Addressing the needs of those experiencing homelessness with compassionate and effective strategies is a complex and community-wide challenge that demands partnership, perseverance, and also good information.

Visit (link...) for an online FAQ addressing common questions related to the City’s work to address homelessness.

"During the first week of January 2021, the Knoxville Public Service Department along with Knoxville Police Department again performed a sweep of a local encampment."

"The night of the raid in early January 2021, temperatures dropped to 28 degrees. Worst of all, several people lost their lives due to the cold weather. Their bodies were recovered by a local aid worker, who confirmed that these individuals were members of the unhoused community."

Please cite your source as to the claim of multiple deaths, bodies recovered, etc. Thank you. (And I've signed my share of Change.org petitions, by the way.)

Michael, you created your post, inserting a link to a Change.org petition which falsely claims that multiple homeless died in a KPD raid on 1/21/21 and that reports of said actions were suppressed. You added a sample paragraph, in fact. Did you ever fully read the petition? In reply to my question on sources, you now effectively state not to know whether there's any truth to the petition's claims. You further suggest that I need to check the accuracy of the source which YOU posted.

The partial image of that Knoxville Focus article you provided in your reply to me intimates that no deaths in fact occurred....surely, fatalities caused by the KPD that day would have made for banner headlines, perhaps at the national level. That paper has a photo credited to you, so you were apparently present at some point during or after this raid. You must have thus had some inkling of the goings on, such as any deaths, as the petition claims.

I combed through archived issues of that paper for all of January and saw nothing suggesting that the death claims of petitioner Isabelle Farineau are true.

Boy, that must have been one hell of a coverup then by the entire media group in and around Knoxville, because I for one never heard of this B.S. You cannot have it both ways, posting something not verified and later not taking responsibility for its veracity when challenged.

I support legitimate means to help the homeless and I am not here to defend the police. Sorry to be pedantic, but my intent is rather to suggest you check your sources before posting someone's lies. We just booted a president who'd spread misinformation for four years and still counting. Let's please give it a well earned rest.

If there's anything here on which I lack a clear understanding, correct me and I'll gladly offer an apology.

The point of the petition, it seems to me, is to protest the city's demolition of homeless encampments. If you disagree with the petition, don't sign it. And if the moderators of this group think my link has contributed to the spread of misinformation, they are welcome to remove it.