B's Housing Saga Continues....

B's housing woes continue but interestingly, because of some long conversations we've shared, we may have some new options available to us. You see, B is the kind of guy who tells you anecdotes about his past when you ask him direct questions about his previous physical and mental health treatments. You never know where one of his stories will take you but one thing you can usually count on is that if he's telling it to you it's almost certainly real and it's as factual as his memory allows. Clearly, drugs and alcohol have damaged some of his ability to remember, but surprisingly, he's often quite accurate and avoids embellishing his tales - which is a good thing because frankly, they certainly don't need embellishing to be interesting or compelling! B's been drug and alcohol free now for over 10 years, but he's still viewed by many as being "nothing but trouble" and "service resistant." Service resistant - what a great term, and it fits so well for most of the population I deal with on a daily basis; B could have at one time been the poster child for it. But not anymore. As I've previously noted, age, physical impairments and diseases have caught up with this hard drinking, hard partying, hard charging, cantankerous street peep and he clearly recognizes this as a fact for him today. So B is now a little more inclined to zip his lip when all his natural instincts want him to go verbally postal on someone. He's a little more understanding of and about other folk's rights, and he realizes that while one can live homeless without a whole lot of trouble, those homeless who are obnoxious, violent and engaged in blatant criminal activity make life rough on everyone else in this population. He knows, because he's now suffering the results of others' stupidity in and around the downtown area - and he doesn't like it - at all. Not surprisingly, he's fully behind the new "Please Help, Don't Give" campaign against aggressive panhandlers and hopes that these "morons" are "run outta town" so that the "regulars" can find some peace from the increased police activity that has occurred as a direct result of these unruly panhandlers. And this is just one more reason he's been really hoping that we can pull off a housing miracle for him. Enter the historical discussion of his health and mental health. B has had some tough times during his life. He'll be the first to tell you that he isn't blaming his ....ahem....."improper" behavior on anyone or anything besides himself. He takes full and sole responsibility for his actions, which is a surprising departure from the modus operandi of many of my clients, and it is an invigorating breath of fresh air, as well. Over the course of his life, B has spent his late teen years in prison due to a bar fight gone bad; the mutual combatant fell and on the way down, "smacked his coconut on the corner of a step," which ended up causing his demise. B did three years for involuntary manslaughter. Almost immediately after his release, he was riding in a car full of stoned folks when the the drunken driver went off the road and into a river, killing 5 in the process. B and a woman escaped through a window. Not long after that, he was arrested for being drunk in public and was a bit belligerent during his admission into the drunk tank, as drunks often are. He threw a roll of toilet paper at one of the guards during this process and awoke the following morning to the very serious charge of assault on a correctional officer. h 3 more years in prison for that. While in prison, B contacted a lifelong boyhood friend and the friend agreed to help B get his life back together and on track once he was released from prison. B was ecstatic at the opportunity for a fresh start and looked forward to the chance with great excitement. Soon after he was released, his friend and he took what should have been a wonderful canoe trip. Unfortunately, having had more than a few beers, the two decided to get into the canoe and do some sightseeing. The canoe tipped over and B's friend was found dead the following day, floating in about 10 feet of water. B went off the deep end after this death, and I suspect B's "deep end" makes my own trip off the deep end look like an afternoon splash in a half-filled wading pool. To say B might have some mental health issues is to state the obvious. Any one of the above incidents has the potential to create serious mental health problems in the average individual. B chose to deal with what psychologists term "major life events" the only way he knew how - self medicate with drugs and alcohol to blot out the pain and the memories - a "treatment protocol" chosen by many in our fine country and around the world, by the way. So B spent much of his life addicted to drugs and alcohol, roaming the streets, riding the rails and generally being what society would deem a "trouble-making transient," or more simply put, a bum. B eventually made his home here on the streets of Nashville because "it's an easy place to make do with nuthin." If ever a song was written that describes the way B is thinking today, it would have to be Time, by Pink Floyd:

You are young and life is long and there is time to kill today And then one day you find ten years have got behind you No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun And you run and you run to catch up with the sun, but its sinking And racing around to come up behind you again The sun is the same in the relative way, but youre older Shorter of breath and one day closer to death

And B is clearly shorter of breath as a result of his lifelong smoking habit and his morbid obesity. And he is one day closer than most others to death, thanks in large part to his hell-raising lifestyle and his ever-worsening congestive heart failure and diabetes. His legs are much better now, thanks to a hospital stay and some time at the Guest House over at the Campus for Human Development. He was released from there on Friday and I got him into another place that shall remain anonymous at the moment, since he's still there. Monday we have an appointment w a local mental health agency. This particular agency is perhaps the best one for this kind of client, but because B's mental health evaluation and treatment occurred so long ago, it's dicey whether we get him accepted into their program. But we're going to give it our best shot. If it fails, it takes us right to the edge of failure, but dammit, I won't give up yet. I have been kicking around and idea to help house the Homeless. I want to keep it under wraps until I get it fleshed out, but there is already some interest from those who might be able to begin funding it. Haven't even told my boss about it yet, but he'll definitely hear about it tomorrow. Unless he reads this and calls me tonight. Meanwhile, keep your fingers crossed and if you're the religious sort, say a prayer for B. He's about due for some divine intervention in his life.....

Maybe What They Need Is A Few Trips To A Woodshed With My Grandfather and His Razor Strop

It turns my stomach to read of punks, thugs and brats who violently act out against the most vulnerable in our society. While there is heated, often contentious debate as to the reason they behave this way, these children and young adults have clearly developed a false assumption that they are either invincible to the law or are above the rules of civilized society. Worse still, they've also somehow come to the conclusion that attacking innocent and defenseless individuals and animals is somehow sporting, "fun" and/or approved of by others in their peer group. What's particularly disgusting to me is that although they act with a purpose and a viciousness that belies their young age, they then snivel and whine like the pantywaists and pansies they really are when they are held accountable for these disgusting and gruesome crimes. I've written previously that this type of behavior is simply a hate crime and should be treated as such. Six other states agree with me and are in the process of enacting legislation to prove it: Maryland, California, Massachusetts, Nevada, Texas and Florida. How many more innocent people will have to suffer and possibly die at the hands of these thugs before someone steps forward with appropriate legislation and sentencing enhancements to existing laws for the good and law-abiding people of Tennessee? And speaking of violent crime, there has been a sudden and sharply-rising violent crime rate over the past couple of years.....Perhaps our social focus should now consider a shift from spending $8 billion a year on marijuana crime and begin investing some of those dollars into interdiction on this front for a change? Please don't misunderstand me here, I'm not arguing for changes to existing drug laws, although it does seem rather ridiculous (not to mention an obvious double-standard), to outlaw marijuana when alcohol can be bought on almost about any street corner in the country. I'm merely proposing that if we consider the "benefits to the greater good" criteria used by most public administrators who are looking at the best possible use for scarce resource dollars relative to fighting crime, it makes sense to spend the money where the greatest good for society as a whole is concerned. I suspect that a good number us would much rather deal with a man smoking marijuana in an alley than an obnoxious, obscenity-spewing teen (or group of teens) carrying a baseball bat or a pair of nunchakus in one hand and a "suitcase" of beer in the other.

4 arrested in attacks against homeless

Saturday, June 30, 2007

By NIKI DOYLE

Times Staff Writer niki.doyle@htimes.com

Juveniles are charged with robbery; another under investigation

Huntsville police Friday arrested four boys - ages 11, 12, 13 and 14 - and charged them with second-degree robbery in connection with the assaults of several homeless people on Stokes Street on Monday.

Police are still investigating and may arrest another juvenile soon, Sgt. Mark Roberts said. The boys entered the camp near First Stop homeless day center at least four times in recent weeks, residents of the camp said Tuesday. The youths had previously slashed tents and broken tables and chairs, but the confrontations turned violent June 21 when the boys began shooting plastic BBs into the camp.

Then on Monday, one teen threatened to rape camp resident Julie Rodgers, and when Rodgers' friend Mark Evett tried to defend her, he was hit in the temple with a rock. Several other camp residents were injured in the scuffle.

