Churches boost security to protect employees / LJWorld.com

Archive for Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Ongoing problems with the area's homeless population has led a downtown church to lock its doors during the day.

March 24, 2009

Another downtown Lawrence church has taken security precautions to keep out vagrants who might cause problems.

On Monday, First United Methodist Church, 946 Vt., began locking its doors to protect employees and others there on church business.

Church members have been finding an increasing number of intoxicated individuals, some possibly homeless. The Rev. Tom Brady said there also have been a few incidents of vandalism.

“Our problem is people who come into the building and we don’t know they’re in here,” he said. “Then when we do find them, we have a hard time getting them out.”

The church now uses a buzzer-and-speaker system to alert the church office. Doors will be unlocked, however, during regular Sunday services or when there are other group events.

Brady recalled an incident when an agitated man entered the church saying he needed money. He walked into Brady’s office, said he needed to lie down, and proceeded to stretch out on the floor.

“He was a pretty big kid and pretty strong,” Brady said. “I knew I wasn’t going to be able to move him. When it gets to be something like that, we call the police.”

Other churches in the downtown area near the Lawrence Community Shelter, 214 W. 10th, have taken similar precautions.

They include: Plymouth Congregational Church, 925 Vt.; First Christian Church, 1000 Ky.; and Trinity Episcopal Church, 1011 Vt.

The Rev. Peter Luckey said a buzzer system and closed-circuit security camera was installed at Plymouth Congregational Church about one year ago.

“This is a big building and there are lot of nooks and crannies,” Luckey said. “We don’t want a situation where there’s people wandering around the building and we don’t know about it.”

First Christian Church, home of Lawrence’s Interdenominational Nutrition Kitchen, also has a security system. LINK provides free, nutritious meals to those in need. The Rev. Randy Beeman said before its security system was installed five year ago, vagrants would sometimes go unnoticed.

“They’d crawl into a closet and go to sleep and we’d find them there the next morning,” he said.

Downtown church pastors will be meeting later this week with police officials to discuss security measures outside the churches.

“We have some people who may have substance issues and sometimes they get pretty aggressive with people just walking around the church or coming up to the church,” Beeman said.

Discussion

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24 March 2009
at 8:06 a.m.

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number3of5 (Anonymous) says…

Whatever happened to churches being a sanctuary for all who entered? What would Jesus think of locked doors on places of God? Or are they places of men and money?
24 March 2009
at 8:18 a.m.

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Informed (Anonymous) says…

Churches have a responsibility to keep their employees and parishioners safe, #3of5. They also have the right to be good stewards of the property they have. Nothing wrong or unbiblical with that.
24 March 2009
at 8:24 a.m.

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number3of5 (Anonymous) says…

Keeping people safe is a wonderful idea Informed, but would the Lord give one more than they can handle? Have all other avenues been explored and came up empty? I do not feel that Jesus would have called the police. I also do not feel that he would be so worried about the property that they have as he did not strive to amass wealth here on earth, but in the Kingdom of Heaven.
24 March 2009
at 8:54 a.m.

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Informed (Anonymous) says…

Your feigned indignation is heartwarming, #3of5, yet still keeping with total disingenuousness. Bravo!

And twisting the Scripture about the Lord giving someone more than they can handle? Ah, you've outdone yourself.
24 March 2009
at 9:17 a.m.

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number3of5 (Anonymous) says…

Informed, I did not twist any scripture. I quoted no scripture. I just stated how I feel. If the shoe fits, wear it.
24 March 2009
at 9:54 a.m.

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ibroke (Anonymous) says…

hey number3of 5–maybe if you were to give your address we can send the homeless over to your place
24 March 2009
at 10:07 a.m.

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MichaelJ (Anonymous) says…

marvelous idea ibroke! Send all the homeless, the downtrodden, the sick and in despair, to live with number3of5.

24 March 2009
at 10:20 a.m.

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50YearResident (Anonymous) says…

Churches will have protection from the homeless, by the homeless, when they start their weeks of housing the homeless in their santuaries. The homeless will protect their freebies to the end.
24 March 2009
at 10:35 a.m.

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HermioneElliott (Anonymous) says…

I have no idea why some people are downright silly. Of course the churches must be locked. Some of the homeless see the churches and liberals as there to be taken advantage of and a lot of the time it works.
I have been waiting for the bus downtown and heard how these homeless men talk about the people who give them money. Not thankful, let's just put it that way.
The churches will be helping families with small children and they will have safeguards in place to protect the children.
I said at the beginning that the Community Shelter was a bad, bad, idea.
24 March 2009
at 11:40 a.m.

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ohgeeze (Anonymous) says…

As a church secretary I am SO thankful for the camera and speaker system that my church has installed. Secretaries are most of the time the first people there in the morning to get things ready for the day. You don’t know how scary it is to go into the church alone and find someone sleeping underneath your desk or on the pews in the sanctuary, or on the couch in the youth room (yes…all have happened). When it is just you and that person you aren’t thinking “Oh, they just needed help”, you’re thinking “Crap! What if they hurt me”? That’s just being truthful as a human being in a survival situation. It just takes one person to make the wrong decision.

