Naperville Business Owner Takes On Homeless Protester
NAPERVILLE, Ill. (WBBM/CBS) -- A Naperville business owner is hoping the city will expand a ban on street camping to keep a homeless protester away.
As WBBM Newsradio 780's Nancy Harty reports, the downtown area of Naperville is already off limits to Scott Huber and his belongings.
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Now, a psychologist whose office sidewalk became his new protest site wants the ordinance expanded, according to the Daily Herald.
On Tuesday night, Katherine Borchardt asked the Naperville City Council to protect her and other business owners from Huber, against whom she has a restraining order.
Borchardt and Huber had a well-publicized dispute last year. Borchardt said when she asked Huber to move from in front of her office in February, he followed her into her office, yelling at her and demanding information to the point where she "cowered" on her office floor, the Chicago Tribune reported.
Huber was charged with trespassing, and was ordered to stay away from Borchardt and 500 feet away from the building. In April, Borchardt went on to sue him for defamation, on the grounds that he attacked her in his blog as "unethical" and "a disciple of Satan," the Tribune reported.
At the hearing Tuesday, Dr. Christine Hibbard of St. Charles, who regularly refers patients to Borchardt, testified that the behavior continues. She said Huber has been seen with a sign reading, "Dr. Borchardt has no ethics," and patients question whether it's safe to go to Borchardt's office, the Daily Herald reported.
Huber, a 1969 graduate of Joliet Township High School and a 1971 graduate of Joliet Junior College, said he came to Naperville in 1989 after learning about the city's booming economy. He said he had an electronics business and shop in Lemont and wanted to grow the business in Naperville. But his life did not go as planned.
He said he was evicted from his Naperville home in 1999 after he said Ameritech demanded he pay in excess of $1,000 for services provided, which he contested. That was his last permanent residence. And Huber said the local government officials, police officers and judiciaries have "railroaded" him and purposely squelched his chances at growing his electronics business, A and A Electronics and Televisions. He said his business became "frozen" because of a lack of income and communication resources.
A self-proclaimed "entrepreneur and businessman for over 30 years," Huber has also taken exception to being kicked out of local eateries and public places for "hanging around," and said that local government officials and police officers have no right to do so.
Huber even ran as a write-in candidate for mayor of Naperville in 2007.
The city passed a ban on his camping out in the downtown area in 2009. That prompted him to move across the street to the corner of Washington Street and Benton Avenue, and in front of Borchardt's office, the Daily Herald reported.
