Bobby Herring, a missionary and Christian rapper, says his homeless outreach program he and his wife run is in jeopardy after health officials in Houston shut it down because they did not have a permit to serve food. After 15 months of serving meals to the area’s homeless, Herring’s “Feed a Friend” program is closed by the Health and Human Services Department.
Kathy Barton, a spokeswoman for the Health and Human Services Department, says that the Herrings have not pursued a permit to serve food. "The Houston Food Ordinance applies the same standards of food preparation and service for free food and purchased food," Barton said. "We do not have different standards of sanitation and food protection for poor people than those for people with money."
In Herring’s defense, he himself says, “The homeless are hungry. It’s freezing in Houston now, and the city doesn’t have to deal with it…The thing is, I think it’s sad that in order to give food to the homeless, we have to have a permit."
Personally, I am a bit torn. I understand Barton’s views that we cannot and should not bend the laws for such situations, especially since this deals with the public's health and since the Herrings are basically giving out food illegally. But then again, as Herring states, "It's just out of love." Their intentions are not to rebel against health laws; they are merely doing the homeless in Houston a favor by providing them hot meals, and I don’t see anything wrong with that.
6 comments:
This is unbelievable! This guy wasn't hurting anyone and in fact, he was helping a lot of people. Ok, if I was a health official and I didn't want to bend the law, I would just hand Herring a permit and shake his hand. I think that particular law was poorly thought out.
Honestly, I don't think there's a "side" to truly take. Herring is doing a great service and is to be commended greatly for his love towards those in Houston who are without, especially in the winter when the conditions are worse than usual. However, Barton does have a point. If we look at the legislation without factoring in the situation (because as we learned in Friday's class, the legislation is what is most important so the individual involvements don't reeeally matter), then it's obvious Barton is correct. The law says that those who serve food need to have a permit. If Barton and his wife were just doing this sporadically, I'm sure the legislation would be more cloudy on this issue, but I think that Barton handled this correctly. I admire what Herring and his wife are doing for their community, but I'm sure they'll comply with the application of the permit. Now, if there are things that the law requires that are inherently unlawful or ridiculous, people need to take up those issues and correct them. But if we think of the legislation, it's simply what it says. Because if we thought of a situation where someone was also serving food, but even as he/she was doing a good service was also spreading the flu or running a drug cartel, we'd want it shut down for obvious reasons. So I think this is a good situation to see the workings of legislation.
Doing a good thing, but not following procedure. Situations like this are tough because the rule and what seems "right" are conflicting. But I think even so, it's best to uphold procedure, because if everyone's willing to bend it for what they think is right that defeats the point of law in the first place.
Read the rules, or attempt to change them if they're bad, but acting "out of love" doesn't excuse you from them.
That said they definitely are just trying to help out and I hope they find a way to continue doing so.
I agree with Rita. I'm torn about whether they should be allowed to serve food or not. I understand that he is doing a good deed by helping people that are not able to get simple things like food. However, I understand Kathy Barton's objections. The public's safety is her main concern, as it should be. Although I doubt the Herrings are going to jeopordize these peoples lives, issuing a permit assures the people that what they are being served is safe.
I agree with alice. It is nice and all but the rules are there for a reason. Probably not likely but what if Herring was secretly running a drug cartel as well in between the meals he served? That could be a reason why he was hesitant to pursue a permit. It is just strange as to why he hasn't acquired a permit considering that he probably received warnings before he was officially shut down. The law is there for a reason and it is to avoid any other complications. It is for his safety and for the public's safety.
Wow, I don't understand why Barton would not let this slip. Herring was only doing good deeds that will better help our society. Aren't our laws meant for helping the people? Well I guess the Health Officials think otherwise. Hopefully Herring can get his permit so he can start his food donations back again.
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