For four months Fort Hernandez, the defiantly renamed Hernandez residence in Van Nuys, California has stood against Bank of America. Its band of Occupiers, allies and friends of the family has been holding it down against one of the largest corporations in the world and one of the largest Sheriff's Departments in the United States (with a 2.5 billion operating budget!) since August.
Yesterday the Los Angeles County Sheriff informed the Hernandez' of his intent to evict them tomorrow -- at 7:00 AM on Christmas Eve.
Today we received news that the sheriffs are coming to forcibly evict us from our home of seven years on Monday December 24, Christmas Eve, at 7 in the morning. This despite the fact that we have had our chapter 13 repayment plan approved by the bankruptcy trustee, and even made our first payment, men with guns are still coming to throw our family out.
OccupyLA put out the call for support on twitter.
Now there's word that the Sheriff will have met with the Hernandez family at 10:00 AM and that the eviction will proceed late this afternoon. (Someone should tell the Sheriff the story of the first Christmas Eve, but I doubt that he'd get it.)
(No further word so far on what happened, if anything, that I've been able to find)
What did the Hernandez' have planned for Christmas Eve morning?
This Christmas Eve morning, at Fuerza Hernandez we will be celebrating with a Posada (also known as Christmas Carols). Come through and enjoy Mexican Hot Chocolate, Mexican warm Punch and Mexican Sweet Bread (Pan Dulce).
The Los Angeles County Sheriff's phone number is 818-374-2121. I'm sure they would appreciate a call telling them what you think of their planned action. The LA County Sheriff is Lee Baca. The Chief in charge of the Court Services Division, which is responsible for evictions, is Richard J Barrantes. Fort Hernandez lists these numbers as appropriate to call:
Main number: 323-526-5541
Van Nuys Branch (West Bldg.): 818-374-2511
Van Nuys Branch (East Bldg.): 818-374-2121
According to a recently posted Facebook note,
La Opinion will be covering today's possible Eviction.
which might make the Sheriffs be a little queasy
because
La Opinion is a Spanish-language daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, USA and distributed throughout the six counties of Southern California. It is the largest Spanish-language newspaper in the United States and second-most read newspaper in Los Angeles (after The Los Angeles Times).
but the elections are over and so, in truth, only the mass action of hundreds of people converging on the Hernandez residence can defer this eviction if it is indeed happening tonight. Being that it is Christmas Eve you can imagine how hard that might be to pull off. And it seems that only an increase by at least two sizes in the heart capacity of Bank of America would have been enough for them to negotiate a deal to give the Hernandez' their house back from eviction. An ability that Grinches, but not Bank of America executives, seem to possess.
Or perhaps music will soothe the savage bank.
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Read about Fort Hernandez here.
Follow these twitter feeds for updates.
Fort Hernandez Twitter.
OLAASM Twitter
OccupyLA Twitter
And check their Facebook page.
11:20 AM PT: Update:
j03 @Flores_Occupy
#Fort_Hernandez Atty STILL at 10am meeting at the Sheriffs Dept with the bank- i'll be streaming #Fort_Hernandez if...
3:08 PM PT: Major Update:
j03 @Flores_Occupy
#Fort_Hernandez Atty is back from meeting with the Shiriff's Dept - No arrests today - #Fort_Hernandez Eviction planned for Wednesday
4:11 PM PT:
#OccupyLA @OccupyLA
LASD told @Fort_Hernandez they will not evict today or tomorrow. via #OSFV Resources -LS #xmas #evictiondefense #fuerzahernandez