The boys were charged with robbery after police discovered that $20 was stolen from a homeless man's wallet during the Monday assault, Roberts said. The four boys were booked in the Neaves-Davis Center for Children.

The arrests bring a sense of relief to First Stop and other homeless shelters in the area.

"We are so grateful to God that they got these people and we can return to normal," said Gail Scott, director of First Stop. "Maybe now the clients won't be so afraid."

Scott said people have been calling First Stop constantly, offering help and resources after news about the attacks. Some have brought supplies such as bottled water to the shelter after hearing about the assaults.

Camp residents discussed the incident Friday with representatives from Gov. Bob Riley's office, who conducted a focus group at Stokes Street to determine the problems and barriers faced by the homeless in Huntsville.

The group planned the visit months in advance, but Scott said she's glad that news of the assaults will reach the state Capitol.

Unprovoked Beatings of Homeless Soaring

Across Nation, Unprovoked Beatings of Homeless Soar; 142 Attacks Occurred Last Year Alone

By TODD LEWAN

The Associated Press

ORLANDO, Fla.

This photo released by the Orlando Police Department shows homeless murder victim, August Felix. Felix was attacked by youths on March 26, 2006 in Orlando, Fla., and died 30 days later. (AP Photo/Orlando Police Department)

It was a balmy night, the sort that brings the homeless out from the shelters, when the police were summoned to America Street. On the driveway of a condo, just a few paces from the gutter, lay a man. A dying man.

He looked to be 50-ish, and a resident of Orlando's streets, judging by the moldy jacket. And he'd been bludgeoned so badly bludgeoned that he could hardly move.

Before being rushed to the hospital, where he died of his head injuries, the man, August Felix, described his attackers. Young fellows did it, he whispered to the officers who got to him first. Kids.

Within three months, two 16-year-olds and three 15-year-olds had been charged with second-degree homicide in the March 26, 2006, attack. The motive? "I don't think there was a motive," Sgt. Barbara Jones, a police spokeswoman, said, "other than, 'Let's beat someone up.'"

That high-schoolers had turned allegedly on a whim into executioners brought pause to city officials and advocates for the homeless, not just because the killing was unprovoked, but because it fit into a trend larger than Orlando: a nationwide surge in violence largely by teenagers and young adults against some of America's most vulnerable citizens.

A 2006 report by the National Coalition for the Homeless found 142 attacks last year against homeless people, 20 of which resulted in death a 65 percent increase from 2005, when 86 were violently assaulted, including 13 homicides.

By comparison, 60 such attacks were reported in 1999, the year the coalition the only entity to gather such data began to study the problem.

And these numbers are likely low because they only reflect the most egregious attacks reported in newspapers or by agencies that serve the homeless and some victims themselves, according to Michael Stoops, acting executive director of the Washington-based coalition.

The trend is particularly troubling, he says, because such attacks no longer occur just in major cities on the East and West Coasts, as was the case in the 1980s.

In its most recent study, "Hate, Violence, and Death on Main Street USA," the coalition documented attacks against the destitute in 62 communities last year alone, in 26 states. Since 1999, such violence has occurred in 44 states and Puerto Rico, and in 200 communities nationwide.

An overwhelming majority of the attackers 88 percent were 25 or younger; 95 percent were male. No less than 68 percent of those accused and convicted in attacks were between the ages of 13 and 19.

This pattern of violence, in Stoops' view, hasn't gotten the attention it deserves from the public or law enforcement.

"Homeless people are the newest minority group in America that is 'OK' to hate and hurt," he said. "It's as though, somehow, they're viewed as less deserving, less human than the rest of us."

Americans did pay attention to the story of 58-year-old Jacques Pierre, a homeless man who'd been sleeping on a bench on a college campus when three teenagers woke him up, taunted him, then nearly killed him with baseball bats.

Why?

That Jan. 12, 2006, ambush in Fort Lauderdale was filmed by a surveillance camera, and broadcast worldwide.

"For once," says Sean Cononie, who operates a homeless shelter in that seaside city, "Americans saw with their own eyes how kids hunt down and kill homeless people as though it were a sport."

Such "sport" has occurred elsewhere:

In Toms River, N.J., five high-school students were charged with beating a 50-year-old homeless man nearly to death with pipes and baseball bats throwing hockey pucks at him for good measure as he slept in the woods.

In Butte, Mont., a 53-year-old homeless man was killed at a Greyhound bus depot because he refused to give another man a cigarette, according to court records. The victim's skull was fractured. The 22-year-old assailant received a 50-year prison sentence.

In Spokane, Wash., a one-legged, 50-year-old homeless man was set on fire in his wheelchair on a downtown street; he died of his burns. Police charged a 22-year-old man with first-degree murder.

In Nashville, Tenn., a 32-year-old homeless woman sleeping on a boat ramp was shoved into the Cumberland River, according to witnesses. Two men, ages 21 and 22, were charged with homicide in her drowning; authorities say the attack was unprovoked.

Cononie, who also publishes a monthly newspaper, "The Homeless Voice," reported another trend:

"Kids are even starting to videotape themselves hurting homeless people. That's something we never saw before."

He was referring to an February incident in Corpus Christi, Texas, in which a 22-year-old, a 16-year-old and a 15-year-old describe on camera how they are going to assault a homeless man, then do so.

On the tape, the attackers kick the man in the back, grab him, and flip him around to show off his injuries, according to police. The camera, which had been stolen, was recovered by the owner, who called police once she saw the footage.

Police have arrested one of the teens, and are looking for the other two suspects. The victim suffered a concussion but survived.

Some perpetrators are even younger. In late March, a homeless day laborer was walking at night through a neighborhood of Daytona Beach, Fla., when three boys on bicycles attacked him, striking him with a concrete block.

Two of the boys were 10 years old; the third was 17. Each has been charged with aggravated battery. "For a 10-year-old to pick up a cinder block and smash somebody's face with it, that defies logic," Michael Chitwood, Daytona's police chief, later told a reporter.

Though for the past decade assaults on the homeless have dotted the U.S. map, Florida is the state where such attacks are most frequent by far, the coalition's February report says.

Last year, the coalition documented 48 attacks in Florida, where 60,867 of the state's 17.8 million residents are homeless, according to federal figures. By comparison, 11 attacks were counted in California, where 170,270 of that state's 36 million people are homeless.

While some investigators believe the attacks are random, Sgt. Richard Ring, who investigated the murder of August Felix in Orlando last year, sees "a more deep-seated problem here."

As he puts it, "Our young people get prejudices from their parents in regard to homeless people. They don't identify with the homeless, and they don't seem to see them as important." With Felix, Ring adds, "the juveniles targeted him because he was easy prey."

Homeless advocates also link the trend to the popularity of "Bumfights," a video series created in 2001 and sold on the Internet. The videos feature homeless people battering one another for money.

A Bumfights DVD was cited as inspiration by a 19-year-old who pounced on a homeless man as he slept on a Los Angeles sidewalk, then pummeled him with an aluminum baseball bat. The 2005 beating put Ernest Adams, 56, into a coma for three weeks and cost him the sight in one eye.

Last July, a jury found his attacker, Justin Brumfield, guilty of assault; he is serving an 11-year prison sentence.

Internet site Bumfights.com, which sells the videos, says the purpose is to call attention to poverty and violence. "Please do not miss the point of these videos! Educate yourself. Help those who are less fortunate. Spread love not hate," the Web site says.

In 2002, Donald Brennan and Rufus Hannah, two homeless, army veterans, filed suit against the Las Vegas producers, alleging they were paid small amounts of money to bash their heads into walls, light their hair on fire, attack each other, and to tattoo "Bumfights" in bold letters across their hands and foreheads.

Later, the Bumfights producers agreed to pay an unspecified amount in damages and to no longer use Hannah and Brennan's images for promotional purposes.

The shock-video producers also pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to stage an illegal fight for their videos in 2003, and were ordered to perform community service. (In 2005, they were sentenced to six months in prison for having failed to complete the community service.)

The Associated Press sent an e-mail to Bumfights.com seeking comment for this story, but got no response.

