***MEDIA RELEASE***

Town of Elkton Repeals Unconstitutional Loitering Law:
ACLU Calls on Officials to Make Amends for
Indefensible Homeless “Clearing”

CONTACT:
Meredith Curtis, ACLU of Maryland, 410-889-8555

Recognizing the unconstitutionality of a loitering ordinance enacted by the Town in June, the Elkton Town Commission voted unanimously last night to rescind the law—acting just days before the Town was due to answer in federal court to an American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit challenging the law as an attempt to criminalize homelessness.  Prior to filing suit, the ACLU had cautioned the Town that the proposed law was unconstitutional, but officials voted to pass it anyway, declaring that the new law would be aggressively enforced against violators.

“It’s a shame it took a lawsuit for the Town to recognize that it is unconstitutional to use a loitering law to jail people engaged in wholly innocent conduct,” said Matthew G. Summers, an attorney with Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll. “We’re pleased that Town officials now recognize – however belatedly -- that they don’t need a loitering law to prosecute individuals for offenses that are already real crimes. We hope the Town will now work constructively with the ACLU and local advocates toward finding solutions for the problem of homelessness, rather than wasting taxpayer resources harassing and punishing people just because they ask for help or have nowhere to go.”

In July, ACLU filed the lawsuit, captioned Wanda Archer, et al. v. Town of Elkton et al., on behalf of nine individuals who were living in the woods of Elkton during an illegal “clearing” of their campsite by Town employees in August 2006. The lawsuit challenges the Town’s raid of the campsite and trashing of the plaintiffs’ belongings as unconstitutional, seeking a permanent injunction to prevent similar police actions, as well as monetary damages. The plaintiffs also sought to invalidate the loitering law for vagueness and overbreadth, failure to provide notice to the public – or guidance to police -- about what conduct was prohibited, and exposure of homeless people to selective and inappropriate enforcement by police. The ordinance also violated First Amendment rights by imposing a blanket ban on panhandling in public, which is a protected free speech activity.

“Repeal of the loitering law is a big first step, but our pursuit of justice is far from over,” said ACLU of Maryland Legal Director Deborah A. Jeon. “The rights of Elkton’s poorest residents were discarded along with their belongings last summer when the Town senselessly seized and destroyed their clothes, medicine, and irreplaceable personal mementoes.  Town officials owe it to these residents to make amends now for this grave wrong.”

On August 23, 2006, Town employees – acting on orders of the local police – pulled up in early morning, without a warrant and with no notice, to destroy the meager belongings of a small group of homeless people living in the Elkton woods. Those items that were bulldozed and dumped as trash included tents, food, and sleeping bags donated by local churches. In addition, important documents such as birth certificates, Social Security cards, and drivers’ licenses were destroyed.  But the most devastating losses were of priceless and irreplaceable personal belongings, such as family heirlooms passed down from deceased relatives, photographs of now-grown children and deceased parents, Bibles, and wedding rings.

All of these items were destroyed after the homeless individuals had left the camp in the morning; police threatened those who realized what was happening and tried to salvage their belongings with arrest and $2,000 fines.  Many of those victimized by this action had no place else to live except the woods, as there were long waiting lists for shelter beds in Elkton.

The Town’s written response to the plaintiffs’ challenge to the loitering law was due in U.S. District Court tomorrow, and a hearing concerning that aspect of the case had been scheduled for September 17 before Federal Judge Catherine C. Blake.  The Town’s repeal of the law resolves only that portion of the lawsuit.

Plaintiffs in the lawsuit all are indigent residents or former residents of the Town of Elkton, who were living in the camp when it was illegally destroyed in August, 2006: Wanda Archer, Donnie Brewer, Christopher H. Brown, Rhonda Graves, James R. Hill, Mike Kuhn, Ronston Roberts, Nicolas Soots, and Bobby Sturgill.

The case is brought by the ACLU of Maryland in partnership with the law firm of Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll, LLP, working on a pro bono basis.   The plaintiffs are represented by Ballard Spahr attorneys Timothy F. McCormack, Matthew G. Summers, Jennifer E. Keyser, and Lisa M. Welsh, and by ACLU of Maryland Legal Director Deborah A. Jeon.

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