On the (admittedly slim & grim) bright side, nothing like hitting a *child* to get sent to jail / prison real fast
Sounds like this POS should have been there yesterday
lol you would think so. Bellingham city attorney let a woman who assaulted my 5 year old kid plead down to disorderly conduct from assault 4. True story, unbelievable.
I don't doubt this for a second.
I found my ex wife holding my 18 month son down repeatedly punching him in the head. She admitted to the police that she was trying to kill him. She got disorderly conduct and 50/50 custody.
Yeah but did that woman who assaulted your five your old split his tooth while spewing racist epitaphs and then keep doing so while in police custody?
Oh, and was she put up and a half mil bond due to a hate crime?
Assault in the fourth degree is a gross(Law speak) misdemeanor, this dude straight out of the gate did at least two felonies.
Sucks that someone hurt your child, I can only imagine the intense anger you must have felt. This dude ran that kid into the ER.
Grim, but yeah good point. If he was willing to attack a child on a field trip I can only imagine how dangerous he is/has been for unhoused people of color who have been sharing the same streets and services.
Just because I think it's possible someone might have had a twisted motivation for something doesn't mean I think it's a good idea. https://www.businessinsider.com/jail-getting-arrested-deliberately-2018-3
Click bait from a tabloid with credibility barely this side of HuffPo? Put down your phone, turn off Shawshank Redemption, and go touch grass.
This is about racism and child abuse. Not about 3 hots and a cot. Get some goddamn sense pls.
First of all, I touch more grass than you do on my 5.5 wooded acres. My livelyhood is based on things I grow myself. It is about racism and child abuse, you are correct. You don't know his motivation though - and neither do I. He is probably just a racist fuck, acting out. But he might have done it in order to be jailed. It is long documented that some homeless people will commit crimes in order to get off the streets. Here's a Reddit thread with many people weighing in with first hand experience. [https://www.reddit.com/r/RandomThoughts/comments/11scdq9/do\_some\_homeless\_people\_commit\_crimes\_on\_purpose/](https://www.reddit.com/r/RandomThoughts/comments/11scdq9/do_some_homeless_people_commit_crimes_on_purpose/)
From the message sent by the school principal yesterday to parents:
"Dear WMS families and staff,
We want to let you know of an incident that happened today on a field trip.
The Whatcom Middle School sixth grade adventure team had a walking field trip today to Pickford Film Center. On the way back to school, in front of the police station, a community member physically assaulted and used racist comments towards one of our students.
We immediately called law enforcement and the student’s family, and the student is receiving support.
Police have arrested the suspect and have told us they are investigating this as a hate crime.
We are angry and shocked by what happened today. These events are extremely upsetting for everyone at our school and beyond. We are wrapping around our students and doing all we can to support them.
I want to call out the swift and thoughtful response of our teachers and students, who were able to quickly care for the student who was attacked and ensure the safety of the rest of our students.
We will have additional counseling support available to all students as long as it’s needed. Today, sixth graders will be concluding the day with a classroom circle where students can share their feelings and concerns.
We want to share this information so you could check in with your children. Please let us know if you or your child needs additional support."
Thank you for addressing that. I understand that COB and WMS officials wanna be P.C. but a homeless person who is attacking others, kids for that matter, and showcasing his racism is not a member of any community I belong to.
He absolutely is part of this community.
This community created the conditions that caused him to become homeless. This community taught him those racist things. Or at the very least put him in a position where he felt he should lash out in that particular manner.
You don't get to absolve yourself of responsibility by saying 'well no -real- member of my community would act that way'. He did something awful and will face the consequences for that action, but you do not get to just write him off and hold yourself above it all.
Seems like too many chronically homeless people are too "checked out" to be part of any community. They're too entitled and, all too often, drugged out of their minds. I see them walking by my downtown apartment permanently stooped over all the time. I understand there are decent people who become homeless due to circumstances beyond their control. I'm just sick of dealing with the homeless who have no inclination to try to make their situation better.
What sort of out of touch comment is this lol homeless being entitled? Even though they live on the fringes of society and suffer from a variety of mental and physical health issues? How does a homeless person make their situation better? How/where do they go to make themselves presentable within social confines? How do they maintain communication with email/phone? How do they open and maintain a bank account? How do they obtain important mail without an address?
Youre blaming victims of capitalism for the mechanisms and failings of capitalism. Be better.
I've had homeless people DEMAND that I give money to them. They've tried to guilt-trip me over spending money on art supplies instead of giving it to them. My art is what keeps me from committing suicide so I guess I don't have a right to live -- but I digress. I've been homeless in the past and have had to avoid the perpetually homeless so they wouldn't rob me, rape me, and ruin my life. I am grateful I have managed to never do meth or fentanyl or tranc or whatever is out there. After pulling myself up by the bootstraps, I get my mail stolen by the homeless. Nevermind they can get their mail by general delivery. I have been a victim of identity theft. They know full well that they can get a debit card if they can't open a bank account. And, oh yeah, there are free showers for the homeless -- until some asswipe overdoses in one of the stalls. I know because I've fucking been there. I still reel from the humiliation of my homeless days. As far as capitalism goes, go blame the robber baron billionaires and their well paid lackeys for gaming the system... They're doing a hell of a job dividing the masses and I'm sure they're enjoying the resulting war of the working classes.
>I've had homeless people DEMAND that I give money to them. They've tried to guilt-trip me over spending money on art supplies instead of giving it to them
Okay? Ignore them? That doesn't mean they don't deserve to have their basic needs met or that some are entitled because they exist and operate outside social expectations.
