Hawaii MP ‘solves’ homeless problem with sledgehammer

[Tony Gosling]

Hawaii lawmaker 'solves' homeless problem by destroying their stuff 
with a sledgehammer

By David Edwards
Tuesday, November 19, 2013 12:11 EST
Hawaii state Rep. Tom Brower (Hawaii News Now)


http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/11/19/hawaii-lawmaker-solves-homeless-problem-by-destroying-their-stuff-with-a-sledgehammer/

A Democratic state representative in Hawaii says he wanted to do 
something constructive to solve the state's homeless situation so he 
has taken to the streets and is destroying people's possessions with 
a sledgehammer.

"I got tired of telling people I'm trying to pass laws," state Rep. 
Tom Brower 
<http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/story/24003737/lawmaker-hammers-home-his-homeless-solution>told 
Hawaii News Now. "I want to do something practical that will really 
clean up the streets."

Brower showed the TV News crew how he scours streets for shopping 
carts that homeless people use to transport their belongings and then 
and uses a sledgehammer to destroy them.

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"I find abandoned junk, specifically shopping carts, and I remove 
them," he explained. "I also create a situation where those carts 
can't be pushed around the city. I think it's a good thing."

Mental Health America of Hawaii Executive Director Marya Grambs said 
that Brower's tactics were sending the wrong message.

"His message to the public is that it's okay to commit acts of 
violence against homeless people, against vulnerable people. It's 
okay for vigilante justice," she noted.

And Connie Mitchell of the Institute for Human Services pointed out 
that the practice could be dangerous for everyone involved.

"There are some people who are not that stable and maybe 
drug-affected that could really react to him," Mitchell said.

Brower insisted to Hawaii News Now that he had not yet taken a 
shopping cart out of the hands of a homeless person, but he didn't rule it out.

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In the end, the sledgehammer-wielding lawmaker did not explain how 
destroying shopping carts would reduce homelessness.

Watch this video from Hawaii News Now, broadcast Nov. 18, 2013.
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