Our church has never turned away someone in need. If we can not help them, we make sure that we find someone in the community that can meet their needs. However, in tough times like these the church is being bombarded with sometimes 20 calls a day of people requesting money for utilities or gas, and it is so hard to weed out who is the “neediest”, if you will. One of our missions is to help those in need, but our funds are drained almost as soon as we get them. That is why we are working with others in the community and all requests for assistance are evaluated and recommended by established social service agencies, such as ECKAN, the Salvation Army or the Ballard Center. This way we can verify that yes, their electric is going to be shut off, so we can write a check directly to Westar.

This is where those speaker systems come to such great use. You don’t know what it’s like until you are talking to an irate angry person about how they have to through our checking procedure. And I can tell you from experience that if they get irate and angry, they probably weren’t going to use the money for electric bills….I feel so much safer with this system in place.

I absolutely believe that God will not “give one more than they can handle”. But God also gave us brains to be smart.
24 March 2009
at 11:41 a.m.

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Machiavelli_mania (Anonymous) says…

Well, no wonder the American Christian Church is failing and diminished. This kind of action is directly opposite of what Jesus would do.

Oh yes, let's protect those churches that are supposedly catering to souls from those souls who really need the church at this juncture of their lives. Jesus would protest this move, for sure.

This is among the very reasons why people are falling away from Christianity. I have to laugh. It is certainly nice to see the Churches adding more ammo to their own demise, like shooting yourself in the foot.
24 March 2009
at 11:52 a.m.

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Machiavelli_mania (Anonymous) says…

Maybe the answer is to hire the homeless to provide the security. They need a job and a place, the church needs the security.

This whole thing just makes me squirm. You would never have imagined this kind of thoughtlessness from a Methodist. A Baptist most certainly, but not a Methodist. They are generally open-minded, unlike the common Baptist.
24 March 2009
at 11:59 a.m.

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Confrontation (Anonymous) says…

Yes, Machiavelli, hire the drunks and mentally ill to provide security at the church. That sure makes sense. You seriously think that most of these bums want a job?! Hilarious!
24 March 2009
at 12:13 p.m.

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woodenfleaeater (Anonymous) says…

Why do the employees of the church need security? Shouldn't God be doing his job and protecting them? And, if they do get injured or killed, wouldn't that just be “God's Will”?
24 March 2009
at 12:18 p.m.

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Marion (Marion Lynn) says…

Buncha sick haters around here this morning, I see.

24 March 2009
at 12:39 p.m.

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Multidisciplinary (Anonymous) says…

Will they do an up-to-date remake of the Hunchback of Notre Dame? Sanctuary is SO outdated.
24 March 2009
at 12:50 p.m.

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Confrontation (Anonymous) says…

It sounds like you have right idea, 2fat4u. Doing meth and owning a gun :)
24 March 2009
at 1:20 p.m.

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average (Anonymous) says…

Many of the mainline protestant denominations should have merged decades ago. Average Sunday service of all of them would probably fit in any of them with room to spare. Add security costs to all the other costs of keeping half a dozen imperceptibly different churches going.
24 March 2009
at 1:23 p.m.

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trinity (Anonymous) says…

no YOU do the meth! :)
(sorry, but that typo made me giggle)
24 March 2009
at 1:57 p.m.

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LovelyAngel315 (Anonymous) says…

Just wanted to mention that Plymouth Congregational Church is also where Head Start(a preschool program) is located. There are a bunch of “homeless” people that hang out in their parking lot all day and were coming in a lot to use the bathroom, take the food donated to Head Start families, etc. and causing problems with the preschoolers there. They DO have to protect the children. And it was pretty scary when I was picking up my daughter and there was someone running from the police and he ran into the church. Fortunately I saw and pointed the police in the right direction(they thought they'd lost him). I don't know about the rest of the churches, but Plymouth needed to do it.
24 March 2009
at 2:08 p.m.

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Marion (Marion Lynn) says…

Hmmm..bars can have security, department stores and other retail establishments can have security, gas statiions can have security…

…even Dr. Tiller can have security but churches can't?

Woo Hoo!

Dr. Tiller even got Secret Service security from Slick Willie Klinton!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/…
24 March 2009
at 3:16 p.m.

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Machiavelli_mania (Anonymous) says…

Confrontation, you have some serious biases. I suggest you work on them. Of course, I do too. I don't like Baptists and German-ascented Catholic men, a bias developed over a lifetime of observation, and I certainly wasn't born with them.

The answer then is for the church to work on addiction issues and also to help those who don't necessarily think like the rest of you.

Bush is mentally ill, and heard voices in his head all the time, and you didn't complain about him. No one here ranted about his obvious insanities.

