http://www.newhavenadvocate.com/article.cfm?aid=13612
Soup Kitchen, or Picnic?
The activists of Middletown's Food Not Bombs insist they're simply
sharing their food, not feeding the hungry
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
By Daniel D'Ambrosio

Food Not Bombs — a grassroots group active in 1,000 cities worldwide
according to co-founder Keith McHenry — characterizes the vegan food
they serve at the corner of Main and Liberty streets in Middletown every
Sunday at 1 p.m. as the equivalent of a picnic, and everyone is invited
to attend. No strings attached.

The group does have a political message to go along with their meals —
that governments worldwide should spend less on defense and more on
providing "food security" for their citizens.

"We don't prescribe to any grand overarching message except that food is
a right, not a privilege," says Abe Bobman, a sophomore at Wesleyan
University. "We're just cooking a meal and sharing it for free."

That's not how the Middletown Health Department sees it, however. They
say Food Not Bombs is serving food just like a soup kitchen or a
restaurant, and therefore must prepare that food in a certified kitchen.

"No one is quibbling with the service they're providing to
underprivileged citizens," says Geen Thazhampallath, aide to Middletown
Mayor Sebastian Guiliano. "But the way you get to that [meal], you have
to go through the right steps."

The philosophical disagreement between the city of Middletown and Food
Not Bombs has escalated to the point of litigation, with the city
issuing a cease and desist order in May when FNB kept serving food after
being told informally to stop. FNB countered with a federal lawsuit
asking for an injunction against the cease and desist order.

"The main point of the lawsuit and the political position of the
organization and plaintiffs is that Food Not Bombs is not serving food
in the manner the health code seeks to regulate," says attorney
Elizabeth Conklin of Hartford law firm Livingston, Adler, Pulda,
Meiklejohn and Kelly. "Instead Food Not Bombs is a political
organization engaged in First Amendment-protected expressive activity."

Nice try, says Thazhampallath, but the city of Middletown isn't buying it.

"I don't think we can pick and choose who we enforce the health codes
for," he says. "Their cause is admirable. All we're asking is that they
also try to honor the structures we've put in place to guard public health."

In late April, two FNB members were given $100 citations, and on May 3
Bobman was arrested on a criminal misdemeanor charge of violating a
health department order and fined $300, plus possible jail time.

Diane Polan, a criminal defense attorney representing Bobman, called his
arrest an "outrage," adding she would be shocked if the city didn't
quickly settle the case.

"What they're doing is arresting people as a way of chilling them in
their First Amendment activities," says Polan. "[Bobman] is facing
criminal charges, he has to go to court, he has to have a lawyer, he's
potentially facing jail. I think it's really offensive the police
department is being enlisted by the health department to punish people."

But Thazhampallath says calling in the cops was a last resort.

"The health department had tried many attempts to deal with the
situation more informally," he says. "It escalated to the point where
they had to issue a citation."

It's not the first time FNB activists have been arrested. Co-founder
McHenry, speaking from his home base in Taos, N.M., said the city of San
Francisco made more than 1,000 arrests of FNB volunteers between 1988
and 1997 with the last 700 of those arrests coming for "felony
conspiracy to serve free food in violation of a court order."

"Every couple of years there will be a round of arrests," says McHenry.
"But what's new about Middletown is this is the first time we received
orders to stop serving statewide."

McHenry said he received an e-mail from the state Department of Public
Health demanding he tell the five FNB chapters in Connecticut — in
Hartford, Middletown, New Britain, New Haven and Danbury — to stop
serving, but he couldn't produce a copy of that e-mail.

Diana Lejardi, spokeswoman for the Department of Public Health said she
was not aware of the department singling out FNB for enforcement, but
added, "We expect everyone to comply with the regulations. When you're
serving prepared foods, the regulations require you use a certified
kitchen."

Lejardi said a hearing scheduled for July 7 at the Department of Public
Health concerning Middletown FNB's appeal of the cease and desist order
has been continued to Aug. 11. But Attorney Goselin is trying to skip
over that hearing and go directly to federal court where their complaint
was filed.

"The city of Middletown has an outside law firm representing them with
respect to the federal complaint," says Goselin. "I had discussions with
them and everybody agrees it doesn't make sense to have this heard twice."

Last Sunday, the Middletown FNB had set up its folding table at the
corner of Main and Liberty and was serving vegan goulash from several
large aluminum pots. On the window ledge outside The Buttonwood Tree, a
string of Wesleyan students sat quietly eating. Here and there, other
people were stopping by to fill their bowls.

For now, to satisfy the Health Department, FNB has arranged to prepare
its meals in the certified kitchen of a nearby church. But Fred Carroll,
who has emerged as unofficial spokesman for Middletown FNB, said the
arrangement with the church, while appreciated, must not stand.

"This is a worldwide thing and probably 90 percent of the Food Not Bombs
organizations can't access a church," said Carroll. "That's a death blow
for Food Not Bombs if they have to use a certified kitchen."

--
Dan Clore

My collected fiction: _The Unspeakable and Others_
(Wait for the new edition: http://hplmythos.com/ )
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Skipper: Professor, will you tell these people who is
in charge on this island?
Professor: Why, no one.
Skipper: No one?
Thurston Howell III: No one? Good heavens, this is anarchy!
-- _Gilligan's Island_, episode #6, "President Gilligan"