A number of local governments have adopted ordinances that restrict where and when the homeless can sleep, stroll, beg, eat, bathe, or do laundry. And this trend may have an unintended effect reinforcing negative stereotypes of homelessness, which contributes to the violence, some advocates say.

"When cities pass laws that target homeless people, they send a message to their communities that the homeless are not as valuable in the public eye as those with homes," says Tulin Ozdeger, a civil rights attorney at the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty.

Of late, there have been signs that lawmakers may be ready to crack down harder on those who assault the homeless without provocation one being a recent push to categorize such attacks as hate crimes.

Currently, gays, along with racial, ethnic and religious groups, are covered by various hate crime laws around the country; convictions under these statutes usually carry harsher sentences than other types of crime.

Brian Levin, a criminologist and hate crimes expert at Cal State San Bernardino, says attacks on homeless people "fit the category like a glove," and should be punished as severely.

Hate crimes, he says, bear similar hallmarks: stereotyped victims, offenders who act on latent prejudices, offenders who seek thrills or feel superior to their victims, and a mob mentality that sweeps away caution.

"And on all these points," says Levin, "the attacks against the homeless are really indistinguishable from other hate crimes except for one difference there are a heck of a lot more of them."

Between 1999 and 2005, 82 people were killed in America because of their race, ethnicity, or religious or sexual orientation, according to the FBI, which has been collecting data on hate crimes since 1990.

There were 169 homeless people murdered during that same period, the National Coalition for the Homeless says a statistic that Levin describes as "astounding." It has caught the attention of some lawmakers.

Twenty-six members of Congress have asked the Government Accountability Office to determine whether attacks on the homeless should be classified as hate crimes under federal law.

In the meantime, homeless hate-crime bills are moving through the legislatures of six states: Maryland, California, Massachusetts, Nevada, Texas and Florida.

Police Need YOUR Help In Catching Hit & Run Driver

Imagine the outrage you would have if, instead of this elderly man being killed in a hit and run accident, it was your son, daughter, wife or father. You would want every resource available to be utilized in the apprehension of this dangerous driver, both to ensure justice for your own loved one and to make sure someone else wouldn't soon become the victim of yet another hit and run accident. Just because the man was Homeless and/or intoxicated doesn't make it any less of a crime..... Information Wanted In Deadly Hit And Run June 29, 2007 01:50 PM Wilbur Lee Helms Nashville, Tenn. - Hit and Run Unit investigators are asking for the public's assistance in identifying the driver of a vehicle who ran over a homeless man sometime between 11:30 p.m. and midnight Monday, June 18. Wilbur Lee Helms, 69, was found seriously injured at 12 a.m. by a Central Precinct patrol officer on 8^th Avenue North at Taylor Street. Investigators said Helms appeared to be extremely intoxicated at the time of the accident and may have been lying in the roadway when he was struck. Helms was transported to Vanderbilt University Medical Center where he died Wednesday from injuries that appear to be consistent with having been run over by a vehicle that did not have time to stop.

Anyone who may have witnessed the collision, or anyone with information on the vehicle involved, is urged to contact the police department's Traffic Unit at 862-7738.

Sicko Striking Nerves In TN

Saturday, 06/30/07 Some in Midstate see themselves in 'Sicko' Health-care movie prompts anger, defense of industry By CHAS SISK and JOY BUCHANAN Staff Writers Rip Patton saw a bit of his own life in a vignette from the film Sicko of a young woman who lost her insurance, apparently for no reason other than a yeast infection that she had failed to disclose.

The 67-year-old truck driver from Nashville has had back and neck surgery before. He wonders if that condition will make it expensive, or even impossible, for him to buy supplemental insurance after he retires. Now he's prepared to lift a scene from Michael Moore's Sicko, which made its debut in Nashville and around the country Friday. If he needs medical care that he can't afford, Patton said, he will head north of the border. "I've been a driver for over 30 years," Patton said, "and I wouldn't hesitate to go to Canada." It was the personal stories of people who have struggled with America's health-care system that resonated with Patton and other viewers who were asked by The Tennessean to watch and talk about Moore's new documentary, which turns a critical eye toward U.S. medical care and health insurance. The two-hour film combines profiles of people who have been denied treatment with segments on the health-care systems of Canada, Britain, France and Cuba — as well as asides on issues such as family leave and public education — to make an argument for universal health care. After the movie, Julia Dobbins was nearly speechless. A graduate student at the University of Tennessee School of Social Work in Nashville, Dobbins will turn 24 on July 15 and will no longer qualify for health insurance coverage on her parents' plan. "Now I'm just terrified," she said about finding her own coverage. "Two weeks. And then I gotta figure it out." Individuals are focus In his movie, Moore presents few interviews with health-care executives, government officials or outside experts — either in the U.S. or abroad. Instead, he primarily gives the views of individual patients, doctors and Americans living abroad. Those conversations leave filmgoers with the impression that foreign lands outperform the American medical system. People live longer, preventive care is more prevalent, treatment is readily available, waits are short and doctors are fairly compensated abroad, the film suggests. >But health-care professionals — executives who have made their living as health-care providers on these shores — say Moore's picture doesn't tell the whole story. >Joe Hutts, the former chief executive of Surgis Inc., an outpatient surgery company, said he met just a few years ago with British health officials who were studying how they could improve their health system by importing ideas from the United States. Moore "didn't focus on the problems in their systems," Hutts said. "In looking at the U.S., he only focused on the problems, not on the right things that can happen. He was doing that to sell a viewpoint." David Osborn, executive director of Health Care Solutions Group, a public policy organization affiliated with Vanderbilt University, said Moore highlighted some of the problems with the system, but left out or distorted facts that show the limits of universal health care. Osborn referred to Moore's use of a Detroit woman who visited clinics in Windsor, Ontario, to seek treatment for cancer because she could not afford it in the United States. "My brother-in-law is crossing that same bridge, except he's coming from Windsor into Detroit because he needs a treatment for an illness, and he can't get it in Canada," Osborn said. "Moore's film implies that traffic is going only one way." Some are outraged Another persons featured in the movie was a woman who volunteered as an emergency medical technician at the site of the World Trade Center after the Sept. 11 attacks. The woman has since struggled to pay for medication for a lung condition. Moore transported her to Cuba, where a similar drug was found in a pharmacy for 5 cents. "How can the same durn drug cost 5 cents, 3 pesos, in Cuba and $120 here?" asked Rikki Zee, 63, a former nurse who received treatment for lung cancer two years ago through TennCare. "How can that be?" Several people — health-care professionals and ordinary viewers alike — hoped the movie would stimulate debate over how to change the health insurance system, or at least lead viewers to learn more about the topic. Pat Petty, an administrative assistant with the National Health Care for the Homeless Council, stepped outside the theater and passed out fliers for a town hall meeting July 12. "I'm mad as hell," she said. "You have to choose between rent and medicine. Food and health care. What's wrong with this picture?" Then there was Dobbins. She felt overwhelmed by what she saw. "I feel totally lied to by our leaders and this government," she said. "Where do you begin?"

Chattanooga Dusts Off An Old Trick

Well, I guess their heart's are in the right place, but using old parking meters to garner cash for the Homeless is an effort that has had very limited success, both in the collection of money for the Homeless (it certainly lacks the gratification and feeling of being able to help someone that handing some spare change brings), and in the distribution of money gathered through this endeavor (who gets to decide what will be done with the funds?). Chattanooga wants old parking meters to collect money for homeless...

Jun 28 2007 8:42AM Associated Press

Chattanooga wants old parking meters to collect money for homeless CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (AP) The mayor of Chattanooga, Tennessee, wants to install old parking meters to collect money for the homeless. The proposal comes from Mayor Ron Littlefield, who once took homeless people to a movie. The idea is that people could put coins into the meters, rather than encourage panhandling. The money from the meters would be used to help homeless people. Littlefield says it has already been tried in Baltimore and Denver and seems to have worked well. The mayor has also proposed a complex to provide services for street people. In December, he invited homeless people to a downtown movie theater to watch "The Pursuit of Happyness." It's about a man and his son who become homeless and eventually turn their lives around.

