Retaliation Against ACORN Comes
In Form of Bogus City Charges

At 11:00 yesterday morning an environmental crimes detective came to the ACORN office to serve warrants to appear in court related to a peaceful protest held by residents in East Baltimore who had been calling about bulk trash problems for years.

Said Willie Ray, an ACORN leader, "If people were so disorderly why weren't they arrested on the scene?" ACORN is a non-violent group which does direct actions. The organization cooperated completely with police at the scene and neighborhood residents helped to load up the trash truck when it came to the scene.

The officer said that "when Mayor O'Malley and Commissioner Norris" see events such as ACORN's on the news they have to take action. After serving the warrants the officer asked ACORN to meet with him next Monday to work out a plan to attack the trash problem with the mayor's liason. ACORN members are currently considering the request, given that the same officer is accusing ACORN of "inciting a riot."

The same officer determined who to arrest for the incident by calling the ACORN office and asking to speak to an organizer who was at the event. Noone remembers meeting the officer at the scene of the event. Said Willie Ray, "the truth about this incident will come out
and ACORN staffers will be vindicated. But the mayor is going to look like he is abusing his powers."

The trash which was exposed on Saturday included a piano that some residents said had been sitting in the lot for around twenty years.

"The mayor is just upset because we are continuing to point out how he has ignored our communities and taken us for granted," said Rose Taylor and East Side ACORN leader. In August of this year ACORN members met with George Winfield, the Director of Public Works and demanded a way to work together to attack specific bulk trash problems. Mr. Winfield flatly refused to work out a plan with the
organization. After months of trying to get the city to take notice on the East Side and after being told that the issue would have to be handled by another agency because the dumping was on private property ACORN members decided to take action.

Rose Taylor went on to say, "The mayor should be giving medals to residents who have decided to take action against illegal dumpers and slumlords. If trash was left in the mayor's neighborhood for years he would take action too-look what he did to the illegal telephone during his campaign."

Wille Ray, Co-Chair of ACORN and chair of the Park Heights
neighborhood said that the city has been ignoring low income
neighborhood's trash problems for years. "We need more than a clean sweep once every few months. We need real attention to our issues. We don't need any more lectures about the proper process, we need results. This is about the lives and health of the children in our community-instead of the mayor reaching out he is lashing out."

Said David Bramble, an ACORN leader who lives on 1747 Gorsuch, "I have been calling for eight years about the trash. It's a crime that my neighborhood has been ignored. This is retaliation for our action."
ACORN is a direct action, non-violent community group.

Two ACORN organizers were issued warrants to appear in court on charges of illegal dumping, disturbing the peace, disorderly conduct, and causing loud noises. ACORN plans to fight the charges and notes that an emergency vehicle was easily able to pass on Harford Road during the protest.

One of the charges is actually a felony carrying one year in jail or $10,000 in fines. That is for "dumping more than 100 pounds of trash."

Here is the Sun Brief About the situation:

In Baltimore City


Two ACORN employees charged after trash protest

Two employees of a city advocacy group were charged yesterday with littering, disturbing the peace and disorderly conduct in connection with a protest Saturday by Waverly residents who piled trash and debris on Harford Road, closing it for 25 minutes.

Aaron Sutton, 21, and Phillip Andrews, 23, of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) were served with criminal summonses at their Park Avenue offices about 11 a.m. yesterday, officials said.

ACORN leaders reacted angrily to the charges, saying the protest was peaceful and that residents were only calling attention to debris that the city had failed to remove from a neighborhood lot. "This is ridiculous," said Rose Taylor, an ACORN leader in East Baltimore. "We want to get the neighborhoods cleaned."

In charging documents filed in District Court, police said Sutton and Andrews "attempted to incite a riot by causing a large, rowdy crowd of citizens to form. ... This crowd prohibited the free flow of pedestrian and vehicle traffic."