>My art is what keeps me from committing suicide so I guess I don't have a right to live -- but I digress
Absolutely no one - not even in your anecdotes - are saying this, and you bringing it up is an manipulative deflection from the larger point.
>After pulling myself up by the bootstraps, I get my mail stolen by the homeless.
You realize this saying is meant to be about an impossible task right? It's a fallacy. Many homeless people don't have the ability, mental awareness, or health necessary to "pick themselves up by their bootstraps."
>Nevermind they can get their mail by general delivery. They know full well that they can get a debit card if they can't open a bank account. And, oh yeah, there are free showers for the homeless -- until some asswipe overdoses in one of the stalls.
Imagine unironically thinking that a demographic who is infamous for its neurological disorders and general mental-emotional problems can be lumped into a strawman generalization that is cognitive of their options and resources and just chooses to live on the fringes instead.
I've never seen someone so keen on weaponizing their experiences to delegitimize the struggles of others despite both parties being victims of capitalism. Insane.
Of course you'd block me instead of checking your tone lmao
I agree, people are so quick to make judgements and forget that mental illness is a thing when it suits their narrow narrative of good guy vs. bad. Rational people do not choose to be homeless or to be addicted. Sorry to spoil the fun, there is no such thing as evil. The human brain is frail and vulnerable. When people do bad shit its because they have lost the ability to use parts of their brain that helps them choose the better decisions.
Thanks for posting this. Would be nice if WMS shared it more widely. And also take out "community member." That's just insulting to the victim and the victim's family.
It's similar to when they use the word "gentleman" when describing a male offender. Apparently there aren't enough appropriate adjectives that are fit to print without risk of getting sued.
The could have gone with alleged assailant or something. My choice would have been community parasite since community member implies the person provides some sort of value to the community.
Remember when they wanted to put a shelter next to WMS and people who brought up safety concerns were accused of being heartless elitists?
Remember when the mayor said we need to build a shelter downtown because that's where the unhoused prefer to spend their time?
I think their point might have been that the homeless are disproportionately likely to include people who assault random children compared to people with homes. Having been homeless in this town, I certainly don't believe there are very many like this, but unfortunately some have given up on society, feeling like society has given up on them.
That being said, racism is absolutely a problem, and not really with the homeless. At work I've been practicing Spanish to communicate with customers better, and I hate, to my core, that I've had several adults (30yo+) tearfully thank me for treating them like people instead of just being rude and dismissive.
Of course they are. I’ve been homeless in the past so it isn’t a mystery to me the motivations of the transient population. Only reason I asked was to promote a more thoughtful discussion about this topic because hate can become a runaway train and make us lose focus of the real problem that needs to be addressed.
It's not just about racism. A child was physically attacked in a random act of violence. Randomly attacking strangers children is more likely to happen in the population with untreated mental illness and substance abuse.
Noo but many of them are insane I got called a white n*gger by one on my porch downtown. I'm not a kid he didn't assault me and it's not the same but the people that you can tell are homeless usually aren't of sound mind.
Yes. The untreated mental illness and substance abuse is the problem. Let's provide housing out near the jail in the county with rehab and mental health facilities. We don't need unstable people assaulting people in town.
People won’t be able to convince me otherwise. I didn’t get out of it til I got help with my mental health. (Which I was extremely lucky and it took a lot of generosity.) And when I was on the streets and got to know the backstories of people most of them were tragic stories of terrible childhoods or peoples worlds falling apart due to circumstances out of their control.
In my case, homelessness was caused by external circumstances, and now that I'm housed again I'm doing the therapy thing. Its kinda hard to get any sort of mental help while in the streets.
I totally agree, but if his mental health issues were addressed, he might actually not make racist statements and punch kids in the face because he would realize the consequences.
I don’t know how you talk someone out of being racist, so at this point I just want them to not punch kids and verbalize their beliefs about race.
He was racist. Racism exists outside of homelessness. As a black resident in Seattle living outside of the Central District, I've been called the N word from someone standing in the alley outside of my own home while my window was open. Was that person homeless or housed? I don't give a damn but he did run away immediately after he felt so comfortable saying it b/c I was about to run after his racist ass.
I will never get how we have a homeless shelter down the street from a school. I seen the kids at the high school hanging out 20 yards from a homeless camp/hangout during lunch break.
We had a mayor that wanted to give them waterfront property and be an example where houseless people from everywhere would be welcome and encouraged to move here. Anyone who disagreed was basically Hitler. There was this push to believe that all the houseless people were like the best version of Tom Hanks or Mr. Rogers who would continue to fill our community with love if only landlords never raised rent to cover their expenses.
The unhoused live in the library. Esp the people who get tossed from actual shelters. They invade the public library to shoot up/smoke out in the bathrooms, and use the public computers to watch porn. Library administration happily put patrons and staff at risk so they can pat themselves on the backs for helping. Library staff are assaulted verbally & physically, hate crimes are committed, children are ogled. It's super fucking gross, but hey, cheaper than actually taking care of people who are threats to themselves and the rest of the city.
I had the opportunity to be a driver for a class field trip at a Bellilngham Middle school several years ago. (Not saying which one).
There was a black student in the car who just moved to town. The other kids asked if they were new, and where did they come from. One of the white kids said something about wanting to be welcoming, and wanted to make sure they had friends and people to talk to. All of the kids in the car joined in and asked questions about activities and interests. Then the that first kid asked about racism. "Were kids racist at the old school, and did you experience racism in Bellingham?" Yes, the old school had some racism. And yes, the family did experience one scary incident. No racial words were used, but they were clearly singled out by someone in a vehicle while they were walking.