Please Help, Don't Give

Much has been written about Panhandling in recent weeks, both by myself, by one of the most famous of the Homeless in Nashville, and by a number of folks who are able to put their opinions in front of large numbers of people. But talk is usually cheap. One thing I did know however, as did a number of local business folk and anyone else who bothered to attend a meeting at the Downtown Partnership a couple of weeks ago, was that there was an effort underway to curb a particularly egregious form of this behavior - aggressive panhandling - wherein the panhandler accosts the individual and harasses, screams obscenities, touches and/or otherwise intimidates the person to the point of fear or terror. It should be made clear here that Homeless individuals aren't necessarily panhandlers and vice versa. In fact, in probably the majority of cases, panhandling is not done by the homeless. Before we go any further, let me state clearly here: I am most certainly not against all forms of panhandling. I am however, against aggressive panhandling, because it damages my clients' ability to survive while on the street. While some panhandling is done out of sheer necessity, aggressive panhandling is bad and there is a huge difference between aggressive and passive panhandling. In fact, passive panhandling has been found to be a Constitutionally protected activity. The information about the difference is available all over the net and one of the better discussions is right here so feel free to read further on the matter if you so desire. The Downtown Partnership began training those who wanted to participate in the campaign this Tuesday and I was invited to attend their first session. I was pleasantly impressed with the quality of their information and the factual basis for intervention that was presented. The training was well done and the DTP recognizes both the right and the need for the occasional passive panhandling. They also recognize - as do the Homeless and the passive panhandler - that aggressive panhandling causes considerable hardship on the business owners that is then taken out on the Homeless, drives potential customers (and spare change donators) away and damages the passive panhandler's ability to stand somewhere unobtrusively and politely ask for spare change. Make no mistake, the Homeless and the passive panhandler do indeed recognize that the city streets and public spaces belong to everyone and everyone has a right to a clean, safe environment. When the streets are, or in danger of becoming unsafe and/or an eyesore, they are often the first targets of police contact, and most Homeless I know would rather be boiled in oil than have to deal with cops on a daily - or hourly - basis. There is also a rather common misconception that the Homeless can "police their own" and therefore should be at the forefront of the effort to stop aggressive panhandlers from destroying further their already tarnished image. Nothing could be further from the truth. Consider that the Homeless are already essentially ostracized from "standard" society. If they are then discovered to be "ratting off" their street brothers and sisters, they are then ostracized (or worse - much, much worse) in this community as well. It's tough enough to make it on the streets without having everyone out to get you. That they receive less protection than the common citizen from those charged with law enforcement in our fair city is a matter of often contentious debate, but that they go where the watchful eyes of the police department don't even know exist is a given. They cannot "police their own," nor should we expect them to. And let's be clear here - they too want - and deserve - protection just like any other citizen of the United States. The DTP campaign kicks off officially on July 2nd. They recognize that while it won't immediately put an end to aggressive panhandling, it begins the education process and shows that all the citizens of Nashville care about the bad reputation to their city and the potential danger of aggressive panhandling upon everyone, not just a select few. Curbing Panhandling In Downtown Nashville June 27, 2007 08:30 PM

NASHVILLE, Tenn.-Aggressive panhandling is a problem police and downtown Nashville business owners are trying to put to an end.

Jo Ann Johnson, who lives in downtown Nashville, runs into it every day.

"That just bothers me," she said.

"It's just the way they approach you," she said.

Most days, she said she can't even walk down the street without someone hitting her up for money.

"I can't take care of people on the street," she said.

The local business community knows the problem all too well.

"Well, it is disturbing," said Tom Turner, executive director of the Nashville Downtown Partnership.

Turner said his organization said aggressive panhandlers are a huge hassle that may run off tourists.

"The overall economic vitality of downtown is really negatively impacted by panhandling," he said.

The Nashville Downtown Partnership is working with Metro police. It is in the process of beginning a campaign to warn visitors not to give out cash, food or anything else.

"Most people do not aggressively panhandle," said Richard Stewart, who lives on the streets. "I believe that's propaganda coming from business owners. What they don't like, and I really think this is the truth, is the fact that if somebody turns around and helps somebody that's homeless with a few dollars it's money out of their pockets."

Stewart's been on the streets of Nashville for six years. He said most panhandlers aren't a problem, but they need help.

"They're not running up to people swearing and cursing and carrying on like that," Stewart said.

"That is one of the top complaints that we have about aggressive panhandlers," said Central Precinct Commander Andy Garrett.

Garrett said there are programs for people who need assistance, however Metro won't allow downtown to be harassed.

"The key factor is it's a temporary thing until that person makes the decision to break their lifestyle of living on the street," Garrett said.

Johnson is hopeful cops will crack down and that panhandlers will get the message.

"If I want to give you money, I'll give it to you but you can't make me give you money," Johnson said.

The Nashville downtown Partnership's marketing program begins next week. The organization had a training session with some business owners and workers Wednesday afternoon.

The idea behind the campaign is that if panhandlers don't get paid, they won't panhandle. Police urge people to donate to local charities instead of handing money directly to people on the street.

Thank You Pastor Robert!

I've been so busy w meetings and outreach that I haven't been able to share much about my daily activities here lately, but this particular story is one I absolutely must get out to you all. The other day I was contacted by a Homeless couple I've known for almost the entire time I've been in Nashville ( about a whole two months now - wahoo!). They weren't in need - in fact, thanks to some job hunting we did together previously, H is now employed full-time and he should be able to find some housing for them by the end of July. On this day however, H was concerned only with the welfare of a man he found semi-conscious and laying on the grass in a pair of fecal-stained shorts at Centennial Park. It seems the man had driven to Nashville from Cleveland, Ohio in a desperate search for work and had attended an interview at a local business earlier in the day. After the interview the man, who is a diabetic, suffered a seizure while eating lunch at the park. The seizure created the incontinence and left him post -ichtal (stuporous and fatigued - a normal and common occurrence for those who suffer from seizures) in the park. My Homeless clients came upon the man in this condition and immediately helped the man into his van and directed him to the hospital, where he was then treated and released. They contacted me at this point because unfortunately, the man had $4 dollars to his name, a Kroger gift card and was wearing the only clothes he had, a pair of black, feces-stained boxer shorts. I met them near Centennial park and the man related to me that he had hoped to land the job he'd interviewed for on this morning and was going to stay either in his car or at the mission until he could work at the job long enough to save enough money to get into a motel or find some other suitable housing. There wasn't a lot I personally could do for this gentleman because he was a very large man - a VERY large man indeed, and Walmart doesn't carry his sizes, so my emergency gift cards wouldn't really help him find clothing. I gave him a card for other needs, but for the clothing and for some fuel, we'd have to look elsewhere. Salvation Army offers clothing vouchers - but my Homeless friends had already been there, done that, with no success - nothing that would fit him. I called around to the only two other places I know of that can provide clothing rapidly, and none of them had clothing in his size, either. Enter Pastor Robert. I contacted him by phone and left him a voicemail that alerted him to the fact that he was our last hope and I was sending the man in his direction. I'm not sure how the good Pastor felt about my handoff to him, but one thing I do know - I was contacted by the man later that evening and was informed that Pastor Robert had gotten him some clothes and put some fuel in his tank so that he would be able to wait out the decision on the hiring without worrying about being harassed for being on one place too long. Pastor Robert - "Thank You" for your kindness and generosity in helping this stranger to Nashville. To my Homeless clients H & S - "Thank You" for being kind, caring, honest and acting with integrity and compassion towards a man who was certainly a vulnerable "opportunity" for the less scrupulous in our society. Your actions earned much respect from me and you are to be commended for your efforts.

"In one case, a paraplegic man was found crawling in a gutter"

It appears that LA has gotten tough with hospitals who practice patient "dumping." What is particularly disturbing here is that both hospitals named in the suit are private Christian hospitals..... Published: June 28, 2007 at 12:55 AM LA sues hospitals for dumping homeless LOS ANGELES, June 28 (UPI) -- Los Angeles prosecutors have filed complaints against two hospitals and a transportation company for dumping homeless patients on skid row. In one case, a paraplegic man was found crawling in a gutter, the Los Angeles Times said Wednesday. Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center and Methodist Hospital are accused in four separate incidents of alleged patient dumping over a 14-month period. Empire Enterprises, whose van driver allegedly left the paraplegic man, has been named as a co-conspirator. The complaints allege all four patients were dumped "without any plan for appropriate medical care and other necessary ancillary services" to allow the hospitals to rid themselves of the trouble and expense of caring for them. The newspaper said City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo is trying to use a state law concerning unfair business practices, which allows a corporation to be sued for unscrupulous behavior, to act against the hospitals.

