home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search
- <text id=92TT0719>
- <title>
- Apr. 06, 1992: American Notes:The Homeless
- </title>
- <history>
- TIME--The Weekly Newsmagazine--1992
- Apr. 06, 1992 The Real Power of Vitamins
- </history>
- <article>
- <source>Time Magazine</source>
- <hdr>
- NATION, Page 25
- American Notes
- THE HOMELESS
- Clearing The Air
- </hdr><body>
- <p> Street person Richard Kreimer won national attention--and a
- potful of cash--when he sued the public library in
- Morristown, N.J., over a patron code of conduct that banned
- homeless people with poor personal hygiene. But the self-styled
- "homeless Ralph Nader" found himself barred from the building
- once again last week when a federal appeals court in
- Philadelphia overturned his victory and upheld the right of
- public libraries to expel vagrants in certain circumstances. A
- lower court had said the rules were an infringement of Kreimer's
- First Amendment rights, but the three-judge appeals panel
- disagreed. Although the library is a public forum, it "need not
- be used as a lounge or a shelter," wrote Judge Morton I.
- Greenberg.
- </p>
- <p> Kreimer became a minor celebrity when he took Morristown
- to court in a separate action over alleged police harassment.
- Although town officials denied the charges, they settled his
- case for $150,000 rather than engage in a protracted and costly
- court action. Kreimer received an additional $80,000 payment two
- months ago from the library's insurance company, which chose to
- settle his claim before the appeals court issued its ruling.
- </p>
-
- </body></article>
- </text>
-
-