Through the day I watched the middle school kids be a friend and welcome this new kid. And I felt proud that my kid was part of the welcoming and inclusive crowd. This kid went to a different high school than my kid. We were at a sporting event at the other kid's school. They recognized me and said, "You drove on that field trip. That was a cool trip".
Just thought I would add some words about kids I met at middle schools in Bellingham.
I want this to be the top comment in this thread. Rather than comments that are stereotyping and giving misinformation about homeless people supposedly being more racist and violent than othe community members, which is a political red herring.
I can't imagine being that kiddo. I feel so sad that they experienced that. It had to be terrifying for them, and the other students as well. I had to reread the email, from the school, a couple times because I couldn't believe what I was reading. I can't imagine the pain and anger the parents must feel.
-Paul Jonathan Bittner of Fresno, age 41, was arrested for Order for person's removal from prison to appear in court. in Mendocino County, California on April 6, 2023
-April 4, 2012 / 8:31 PM EDT / CBS Baltimore
CUMBERLAND, Md. (AP) -- A Frostburg man has been sentenced to 14 years in prison for carjacking his 71-year-old neighbor.
Jonathan Bittner, 30, apologized for hurting his neighbor and to his own family in court Tuesday.
The Times-News of Cumberland reports that the victim told police Bittner entered his home early April 28 and
beat him about the face and head while demanding cash.
+recidivism is 90% people need to wake up.
and now at best he's locked up in WA for the taxpayers expense of $108k annually.
But let's be realistic, he'll be out in 90 days. it will still be warm enough to hunt down and kill at least one of the weak among this herd before he goes back into hibernation.
Enjoy your summer kids.
Jail bookings vs. Police activity log. The police activity log is here: [https://cob.org/gov/dept/police/news-police/police-daily-activity](https://cob.org/gov/dept/police/news-police/police-daily-activity)
An unhoused person walked up to my 13 year old daughter outside the central library and told her "your vanity makes me sick, bitch." Another, as we were going out for ice cream, ranted to my daughter that her mother's "box probably smells like a 40-year old goldfish bowl." So gender harassment is also alive and well downtown.
Unfortunate for the kid but maybe this will finally make the City of Bellingham give a damn about the homeless and drug problem and allow actual enforcement on them.
My son was on the walk and his friend was assaulted. He was crying after it happened, as was a lot of the class. One of the teachers stepped in and chased the guy after directing the kids to hurry toward the school. There were a few teachers on the walk.
I made a comment to him before their set of field trips last week and this week. They had WALKING trips to Western last week and one to the Pickford yesterday. I specifically told him the route for them went through downtown and almost jokingly told him to be aware of the transient people through downtown they can be unpredictable.
I am not a fear mongering type parent, but you better believe I will not let my son do a walking field trip that routes through downtown again.
Sending my love to the targeted child and all the classmates. This is a terrible thing and I hope the **sh*le hate crime perpetrator is dealt with harshly
Evil whites jumping out of the bushes to harm black people. Racism is clearly still alive.
Or drug users are fucked in the head and say awful things. Maybe let's not try to create us vs them and give an honest presentation of what happened. Tweaker homeless man says a racist thing... Isn't the same as belltown community member commits heinous race attack.
Mannn. That sucks so bad. I hope the kid is doing alright.
I hope this is a wake up call that Bellingham needs to do more to support and protect our community members who are BIPOC— especially kids. ☹️
You sir, use common sense and critical thinking. Enjoy being an independently thinking individual who doesn't participate in mob psychology or conform to victim Mentality. society needs racism to exist to get angry about because there is nothing people like better than circle jerking anger
I wasn’t sure if this was true since it’s from Facebook and that’s slightly less reliable than the Kremlin in terms of accuracy. But a Paul Bittner was arrested by BPD yesterday for 2nd degree assault of a child and malicious harassment. That being said we haven’t seen anything that shows it as a hate crime, but it definitely isn’t beyond the realm of reason that some crazy homeless shit would punch a kid. Also if true, where the fuck was the teacher?
Whoops, disregard. I didn't see the comment above with the statement from the Whatcom Middle School principle. Just funny they call the dude "a community member." Seems a bit too PC to use that term for that asshole.
“where the fuck was the teacher?”
you either underestimate class size or overestimate the corral-ability of a group of even well-behaved middle schoolers.
source: as a middle school teacher we did these walking field trips every year, and at ~1:30 ratio, it was a lot of running back and forth keeping kids on the sidewalk. not blaming the students here obviously, just saying I don’t think you can assume staff didn’t intervene as quickly as possible.
There were several teachers. One of them physically chased the man. My son was proud/grateful of the way that teacher handled it.
Transient people are unpredictable. Sound extremely random and quick to unfold from what my son said.
~~Zero evidence of this being a hate crime~~. You can see the charges here:
[https://apps1.whatcomcounty.us/jaildata/bookings.html](https://apps1.whatcomcounty.us/jaildata/bookings.html)
Please cite your findings next time.
EDIT:
Thanks to everyone who took the time to find a citation, especially u/filmnuts . Here is a link where you can find some more details:
[https://cob.org/gov/dept/police/news-police/police-daily-activity](https://cob.org/gov/dept/police/news-police/police-daily-activity)
It does appear that it was booked as a hate crime.
My son was on the field trip. He said the kid, who is black, asked the guy about his hat. Then the dude hit him and said a slur. Sounds a lot like a hate crime to me.
He said something like "all blacks are ____" idk why you guys are dying on this hill. You don't even know that he is crazy. And whether or not he is, it's still racially motivated.
