City creates the obstruction in latest twist to Paul Braun case

PENTICTON – The City of Penticton’s fight against a local homeless man took another turn today.

City of Penticton maintenance crews have strategically placed two garbage containers in the corner of a breezeway on Main Street today, May 15, where Paul Braun usually sits to panhandle.

Braun is facing eight counts of obstruction by the city for sitting in that exact location. He has a trial date set for September.

“The city is both obstructing, with the garbage cans, and panhandling (with a nearby kindness meter)," Braun’s lawyer Paul Varga says in an email. He says it is one of the most childish, passive aggressive moves he’s seen by a local government.

Varga said his client laughed “uproariously" when he saw the garbage cans.

The city has been criticized by the B.C. Civil Liberties Association for the way it has conducted itself to date. The city's lawyer revealed the details of a proposed so-called final offer to Braun prior to the matter going to trial.

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