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.

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."

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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Thanks, Queen Bey

Pop icon Beyoncé donates $100,000 to University of Houston Law School

Photo by Erza Shaw Getty Images

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Pop megastar Beyoncé Knowles-Carter has donated $100,000 to the University of Houston Law Center Criminal Justice Clinic through her BeyGOOD Foundation. The gift will allow the clinic to hire fill-time faculty to head it, benefiting the students who study there.

“I am delighted that the BeyGOOD Foundation has made this very generous gift to the UH Law Center,” said Leonard Baynes, dean of the UH Law Center. “Not only will this funding help establish a full-time criminal justice clinic that provides pro bono legal services in our community, but it will also supercharge our already excellent criminal law and justice programming.”

The clinic is one of nine at UHLC. It helps students learn to navigate the criminal justice system, especially on behalf of clients that are underserved by skilled attorneys. People of color are affected disproportionately by a lack of good, ethical representation.

Beyoncé, the most decorated artist in Grammy history and easily the biggest musical star native to Houston, has a long history of advocating for criminal justice reform. She was a staunch supporter of the police reform following the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, asking law enforcement to “stop killing us” in a web post. In 2020, she penned an open letter to the Kentucky attorney general asking for justice in the death of Breonna Taylor.

Through her BeyGOOD Foundation, established in 2013, Beyoncé has focused mostly on expanding the prospects of Black-owned business and offering education opportunities to students. Forwarding the cause of legal representation in Texas while also helping out marginalized communities compliments her other philanthropic work.

“At UH Law, we envision a legal profession where ‘everyone has the opportunity to prosper,’ as BeyGOOD envisions, and we will achieve this vision by providing access to strong and effective legal representation in criminal proceedings,” Baynes said. “And together, through this gift, the BeyGOOD Foundation and UHLC will shepherd the next generation of criminal justice attorneys in the city of Houston, the state of Texas and the nation.”