disorder.
As for Scott, 35, the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office was charged yesterday with two felonies, assault first degree and armed criminal action. The warrant for his arrest says he is to be held on $200,000 bond.
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Caught on Video, Sheriff Says He’s Ready to ‘Turn It All Over’ to Deputy
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Video of St. Louis Sheriff Vernon Betts taken by a former deputy suggests that the sheriff has a successor in mind to hand the reins of the department over to, even as Betts is in an increasingly heated campaign for reelection.
“I ain’t here for all this rigmarole,” Betts says in the video while seated behind his desk at the Carnahan Courthouse. “The Lord sent me here to turn this department around and I’m doing the best I can and I think I’ve done a good job. I’ve got about eight months and I’m going to qualify for my fourth pension.”
He goes on, “Right now I can walk up out of here and live happily ever after and forget about all this…and live like a king.”
The sheriff then says his wife has been in Atlanta looking at houses and that the other deputy in the room, Donald Hawkins, is someone Betts has been training “to turn it all over to him.”
Asked about the video, Betts tells the RFT, “My future plans are to win reelection on August 6th by a wide margin and to continue my mission as the top elected law enforcement official to make St. Louis safer and stronger. Serving the people of St. Louis with integrity, honor and professional law enforcement qualifications is a sacred responsibility, and I intend to complete that mission.”
The video of Betts was taken by Barbara Chavers, who retired from the sheriff’s office in 2016 after 24 years of service. Chavers now works security at Schnucks at Grand and Gravois. Betts’ brother Howard works security there, too.
Chavers tells the RFT that she was summoned to Betts’ office last week after Betts’ brother made the sheriff aware that she was supporting Montgomery. It was no secret: Chavers had filmed a Facebook live video in which she said she was supporting Betts’ opponent Alfred Montgomery in the election this fall. “Make the judges safe,” she says in the video, standing in front of a large Montgomery sign on Gravois Avenue. “They need a sheriff who is going to make their courtrooms safe.”
In his office, even as Chavers made clear she was filming him, Betts told Chavers he was “flabbergasted” and “stunned” she was supporting Montgomery.
“I don’t know what I did that would make you go against the preacher man,” he says, referring to himself. He then refers to Montgomery as “ungodly.”
Betts goes on to say that not long ago, he was walking in his neighborhood on St. Louis Avenue near 20th Street when suddenly Montgomery pulled up in his car and, according to Betts, shouted, “You motherfucker, you this, you that. You’re taking my signs down.”
Montgomery tells the RFT that he’s never interacted with Betts outside of candidate forums and neighborhood meetings.
“I don’t think anyone with good sense would do something like that to a sitting sheriff,” Montgomery says.
Montgomery has had campaign signs missing and on at least two occasions has obtained video of people tearing them down. (Chavers notes that the sign that she filmed her original Facebook video in front of is itself now missing.)
One man who lives near Columbus Square says that he recently put out two Montgomery signs, which later went missing. “If they keep taking them, I’ll keep putting them up,” he said.
Betts says he has nothing to do with the missing signs. In the video Chavers filmed in Betts’ office, Betts says that his campaign isn’t in a spot where it needs to resort to tearing down opponents’ signs.
“If you sit here long enough, a man is getting ready to come across the street from City Hall bringing me $500, today,” Betts says. “I’m getting that kind of support. I don’t need to tear down signs.”
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St. Louis to Develop First Citywide Transportation Plan in Decades
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The City of St. Louis is working to develop its first citywide mobility plan in decades, Mayor Tishaura Jones’ office announced Tuesday. This plan seeks to make it easier for everyone — drivers, pedestrians, bikers and public transit users — to safely commute within the city.
The plan will bring together other city projects like the Brickline Greenway, Future64, the MetroLink Green Line, and more, “while establishing new priorities for a safer, more efficient and better-maintained transportation network across the City,” according to the release.
The key elements in the plan will be public engagement, the development of a safety action plan, future infrastructure priorities and transportation network mapping, according to Jones’ office.
The overarching goals are to create a vision for citywide mobility, plan a mixture of short and long-term mobility projects and to develop improved communication tools with the public to receive transportation updates. In recent years, both people who use public transit and cyclists have been outspoken about the difficulties — and dangers — of navigating St. Louis streets, citing both cuts to public transit and traffic violence.
To garner public input and participation for the plan, Jones’ office said there will be community meetings, focus groups and a survey for residents to share their concerns. The city will also be establishing a Community Advisory Committee. Those interested in learning more should check out at tmp-stl.com/
“Everyone deserves to feel safe when getting around St. Louis, whether they’re driving, biking, walking or taking public transit,” Jones said in a news release. “Creating a comprehensive transportation and mobility plan allows us to make intentional and strategic investments so that moving around St. Louis for jobs, education, and entertainment becomes easier, safer and more enjoyable.”
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