As most of you know, myself and several friends have been going around affluent towns with our “homeless” signs to call attention to people that the homeless CAN and ARE ordinary working poor-not just vagrants, and drug addicts.

Well, on Monday, I caused a big scene in Cheshire-especially with the authorities- who spent quite a bit of time driving up and down Rt. 10 “seeing what I was up to.”

On Wednesday morning-I had some free time before I had to go to work-and assembled a few friends and off we went to a very affluent Fairfield County town-I am not going to give the name because a problem occurred with the local authorities there and I don’t want nosy 500 Highland Avenue poking around!!

So at 9 a.m., myself and a man and woman friend decided to go to this “town” and sit near the Town Center with our “homeless sign”

Everything was going fine for about 15 minutes-then the police showed up-and THEY WERE NOT NICE!!

They asked us “what we were doing-and that if we were really homeless-why weren’t we in a shelter-and if we needed help to walk across the street to the town hall and they would help.”

The police told us that we were ‘distrupting traffic”and could cause an accident-so we would have to move (which we were going to do).

But just as we were going to move from the area-(and probably leave), one of my friends told the cops we were not really homeless-we were just calling attention to the situation-and trying to show that working people can be homeless.

Well, for some reason-this ticked off the cops that were there- (five) and they asked us for ID’s.

Luckily, I HAD my license on me-but one of my friends did not-and he got arrested for “causing a public disturbance”

Unfortunately, the woman I was with-NO NOT VALERIE remember her from Bank of America? got upset because the “man” that was with us was her spouse-did not have an ID either-started protesting that the arrest was illegal and stupidly started running back towards the officers and SHE GOT PEPPER STPRAYED!!

To make matters worse-I WAS STANDING NEAR HER AND GOT THE SPRAY-which really really burns. We both ended up going to a local walk in and having our eyes flushed out. NASTY.

My friend also did not have ID-she got arrested for interfering with a police officer-and ME-I ENDED UP LEAVING IN MY CAR!!

I did end up going over (after my eyes stopped burning and I could breathe again) and discussed the issue with the First Selectman’s office.

I must say they were VERY SYMPATHETIC-immediately contacted the Police Department to ask what had happened and sent a representative over to the Police Station to talk with the arrested party.

Well I know this definitely will end up in a lawsuit-because the conduct by the Police WAS OUT OF CONTROL!!

People in this country have a RIGHT to demonstrate-NO ONE WAS YELLING OR DOING ANYTHING-WE WERE JUST SITTING THERE!!

ITS TOO BAD THIS TOWN-WHICH IS OBVIOUSLY WORSE THAN CHESHIRE-DID NOT LIKE THE FACT THAT HOMELESS PEOPLE WERE IN THEIR TOWN!!

THEY MUST BE RELATED TO MAYOR BLOOMBERG IN NEW YORK CITY WHO IS ALSO TRYING TO GET RID OF HOMELESS FAMILIES BY BUYING THEM ONE WAY TICKETS OUT OF NEW YORK CITY!!

UNBELIEVABLE!!

Mayor Bloomberg claims it costs the city of New York $36,000 a year to help each homeless family and it is too expensive!!

Excuse me-WHAT DID THE CITY OF NEW YORK JUST SPEND ON A NEW YANKEE STADIUM??

THAT WAS NECESSARY SPENDING?? NO!!

Actually, though, I should not put Cheshire in the same category with THIS GOD AWFUL TOWN WE JUST HAD THE PROBLEM WITH-because I am sure the Cheshire Police Department-if they did not know me-would HAVE HELPED ME GET SHELTER IF I REALLY WAS HOMELESS-I KNOW THEY WOULD HAVE!!

It’s one thing to drive past someone several times-IT IS ANOTHER TO ACTUALLY ARREST SOMEONE FOR DOING NOTHING AND THEN PEPPER SPRAYING THEM TO BOOT!!

I KNOW THIS WILL PROBABLY BE ON THE NEWS-BECAUSE MY GIRLFRIEND WAS CALLING ALL THE NEWS MEDIA WHEN I LAST SPOKE TO HER!!

OUTRAGEOUS!!

