Police cite (black) attendees at job training skills class with criminal tresspassing.
Chatanooga, TN. - They came expecting job training. What they didn't expect was a citation for criminal trespassing.
But so many men were cited by police and Chattanooga Housing Authority security personnel that the men began to suspect that the Hope for the Inner City job skills class at College Hill Courts was a setup.
One man got two citations in the same day, said Tonya Rooks, resident council president at the public housing site.
Betsy McCright, executive director of the housing authority, blamed the citations on a misunderstanding and said the housing authority is willing to help the men.
"If not us, then who? We'd like to be a part of it and see this program work," McCright said Tuesday. "Somebody has got to take a chance."
It was just four weeks ago that Vincent Boozer, program director for Hope for the Inner City, appealed to the authority to allow men banned from public housing to attend job training at College Hill Courts.
CHA officials agreed, and class began Oct. 8.
The citations to men on the no-trespassing list began the same day. Some were cited before or after class, others were tracked down in College Hill Courts or elsewhere.
About 15 men attended Jobs for Life on the first day. After they started getting citations, the number dwindled, Rooks said.
The class has several gang members and others who have criminal records. They want to change their lives so much that they gathered birth certificates, school transcripts and other documents needed to enroll in the class, she said.
http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2012/oct/24/10-24-a1-police-cite-attendees-at-job-training/?news