In memorium: Robert "Blindbear" Facer, Teepee visionary, Sleeping Ban opponent

 Personal reflections on Robert "Blind Bear" Facer by Becky Johnson

April 16, 2012

 Robert "Blindbear" Facer Jan 2010 photo by Becky Johnson

Santa Cruz, Ca. -- Amish minister, traveler, and Sleeping Ban opponent, Robert "Blindbear" Facer passed today after a brief hospitalization in Monterey.  Facer was 58 years old.  I met Robert Facer a few years ago and he immediately impressed me as being a unique character on the streets of Santa Cruz.  While he did enjoy the herb of choice, he never drank alcohol, and was always clear-headed and purposeful.

I never saw him when he wasn't barefoot with a raggedy hat with a feather stuck in it.  As an Amish minister, he refused to use modern transportation and would have to plan days in advance to visit Capitola or elsewhere.  He told us he came to Santa Cruz by coming down the coast in a canoe he'd made by hand.  He constantly ran into problems with law enforcement as he continued to attempt to build an Amish temple on the flood plane of the San Lorenzo River out of driftwood, and other natural materials.  He came to HUFF meetings, and patiently waited his turn for his item to come up on our agenda. It was always the same item: a teepee.

 Robert "Blindbear" Facer's teepee springs up at the start of Occupy Santa Cruz in October 2011. Photo by Donna Deiss

While HUFF officially endorsed his mission to build a teepee in Santa Cruz, we had little hope it would spring into being for longer than a few hours at best.  But when Occupy Santa Cruz moved its encampment to the northern end of the benchlands along the San Lorenzo River, Robert Facer, along with helpers Gail Page and his attorney, Ed Frey  got consensus from OSC to build an "art project" and within hours, the full size teepee was erected.

Robert Facer himself painted a red cross on the teepee, which to most indicated a medical tent.  I'm not sure that's what HE meant.  He then allowed others to decorate the exterior, with one restriction: no words.  I expected Robert, a homeless man, to move in and take residence in the teepee, but he never did.

It became a shelter for those who arrived who had nothing at all. It was cool, even in the hot sun as it provided shade but adequate ventilation. And it was easily closed to keep it fairly warm and comfortable after dark.  Facer used 22 bamboo poles and covered the exterior with a lightweight plastic covering used by growers for greenhouse operations. The end came when police crushed the encampment on December 8th 2011 and police trashed the teepee and Zach Friend announced in the press they had removed "8 tons of garbage."

Officer Inouye issues a $425 citation to Facer who didn't sing a word. photo by Becky Johnson

I have very few photos of him, despite his obvious photographic appeal. As an Amish man, he believed that allowing his photograph to be taken was wrong.  He asked me to not photograph him, so, that every time I DID photograph him, I was filled with guilt.  Now each photo is precious.

Facer was involved in two court cases that I am familiar with. First, Attorney Ed Frey took his sleeping ban ticket to court, and once convicted for sleeping out of doors while keeping an eye on his canoe, Frey took Facer's case on appeal.  In part, Ed Frey started his Peace Camp 2010 because the court had inexplicably postponed Facer's appeal for five months.  Facer later lost the appeal because the court ruled he could have gone to a shelter, and therefore had no right to sleep in a public place.

Facer was also convicted for unreasonably disturbing noise when he very lightly played a small drum and didn't sing a word.  The Song Crime Massacre of 2010 had police citing 4 people, two who sang a few songs in the middle of the afternoon in the Free Speech Zone in front of Bookshop Santa Cruz. One woman who came down to see what the commotion was about, and Robert "Blindbear" Facer.

The photo I have is from when he was issued a $425 citation for not singing a word.  He was later convicted by Commission Kim Baskett for "conspiring" to disturb workers inside BSSC, a "crime" Baskett invented since there was no testimony given to support this claim.

I last got an e-mail from Robert Facer saying he was in Monterrey. He must have walked or canoed there. As an Amish person, Facer didn't believe in modern transportation. Ironically, he told us he can use cellphones and the internet. He always made us wonder.  This morning, Ronee Curry posted the sad message that Robert has passed. Our community is lessened by his loss, less colorful, less thoughtful, and has one less warrior fighting for justice.

God Bless you, Robert Facer, and goodbye, my friend. And thanks to you for your visionary Teepee, your message of compassion for each human being, and all of the wisdom you brought to us.

Occupy Santa Cruz' encampment crushed by SCPD

A homeless woman refuses to leave her home and must be carted away by Santa Cruz police.
Photo courtesy of Dan Coyro, Santa Cruz Sentinel December 8, 2011

December 10, 2011

by Becky Johnson

Santa Cruz, Ca. -- The last two days of the Occupy Santa Cruz encampment in San Lorenzo Park were marked by confusion, high tempers, and a flurry of activity as bike carts and grim-faced people carried gear, bags, and even furniture out of the park. Some vowed they weren't going anywhere, and 31 tents still remained after the 5PM deadline on December 7th.

