Orlando's charity free zone

Libby Spencer

Via Avedon, here's a charming story to brighten up a Christian holiday. Eric Montanez, was arrested in Orlando, FL for assault and battery on hunger in homeless people, by use of a deadly weapon - a ladle. Montanez, a member of that dangerously subversive group, Food not Bombs, was caught as result of undercover surveillance and arrested after officers filmed him doling out food to hungry people.

Police reportedly "collected a vial of the stew Montanez was serving as evidence."

The Orlando law, which is supported by local business owners who say the homeless drive away customers but has been challenged in court by civil rights groups, allows charities to feed more than 25 people at a time within two miles of Orlando city hall only if they have a special permit. They can get two permits a year.

Well isn't that great. Feeding the hungry once every six months ought to hold them.

Leaving aside the discriminatory and inhumane aspects of the law, it's only a misdemeanor charge. It raises the question, why the hell are police officers conducting undercover sting operations over this in the first place? The case isn't worth the cost of the vial in which they stored the evidence. Shouldn't they be spending their time looking for thieves and terrorists or something?