Operating from downtown Pontiac, the county seat, Grace Centers of Hope, previously called Pontiac Rescue Mission, has served Oakland County, Michigan, since 1942. Grace Centers of Hope began as a safe place for homeless persons to sleep, and now also offers one-year substance abuse treatment, complemented by a full range of life management training, counseling, and education, plus day care for shelter children. The homeless shelter houses 150 persons nearly every night, with separate residences for men and women/children. Grace Centers of Hope accepts no government funding.3
Thirteen years ago the shelter’s administration invited Pontiac police to review shelter resident rosters. They then told the homeless community that Pontiac Rescue Mission/Grace Centers of Hope would prove a poor hiding place for persons evading the consequences of criminal action. As a result the shelter formed a close working
relationship with Pontiac police. A police officer, specially detailed to the shelter, checked its rosters each week. “Grace Centers of Hope is not a hideout for criminals,” avers Pastor Kent W. Clark, chief operating officer. “It is, instead, a place where people get their lives back through the gospel of Jesus Christ.”4
This year however, the relationship changed. On January 9 Detective Carpenter, the Pontiac police officer assigned to Grace Centers of Hope, requested from Pastor Clark a list of everyone staying at the shelter, saying, “My superiors want it.” He sent the list within 24 hours. Then on January 19 an anonymous male telephoned the shelter to say that “Grace Center of Hope is going to be raided in a smear campaign to embarrass you locally and nationally.” He suggested that he had overhead a conversation in which this was discussed.
Pastor Clark contacted the office of Oakland County prosecutor David Gorcyca to ask whether a warrant had been issued for police action against Grace Centers of Hope. He learned that Prosecutor Gorcyca was in Washington, D.C., for the inauguration of President George W. Bush. Prosecutor Gorcyca’s office telephoned Pastor Clark on Monday, January 22, to confirm the police raid had been called off, stating a police officer would call Pastor Clark that same day to discuss why the raid had been planned. At about 4:30 p.m. Pontiac chief of police Larry Miracle telephoned Pastor Clark. “Come to meet me in my office tomorrow at 9:30 a.m.,” he said. Pastor Clark countered, “Meet me tonight—what is happening?” The telephone call ended.5
The next day, shortly after 5 a.m., 30 black-suited police wearing protective vests arrived at Grace Centers of Hope. Officers took mothers away from their children. One 6-year-old boy had just been reunited with his mother. When he cried and struggled, he was handcuffed. When women residents sang and prayed aloud, police forced them to stop. Warrants were not served. Miranda rights were not read. All but one of the arrestees returned to Grace Centers of Hope the same day.6 With one exception, the jurisdictions to which the arrestees were taken would not accept custody. In that case the arrestee was found to have outstanding felony charges against him for car theft in Ann Arbor, Michigan. But the reason for the raid given by arresting police—“Information that a rapist was at the center and that an undercover officer had made drug purchases within the month”—was not borne out by any of the arrests.7
EFFECTS OF THE RAID
Police officers repeatedly warned Grace Centers of Hope residents that “we will be back.” The police raid was very traumatic for the shelter’s children; teams of counselors met with the children for weeks. Children—and parents—asked for the lights to be left on all night. Pastor Clark estimates that 85 percent of the children have been physically or sexually abused and that verbal abuse is common. Most of the children have experienced many moves in their short lives. Substance abuse by their parents clearly worsens children’s lives, for drugs and alcohol are detachers—users are totally absorbed in themselves. The 12-month substance abuse treatment focuses on creating community, including attempts to reunite children with mothers.8 Forcible separation of these children from their mothers during the police raid caused damage to some of the most fragile—and innocent—members of society.9 The child who was handcuffed at Grace Centers of Hope has, with his mother, brought lawsuit against the city of Pontiac, Michigan, charging violation of their civil rights.10
According to numerous local newspaper reports, the January police raid on Grace Centers of Hope began a concentrated push to move the shelter and its residents out of downtown Pontiac and away from potential new businesses. Several fire inspections, one held during an evening prayer meeting, revealed needs for a new fire panel and fire detection system. While recent inspections have not required these upgrades, they will be installed, as they will contribute to the safety of the residents. Pastor Kent Clark also sought to acquire alternate sites for the Grace Centers of Hope within Pontiac, but Pontiac City Council denied the requests.11
Since Grace Centers of Hope is funded by private donations rather than governmental aid, community support is an ongoing concern. Press reports of the shelter’s harassment by the City of Pontiac seem to have increased awareness of its work, and donations to Grace Centers of Hope have increased. According to the Oakland Press, the third annual Women Helping Women fashion show, presented by the shelter’s staff and residents—including Pastor Clark’s daughter and assistant Shannon Grace Clark, Miss Michigan—sold out the Ritz Carlton in Dearborn, Michigan, and raised $85,000 for women’s and children’s programs.12
Pontiac mayor Walter Moore, a Democrat, supports President Bush’s plans to allow faith-based social services to compete with secular groups for federal funds, stating, “I think the strength of our city is the faith-based community.” In fact, Grace Centers of Hope director Kent Clark and his daughter Shannon Grace Clark introduced George W. Bush at a Republican campaign rally just after the Republican National Convention in 2000, although Pastor Clark strongly opposes accepting government funds for faith-based shelter programs. He remarked, “You can become addicted to government checks.” Clark attended the Conference of Mayors meeting in Detroit on January 25, 2001, to support President Bush, despite disagreement with some of his policies.13
“We agree we need help to find Grace Centers of Hope a new home,” concludes Pastor Clark. “Inside the business loop is not best for us. We need a campus-type setting outside the business loop—an irresistible offer. Perhaps Pontiac could buy a campus site with HUD [Housing and Urban Development] dollars. What the municipality meant for evil has turned to good for us. There has been an outpouring of compassion and positive sentiment, thanks to an honest press in Michigan. Had it not been for the news media, we would have drowned.”14
Carol June Hooker is a freelance author living in Landover Hills, Maryland.
