Page 4 - Florida Sentinel 2-10-17

Features
Vacant Longshoremen’s Building Used As ‘Hotel’ By Homeless Men
2 homeless men had been charging other homeless people $3-$5 per night to live there
Two homeless men were arrested last month after they allegedly entered a building by breaking in through a rear entrance.
The building, formerly the Tampa Maritime Association International Longshore- men’s Association Pension, Welfare and Vacation Fund office, is located at 1232 Cass St. It is currently owned by Tampa Housing Authority.
On the morning of Janu- ary 23, 2017, 7 a. m., officials of Tampa Housing Authority were contacted. They were told that according to a tip, a body was inside the building and they needed to gain entry. The officers of the Tampa Police Dept. were al-
DENNIS ROACH
lowed into the building and found some homeless people had taken up residence there, but there was no body. Those inside were arrested and taken to jail.
One of those arrested had entered the building through a back door. A section to the back fence had been cut out to gain entry, but it could be replaced from the inside so you could not tell it had been
JEREMY COHEN
removed.
The culprits had removed
the lock on the door and re- placed it with their own. It is also alleged that the man who broke into the building was charging other homeless peo- ple $3 - $5 per night to stay in the building. However, they had to be out by 7:30 a. m. the following morning.
Damage to the building was estimated to be more
The ILA Pension Building where homeless men were charging others to spend the night. (Photograph by BRUN- SON)
than $3,000, and some toi- lets inside the building had also been smashed.
Arrested were: Dennis Roach, 59, who remains jailed under a $2,000 bond; and Jeremy Brandon Cohen, 34, has posted a $4,000 bond and has been
released. Both men were charged with burglary of an occupied dwelling and crimi- nal mischief. They were also given trespass warnings for the property.
After the arrests, Tampa Housing secured the building and replaced the locks.
Protesters Take To The Streets During Trump’s Visit To MacDill Air Force Base
BY KENYA WOODARD Sentinel Feature Writer
Donna Davis rose early Monday morning to take her place on the sidewalk just steps away from McDonald’s on Gandy Boulevard.
The restaurant is less than a mile from MacDill Air Force Base, where Presi- dent Donald Trump vis- ited with troops and military command on Monday, his first trip to Tampa since his election last November.
Davis, however, wasn’t
there to cheer Trump’s re- turn. Instead, she and dozens of protesters waved signs reading “Trump is a Diabolical and Pathological Liar” and “Trump Not My POTUS” and shouted rally cries contesting the com- mander-in-chief’s actions in the last week, including a travel ban against visitors from seven majority-Muslim countries.
Normalization of Trump’s “reign of terror” must be stopped, said Davis, a co-founder of the
These protesters with signs.
Donna and Adebowalee carry a sign protesting against President Trump’s visit to MacDill AFB.
Black Lives Matter Tampa Bay Chapter and co-orga- nizer of the protest.
“He’s done things that have the potential to harm a lot of people,” he said. “He incites these things in the masses, rolling back the process.”
Michael Anderson,
community engagement di- rector for Allendale United Methodist Church in St. Pe- tersburg, echoed Davis’s sentiments.
“There are immigrants here that are not safe and they are scared,” said An- derson, a protest co-orga- nizer. “We’re here to say ‘Trump, your hate is not welcome in this city. We are a city of love and accept- ance’.”
During his visit to MacDill – the headquarters for U. S. Central Command, also known as CENTCOM – Pres. Trump defended his immigration policies and reaffirmed his support for NATO after eating lunch with members of the armed forces, according to the As- sociated Press.
Another co-organizer Dezeray Lyn said she be- lieves Trump’s visit is more about smoothing over ten- sions that have surfaced after last month’s “badly botched” CENTCOMM spe- cial operations forces on an al-Qaida compound in Yemen. Chief Special Warfare Operator William “Ryan” Owens, of Peoria, Ill., was killed.
“We’re here to let him know there is resistance,” said Lyn, a spokeswoman for Tampa-based Love Has No Borders – Refugee Soli- darity. “Most of this country is united against what Trump is doing.”
Peter Ckianchian in his military gear was at the site of the protest.
Davis said she’s con- cerned that Trump’s tactics are harboring “on the brink of war.”
But it’s not too late to move the country away from that direction, she said.
“There are choices we can still make,” she said. “We can hold him accountable to the will of the people.”(Pho- tos by BRUNSON)
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