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Homeless advocate holding 'Freedom Festival' in Cape on July 4, 5Sunday, June 28, 2009From dawn July 4 to sundown July 5, the Rev. Larry Rice and supporters will occupy Indian Park at the intersection of William and Lorimier streets to demonstrate the need for homeless services in Cape Girardeau. Rice hasn't given up on his plan to convert the federal building at 339 Broadway into a homeless shelter providing emergency assistance and longer-term transitional housing. The proposal was rejected May 29 by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, but Rice said Friday he intends to file papers soon in federal court challenging the decision. And to silence critics of his plan, who have used arguments that Cape Girardeau already has adequate programs for the homeless, Rice's New Life Evangelistic Center will provide the kinds of services it does at many of its other installations over the Independence Day weekend, he said. "We will be communicating the need for a shelter somewhere in Cape Girardeau and be there for the community," Rice said. "We want to be out there where they can get a lot of help without a lot of red tape." The events in Indian Park will combine elements of Rice's programs for renewable energy, free stores and homeless assistance. He is calling it a "Freedom Festival" and plans to distribute free food and clothing and provide demonstrations of alternative energy, including solar cooking, photovoltaic solar power and hydrogen boosters for automobiles. "We simply want to help people," Rice said. "We want to provide direct help in a very tangible way. There is a need in the community, and I wish that city officials would recognize that need." As work progressed on the new Rush H. Limbaugh Sr. U.S. Courthouse at 555 Independence St., Cape Girardeau County officials kept their sights on obtaining the federal building the courthouse would replace. But under federal law, applications to use surplus federal property as homeless shelters have priority over other uses. Rice applied under that law in early May, but Health and Human Services rejected his request. In the letter detailing the reasons, the department said the application failed to show how he planned to coordinate services, failed to demonstrate a sufficient need, proposed a timeline for implementing the programs that was too slow and didn't show the financial strength to make good on its promises. In response to Rice's application, Mayor Jay Knudtson mobilized political, community and religious leaders to oppose it. The criticisms of Rice's application ranged from complaints that it misquoted or misrepresented the views of some area service providers to questions about the number of truly homeless people in the area. Knudtson also, through a weekly meeting with service agencies, revived a plan for nine dwellings for families trying to make the transition from homelessness. Knudtson was not available for comment. Rice said he continues to be helped in local efforts by Deborah Young, president of the recently revived Southeast Missouri chapter of the NAACP. And he said he will continue to target Cape Girardeau until the city has services meeting local needs. "The mayor called together these agencies, refused to recognize the need, and they were patting each other on the back for what a good job they were doing," Rice said. "Those needs continue to keep growing both because of the economic situation and the ongoing needs we have as a society. Until there is a recognition of the need, there is no viable solution. That is not acceptable." Young could not be reached for comment. 388-3642 Pertinent addresses: Indian Park, Cape Girardeau, MO 339 Broadway, Cape Girardeau, MO 555 Independence St., Cape Girardeau, MO
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Rev. Larry Rice cares about people and all Mayor Knudtson cares about is money and more money
Cape guy you obviously don't know about Rev. Rice and his "helping" people.
Well at least you can see what we deal with on a daily basis. Make sure your cops are out in force, and ask if Larry has a permit to be doing this.
Oh and don't forget to ask exactly "where" your newly "found" homeless are from. Rice will provide the kind of "services" available at all of his other shelters....
Like this one...
06/26/2009
ST. LOUIS -- A homeless man, Robert Gamble, 49, was convicted Wednesday of first-degree murder in the stabbing of another homeless man at the New Life Evangelistic Center near downtown on Feb. 12, 2008. Witnesses said Gamble, who had been beaten outside the shelter earlier that day, was looking for revenge when he killed Jeremy Dunlap, 21. Both were staying at New Life. Gamble claimed self defense and testified that Dunlap had been among the crowd that assaulted him. A St. Louis jury also found Gamble guilty of armed criminal action. He faces life in prison without parole when sentenced Aug. 28.
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/st...
"LOL"
What does photovoltaic solar power and hydrogen boosters for automobiles have to do with being homeless. I could see that maybe solar cooking might let someone fix a meal,But the rest of it is BULL-DOO. The next thing is if he's gonna give out free food there are some folks that will stop by just for the food they'll call their family & friends and let them know old Larry is feeding them for the 4Th. The Cape PD sure will have their hands full over the July 4TH weekend.