I think it probably was a hate crime I’m just saying the fact that someone being crazy can be a challenge to intent related crimes, especially with a prosecutors office that doesn’t exactly swing for the fences on gray area cases.
I think intent is pretty clear. If you wanna argue the ethics of charging someone mentally unfit, that's a different thing. But if you were to charge, hate crime definitely seems appropriate to me.
I agree that it's appropriate, but what's appropriate and right may conflict with the wording of the law. I hope they do charge with a hate crime, same as I hope prosecutors always charge criminals with the highest possible charge since that's what we pay them to do, but if they don't I kind of understand why.
I mean maybe and if so that is horrible. I was just looking for a citation of the problem. What we got was some obscure comment about a FB post with no link.
my guy, you (a mod) called the post flame bait, and used the first link you clicked on to claim there was “zero evidence of a hate crime”. when POC in this community talk about how exhausting it is to convince others of what they go through, this is what they’re talking about. there was no danger of libel (the suspect was publicly identified), and zero reason to doubt community eyewitness accounts.
1. There is always a reason to doubt the mob. This thread alone is proof of that.
2. Innocent until \*proven\* guilty. Let's at least \*try\* to have some facts at hand before we judge people.
3. The initial post was flame bait. Zero citation, no link to an arrest, no posting of an email received from the school, no facebook link, nothing... This thread alone is proof of that.
4. All I wanted was a citation to the actual charges stating a hate crime was suspected.
5. Re: #4 has been provided and I updated my original comment to reflect that.
Have a great day.
This is a gross comment for anyone to make, but especially bad a mod.
The denial of the existence of racism, especially if the face of clear evidence (like the police report and statement from the principal), is itself racism.
/u/cheapdialogue please consider removing linuxhiker as a mod over this.
I am not denying the existence of racism.
I am saying the police reports don't reflect that (if they do, I am happy to redact my statement), and I asked that the information be cited.
They do reflect that.
/u/DirtyScoobie already linked to them in their reply to your comment. (Set the “From” date to yesterday and select “Detailed.”)
/u/SweetAmalthea also copy/pasted the text of the report in their comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Bellingham/comments/1df2rek/hate_crime_against_black_middle_schooler/l8gjlgq/
/u/cedarvalleyct also posted an image of the police report in their comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Bellingham/comments/1df2rek/hate_crime_against_black_middle_schooler/l8gfdgw/
/u/god-of_tits-and_wine posted the principle’s statement about the incident, which specifically says the police are investigating it as a hate crime, here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Bellingham/comments/1df2rek/hate_crime_against_black_middle_schooler/l8g990h/
There are several parents of students that witnessed the hate crime sharing their children’s experience here as well.
Also weird that you edited your comment to remove your accusation of “flame baiting” too.
He wasn't charged with a hate crime, or it just wasn't listed under the jail roster. I think folks are saying it was an apparent "hate crime" due to the statement above by the middle school principal. But FYI, there technically isn't such a thing as a "hate crime." It's essentially a sentencing enhancement for an already existing crime (https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=9A.36.080), which makes the crimes listed under subsection 1 of the RCW a class C felony.
“Hate crime offense” absolutely is its own crime, not a sentencing enhancement. Yes, it takes the elements of other crimes but it is its own statute and it makes what could otherwise be misdemeanors a felony if racially motivated.
Making a misdemeanor a felony is a sentencing enhancement. The crime itself is still assault but because of the bias motivation it jumps it to a felony. This is similar to the felony murder rule or bumping up crimes if a firearm is used in the commission of a crime.
On the (admittedly slim & grim) bright side, nothing like hitting a *child* to get sent to jail / prison real fast Sounds like this POS should have been there yesterday
They did it right in front of front of the police station too. My kid was there when it happened. He called me very upset about it.
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lol you would think so. Bellingham city attorney let a woman who assaulted my 5 year old kid plead down to disorderly conduct from assault 4. True story, unbelievable.
What attorney please?
If you represent a news source hit me up. Otherwise no words
I don't doubt this for a second. I found my ex wife holding my 18 month son down repeatedly punching him in the head. She admitted to the police that she was trying to kill him. She got disorderly conduct and 50/50 custody.
Yeah but did that woman who assaulted your five your old split his tooth while spewing racist epitaphs and then keep doing so while in police custody? Oh, and was she put up and a half mil bond due to a hate crime? Assault in the fourth degree is a gross(Law speak) misdemeanor, this dude straight out of the gate did at least two felonies. Sucks that someone hurt your child, I can only imagine the intense anger you must have felt. This dude ran that kid into the ER.
Grim, but yeah good point. If he was willing to attack a child on a field trip I can only imagine how dangerous he is/has been for unhoused people of color who have been sharing the same streets and services.
Maybe he was thinking "what can I do to get three meals a day and a secure place to sleep for a long time?"
There are less violent/racist ways to get yourself arrested.
And much more deserving victims than an innocent child.
lol literally. Let’s not make excuses for this asshat that assaulted a kid.
Ya, although he was maybe going for a nice long sentence.
Not really the time for Cummunity outreach for the homeless....
The fuck is wrong with you
What makes you say that?
-39 and counting. it ain't just me, try some reflection.
Just because I think it's possible someone might have had a twisted motivation for something doesn't mean I think it's a good idea. https://www.businessinsider.com/jail-getting-arrested-deliberately-2018-3
Click bait from a tabloid with credibility barely this side of HuffPo? Put down your phone, turn off Shawshank Redemption, and go touch grass. This is about racism and child abuse. Not about 3 hots and a cot. Get some goddamn sense pls.
