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MyspaceA homeless man named Paul Fink said he helped himself to some free pastries left out for the taking by a bakery Saturday afternoon, and when he bit down on one of them, discovered it contained a small piece of glass. Fink said he didn’t eat the muffin, a cinnamon bun, until Monday, two days after he picked it up, but when he did, immediately crunched down on what felt to him like a rock. Examining it, he saw it was actually a piece of glass. Alarmed, he and his girlfriend Brittany, who is also homeless, called Social Worker Ken Williams for advice. Williams examined the pastry and suggested the couple report the incident to Santa Barbara Police. The couple was not interested in doing that however. They were willing, at Williams’ suggestion, to show it to a member of the news media, Executive Editor at The Santa Barbara Independent, Nick Welsh. Welsh saw the muffin and the piece of glass, and said it looked about one-fifth the size of a typical pencil eraser, but big enough to cause harm.
Fink doesn’t seem to have been injured by the incident, but is worried it was an intentional act. “Things in the newspapers are getting people excited and upset with the homeless,” he said. “We were definitely worried it was something malicious.” To read more, see homelessinsb.org.
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Comments
BS meter going off. If harm had been intended it would have been poisoned, not one ridiculous piece of glass. I would certainly suggest not eating food left laying around, though.
Noletaman (anonymous profile)
November 3, 2010 at 12:41 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I'm sure that the muffin was contained in a highly secure environment between the 2 days that he acquired the muffin and the time that he actually tried to eat it.
RealityCheck (anonymous profile)
November 3, 2010 at 1:03 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Wouldn't be the first time. If you've lived in this town for awhile you'd know.
local (anonymous profile)
November 3, 2010 at 3:55 p.m. (Suggest removal)
If this piece of glass was intentionally placed in that pastry, what a sad, low state somebody has reached.
However, sounds to me more like a publicity stunt by someone seeking to become a professional litigant.
I hate to sound so cynical, but given the ease of which to sue anybody these days this could be a lotto ticket for somebody.
In any case, glad to hear nobody was hurt :) henry
hank (anonymous profile)
November 3, 2010 at 5:36 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I would suspect that local businesses will no longer leave food out for the homeless. I hope other businesses don't donate food in fear of the homeless person suing for an incident like this. In fact McDonalds throws away all of their unused food insted of donating it to the homeless because of cases like this.
I agree with the other posters finding it suspect that the guy carried around the muffin for 2 days (was it broken glass from a beer bottle he had drank before?)
Maybe we should stop feedin the homeless and let them get their own food, paying for it with nmoney they make by working. That would stop this problem happening in the future.
InTheKnow (anonymous profile)
November 4, 2010 at 9:10 a.m. (Suggest removal)