The photo of Vice-Chief Steve Clark smirking from behind the glass of the courthouse as he counted down the minutes to coordinating the activities between his force and Scotts Valley Police, Capitola Police, Watsonville Police, Santa Cruz County Sheriff's, State Park Rangers and UCSC police along with First Alarm security agents to crush the camp belied the cruel pleasure he took as he waited for the police onslaught which would ruin the homes of homeless people and curtail their dissent.

Officers in riot gear and an officer with a pepper-ball gun. Dec 8 2011 Photo courtesy of Bradley Stuart

If what the sheriffs and police are doing is so lawful, upright, and reasonable, why do they come like a thief in the night to steal tents, bedding, and to cite people for sleeping? Does their naked use of brutal police power not make a good visual for the citizenry?

Don Lane, and the Santa Cruz City Council all deserve defamation for the entire way they handled this. The FIRST thing they did was to meet in secret, put an item on their closed litigation session agenda as an "emergency" item, and vote to spend tens of thousands of dollars by assigning City Attorney John Barisone (who IS one of the 1%) with the task of filing an injunction against the camp in court---a place where they have had unprecedented success in the past. But then Occupy Santa Cruz filed a motion to move consideration of the injunction to Federal Court.

One of the protesters is arrested for "delaying or obstructing a police officer" and booked into Santa Cruz County Jail under $25,000 bail. Photo by Bradley Stuart Dec 8 2011

No problem. Step in Czarina of Parks & Rec, Dannettee Shoemaker. SHE could file an administrative order to remove "a public nuisance" pre-empting the now-Federal injunction. Except, that under Chapter 4.16 of the Santa Cruz Municipal Code, she needed to first file a notice of abatement, give the parties time to either respond or abate the nuisance, and, also include sections of the code which are being violated. Also required under the City's nuisance abatement code, is to give notice of how the order can be appealed. She did none of these.

Instead, she used the summary portion of the code. Such code is for hazards which, according to the written instructions on use of this "hurry up" form of hazard removal, require that "an imminent threat to life" would exist if the nuisance were allowed to continue unabated.

Except that Dannettee issued the order on November 30th but didn't bother to deliver the first notice until the evening of December 4th. If the threat was so "imminent" why did she take so much time?

When Occupy Santa Cruz again met the City in court (this time in the chambers of Judge Timothy Volkmann) all of these arguments were made. But Volkmann, without really explaining why, rubberstamped Shoemaker's order.

The encampment lasted each night from October 8th until December 7th. At its height, 109 tents were pitched there and on County property. An average of 200 people found shelter, safety, food, medical help, and community there, many who were unhoused. Three porto-potties were ultimately utilized representing 75 people each.

Assuming 2 people per tent, OSC provided an estimated 200 people with shelter for 61 nights or 12,200 shelter-nights in social-service-speak. That's more than the Homeless Services Center will provide at the National Guard Armory all this winter.

Mayor Ryan Coonerty never fails to disappoint. His last act as Mayor was to preside over a massive and costly police operation to crush both dissent and the encampment. He is now responsible for displacing up to 225 people into the bushes, beneath bridges, and behind dumpsters in the downtown area. His police force have seized tents, bedding, food, medicine, personal possessions, along with cooking utensils, tools, electronic equipment, musical instruments, and clothing. Basically anything they couldn't physically carry away was left behind to be ridiculed by Santa Cruz Polices spokesperson, Zach Friend as "Eight tons of garbage."

In the Santa Cruz Sentinel, Mayor Ryan Coonerty said "We just can't have this continued impact on parks, especially when every other group abides by the restrictions on park use. We've tried to balance their protest with the impacts to the park, but now the impacts to the park are significant enough that they need to find another form of protest."

Of course "every other group" is the AIDS BIKE-A-THON which pays the City a large amount of money to use one of our parks for two days, tents a-plenty. THEY also provide porto-potties for the campers. For a group of homeless people to get the permits required would be prohibitively expensive by design. Neither Coonerty nor any other member of the Santa Cruz City Council want a legal campground for homeless people to open anywhere within the City limits.

So the City has bypassed its own legal process to crush a campground which housed 200 people, and seized tents, sleeping bags, and warm clothing from a bunch of homeless people claiming that if they DIDN'T do this, "an imminent threat to life" would exist. When you deprive homeless people of shelter and blankets, are you not CREATING an "imminent threat to life" for those people? I guess we can be thankful they didn't use tear gas and concussion grenades.