Current Events > Alabama city says Mississippi city is dumping homeless on their streets

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://www.wjtv.com/news/state/an-alabama-city-says-a-mississippi-city-is-dumping-homeless-people-mississippi-city-denies-misdeeds/

The largest city in coastal Alabama claims police from a nearby Mississippi city are dropping off homeless people, sometimes after coercing them to go.

But Biloxi Mayor Andrew FoFo Gilich denies any wrongdoing, saying Biloxi is working with homeless shelters in Mobile, that no one has been taken against their will and that fewer than 20 people have been transported.

A Thursday letter from James Barber, chief of staff to Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson, suggests that Biloxi police are violating the civil rights of homeless people by saying they are breaking the Mississippi citys laws but then suggesting police can take them to Mobile. The letter asks Biloxi to stop the transports, and threatens that Mobile will call in federal officials to investigate civil rights violations if Biloxi doesnt stop.

Mobile, a city of 200,000 people, is about an hours drive east along the Gulf Coast from Biloxi, a city of 50,000 people noted as a casino destination.

Barber wrote that interviews with people brought to Mobile reveal a consistent pattern by Biloxi police officers.

Although an actual threat of arrest is never articulated, the clear connotation of the exchange leaves the homeless individual with no alternative but to be transported to Mobile or the possibility they may be arrested, Barber wrote.

Barber wrote that one homeless person overheard a Biloxi officer tell a co-worker he had taken more than 50 people to Mobile. Barber enclosed a photograph of a traffic surveillance camera showing a Biloxi police vehicle getting off Interstate 10 in downtown Mobile on Sept. 26.

Gilich wrote back on Friday that Mobile officials are misinformed. He said Biloxi has been working with two Mobile shelters since August 2022 that offer homeless persons numerous resources not available in our community. He said only two people have been taken to Mobile from Biloxi in 2023, and fewer than 20 since the program began. He said everyone taken to Mobile signed a consent form.

While it is true that some individuals have utilized the serves of the Mobile shelters, the inferences in your letter attributing some wrongdoing by our police department are incorrect, Gilich wrote, inviting Mobile officials to discuss the matter further.

In June, the Biloxi City Council rejected a permanent location for a soup kitchen after complaints from residents.

This is the same shit going on with California.

On the plus side, at least the homeless people dont have to be in Mississippi anymore.

Sure, I'd be up for seeing Biloxi and Mobile duke it out.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/0/1/3/AAfNgnAAE6s1.jpg

Alabamians and Mississippians have always battled it out one way or another. We're natural enemies.

A lot of small towns here are homeless dump off places, usually police that don't want to deal with them, so they drive them to the next town over and abandon them there so it isn't their problem any more.

Southernfatman posted...

Alabamians and Mississippians have always battled it out one way or another. We're natural enemies.

I hold here my Roll Tide beatin stick

Surely Kay Ivey can figure it out.

Smackems posted...

I hold here my Roll Tide beatin stick

Talk about a "crimson tide".

now they know how SF feels

divot1338 posted...

On the plus side, at least the homeless people dont have to be in Mississippi anymore.

Is it really an improvement to be in Alabama?

We got ourselves a Cleatus fight!

DrizztLink posted...

Is it really an improvement to be in Alabama?

Yes.

Smackems posted...

Yes.

It's like watching two dudes locked in barrels full of shit argue that their barrel is better.

Like, I don't care that his shit has a coarser consistency or whatever you're proud about regarding your barrel of shit, it's still a barrel of shit.

DrizztLink posted...

Is it really an improvement to be in Alabama?

Slightly.

DrizztLink posted...

It's like watching two dudes locked in barrels full of shit argue that their barrel is better.

Like, I don't care that his shit has a coarser consistency or whatever you're proud about regarding your barrel of shit, it's still a barrel of shit.

It's a low bar, but the bar is there.

DrizztLink posted...

It's like watching two dudes locked in barrels full of shit argue that their barrel is better.

Like, I don't care that his shit has a coarser consistency or whatever you're proud about regarding your barrel of shit, it's still a barrel of shit.

I'm not sure what you said but I'm glad you're on our side

DrizztLink posted...

Is it really an improvement to be in Alabama?

Yes.

Fun fact - I was in Mississippi when they finally ratified the Thirteenth Amendment

K181 posted...

Sure, I'd be up for seeing Biloxi and Mobile duke it out.

I don't think Biloxi would win that fight. Like half of the city is old people who are just there to gamble.

DrizztLink posted...

Is it really an improvement to be in Alabama?

I wouldn't say so. AL is the State that has ditches full of raw sewage and gets hook worm outbreaks from time to time. As far as I am aware as shitty as MS is it doesn't have a hookworm problem.