Oh Good Grief! When is this going to end? What are they going to do? Get 500 people to come down from St. Louis to pitch tents in the park?? I'll be there with full sasquatch gear! I wanna capture one just to see if they truely exist. Watch out Rice! I'll be one in the pith helmet and zoo keeper cloths, carrying a set of binoculars and a big butterfly net.
What does photovoltaic solar power and hydrogen boosters for automobiles have to do with being homeless.
-- Posted by Keep-On-Truckin on Sun, Jun 28, 2009, at 6:02 AM
Nothing, but it helps to cash in on the Al Gore crusade and make millions.
"He is calling it a "Freedom Festival" and plans to distribute free food and clothing and provide demonstrations of alternative energy, including solar cooking, photovoltaic solar power and hydrogen boosters for automobiles."
?? LOL! I just caught this! Thanks Keep-On-Truckin.
We'll as an evil genius myself, that looks like the ingredients for World Conquest. God, I have competition. Looks like I'll have to up my game. Back to work on the Reality Bomb.
Maybe Rice needs to teach the homeless how to WORK for what they get.....
If people have a roof over their head in a form of a automobile then is one truely homeless?
After having their car fitted with this technology they can probably go across the nation on gallon of water.
Next they will be introducing solar powered flashlights that can only be used when harnessing the power of the sun.
Thanks for the info Stlresident. I am POSITIVE that you are right about the "newly found homeless". I am POSITIVE that Rice will provide transportation for them to come here from St. Louis, Springfield, and where ever else he has shelters just to try to get the Federal building. I hope that Cape PD can handle this. As for me... I plan on going to Arena Park for the fourth, and relaxing in my back yard on the fifth :-)
good grief
what's it going to take to get rid of Rice?
Larry Rice obviously only cares about Larry Rice. Unfortunately I will be out of town, but I sincerely hope Rice gets the protest against him he so richly deserves. And instead of rhetoric, it's long past time Rice put his money where his mouth is. If "local needs" aren't being met, prove it. The City has already offered proof via statements of the existing shelters that they have more than enough space. Time for Rice to prove local needs aren't being met. Here's a clue: he can't. That's why his application was rejected. If he could have proved his claims, he would have done so in the application. He couldn't.
Hey, good idea, purpleposiedtoe ... Rice should have gotten some hard facts about employment opportunities in Cape to distribute to his potential homeless customers. Wouldn't it be good to know how many of his homeless actually have obtained employment, found housing, etc., in any given year?
Suspecting that if he's arranged for homeless from other areas to attend this event, he's made sure they're clean, at least semi-literate, sober and drug-free, and able to convince some people that they're just temporarily down on their luck and just need a little help to get back on their feet.
Hopefully, everyone who is against Rice's proposed shelter will not end up creating bad scenes ... which is probably exactly what he is counting on. There is no other reason I can think of for him to be doing this ... He already knows that apparently the majority of Cape's residents and officials are aware that his shelter is not needed or wanted ... He is not doing this to convince anyone to support him. A nice little bit of bad publicity caused by his opponents is just what he might be counting on. This is not a stupid man ...
"Maybe Rice needs to teach the homeless how to WORK for what they get....."
-- Posted by purpleposiedtoe on Sun, Jun 28, 2009, at 10:56 AM
Great idea! Bring'em all here so they can run for political offices here in Cape County.
What is with this Larry Rice? What part of "NO" do you not understand?
Interesting... we had about 7 tents dumped in Lucas park here in St. Louis today just lying on the sidewalk. Looks like Larry's gearing up to make an encampment down there.
Does he have a permit to do a camp out in your parks?
Thanks for pointing that out, WOBBLE ...
Just think what a million or so could do in the right place, used in the right way ...
How (and when) did it happen that our government decided to not only give priority to those wanting to open a homeless shelter, but to actually give the buildings away for free? Our tax dollars built them ... they should be sold to the highest bidder, seems like. And the community should have the right to some input about how they would be used, since their use might affect the area.
Is it legal to set up tents and/or spend the night in Cape's parks?
Not legal without some sort of permit from Parks and Recreation. Larry tries the same stuff up here all the time. Usually some nominal fee is required to obtain a permit, typically in advance. Oh and those permits can be revoked.
Sounds like a good weekend for me to leave town. I am sure that Rice in his own mind thinks he's doing good things....but the number of homeless in this town is virtually 0. Sure, there are kids that were thrown out of their parents home. There need to be laws against parents who refuse to support their kids. I turned away a 17 year old who was kicked out of his mother's house and he said he wasn't allowed to go to his father's house. I told him to go make peace with his mother and that if he ever showed up here again, I would call the division of family services.