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| THE HOMELESS DON'T HAVE TO GO HOME, BUT THEY CAN'T CAMP HERE IN LITTLE ROCK |
In August 2017, when Little Rock city leadership and the Little Rock Police Department were waging an all-out offensive against the homeless in the city and the organizations that help them, the Little Rock Board of directors passed a resolution proclaiming that Little Rock was an International City of Compassion.
This was poorly timed as a tourist in Arkansas from Italy had been murdered in Little Rock the previous month in the midst of one of the most violent years in the city's history and the offensive against the homeless was accelerating.
City leadership a few months earlier had tried to ban feeding the homeless by local church groups in public places. That proposed ordinance was tabled after a huge outcry by angry frustrated citizens.
Crusty City Director Dean Kumpuris made possible the most uncompassionate remark a city director has ever made. The hateful old fart stated that "it was a mistake to think that just giving some people some food accomplished anything".
After all, Dr. Kumpuris is a gastroenterologist and we are sure that he goes without meals quite often.
We challenge Kumpuris to live out in the rough for just a few days, and walking in the shoes of the city's homeless and leaving his cash and credit cards at his hovel overlooking the Arkansas River and the Big Dam Bridge. We suspect that his opinion about eating some handout food will change.
We wonder how many times he has volunteered to feed homeless and look into their faces and see what difference "some food" makes.
We doubt Dr. Kumpuris would have the balls to utter to the homeless what he did before the board. If he did, we suspect that "physician, heal thyself" would have a special meaning for him.