"They couldn't pay their hospital bill, and so they're put in a van or taxi and dropped off like so much garbage on the side of the curb."

No matter how you may feel about filmmaker Michael Moore or the tactics he uses to garner attention, he does jump directly into the middle of controversial social issues and brings them to the forefront of national attention. That we share similar views on the "dumping" of people from the hospital to the mission "like so much garbage on the curb" certainly piques my interest in the contents of his newest film.... Moore's premiere for the homeless Wednesday, June 27, 2007 Documentary filmmaker Moore showed his latest work to the homeless Ahead of the official Hollywood premiere of his new documentary Sicko, Michael Moore revealed he'd already privately held the film's world premiere exclusively for the homeless in Downtown Los Angeles' 'Skid Row'. Speaking at a rally demanding better healthcare rights held outside of LA's City Hall, the filmmaker revealed: "Tonight's the big Hollywood premiere down at the Academy of Motion Picture, but actually what we wanted to do was have the first screening here." "We decided to have it down off San Pedro where the homeless live on what's called Skid Row, we set up a big outdoor what looked like a drive-in movie screen, it was really great and we invited the homeless of the area to come to the movie." Michael revealed his main reason for doing so was because they feature in his film, where patients describe being dumped at the Union Rescue mission in the area: "Patients whose only crime was that they couldn't pay their hospital bill, and so they're put in a van or taxi and dropped off like so much garbage on the side of the curb. These are human beings, these are God's creation, to treat them in this way is deplorable, it's despicable."

building housing with "wraparound" services ... the first step to helping a population of people "who cannot take care of themseves"

While it is always wonderful to hear candidates make bold, progressive statements to assist the Homeless and poor, it does pay to consider one's own ability to carry out a particular agenda before speaking out, since there are many in this community who will strive mightily to hold Mr. Gentry to his word. This is not to say that he will not make good on his statement, only that moving a community towards a solution that will take considerable cash and resources is often a very difficult and demands delicate negotiations and compromises with a wide variety of players. I don't think Mr. Gentry is a stranger to any of this and I wish him great success. I will be the first to assist in any way I can, but I bring this matter up because it is at the negotiations point that things often break down in most socio-political efforts and Nashville has seen its share of breakdowns, just like every other community in the country. Furthermore, while advocating for oppressed or neglected groups occasionally needs strident cries for help and attention, once attention has been gained, continuing with this approach makes one sound shrill instead of interesting and often serves to polarize disparate groups rather than uniting them. It is unfortunate - but again no different than any other city - that Nashville has a tiny minority of advocates who are more focused on self-aggrandizing behavior than they are on actually finding solutions and ways in which compromises can be achieved. This self-promoting and adversarial attitude damages the effort to assist the Homeless and poor more than perhaps any other single activity. That they are either too proud or too locked into promises they now cannot deliver to those they profess to advocate for is irrelevant - that they don't understand how to negotiate with the aim of effective conflict resolution instead of escalating the situation is both unforgivable and terribly irresponsible. That they then brand as "yes-men" those agencies, businesses, the public and the Homeless who attempt to work together to arrive at effective solutions shows just how little they actually care for the group they profess to advocate for and how ignorant and self-serving they are in the community.

Tuesday, 06/26/07

Mayoral candidates put each other on the spot

By MICHAEL CASS Staff Writer

After months of forums in which they all answered the same questions, Nashville's mayoral candidates got to poke and prod each other a bit Monday.

David Briley and Karl Dean asked Bob Clement about his congressional voting record on illegal immigration and the environment. Howard Gentry asked Briley about his age and management experience and questioned Dean about his children attending private schools. Dean asked Buck Dozier if he would have vetoed a controversial "English-first" proposal.

Each of the five major candidates got to ask two of his rivals a question apiece during a televised debate at Tennessee State University's downtown campus. The "lightning round" of the hour-long event offered a chance to draw distinctions on policy, philosophy and experience.

Dean, a former Metro law director, kicked off the questioning by asking Clement, who represented Nashville in Congress for 15 years, about his votes against fuel efficiency and arsenic drinking water standards.

Clement, who has consistently led the mayoral field in recent opinion polls, replied that Dean "didn't do enough research." He said environmental groups viewed his record favorably.

Briley, a Metro councilman, asked Clement about voting against a workplace verification bill in 1996. He said the proposal to require verification of every prospective employee's identity "could have stemmed the tide of illegal immigration."

But Clement said he had voted on "thousands of bills — amendments to amendments to amendments."

"My record is very clear," he said. "I am for legal immigration; I am not for illegal immigration."

Gentry, who is Metro's vice mayor, asked Briley how he would reassure voters that he has "the depth of experience" to be mayor.

Briley, 43, alluded to his late grandfather, Beverly Briley, saying he had learned "from a mayor who's not around anymore" that being mayor is about making hard decisions every day. He also said he had been the candidate "most focused on the Metro budget for the last eight years."

Gentry also asked Dean about his ability to inspire confidence in parents of children in public schools when Dean's own children haven't attended them.

Dean said he and his wife are doing what's best for their children, in private schools. He said he attended public schools himself (in Massachusetts) and pointed out that some of his counterparts on the stage couldn't say the same.

Dean later asked Dozier, a Metro councilman, if he would have vetoed a bill that would have made English the city's official language and required most government communications to be in English. Mayor Bill Purcell vetoed the bill, and Dozier said he would have as well. He said he voted against it and called it "redundant, anemic and illegal."

Points of agreement

The event also showed the candidates in agreement at times. Dozier has proposed raising $1 billion for a Metro schools endowment. Briley, while disagreeing with that idea, asked Dozier if he would commit to helping Fisk University raise a $50 million endowment, and Dozier quickly said he would.

Dozier later asked Gentry, who chairs a Metro commission working to end chronic homelessness, to share some of his insights from the night they, Briley and Dean spent on the streets last week to learn about the issue.

Gentry said building housing with "wraparound" services for the homeless would be the first step to helping a population of people "who cannot take care of themselves."

Not everyone was thrilled with the debate, which was sponsored by the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce, the Madison-Rivergate Area Chamber of Commerce and WSMV-TV Channel 4.

"It was so-so," said Khalid Chaudhary, a TSU administrator and native of Pakistan. "There were a lot of issues nobody talked about. This city is a melting pot of different nationalities. Nobody discussed how to make all those nationalities comfortable in this city."

A "dent in the wall of separation between church and state?"

This is of course the bigger issue here and while I've always taken a hard line in this distinction, I must say that the city's faith-based programs are doing perhaps some of the most important work with the Homeless in the area. If it weren't for the local faith-based groups here, the Homeless would quite probably be suffering much more than they already do. Many of these groups bend over backward to accommodate a population that most in our community have either banished or relegated to the fringes of society. My own faith has been strengthened significantly by the compassion and interaction of faith-based groups here with the Homeless. Although I will probably forever hold a strict interpretation of the Constitutional requirement separating church and state, we should not discount the efficacy of many faith-based efforts, nor should we deny public funding to them based solely on the fact that they are a religious organization. Arriving at a method to achieve this almost certainly will remain mired in controversy, but we should not discount the positive impact these organizations have had in helping the Homeless and poor among us.

High court blesses faith-based programs

Tenn. charities welcome ruling By PETE YOST Associated Press and CLAY CAREY Staff Writer

Ordinary taxpayers cannot sue the federal government to stop it from teaching religious charities how to apply for federal grants, the Supreme Court ruled Monday.

The ruling gave a boost to the Bush administration's faith-based initiatives, as well as faith-based organizations in Tennessee and across the country.