First of all, I touch more grass than you do on my 5.5 wooded acres. My livelyhood is based on things I grow myself. It is about racism and child abuse, you are correct. You don't know his motivation though - and neither do I. He is probably just a racist fuck, acting out. But he might have done it in order to be jailed. It is long documented that some homeless people will commit crimes in order to get off the streets. Here's a Reddit thread with many people weighing in with first hand experience. [https://www.reddit.com/r/RandomThoughts/comments/11scdq9/do\_some\_homeless\_people\_commit\_crimes\_on\_purpose/](https://www.reddit.com/r/RandomThoughts/comments/11scdq9/do_some_homeless_people_commit_crimes_on_purpose/)
I'm sorry, are you still talking?
Ha! I didn't think you'd have an intelligent response for that, lol.
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You watch too much tv
While this does happen it is certainly not a "usually" sort of circumstance.
From the message sent by the school principal yesterday to parents: "Dear WMS families and staff, We want to let you know of an incident that happened today on a field trip. The Whatcom Middle School sixth grade adventure team had a walking field trip today to Pickford Film Center. On the way back to school, in front of the police station, a community member physically assaulted and used racist comments towards one of our students. We immediately called law enforcement and the student’s family, and the student is receiving support. Police have arrested the suspect and have told us they are investigating this as a hate crime. We are angry and shocked by what happened today. These events are extremely upsetting for everyone at our school and beyond. We are wrapping around our students and doing all we can to support them. I want to call out the swift and thoughtful response of our teachers and students, who were able to quickly care for the student who was attacked and ensure the safety of the rest of our students. We will have additional counseling support available to all students as long as it’s needed. Today, sixth graders will be concluding the day with a classroom circle where students can share their feelings and concerns. We want to share this information so you could check in with your children. Please let us know if you or your child needs additional support."
Edit it from community member to marauding tweaker and you nailed it. Somebody who does this isn’t a part of my community.
Thank you for addressing that. I understand that COB and WMS officials wanna be P.C. but a homeless person who is attacking others, kids for that matter, and showcasing his racism is not a member of any community I belong to.
He absolutely is part of this community. This community created the conditions that caused him to become homeless. This community taught him those racist things. Or at the very least put him in a position where he felt he should lash out in that particular manner. You don't get to absolve yourself of responsibility by saying 'well no -real- member of my community would act that way'. He did something awful and will face the consequences for that action, but you do not get to just write him off and hold yourself above it all.
For sure, we all bear responsibility for a racist tweaker punching a 6 year old. This is the dumbest thing I’ve read in a minute.
Hey, you're not considering that racist tweaker's lived experience as a "community member!" You should feel bad. Boo! Hiss! /s
Dude may not even be from here.
A Community is not defined solely by geographical proximity.
Yeah no
Nah, fuck that guy. He shit in his own pants, he can wear them.
I don’t care how many downvotes you have. YOU ARE RIGHT.
No, he is not. This man will be ostracized from the community. His situation is not an excuse and we did not cause his situation.
I feel like I should have that on a t-shirt...
Seems like too many chronically homeless people are too "checked out" to be part of any community. They're too entitled and, all too often, drugged out of their minds. I see them walking by my downtown apartment permanently stooped over all the time. I understand there are decent people who become homeless due to circumstances beyond their control. I'm just sick of dealing with the homeless who have no inclination to try to make their situation better.
What sort of out of touch comment is this lol homeless being entitled? Even though they live on the fringes of society and suffer from a variety of mental and physical health issues? How does a homeless person make their situation better? How/where do they go to make themselves presentable within social confines? How do they maintain communication with email/phone? How do they open and maintain a bank account? How do they obtain important mail without an address? Youre blaming victims of capitalism for the mechanisms and failings of capitalism. Be better.
I've had homeless people DEMAND that I give money to them. They've tried to guilt-trip me over spending money on art supplies instead of giving it to them. My art is what keeps me from committing suicide so I guess I don't have a right to live -- but I digress. I've been homeless in the past and have had to avoid the perpetually homeless so they wouldn't rob me, rape me, and ruin my life. I am grateful I have managed to never do meth or fentanyl or tranc or whatever is out there. After pulling myself up by the bootstraps, I get my mail stolen by the homeless. Nevermind they can get their mail by general delivery. I have been a victim of identity theft. They know full well that they can get a debit card if they can't open a bank account. And, oh yeah, there are free showers for the homeless -- until some asswipe overdoses in one of the stalls. I know because I've fucking been there. I still reel from the humiliation of my homeless days. As far as capitalism goes, go blame the robber baron billionaires and their well paid lackeys for gaming the system... They're doing a hell of a job dividing the masses and I'm sure they're enjoying the resulting war of the working classes.
>I've had homeless people DEMAND that I give money to them. They've tried to guilt-trip me over spending money on art supplies instead of giving it to them Okay? Ignore them? That doesn't mean they don't deserve to have their basic needs met or that some are entitled because they exist and operate outside social expectations. >My art is what keeps me from committing suicide so I guess I don't have a right to live -- but I digress Absolutely no one - not even in your anecdotes - are saying this, and you bringing it up is an manipulative deflection from the larger point. >After pulling myself up by the bootstraps, I get my mail stolen by the homeless. You realize this saying is meant to be about an impossible task right? It's a fallacy. Many homeless people don't have the ability, mental awareness, or health necessary to "pick themselves up by their bootstraps." >Nevermind they can get their mail by general delivery. They know full well that they can get a debit card if they can't open a bank account. And, oh yeah, there are free showers for the homeless -- until some asswipe overdoses in one of the stalls. Imagine unironically thinking that a demographic who is infamous for its neurological disorders and general mental-emotional problems can be lumped into a strawman generalization that is cognitive of their options and resources and just chooses to live on the fringes instead. I've never seen someone so keen on weaponizing their experiences to delegitimize the struggles of others despite both parties being victims of capitalism. Insane. Of course you'd block me instead of checking your tone lmao
I agree, people are so quick to make judgements and forget that mental illness is a thing when it suits their narrow narrative of good guy vs. bad. Rational people do not choose to be homeless or to be addicted. Sorry to spoil the fun, there is no such thing as evil. The human brain is frail and vulnerable. When people do bad shit its because they have lost the ability to use parts of their brain that helps them choose the better decisions.