But you brought up the issue of the mentally ill. Just what do you propose we do with them? Generally, in a good and caring society, they are cared for. In a trashed society, with the pretense that we are a greater society than we really are, YOU try hard to hide the weaknesses of our society, rather than recognize the problems and seek to address them for societal improvement's sake. If these outcasts of society cannot be accepted and assisted at church, where can they be accepted and helped?

Bush set up a poop load of money to address this issue by the churches. Doesn't look like it is getting done. So where is that money going?

All the gods bless George Tiller. And me too.

This society gets further from the heart of Jesus every day, and that includes the management of churches, where they care more for their building than they do lost souls.
24 March 2009
at 3:22 p.m.

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Machiavelli_mania (Anonymous) says…

Confrontation, any of us here are only two steps away from being homeless too. Remember that.
Your job is not secure.
Your home is mostly likely not yours yet, and can be removed from your accesses at any time.

Maybe you ought to distribute a bit of good karma while the present society is being punished for their bad and uncaring decisions.

We are put on this earth for each other. Don't lose site of this fact.

24 March 2009
at 3:40 p.m.

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Machiavelli_mania (Anonymous) says…

The status quo 2000 years ago didn't like the voice of Jesus either. He told them too many truths. Go figure.
24 March 2009
at 6:09 p.m.

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hodgesmom (Dayle Hodges) says…

I worked at Plymouth nearly 20 years ago and it was not uncommon to find (presumably) homeless people sleeping in the pews and various other places even then. We handed out vouchers for food and gas to inividuals once a month; they never missed the day they were eligible again. We also had a problem with finding people (and their messes) in the restrooms. As the secretary I dealt with irate, irrational people on a daily basis. I am sure the employees of the downtown churches are breathing a sigh of relief……….
24 March 2009
at 6:47 p.m.

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HermioneElliott (Anonymous) says…

I think that Machiavelli_mania is an airhead of the first water. No one with any common sense at all would go along with her plans. No one has the right to sleep in a church. I find it very difficult to believe these things really happened. Can we draw a line from these downtown churches and the open shelter?
I believe that St. Johns is locked up tight after the last mass.
Why would anyone believe that Jesus had a special spot in his heart for drunks who take advantage of others and hurt them while taking no responsibility for their action.
As a child I was taught, there is a consequence for every action. Help someone who is in a state of mind to be helped. Being sweet tempered to a drunk who doesn't care if you live or die is not workable in the long run.
24 March 2009
at 8:53 p.m.

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igby (Anonymous) says…

Didn't Jesus, refuse to let the man who had a 1000 legions in him follow them? After Jesus cast out the 1000 legions into a heard of pigs, the pigs killed themselves by running into the sea. The man wanted to follow Jesus, back across the sea. However, Jesus, he let these demon legions speak, and they told him a thing or two about this man and how these demons came to be in him I suppose, Lol. Oink, Oink! Lol.

Ever time I see “caveman Joe” on the street jabbering his vulgar rant of profanity, I think of the 1000 poor pigs and how they must of felt that day.

Unworthy of pigs for sure! Lol.

Keep them out if you have too.
24 March 2009
at 9:27 p.m.

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xbusguy (Anonymous) says…

Some kind of world we live in….
some that need help refuse it, and some that don't need help demand it.

Then of course…. we have those who destroy everything in sight…… which only makes things worse for those that are working to better themselves.
What can you do….. call Jesus??
24 March 2009
at 10:31 p.m.

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OldEnuf2BYurDad (Anonymous) says…

No where in scripture does Jesus or anyone else in the Bible carry on a dialogue with an intoxicated person. The closest you'll come to that in the Bible is the demon possessed, to whom Jesus responded by promptly “sobering them them up” (so to speak) before really doing much else.

Drunks should be turned away until they can at least sober up and provide some predictability (but isn't that what we've been saying about the homeless for years?).
24 March 2009
at 10:51 p.m.

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xbusguy (Anonymous) says…

OldEnuf2BYurDad (Anonymous) says…
No where in scripture does Jesus or anyone else in the Bible carry on a dialogue with an intoxicated person.
––––––––––––
That's okay old,,, I will talk to myself,,,, (just kidding)
24 March 2009
at 10:55 p.m.

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Multidisciplinary (Anonymous) says…

ohgeeze, great post, thanks

Thanks to both you and hodgesmom for you years of service to all.

24 March 2009
at 11 p.m.

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Marion (Marion Lynn) says…

People, this about building security and you religion haters are trying to make a completely different issue out of it.

Not going to work.
24 March 2009
at 11:43 p.m.

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TheSychophant (Anonymous) says…

We can all thank Pee Wee Loring for the need for security.
25 March 2009
at 12:42 a.m.

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WHY (Anonymous) says…

This story makes me mad. It is all of the dumb religious people who give handouts to the homeless so they will stay around. Then they use church funds to keep themselves safe and subject the rest of us to deal with the problem that their misplaced sense of morality created.