"It's good news, particularly when there is an indication that those rulings will permit faith-based nonprofits to run their own ship," said Mike Servais, resource development director of the Salvation Army of Nashville. He hoped the ruling would make it easier to apply for grants.

The Salvation Army has received federal funding through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Servais said the Nashville branch hasn't applied for money through the faith-based program but met with grant administrators in the past.

"We're still in that warm-up stage," Servais said.

Rachel Hester, executive director of the Campus for Human Development, said any potential funding for faith-based social service groups is good news.

The center is a Nashville-based religious nonprofit group that operates Room In The Inn, which provides food and shelter to the needy, as well as other ministries aimed at helping the poor and homeless. Every year, Hester said, the demand for money among nonprofit groups grows, while the supply is constantly shrinking.

Effects called limited

The court blocked a lawsuit by a group of atheists and agnostics against eight Bush administration officials, including the head of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives.

The taxpayers group, the Freedom From Religion Foundation Inc., objected to government conferences in which administration officials encourage religious charities to apply for federal money.

The taxpayers set out "a parade of horribles" they contended could happen, Justice Samuel Alito wrote for the majority. None did, and "in the unlikely event that any of these executive actions did take place, Congress could quickly step in," he wrote.

The ruling's effects are limited, opponents said.

"Most church-state lawsuits, including those that challenge congressional appropriations for faith-based programs, will not be affected," said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

Lynn called Alito's statement that Congress could step in "quite incredible because the damage is done when the president acts." Lynn said Congress cannot anticipate action by the president that might violate the constitutional separation of church and state. "We have the courts to do precisely this, rein in the president or the Congress," he said.

1968 ruling was basis

The justices' decision revolved around a 1968 Supreme Court ruling that enabled taxpayers to challenge government programs that promote religion.

The 1968 decision involved the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which financed teaching and instructional materials in religious schools in low-income areas.

"This case falls outside" the narrow exception allowing such lawsuits to proceed, Alito wrote. Congress must provide a specific appropriation, he said, and in the suit over the administration conferences the White House pulled the money out of general appropriations.

In dissent, Justice David Souter said the court should have let the challenge proceed.

The majority "closes the door on these taxpayers because the executive branch, and not the legislative branch, caused their injury," wrote Souter. "I see no basis for this distinction."

Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas favored a repudiation of the 1968 decision that in certain instances allows taxpayer lawsuits.

"We had an opportunity today to erase this blot on our jurisprudence, but instead have simply smudged it," Scalia wrote.

Reactions are mixed

With the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, President Bush says he wants to level the playing field so religious charities and secular charities compete for government money on an equal footing.

Jim Towey, former head of the White House office, said the ruling is "good news for addicts and the homeless and others seeking effective social services."

"It's also a repudiation of the kind of secular extremism that ruled the public square for decades," said Towey, now president of Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, Pa.

"The Supreme Court just put a big dent in the wall of separation between church and state," said Ralph G. Neas, president of the liberal-oriented People For the American Way Foundation.

In fiscal 2005, seven federal agencies awarded $2.1 billion to religious charities, according to a White House report. That was up 7 percent from the year before and represented 10.9 percent of the grants from the seven federal agencies providing money to faith-based groups. At least seven Tennessee charities were among them.

Among the programs: substance abuse treatment, housing for AIDS patients, community re-entry for inmates, housing for homeless veterans and emergency food aid.

"I was here four years ago, and it's nothing like it is now."

What ought to be a major cause of concern in this article is not so much that Lexington, KY's shelter is regularly filled to capacity - we hear that so much about overcrowded shelters that we're inured to the impact. That it's filled to capacity with women and children however, ought to stand your hair up on end out of fear while wrenching your heart clean out of your body. It bears repeating that "Lexington's Salvation Army homeless shelter for women and families is packed beyond its 132-person capacity." These aren't all "bums" and "drunks" and "crackheads," folks, and while shelters certainly have their share of individuals who represent these populations, we're talking instead about families and children - children who will one day be fending for themselves in an increasingly demanding and difficult world and who are right now supposed to be getting the educational, cultural and societal "tools" to do so. Lexington is a mere 214 miles from us and you don't have to be a rocket scientist to realize that some of these families may eventually end up here, looking for help. The really sad part of all of this is that Lexington's shelter problems aren't an aberration - their situation is becoming increasingly the norm for cities across the country.... Homeless shelter strains at seams By BARBARA ISAACS Lexington Herald-Leader Sunday, June 24, 2007 LEXINGTON, Ky. — Any given night, Lexington's Salvation Army homeless shelter for women and families is packed beyond its 132-person capacity.

An overflow of homeless women, sometimes up to 20 of them, routinely sleep on lounge couches or even on mattresses on the shelter's lobby floor.

"It is crowded," said Viola Parmley, 31, of Nicholasville. "I was here four years ago, and it's nothing like it is now."

Parmley has lived at the shelter for two months. On June 9, she gave birth to a daughter, Antonia Boaz, who lives with her now in a small family unit at the shelter.

"It's a wonderful place," Parmley said. "Without this place, a lot of people would lose their children and be out on the street."

Parmley came to the shelter because she separated from her boyfriend and could not afford to live independently.

During the last months of her pregnancy, Parmley finished an associate degree in accounting at National College. When she recovers, she plans to get a job and save enough money for a place of her own.

Women, children

The face of homelessness in Lexington is increasingly that of women and children like Parmley and Antonia.

In 2001, 15 percent of people living at the shelter were family groups; by 2005, it was 40 percent families. The Salvation Army shelter is only for single women and families; homeless single men can find emergency shelter at The Hope Center.

The Salvation Army shelter has 17 rooms for families and five dormitory-style rooms for single women.

The demand for slots is rising. In 2001, the shelter at 736 West Main Street provided 22,903 nights of lodging. In 2006, it provided 32,534 nights of shelter. Eighty-five percent of residents are from Lexington, but the shelter served people from 60 Kentucky counties last year.

"A lot of people think this is not happening in their back yard, but it is," said Maj. Debra Ashcraft, associate area coordinator for The Salvation Army. Ashcraft said a variety of factors have led to the increased demand, including high gas and heating prices; lack of safe, affordable housing; and low levels of education.

The latest wave of high demand dates to Christmas Eve 2005, when Mary Okpebholo, the shelter's director, told Ashcraft: "There's no room at the inn." People weren't turned away, but they slept on mattresses and furniture, anywhere they could be squeezed in.

'One paycheck away'

"A lot of people really are one paycheck away from being homeless," Ashcraft said. "And I don't think families have the same support structure they did at one time." Many people come to the shelter after having stayed with friends and family who couldn't house them any longer.

Ashcraft said one necessary solution is to increase capacity. An existing 5,000-square-foot building on the campus, the Way House, could hold 20 additional beds for single women, but there's no money in the current budget to operate it, Ashcraft said.

The agency needs to raise at least $100,000 more each year to run it. Ashcraft hopes to raise some of that money in July, with a fundraiser called LemonAiD Days, in which local children will sell lemonade to raise money.

The expansion will add extra women's beds because "the greatest demand is with single women," Ashcraft said.

She envisions the new unit being sort of an "honor" dorm, where women who were the closest to moving out would live there as a last transition.

Panhandling redux

Nice to see that Gail Kerr recognizes "It is not the homeless people we're used to seeing and helping in Nashville" that are creating the problems associated with panhandling. The title of her piece does set a rather ominous tone, however, and while I suspect that this is not her intent at all, it is extremely difficult to convey this kind of information without riling some feathers along the way. I do encourage Ms. Kerr to check out the local perspective by Kevin Barbieux over at The Homeless Guy on panhandling. After she reads his thoughts, I do hope she takes a quick gander at a post I wrote after attending the meeting w the Downtown Partnership regarding their new campaign, set to go live very soon. There are many options available to curb aggressive panhandling while allowing passive, controlled panhandling to occur, thereby allowing those who are engaged in a constitutionally protected activity to continue their passive and non-intrusive effort without criminalization. This would then allow those of us who wish to be left alone by the panhandlers the ability to do so. I know enough about Ms. Kerr to assure you that her heart is in the right place as she attempts to tackle an issue fraught with controversy and angst. It is exceptionally difficult for someone, and especially a journalist, to write in a manner that ensures every single word of every single sentence gets conveyed exactly the way the person intended it to be conveyed.