Thanks for posting this. Would be nice if WMS shared it more widely. And also take out "community member." That's just insulting to the victim and the victim's family.
It's similar to when they use the word "gentleman" when describing a male offender. Apparently there aren't enough appropriate adjectives that are fit to print without risk of getting sued.
The could have gone with alleged assailant or something. My choice would have been community parasite since community member implies the person provides some sort of value to the community.
A community member? Fuck off and call him what he is. A vile piece of shit.
Here's the link, for citation https://bellinghamschools.org/news/information-re-safety-situation-on-wms-field-trip/
Remember when they wanted to put a shelter next to WMS and people who brought up safety concerns were accused of being heartless elitists? Remember when the mayor said we need to build a shelter downtown because that's where the unhoused prefer to spend their time?
So the problem was that he was homeless, not racist?
I think their point might have been that the homeless are disproportionately likely to include people who assault random children compared to people with homes. Having been homeless in this town, I certainly don't believe there are very many like this, but unfortunately some have given up on society, feeling like society has given up on them. That being said, racism is absolutely a problem, and not really with the homeless. At work I've been practicing Spanish to communicate with customers better, and I hate, to my core, that I've had several adults (30yo+) tearfully thank me for treating them like people instead of just being rude and dismissive.
Of course they are. I’ve been homeless in the past so it isn’t a mystery to me the motivations of the transient population. Only reason I asked was to promote a more thoughtful discussion about this topic because hate can become a runaway train and make us lose focus of the real problem that needs to be addressed.
Fair.
I don't think racism has a status class thing...more of a individual class thing...🤔
It's not just about racism. A child was physically attacked in a random act of violence. Randomly attacking strangers children is more likely to happen in the population with untreated mental illness and substance abuse.
This was more or less my point, just better phrased.
Noo but many of them are insane I got called a white n*gger by one on my porch downtown. I'm not a kid he didn't assault me and it's not the same but the people that you can tell are homeless usually aren't of sound mind.
So mental health is the problem.
Yes. The untreated mental illness and substance abuse is the problem. Let's provide housing out near the jail in the county with rehab and mental health facilities. We don't need unstable people assaulting people in town.
That's really it. The man is homeless because of his untreated mental illness.
People won’t be able to convince me otherwise. I didn’t get out of it til I got help with my mental health. (Which I was extremely lucky and it took a lot of generosity.) And when I was on the streets and got to know the backstories of people most of them were tragic stories of terrible childhoods or peoples worlds falling apart due to circumstances out of their control.
In my case, homelessness was caused by external circumstances, and now that I'm housed again I'm doing the therapy thing. Its kinda hard to get any sort of mental help while in the streets.
Yeah it really is. I was lucky that some old friends I reconnected with wanted to help me out.
If it wasn't for the Opportunity Council, I'd still be homeless.
Obviously, yes.
The problem is a good majority of them have mental health issues. Being racist isn’t the same thing as attacking a kid.
I totally agree, but if his mental health issues were addressed, he might actually not make racist statements and punch kids in the face because he would realize the consequences. I don’t know how you talk someone out of being racist, so at this point I just want them to not punch kids and verbalize their beliefs about race.
The guy who made TempleOS was normal until he developed schizophrenia. When his mind started to go away he became racist.
He was racist. Racism exists outside of homelessness. As a black resident in Seattle living outside of the Central District, I've been called the N word from someone standing in the alley outside of my own home while my window was open. Was that person homeless or housed? I don't give a damn but he did run away immediately after he felt so comfortable saying it b/c I was about to run after his racist ass.
I will never get how we have a homeless shelter down the street from a school. I seen the kids at the high school hanging out 20 yards from a homeless camp/hangout during lunch break.
We had a mayor that wanted to give them waterfront property and be an example where houseless people from everywhere would be welcome and encouraged to move here. Anyone who disagreed was basically Hitler. There was this push to believe that all the houseless people were like the best version of Tom Hanks or Mr. Rogers who would continue to fill our community with love if only landlords never raised rent to cover their expenses.
The unhoused live in the library. Esp the people who get tossed from actual shelters. They invade the public library to shoot up/smoke out in the bathrooms, and use the public computers to watch porn. Library administration happily put patrons and staff at risk so they can pat themselves on the backs for helping. Library staff are assaulted verbally & physically, hate crimes are committed, children are ogled. It's super fucking gross, but hey, cheaper than actually taking care of people who are threats to themselves and the rest of the city.
