Homeless veteran ticketed for scavenging through dumpster draws worldwide attention

A homeless man ticketed for sifting through a dumpster is drawing worldwide attention and shedding light on a Houston municipal law advocates are labeling nothing short of Draconian.

Barely a block from City Hall, James Kelly was searching for food last Thursday when an officer wrote him a citation for "disturbing the contents of a garbage can." Unable to pay the fine, the 44-year-old veteran is set to appear in court April 10 to make his case.

H omeless activists are rallying behind Kelly in droves, saying that he wouldn't have been picking through the trash were it not for the city's so-called "feeding ordinance."

But homeless activists are rallying behind Kelly in droves, saying that he wouldn't have been picking through the trash were it not for the city's so-called "feeding ordinance" — a bill that criminalizes giving food to the needy without a permit from the health department and written consent from the property owner.

Since the law passed in 2011, unlicensed charitable feeding now carries a fine up to $2,000 a day.

“James Kelly is a nine-year veteran of the Navy, who has fallen on hard times,” Randall Kallinen, the civil rights attorney representing Kelly, told KHOU Ch. 11. "[The ordinance] has increased their desperation, so they’ve got to search for food wherever they can."

On Tuesday, Kallinen acknowledged that the ticket was not linked to the new ordinance but instead had been written under a decades-old ordinance that prohibits scavenging, "However, it's the same reasoning - to push the homeless people out of the downtown business district," he told the Houston Chronicle.

In the past week, the story has gained attention from media sources as far away as London, helping Kelly to rally support against the city's restrictions.

"It lifts my heart to hear that people do care," the veteran explains to News 92 FM. "Because, all too often, you feel nobody gives a damn whether you live or die."

Watch the full KHOU report:

Kelly, picture third from the left, is a Navy veteran with nearly a decade of military service to his name.

homeless man, fined for searching trash bin for food, March 2013

Photo courtesy of KHOU Houston Channel 11

Kelly, picture third from the left, is a Navy veteran with nearly a decade of military service to his name.

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Classic car dealer rolls into Houston with massive Katy facility

Courtesy of Streetside Classics

Streetside's Katy location will be similar to its store in Fort Worth.

Classic car enthusiasts will soon have a new place to shop for vintage rides. Streetside Classics, a vintage car dealer with six locations nationwide, will open its seventh in Katy later this year.

Located at at 500 Commerce Pkwy, the 56,000-square-foot showroom will have enough space for more than 250 cars. The facility will house classic muscle cars such as Mustangs, Cudas, and Corvettes as well as classic trucks, SUVs, and other vehicles from the early 1900’s to contemporary exotics.

"When we started Streetside, we committed to a customer-first philosophy in an industry that desperately needed it," said Donna Mueller, co-founder and chairwoman of Streetside Classics, in a statement. "We’re excited to expand to a seventh location in a vibrant and fast-growing market like Houston. We hope to be a hub for the growing enthusiast community by hosting car shows, welcoming car clubs, and always being a place where you can come see that car your dad had.”

One way Streetside caters to buyers is with in-house lifts that allow shoppers to inspect a vehicle more thoroughly than simply opening the hood. In addition, the dealer offers financing, shipping, warranties, and a “low-pressure environment” to make buying and owning a classic car as easy as possible.

Ahead of the opening, Streetside is already accepting applications for consignment cars. Interested parties will find more information at the company’s website.

Mueller founded Streetside Classics in Charlotte, NC in 2008. Since then, the company has grown to six locations, including an outpost in Fort Worth. It sells more than 3,000 cars per year with revenues of over $1 billion annually, according to press materials.