Homeless men forced out of their camp are searching for a new place to stay safe and warm tonight. The camp that was demolished Tuesday was hidden in the brush alongside Jordan Creek. Springfield Police say they got a complaint and asked the men to immediately move out their things and gave them citations for trespassing.
Would a society more tolerant of those without a traditional home at least allow those folks to leave their camping spot and not burden them with a citation and the troubles and possible expense that comes with that burden?
John Jenkins says he has lived in the makeshift home since September. He says he’s been homeless for a couple years. “I was in the Joplin tornado. I lost everything,” Jenkins says.
He and his friend Jerry Burrow stayed in their camp even on the coldest of nights. “Insulation, three layers of tarp, candles. Candles is the best thing,” Jenkins says.
But today, while keeping warm at a day shelter, they heard their camp was in trouble. Police called in public works crews to demolish the camp.
“Gave us a ticket; you got ten minutes to get out. Luckily, the city truck broke down, so it’s been 20 minutes,” said Jenkins.
In other posts I have mentioned that it is usually best to avoid homeless shelters. The two homeless guys forced to move on mention that when interviewed by the local TV station:
Now, they search for a new place to sleep and keep everything they own. “We’ll get what we need; sleeping bag, a backpack, personal paperwork, and tonight, stash it somewhere, which would be illegal too. We don’t know right now,” says Jenkins.
They’ll likely have to go to a cold weather shelter for the night, something these men prefer to avoid. “The drunks, the drug addicts, it’s just terrible,” Jenkins says.
With so many mentally ill homeless folks along with those addicted to various substances and the anti-social, uncivil behaviors that tend to exist among those people being homeless can be especially rough on the people who are civil, well-behaved and just generally decent, good folks.
If you ever are forced into homelessness always do your best to maintain a decent appearance and shun the troublemakers of the world. Life is hard enough just by not having a home that allows you to be a part of “regular” society.
And do your best to ensure you own a reliable vehicle that allows enough room to live inside. A van is good.
And never forget that just being homeless can make you less than human for so many people. And the enforcement arms of society can be cruel. Just doing their jobs, you know. A great excuse for those confronting those down on their luck; even those folks are good, decent folks who are now law breakers for not having the resources that wealthy folks possess.
Good luck. Life can be very cruel in the USA. More so than many people realize… even people living inside the USA.
Below is the link to the entire story and a video of the event:
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Links removed July 13, 2022. They died!!! One drawback of using links to help convey a message. An option is to do your own Web search when reading a blog entry if additional information is desired.
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