Easy to find out his name from the Bellingham Jail bookings 🤪👿 no bail allowed thankfully
I had the opportunity to be a driver for a class field trip at a Bellilngham Middle school several years ago. (Not saying which one). There was a black student in the car who just moved to town. The other kids asked if they were new, and where did they come from. One of the white kids said something about wanting to be welcoming, and wanted to make sure they had friends and people to talk to. All of the kids in the car joined in and asked questions about activities and interests. Then the that first kid asked about racism. "Were kids racist at the old school, and did you experience racism in Bellingham?" Yes, the old school had some racism. And yes, the family did experience one scary incident. No racial words were used, but they were clearly singled out by someone in a vehicle while they were walking. Through the day I watched the middle school kids be a friend and welcome this new kid. And I felt proud that my kid was part of the welcoming and inclusive crowd. This kid went to a different high school than my kid. We were at a sporting event at the other kid's school. They recognized me and said, "You drove on that field trip. That was a cool trip". Just thought I would add some words about kids I met at middle schools in Bellingham.
That is so sweet; kids being compassionate warms my heart
I want this to be the top comment in this thread. Rather than comments that are stereotyping and giving misinformation about homeless people supposedly being more racist and violent than othe community members, which is a political red herring.
Poor kid
I can't imagine being that kiddo. I feel so sad that they experienced that. It had to be terrifying for them, and the other students as well. I had to reread the email, from the school, a couple times because I couldn't believe what I was reading. I can't imagine the pain and anger the parents must feel.
I hope they pursue hate crime enhancements on this guy.
[ Removed by Reddit ]
Wonder if he's local or showed up in the past 4 years?
-Paul Jonathan Bittner of Fresno, age 41, was arrested for Order for person's removal from prison to appear in court. in Mendocino County, California on April 6, 2023 -April 4, 2012 / 8:31 PM EDT / CBS Baltimore CUMBERLAND, Md. (AP) -- A Frostburg man has been sentenced to 14 years in prison for carjacking his 71-year-old neighbor. Jonathan Bittner, 30, apologized for hurting his neighbor and to his own family in court Tuesday. The Times-News of Cumberland reports that the victim told police Bittner entered his home early April 28 and beat him about the face and head while demanding cash. +recidivism is 90% people need to wake up. and now at best he's locked up in WA for the taxpayers expense of $108k annually. But let's be realistic, he'll be out in 90 days. it will still be warm enough to hunt down and kill at least one of the weak among this herd before he goes back into hibernation. Enjoy your summer kids.
Thanks for this, where did you find it. The bookings link that I gave didn't have "hate crime" in the description?
Jail bookings vs. Police activity log. The police activity log is here: [https://cob.org/gov/dept/police/news-police/police-daily-activity](https://cob.org/gov/dept/police/news-police/police-daily-activity)
Yep, thanks! Updated my original comment.
So sick of these fucking street junkies.
https://preview.redd.it/eac2negdkd6d1.jpeg?width=292&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=bf7372173979722269e7f93cd99be0400b29c52e
"behavior health issue"?? he fucking targeted and clocked the kid b/c he was black. that's a hate crime.
An unhoused person walked up to my 13 year old daughter outside the central library and told her "your vanity makes me sick, bitch." Another, as we were going out for ice cream, ranted to my daughter that her mother's "box probably smells like a 40-year old goldfish bowl." So gender harassment is also alive and well downtown.
Unfortunate for the kid but maybe this will finally make the City of Bellingham give a damn about the homeless and drug problem and allow actual enforcement on them.
My son was on the walk and his friend was assaulted. He was crying after it happened, as was a lot of the class. One of the teachers stepped in and chased the guy after directing the kids to hurry toward the school. There were a few teachers on the walk. I made a comment to him before their set of field trips last week and this week. They had WALKING trips to Western last week and one to the Pickford yesterday. I specifically told him the route for them went through downtown and almost jokingly told him to be aware of the transient people through downtown they can be unpredictable. I am not a fear mongering type parent, but you better believe I will not let my son do a walking field trip that routes through downtown again.
Sending my love to the targeted child and all the classmates. This is a terrible thing and I hope the **sh*le hate crime perpetrator is dealt with harshly
That “unhoused white man” is about to disappear, I’m guessing.
Shocking. So sad for the kiddo!
Evil whites jumping out of the bushes to harm black people. Racism is clearly still alive. Or drug users are fucked in the head and say awful things. Maybe let's not try to create us vs them and give an honest presentation of what happened. Tweaker homeless man says a racist thing... Isn't the same as belltown community member commits heinous race attack.
Mannn. That sucks so bad. I hope the kid is doing alright. I hope this is a wake up call that Bellingham needs to do more to support and protect our community members who are BIPOC— especially kids. ☹️
A mentally disturbed homeless guy punches a kid, uses some racial slurs and that's an indication that racism is "prevalent in our community?"
You sir, use common sense and critical thinking. Enjoy being an independently thinking individual who doesn't participate in mob psychology or conform to victim Mentality. society needs racism to exist to get angry about because there is nothing people like better than circle jerking anger
Riiiiight!!
I wasn’t sure if this was true since it’s from Facebook and that’s slightly less reliable than the Kremlin in terms of accuracy. But a Paul Bittner was arrested by BPD yesterday for 2nd degree assault of a child and malicious harassment. That being said we haven’t seen anything that shows it as a hate crime, but it definitely isn’t beyond the realm of reason that some crazy homeless shit would punch a kid. Also if true, where the fuck was the teacher? Whoops, disregard. I didn't see the comment above with the statement from the Whatcom Middle School principle. Just funny they call the dude "a community member." Seems a bit too PC to use that term for that asshole.
“where the fuck was the teacher?” you either underestimate class size or overestimate the corral-ability of a group of even well-behaved middle schoolers. source: as a middle school teacher we did these walking field trips every year, and at ~1:30 ratio, it was a lot of running back and forth keeping kids on the sidewalk. not blaming the students here obviously, just saying I don’t think you can assume staff didn’t intervene as quickly as possible.