FOOTNOTES
1 City of Pontiac, Michigan, mayor Walter Moore’s office was contacted for comment June 22 and 29, 2001. Mayor’s office staff demurs characterization of Pontiac police action against Grace Centers of Hope as a “raid.”
2 Pastor Kent Clark, chief operating officer of Grace Centers of Hope, interview with author, June 22, 2001.
3 “The Grace Centers of Hope at a Glance.” As of June 29, 2001, this information could also be accessed at www.gracecentersofhope.org. Kent Clark is hardly alone in eschewing government funds for social services provided by faith-based groups. According to the June 26, 2001, Washington Post, the Baptist Joint Committee, the United Church of Christ, policymakers of the United Methodist Church, and most major Jewish organizations also oppose faith-based initiatives that accept government money. The Reverend Martha Overall, who leads New York City’s St. Ann’s Episcopal parish in feeding and tutoring 100 children after school, notes, “I believe you’re undercutting the essence of religion if you’re paying somebody to be religious.”
4 Clark, interview with author, June 22, 2001.
5 Ibid.
6 Ibid.
7 Kent Clark, interview with Larry Roberts of World Socialist Web site, January 30, 2001 As of June 29, 2001, this information could be accessed at www.wsws.org.
8 Clark, interview with author, June 22, 2001.
9 Nicole Tuttle, Quell Communications Group, e-mail communication with Liberty, April 18, 2001.
10 Tom Bouland, “Businesses Want Homeless Shelter OUT of Downtown Pontiac, Michigan, USA,” Homeless Persons Network, Homeless NEWS, Mar. 27, 2001. As of June 29, 2001, this same information could be accessed at csf.colorado.edu/mail/homeless/2001/msg00178.html. Clark, interview with author, June 22, 2001.
11 Hugh McDiarmid, Jr., “Doors Closing to Homeless: Center, Citing Pressure From Pontiac, Is to End Emergency Shelter,” Detroit Free Press, Jan. 31, 2001; Oakland Briefs: Pontiac “Homeless Shelter Decides Not to Close,” Detroit News, Mar. 2, 2001; Kathleen Gray, “2 Other Sites Proposed for Controversial Shelter,” Detroit Free Press, Mar., 21, 2001; Clark, interview with author, June 22, 2001.
12 Sybil Little, Oakland Press society editor, “Lighthouse’s Expansion Is Cause for a Party: Fashion First,” Oakland Press, June 27, 2001.
13 Lee Dryden, “President Bush Pushes Faith-based Programs: There May Be Some Democratic Support for President Bush’s Plan,” Oakland Press, June 26, 2001. 14 Clark, interview with author, June 22, 2001.
In March 1997, Gail Atwater was driving her pickup truck in Lago Vista, Texas, with her 3-year-old son and 5-year-old daughter riding in the front seat; none wore seat belts. At the time of the incident, Texas law stated that violations of these laws were misdemeanors punishable by fines of $25 to $50 and permitted warrantless arrest of violators. Police officer Bart Turek stopped Atwater, verbally harangued her, asked to see Atwater’s driver’s license and vehicle registration (unavailable, as Atwater stated her purse had been stolen the day before). Officer Turek refused Atwater permission to seek care for her crying children. He handcuffed her, placed her in the back of his squad car, and took her to jail. Fortunately, a friend of Atwater’s stopped by and took charge of the children. Booking officers removed Atwater’s eyeglasses, shoes, pocket contents, and jewelry, photographed her, placed her alone in a cell for an hour, then took her to arraignment before a magistrate. Released on $310 bond, Atwater later pleaded no contest to misdemeanor seat belt offenses and paid a $50 fine.
The United States Supreme Court heard arguments relating to this case on December 4, 2000, and decided April 24, 2001 [bracketing the January 23, 2001, incident at Grace Centers of Hope], against Atwater and her husband and in favor of the city of Lago Vista, Texas, and police officer Turek. In dissent, Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, joining with Justices John Paul Stevens, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Stephen Breyer, wrote, “In light of the availability of citations to promote a state’s interests when a fine-only offense has been committed, I cannot concur in a rule which deems a full custodial arrest to be reasonable in every circumstance. Giving police officers constitutional carte blanche to effect an arrest whenever there is probable cause to believe a fine-only misdemeanor has been committed is irreconcilable with the Fourth Amendment’s command that seizures be reasonable. Instead, I would require that when there is probable cause to believe that a fine-only offense has been committed, the police officer should issue a citation unless the officer is able to point to specific and articulable facts which, taken together with rational inferences from those facts, reasonably warrant [the additional] intrusion of a full custodial arrest.”*
The rule of law is still sacred in this country. We need to guard against unreasonable arrest and its threat used as an instrument of coercion by government agencies.
*United States Supreme Court. As of June 29, 2001, this same information was available at laws.findlaw.com/us/000/99-1408.html.
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