And on top of it-because I wear contacts-my eyes really got red and I think they are infected-NOW I AM ON MY WAY TO MY DOCTOR BECAUSE I STILL HAVE THROBBING PAIN IN MY LEFT EYE!!

I will keep you posted and updated on this situation-but for now-I think my project is ON HOLD!!

Now IN OTHER NEWS:

I know you were all following the Joanne Newton Pool story THAT EVERYONE ELSE DECIDED TO FOCUS ON AFTER I HAD THE VIDEO ON THIS BLOG!!

COPY CATS!!!

Well, Ms. Newton who resides in a nice residential area in Cheshire wanted to offer private swim lessons from her home.

She constructed that polycarbonate glass enclosure that I showed you in the post “DEJA POOL”

and she even put up shrubbery on her abutting neighbors property to cut down on the view.

I don’t know Joanne personally, but when I took an interest in the story a few weeks ago after seeing some of the presentation she made to the P &Z, I decided to go over to her home and speak with her and film it-which I did.

I thought she did a nice job and I also said I understood the neighbors concerns regarding possible noise and traffic-but honestly-I did not see a aproblem with it and BELIEVE ME-MY NEIGHBORHOOD HAS PLENTY OF IN HOME BUSINESSES THAT ARE NOT KNOWN TO THE TOWN!!

WHO HAS A POTTERY CLASS-WHO DOES AUTO BODY WORK-ANOTHER FRIEND HAS A TEXAS HOLD-EM POKER PARTY EVERY FRIDAY NIGHT IN THEIR HOME AND PEOPLE PARK ALL OVER THE STREET-THE NEIGHBORS EVEN GO!!

AND NO-YOU KNOW WHO-IT IS NOT IN MY NEIGHBORHOOD!!

I guess it depends on the type of neighbors you have-I had a neighbor that had a videotaping business-which did not bother me-in fact I used their services–BUT WHEN I TRIED TO HAVE A DAYCARE IN MY HOME YEARS AGO-they were the first people bitching.

Well, that was the town also-these people were friendly with town goverment officials and let’s face it-at that time- I WASN’T GOING TO GET ANYTHING GRANTED TO ME FROM THIS TOWN-I THINK THINGS ARE DIFFERENT NOW-BUT BACK THEN-10 to 15 YEARS AGO-WE WERE ON THE RECEIVING END OF A LOT OF HARASSMENT!!

BUT THE STRONG SURVIVE!!!

These people don’t understand that I THRIVE ON THIS-I LOVE IT-I LOVE BUTTING HEADS WITH AUTHORITY- I LIVE FOR IT!!

So, to get back to Ms. Newton-her special application for an in home private swim lesson business-was denied according to the assistant town planner of Cheshire because the P and Z apparently felt that the polycarbonate glass pool enclosure that was to be “attached” to her home via a “enclosed vestibule” was NOT REALLY PART OF THE DWELLING-AND ZONING REGULATIONS STATE THAT THE HOME BUSINESS MUST BE IN THE HOME!!

Also, the P and Z (albeit two members DID VOTE FOR IT-I DON’T KNOW WHICH MEMBERS ACTUALLY DID), did not accept that a temporary barrier put up at the pool to make it look like only 25 percent of the pool was being used for the swim lessons-which is the regulation in Cheshire-no more than 25 percent of the home can be used for the business.

I did ask the assistant town planner why the glass enclosure was not located behind the house where it would not be visible from the street-she indicated there was a septic tank near the house so it was impossible to put it there-WELL THAT ANSWERS THAT OBVIOUS QUESTION!!

I feel bad for Ms. Newton, because it is unfortunate that here-a woman being honest- and going forward out in public with her idea was denied-with plenty of other people-in the low-being able to operate their home businesses because no one complains.

I am sure-Ms. Newton and her neighbors could have gotten together to strike up a deal-tried to mediate-but then again-some people are just plain dickheads!!

AND FINALLY-YOU ALL SAW THE SLATE OF CANDIDATES-SAME OLD STORY-NOW I AM MOBILIZING MY SUPPORTERS AND WE WILL BE OUT THIS FALL PROMOTING ONCE AGAIN-MY WRITE IN CANDIDACY FOR TOWN COUNCIL OF CHESHIRE!!

LET THE BATTLE BEGIN!!