Sunday, 06/24/07

Downtown needs to end panhandling

By GAIL KERR

Downtown banker Stewart Ross moved to Nashville seven months ago and "absolutely loves it" except for one problem: panhandling downtown.

"This was only reaffirmed six weeks ago when our daughter was married at the Hermitage Hotel," Ross wrote to me.The wedding party walked to B.B. King's club for the rehearsal dinner.

"It was like running a gauntlet," Ross said. "Even the children were approached and accosted with foul language. What a terrible thing for first-time visitors to our wonderful city to take back with them. As the host, I was extremely embarrassed."

Panhandling downtown is getting worse. There are reports of panhandlers beating on cars when refused money, tourists being blocked on sidewalks, and people being cursed. A plan is in the works to do something about it.

It is not the homeless people we're used to seeing and helping in Nashville. This bunch is more aggressive, dubbed by some as "professional panhandlers."

"We're hearing more about it," said Don Aaron, spokesman for the Metro Police Department. "The police department is keenly aware of some individuals who purport to be homeless engaging in aggressive panhandling. Some persons who have been approached feel threatened. It's one thing to pass someone on the street and say, 'Can you spare a dime?' It's another to persist and berate and not take no for an answer."

Solution isn't easy

Police have been meeting with the Downtown Partnership to come up with a solution.

The plan will include a marketing campaign so people can hand out cards with a list of places to get help, instead of money. The idea being that if panhandlers don't get paid, they won't panhandle.

But word is there will also be a more stringent layer. New laws? Undercover cops with cell phones? A merchant hot line? Those are things other cities have tried.

Giving the homeless cash is no solution. Nor is criminalizing poverty. But this new level of frightening harassment can't continue.

Vice Mayor Howard Gentry, a mayoral candidate, spent a night on Nashville's downtown streets to learn first hand about being homeless.

"If you are poor and on the street, especially at night," it's tough to find food, water or shelter, Gentry said. At the same time, people "don't come downtown with the expectations of having to give someone money. We cannot criminalize the poor, but, on the other side, we have to do what is necessary to allow our residents and visitors to feel comfortable and safe."

It's good that city officials are talking this through before filing a bunch of headline-grabbing legislation that doesn't work. Stay tuned to see if what they come up with will.

When Service Providers Go Bad

I posted a story the other day about helping a Vietnam Vet get some furnishings for his new apartment. The following day while out and about I was approached by a long-term Homeless service provider (SP) who had heard of my "generosity." The SP had some words of "advice" for me about "these people" I was working with and proceeded to warn me about helping them because anything I might purchase for them would undoubtedly be sold or traded for drugs. Initially, SP had mistakenly thought that the person I assisted the previous day was a woman. SP provided me a rundown of the transgressions the mistaken woman in question had been guilty of and it was more than clear to me that if the SP had any say in future matters regarding that woman, she would never again receive anything at all but a door slamming on her where the good lord split her. After about 5 minutes of lambasting a person the SP was charged with caring for, I mentioned that she was not the one who had received the gift card furnishings. I then proceeded to tell SP who had actually been the recipient. Big mistake and round two. SP lashed into my actual client with the same disdain and disgust shown for the woman we had just discussed. As I prepared to leave, SP provided me a final warning to watch my back, as most of "these people" would steal you blind if given half a chance. As I walked over to the library parking garage to retrieve my car and return to my office, I began thinking about what this would have meant if everyone who had ever dealt with me had exhibited the same contemptuous mentality of SP towards yours truly. Two lines of thought eventually materialized. The first line of thought relates to my own previous drug use. Make no mistake, I made many, many efforts to get off drugs. I cannot count the number of times I tried to stop taking drugs. I've also lost track of how many times I suffered narcotic withdrawals and prayed to God that if He would just get me through the illness, I would swear off drugs forever, only to use again as soon as I felt better. I also cannot begin to recall the gargantuan number of times I pawned my possessions, sold my favorite personal belongings or borrowed and scammed money from family and friends and never paid them back. While I was never much of a thief and simply detest that particular method of treachery, I most certainly sold gifts and items given to me to help me to someone else in order to purchase drugs (I never was a drinker). I also can't tell you exactly why I decided to voluntarily stop using drugs. I do know that for approximately 5 years prior to stopping I was bored with getting high. It sounds trite and clichéd, but I was also real sick and tired of being sick and tired. I suppose it's a decision that each drug addict arrives at on his or her own, based on his or her own unique set of circumstances. For me, I felt I had both tried everything I'd wanted to try in the drug world long ago and was ready for something new - like sobriety - and I was also really tired of struggling for even the most basic things most of us take for granted daily, like being able to afford a cup of coffee whenever I wanted one. Thank God that I didn't run into someone like the SP that final time I asked for a bit of help. I'll be the first to admit that I got very lucky in that the person who held out a hand of assistance was the woman I'm married to today. I shudder to think of my potential fate had she taken the same attitude towards me that my SP admonisher held towards "these people." I shudder worse still when I think that someone who just might have made it out of hell had I been there to offer that hand was left to suffer because my own callous disregard for a fellow human being and my own stereotypical prejudices prohibited me from providing that person with that final chance. The second line of thinking centered upon the end-use of items, gifts and/or services once they have left the service provider's (or anyone else's, for that matter) hands and are now in the possession of the intended recipient. This can be a very broad array of things, but I am, for the most part, talking about things specific to assisting the individual with small personal needs like bus passes, backpacks, clothing, blankets, etc., rather than long-term and complex items such as social security and housing. Oddly, I'm often approached by the very people I provide these things to with warnings not to give "Joe Blow" a bus pass because he traded the last one for booze, or not to give "Sally Sue" a backpack because she'll just trade it for a hit of crack. While this very well may be true about both Joe and Sally, it's probably safe to say it's also true about the person warning me against giving it to Joe or Sally. Frankly, it's really of no concern to me what they ultimately do with their toothbrush, bus pass or blanket, since I'm providing them with something that they need at that moment. (And remember, we're talking about single incidents of one-time generosity related to small personal items for the individual here) If they are then stupid enough or desperate enough to waste or squander it on the dope man or sell it and visit the liquor store, they will be the one who must then endure the hardship this creates upon them. I simply cannot worry that every time I hand out a bus pass, the recipient is going to trade it off for drugs or somehow use it inappropriately. If I did, I'd never give out anything to anybody, since just about every one of the Homeless are perceived to be untrustworthy and/or scandalous and/or dopers and/or thieves and/or alcoholics. Besides, the very nature of the act of giving releases me from "ownership" of the item given, yes? So, if someone receives a bus pass and then decides to turn around and give or trade or sell it to someone else, that is their right, yes? And I should really have no right, nor should I have any interest, in what someone has done with what I have provided them, since it is no longer mine. Now I can understand that we all hope that someone in the predicament of homelessness uses the resources service providers give them in the appropriate manner. But consider this: if they always did the "appropriate" thing, it stands to reason that they would also run the other aspects of their life in similar fashion and as a result, would rarely, if ever, make bad choices. Most likely, if this was the case, they probably wouldn't be Homeless. Let's be real here. That one is Homeless is often - not always - but often a result of bad choices, especially when the Homeless individual is saddled with drug addictions and/or alcoholism. To be sure, there are plenty of folks homeless who are a victim of circumstances or are so mentally ill they cannot keep it together enough to hold a home, but since I am not a mind reader or psychiatrist, it's hard to differentiate between them and the "typical" Homeless. Should I withhold services to them, too, since I cannot tell the difference? To expect that every gift of service or assistance a Homeless person receives is going to be used appropriately is an exercise in futility and in ignorance. To withhold services because of this is wrong and to chastise others for doing so, especially when the chastiser is a service provider to this population, is both cruel and reeks of burnout, in my humble opinion. When one of us reaches this point, it's time to step aside, for the good of our clients and of our profession.

Urban Plunge "just a publicity stunt" Or A Valid Experience?