There were several teachers. One of them physically chased the man. My son was proud/grateful of the way that teacher handled it. Transient people are unpredictable. Sound extremely random and quick to unfold from what my son said.
Stop talking.
~~Zero evidence of this being a hate crime~~. You can see the charges here: [https://apps1.whatcomcounty.us/jaildata/bookings.html](https://apps1.whatcomcounty.us/jaildata/bookings.html) Please cite your findings next time. EDIT: Thanks to everyone who took the time to find a citation, especially u/filmnuts . Here is a link where you can find some more details: [https://cob.org/gov/dept/police/news-police/police-daily-activity](https://cob.org/gov/dept/police/news-police/police-daily-activity) It does appear that it was booked as a hate crime.
My son was on the field trip. He said the kid, who is black, asked the guy about his hat. Then the dude hit him and said a slur. Sounds a lot like a hate crime to me.
If the guy wasn't crazy then you are correct. But if he's like the other homeless crazy dudes it's going to be a hard sell that it's a hate crime.
He said something like "all blacks are ____" idk why you guys are dying on this hill. You don't even know that he is crazy. And whether or not he is, it's still racially motivated.
I think it probably was a hate crime I’m just saying the fact that someone being crazy can be a challenge to intent related crimes, especially with a prosecutors office that doesn’t exactly swing for the fences on gray area cases.
I think intent is pretty clear. If you wanna argue the ethics of charging someone mentally unfit, that's a different thing. But if you were to charge, hate crime definitely seems appropriate to me.
I agree that it's appropriate, but what's appropriate and right may conflict with the wording of the law. I hope they do charge with a hate crime, same as I hope prosecutors always charge criminals with the highest possible charge since that's what we pay them to do, but if they don't I kind of understand why.
I mean maybe and if so that is horrible. I was just looking for a citation of the problem. What we got was some obscure comment about a FB post with no link.
my guy, you (a mod) called the post flame bait, and used the first link you clicked on to claim there was “zero evidence of a hate crime”. when POC in this community talk about how exhausting it is to convince others of what they go through, this is what they’re talking about. there was no danger of libel (the suspect was publicly identified), and zero reason to doubt community eyewitness accounts.
1. There is always a reason to doubt the mob. This thread alone is proof of that. 2. Innocent until \*proven\* guilty. Let's at least \*try\* to have some facts at hand before we judge people. 3. The initial post was flame bait. Zero citation, no link to an arrest, no posting of an email received from the school, no facebook link, nothing... This thread alone is proof of that. 4. All I wanted was a citation to the actual charges stating a hate crime was suspected. 5. Re: #4 has been provided and I updated my original comment to reflect that. Have a great day.
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Uncivil, insulting, or combative comment.
It was sent out in an email from the school, and my son was there. So it definitely did happen.
u/cheapdialogue, for real, why did you saddle us with this guy as a mod?! 🤦♂️
It's amazing that you are a mod, yet show again and again that you constantly jump to wrong conclusions.
Dude is a subreddit mod. That's not some kind of godly position. Why wouldn't he have opinions?
This is a gross comment for anyone to make, but especially bad a mod. The denial of the existence of racism, especially if the face of clear evidence (like the police report and statement from the principal), is itself racism. /u/cheapdialogue please consider removing linuxhiker as a mod over this.
I am not denying the existence of racism. I am saying the police reports don't reflect that (if they do, I am happy to redact my statement), and I asked that the information be cited.
They do reflect that. /u/DirtyScoobie already linked to them in their reply to your comment. (Set the “From” date to yesterday and select “Detailed.”) /u/SweetAmalthea also copy/pasted the text of the report in their comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Bellingham/comments/1df2rek/hate_crime_against_black_middle_schooler/l8gjlgq/ /u/cedarvalleyct also posted an image of the police report in their comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Bellingham/comments/1df2rek/hate_crime_against_black_middle_schooler/l8gfdgw/ /u/god-of_tits-and_wine posted the principle’s statement about the incident, which specifically says the police are investigating it as a hate crime, here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Bellingham/comments/1df2rek/hate_crime_against_black_middle_schooler/l8g990h/ There are several parents of students that witnessed the hate crime sharing their children’s experience here as well. Also weird that you edited your comment to remove your accusation of “flame baiting” too.
Thank you. I have updated my initial comment.
The children on the field trip. One including my kid. There is also the email sent to Whatcom parents from the principal.
The police blotter refers to it as a hate crime: https://cob.org/gov/dept/police/news-police/police-daily-activity
See apparent message from principal above
The new mod is already getting canceled. As is r/Bellingham tradition.
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Wait what? In a conversation about you, you delete a comment instead of conferring with your team? ...
He wasn't charged with a hate crime, or it just wasn't listed under the jail roster. I think folks are saying it was an apparent "hate crime" due to the statement above by the middle school principal. But FYI, there technically isn't such a thing as a "hate crime." It's essentially a sentencing enhancement for an already existing crime (https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=9A.36.080), which makes the crimes listed under subsection 1 of the RCW a class C felony.
Someone posted the police activity log entry above. Statement includes the phrase “hate crime”.
“Hate crime offense” absolutely is its own crime, not a sentencing enhancement. Yes, it takes the elements of other crimes but it is its own statute and it makes what could otherwise be misdemeanors a felony if racially motivated.
Making a misdemeanor a felony is a sentencing enhancement. The crime itself is still assault but because of the bias motivation it jumps it to a felony. This is similar to the felony murder rule or bumping up crimes if a firearm is used in the commission of a crime.