Thread: Video: An American Recovery: Police Restrain Hundreds of People Begging For Food

Video: An American Recovery: Police Restrain Hundreds of People Begging For Food As Officials Opt To Throw It In the Trash Rather Than Help

Mac Slavo
March 28th, 2013
SHTFplan.com
Comments (160)
Read by 7,300 people

When SunTrust Bank bank foreclosed on the Laney Supermarket grocery store, managers were left with thousands of pounds of food and nowhere to put it. So, they decided to move non-perishable items to the parking lot for those who might need it. As news of the give-away spread throughout the neighborhood, a crowd numbering in the hundreds quickly swooped in.

But the goods never made it into the hands of people who desperately needed, as local police barricaded the stockpile of food. They called in a disposal company and tossed every bit of it into the trash, angering many of those who had hoped they could take some of the food home.

“People have children out here that are hungry, thirsty, could be anything. Why throw it away when you could be issuing it out?” asked Robertstine Lambert.

The Marshal of Richmond County, Steve Smith, says the food wasn’t theirs to give away, so they had to trash it.

“We don’t have authority to take possession of the property; we just have to make sure that it’s handled, disposed of by law,” Smith, said
…
“These are brand new items; we saw the potential for a riot was extremely high,” said Sheriff Richard Roundtree.

Jennifer Santiago was forced to leave empty handed and she says trashing the merchandise is truly a waste.

“For them to do this is a low blow. A lot of people are sad, a lot of people aren’t going to have food to put on their table; this is ridiculous,” she said.

Source: WAFB



An American Recovery - Police Restrain Hundreds of People Begging For Food - YouTube

Nearly 100 million Americans are living on the edge of poverty and 47 million Americans have nowhere to turn but Uncle Sam to help put food on their tables through nutritional food assistance programs.

When a grocery store is giving away food that has no official owner what do benevolent government officials tasked to serve and protect do?

They look starving Americans in the face and throw the food in the trash.

Still think the government will help you should our financial, economic and political systems collapse? Still think they care about you or your children?

Think again.

Not a single official had the wherewithal to do what’s right and feed the hungry.

They were all just following orders.

Video: An American Recovery: Hundreds of People Restrained By Police As They Beg For Food; Officials Decide to Throw It In Trash Rather Than Help

Police Called To Laney Supermarket For Eviction


Mar 26, 2013 10:14 PM CDT
By Mike Miller, WJBF Reporter

Augusta, GA -***UPDATED at 11:10 P.M. on Tuesday, March 26th***

A historic grocery store in the Laney-Walker neighborhood has closed. Laney Supermarket, formerly known as Gurley's, shut down early Tuesday morning.

The grocery store is located on Laney Walker Boulevard between 9th street and Summer Street. Marshal's served an eviction notice at the market early Tuesda morning... then dozens of folks showed up hoping to take home what was left over.
The Marshal's Office says that when an eviction takes place, any property that is left inside of a building becomes public property. So when people in the Laney-Walker area heard that the food from the grocery store was being set outside, they all showed up thinking they could take what they wanted. But then things took a different turn.

Tuesday afternoon, hundreds of people were waiting outside of Laney Supermarket... all hoping to stuff garbage bags with free food. The merchandise was piled up outside of the building after the store owner was evicted early Tuesday morning. But before anyone could grab anything, the Sheriff showed up.

"The normal process is once law enforcement leaves, it becomes public property. But again, with 400 people out with items such as these. These were brand new items from the store. We saw that the potential for a riot was extremely high," says Sheriff Richard Roundtree.

Zenard Pryor, a frequent shopper there, says that before deputies got there, he was helping the store owner remove items from the building.

"So he said, man you know, I'm fixing to get rid of all of this stuff, man, as long as you work, I ain't got not money to pay you all and stuff, as long as you work, you can get anything that you see that you want. That's what he said. So me and the dudes, we all get together and started working, cleaning up the building and stuff. We didn't know that the Police were going to come in, and Roundtree are going to come in here and say throw everything in the trash. That's wrong, man," says Pryor.
Many of the people become angry when they realized the food being loaded up in dump trunks would be taken to a landfill.
"You could have took the food to the church, you could have took the food to the food bank, you could have took the food anywhere. You all just throwing the food away cause we hungry, we ain't got nothing," says Onlooker Cisro Wallace.

Pryor says he tried to tell Sheriff Roundtree about his deal with the store owner... but he says it didn't work.

"This is a blessing, you don't just take a blessing from somebody that needs it. Know what I'm saying? He might have all this money jumping in different trucks and stuff like that, but we can't. So let us get that little bit," says Pryor.
The Marshall's Office says there was an arrest made at the scene, although, they say it is unrelated to Tuesday's events.
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***POSTED at 6:25 P.M. on Tuesday, March 26th***
A historic Augusta supermarket closed its doors Tuesday morning. Laney Supermarket, formerly known as Gurley's shut down. The grocery store is located on Laney Walker Boulevard between 9th street and Summer Street.

The Richmond County Marshall's Office was there this morning to enforce an eviction. The Marshal's Office says that the tenant was being evicted by Sun Trust, the bank that owns the building.

Earlier this afternoon, word spread that the supermarket merchandise would be left outside of the building, and hundreds of people showed up to see if they could get some of the food. At that point, the Richmond County Sheriff's Office was called for crowd control.

Sheriff Richard Roundtree showed up at the Laney Supermarket to let the crowd know that the food would not be given away and that it was being hauled off to a landfill. That upset many of the bystanders, who say the food is needed in the inner-city Laney-Walker area. Many of them wanted to know why the food wasn't given to a homeless shelter or a food pantry.
Police Called To Laney Supermarket For Eviction - WJBF-TV ABC 6 Augusta-Aiken News, Weather, Sports

It is too bad all the perishable food was lost. Finally, someone with sense did something that was smart,Sheriff Roundtree and Company failed that test

Food Bank to receive items from evicted Augusta grocery store

By MEG MIRSHAKMORRIS NEWS SERVICE – updated Wednesday, March 27, 2013 - 10:46pm

Richmond County sheriff’s officers were called Tuesday to fend off crowds outside of Laney Supermarket hoping to make off with merchandise that had been set out during an eviction. (James Dobbs/Spotted)

Nonperishable groceries once destined for the Richmond County landfill after a Laney-Walker grocery store in Augusta was evicted Tuesday are heading to the Golden Harvest Food Bank.

Golden Harvest’s executive director, Travis McNeal, said Wednesday the groceries filled two trash bins and were stored overnight at a warehouse of Thompson Building and Wrecking, the company hired by the property owner for disposal.

Hiram Thompson, the president of Thompson Building and Wrecking, called Golden Harvest on Wednesday morning, McNeal said. Thompson had crews sort perishable from nonperishable items.

Golden Harvest trucks are expected to pick up the goods. They will be sorted and inspected before they are distributed to the hungry.“The food will go right out to the pantries,” McNeal said.McNeal does not know how much food was donated but said much of it was not salvageable.

Food Bank to receive items from evicted Augusta grocery store | Online Athens