"Courthouse camping with cops watching over them." "Useless." "Not a true experience." "Anyone can camp out for a night." "Publicity stunt." "Stupid." "They'll forget as soon as they win." "A big joke." Wow. I was completely unprepared for the vitriolic responses I got from many of the Homeless folks I spoke with about the mayoral candidates who took the "urban plunge" the other night. In fact, not one of the people I spoke with about this effort had anything good to say about it beyond the fact that it brought some much needed attention to the issue of Homelessness in general. I had thought that while there might be better ways to actually take an urban plunge (see "it isn't really real with a safety net in place), the fact that these candidates would do anything at all to experience homelessness was a good thing, and I had really believed that others would feel as positive. Although the media has run a number of positive stories on the event, many of the Homeless I spoke with insisted that the way it was carried out made it so unlike being Homeless that there simply couldn't be much real knowledge gained from the experience for those who underwent the plunge. A good many also called the effort a "joke" and a "publicity stunt" used by the candidates to garner votes from the poor and minorities. Trust me, people know when they are being used for personal gain. Some felt downright exploited by those who professed to help the Homeless and still others believed that no matter what the experience did for the candidates, once they made it into the hallowed halls of government any promises made to help alleviate the problems of the Homeless would fall to the wayside, just like they have so many times before by so many people who have used this group to enhance their vote tallies. My verdict is still out on the efficacy of the Urban Plunge, especially when it is done as a structured event put on by a Homeless advocacy group. Don't misunderstand me here - I am completely behind the Nashville Power Project's effort, and they all are to be congratulated for the effort they put forth in both getting the information about the plunge in front of those who might take it and for ensuring that the event took place on schedule and without a hitch, but I'm now wondering if the only real way to take an urban plunge is to do so anonymously and alone, and as a couple of Homeless folks said, "for at least three or for days at a time." The Power Project also recognizes this, but I believe that they knew attempting to get our candidates to commit to this length of time would have probably doomed the effort to failure. Let's hope that, once the publicity dies and one of these men is selected to represent our fair city, he remembers not so much his own experience but the experiences of those he saw while wandering that night. Those are the folks without the safety net who don't have a home and a big hot meal to return to after they've taken the "deluxe package" version of the urban plunge...

A Disturbing Image From A Wicked Beating

Crack. There just isn't anything one can compare it to when trying to explain to those who've never smoked, injected or snorted cocaine. To be sure, snorting coke isn't anything like injecting or smoking it. As I mentioned in a previous post, people with rational minds cannot comprehend what motivates someone to beat a defenseless old woman for kicks because it is so far removed from our own sense of appropriateness that it's simply unthinkable and therefore unimaginable. So too is trying to imagine the high from cocaine. No words in the English language can describe it sufficiently. No comparisons with other drugs can come close. It's so good to some that one hit will turn them into instant and lifelong drug addicts who will do damned near anything to feed that habit. I know this, of course, because I was once one of them. I was however, a bit different than most other hardcore cocaine and crack "addicts" I've met in that I would never do the drug without a supply of heroin or other suitably strong and injectable opiate to bring the "fiending" for another hit to an immediate end when I got to the bottom of my stash. I didn't typically "Belushi" the two and I didn't like the level of control this drug had over me. Also, because I had fooled myself into believing (for almost 30 years, mind you), that I could "handle" my drug use and still function in normal society, I didn't much care for the feeling of being a slave to a crack pipe. Ten years into my recovery, I can look back now and recognize the complete and utter stupidity of my rationalizations. But make no mistake, the grip of crack cocaine on the mind when one is under its influence is beyond anything the normal, rational mind can comprehend. This of course is not new news to most, but it most certainly bears repeating. I'd probably be in much greater danger of relapse today due to the type of work I perform if I hadn't always made the opiate component a prerequisite of my crack use. You see, I've been a methadone maintenance patient for the past eight years, and while there is much controversy regarding the use of a drug to cure a drug addiction, I can easily and honestly state that had it not been for the methadone maintenance program, I would most definitely not be where I am currently at in my life today. Methadone is a unique drug specially suited to treat opiate addiction, since it blocks the receptor sites in the brain from most other types of opiates (thereby rendering drugs like heroin and oxycontin ineffective and useless to the drug addict) and removes the physiological symptoms of withdrawal without inducing the narcotic high associated with opiates. Because of this, I cannot use any narcotic intravenously and if I cannot do that, I'll never do crack or powder cocaine, thank God. I'll write more on my experience with methadone in the future because I believe that many people rarely, if ever, hear success stories as a result of this program. For now, suffice it to say that it has literally saved my life and allowed me to become a productive member of society after damned near 30 years of a very debilitating drug addiction. But I digress. I was driving home from a very busy afternoon and while at a light on Murfreesboro road in a notorious section close to "the bottoms," I was stopped at a traffic light when I noticed four crackheads near the corner who seemed to be getting more animated and agitated than usual, which is always a bad thing for a group of crackheads. Suddenly, one of the guys dotted the chin of the man next to him and in an instant the other two also began pummeling their compadre. They guy went down in a flurry of blows and tried to curl up into the fetal position as the other men began kicking and stomping him. But he couldn't quite get into the fetal position because he appeared to be holding his "straight" out over his head so that it wouldn't get damaged in the attack. The man was taking a vicious beating but was protecting his crack pipe from any collateral damage by trying desperately to keep it out of the way of the kicks and punches..... The light turned green and off I drove, watching the men in my rearview mirror as I moved away. I saw one of them grab the man's hand and begin yanking and jerking on it, conceivably to wrestle said pipe from his grasp, but I am unsure whether he was successful, since it appeared that the victim would have done just about anything to keep and protect his pipe. But for the grace of God, there go I.....

Sometimes Homelessness Is A Matter Of Circumstances Beyond One's Control....

Probably the most common perception of the typical Homeless person is a disheveled and smelly alcoholic and/or drug addict who is also quite probably mentally ill. While there are certainly large numbers of Homeless who fit this profile, there are also a very large number of Homeless folks who have become Homeless due to little or no actions of their own. Consider S. He's a 61 y/o man who has worked all of his adult life doing menial warehouse labor. He's intelligent but illiterate and this of course has worked against him. You see, S rented a home for many years from a man who had received approval to provide Section 8 housing and S was able to live fairly comfortably in this home, working every day, paying his bills and keeping his car in good repair. Then the owner of the house died and his son took over the property. For whatever the reason, the son decided not to pay the property taxes on the home and this is almost always a very bad idea. S had no idea any ofthis was occurring since he wasn't privy to the house's mortgage and taxation information, nor could he read a notice to pay or an eviction notice even if it was ever placed upon the door. So imagine S's surprise when out of the blue, the men in "blue" showed up at his house and told him he'd have to leave - and leave now. S was forced to place all his belongings outside the home at the curb. He was forced to leave behind a stove, refrigerator and a washer and dryer since he couldn't "prove" to the officers evicting him that he owned those items. Since the only phone S had was a landline in his now locked home, he loaded what he could into his car and took off to try and find both some help to get his belongings someplace safe and to try to find another place to live. S was unsuccessful in both those endeavors and returned shortly but his stuff had already been visited by looters, who made off with a substantial portion of his best things. So, S was forced to sleep in his car in the street outside the house in order to protect the belongings he had left. This situation stretched out over a week and S was unable to go to work, since his clothes were filthy, most of them had been stolen, and if he went in for the daily 8-hour work shift demanded of him, there would be nothing left when he came back. Ultimately, S lost everything he owned, since one can only sit in one's car "riding shotgun" on your curbside belongings for so long. Then S's car broke down. Now S is without transportation or phone, has no family and few friends, has a good work history but cannot fill out applications or do basic math, and he's 61 years old. He's been repeatedly victimized by streetwise thugs who easily deceive him and just about anything he's able to acquire is either manipulated out of him or stolen away from him. He's still got four years before retirement (and it might be longer, since I don't have his exact birthdate), little hope of any real employment opportunities beyond day labor, and no one who gives two shakes of a lamb's tail about him besides me. So you see, sometimes homelessness occurs to those who don't fit the "standard perception" and you'd be surprised to learn how many S's are out there, simply trying to make do with a set of very unfortunate and downright lousy circumstances that were beyond their control.....