Transient ‘brothers9 share life on streets
“Hey man, can you spar? $100?” Elmo asks
while standing outside Rainbow Optics on 13th
Avenue. This bearded, unkempt man jokes with two
women. On this first spring-like day of the year, they
linger, obviously enjoying his company and good
humor. I sense that this man doesn't just regard the
next passerby as his next source of income. Instead,
this looked like panhandling with a bon vivant’s flair.
Elmo is a master storyteller, recounting stories
about his stint in Vietnam, about growing up in the
shadow of Yankee Stadium and about riding the rails.
He presides over the assembled and delineates tran
sients like himself into three neat categories: hobos,
tramps and bums.
“Well there’s three levels. The hobo is the
highest level. The hobo rides the freight, and any
time he gets a chance at a job. he'll do it. A tramp —
he’ll ride a freight or hitchhike, and if someone offers
him a job. he'll take it. A bum won't take a job. He’ll
look for some bum crashed out under the bridge and
steal his god-damned shoes or his bedroll.”
Elmo, proudly defines himself and his buddies as
tramps. He does not hold back scorn for so-called
low-life bums. The insidious pecking order is defined
just as in immigrant cities where each racial group is
ordered according to its stereotypical character.
“We want to be presented as humans,” Elmo in
sists. This request seems to underlie their outward re
quests for spare change.
“Most people say, 'Hey man. 1 can’t help you —
I’m short today. Some people are stone assholes,
man, but they’re in the minority. Those people won’t
even recognize our presence.”
J
Friends limbo and Allen take a break from the
rigors of daily street life and pass some time with
their dog Lucie.
:: :••• ' •• ' ■' •• •
I leave for 10 minutes and when l get hack, the
moment has disappeared. My photographer says
Elmo and his friends have gone to get a quart of Night
Train wine and will meet us in the alley across from
Little's Market. When we get there, Elmo’s sharpness
is gone.
Elmo and his friends Tim, Allen and |imbo sit on
the curb outside an apartment building bordering the
alley. The atmosphere is uneasy: "Just what is it you
want from us?" Allen asks at one point.
Stripped down to their humanity on the street,
we talk about the bare necessities like food.
"1 combed a chicken leg out of a dumpster this
morning. I combed that sonuvabitch and threw it
away," Elmo says. "Ain't no way I’m going to comb
my hair with that sucker." Everyone laughs.
"Sahaties — they throw out so much, those
organic-mechanic-hippy-dippies" Elmo says. They
don't have meat though, Tim adds.
Not knowing what 1 can do for them. 1 offer to get
some food. Tim says he’d like a New York steak, lim
bo says maybe some slices of pizza, and Elmo gets the
idea of a root beer float. Elmo points at his decayed or
missing teeth, saying he can't eat anything tough.
A short time later, someone asks who’s got the
“bank" and Elmo reaches into his pocket and counts
the group’s collective change.
"We take care of each other." Tim says.
"What could students learn from you guys?” I
ask.
"A little solidarity." Elmo says. "Man, we're all
brothers and the only thing we have to keep us alive
is each other and the planet Earth."
Though Elmo and the gang might be brothers,
this doesn't mean they tell each other valuable secrets
such as where their sleeping spots are. "I wouldn’t
tell my mother where I sleep." Elmo says.
As Elmo sips his root beer float later at Dairy
Queen, )imbo slams the french fries 1 bought in Tim's
face. He argues with Tim: "We could’ve got six ham
burgers for that root beer .. .Hey man. how much
did that root beer cost?”
Tim says limbo's being unreasonable and ar
rangements are made to fight behind the restaurant.
After a while, it’s all forgotten. I squirm, knowing
I've caused this rift.
Talk drifts to their friend Frisco who died about a
month ago of a cerebral hemorrhage in Sacred Heart
General Hospital’s intensive care unit. Tim says
they’ll get his ashes and toss them in the Willamette
River.
Local'tramp ‘ Elmo hangs out and talks to campus
passers-by near the Seven-Eleven on 13th Avenue
near campus.
.. "Frisco, he was such a beautiful brother. .he ;
didn’t bother no one." Tim says, adding that Buckley ’
House Inc. at H05 W Fourth Ave.. the only detox- V ■
ification center in Lane County, didn't want to admit / V
Frisco the night he died. Micki Knuckles. a'Bijckley
House counselor, doesn't remember that, night but ';;
speculates that possibly the center had a full house. •
For these men who call themselves tramps, “get -
ting by" isn't always covered by their own wits and
the care of area social services like Buckley House
and the Eugene Mission Inc. t$42 W. First Ave.;,'
where they very easily could stay if they wanted,". ./
Story by Paul Stunr.
Photos by Robert Hare
Increased transient activity worries area businesses
By Michael Rivers
Of the Kmertld
A surge in the number of transients
engaged in panhandling along 13th
Avenue has some University-area mer
chants concerned for their customers
and employees.
Richard Green, owner of Rainbow Op
tics, 766 13th Ave., says he has to
‘‘literally walk the women who work for
[him] to their cars at night” because of
the aggressive pan handling techniques
employed by the transients.
"They're intoxicated, disorderly.
They group together on the sidewalk
harassing and grabbing at people," he
says. "I’ve been here for eight years,
and I’ve never seen the problem so bad.
It’s gotten much worse.”
Dave Gibson, president of the Univer
sity Small Business Association
(USBA), agrees there is a problem. Area
merchants have been concerned about
the increased transient population for
about a year, Gibson says.
"Ninety-nine percent of the people in
the USBA have gotten some feedback
from their co-workers about being ver
bally abused and physically infringed
upon by drunk transients," he says.
Merchants eventually became so
frustrated with not knowing how to deal
with the transient situation that they
took the problem to the city, Gibson
says. Merchants and city officials
have met several times since the beginn
ing of the year in order to discuss how
they might alleviate the problem, hut
have yet to come up with a solution that
is workable "both to human rights and
to the merchants,” he says.
Several merchants and some city of
ficials believe increased panhandling
activity in the University area can be
traced to a city ordinance regulating the
Downtown Mall.
The ordinance, passed in September
1985, tightened regulations regarding
activities such as sleeping in the mall
and sitting in areas meant for pedestrian
use, such as sidewalks, says jan
Hahman, a representative from the
Eugene Developement Department. The
new ordinance also requires anyone
who want to solicit money on the mall
to apply for a permit. Boh man says.
“There has been a noticeable decrease
in panhandling activity on the mall,"
Boh man says. “There are still transients
on the mall, but not as many."
Debra Ehrman, city councilor for the
University district, believes the or
dinance has definitely been a con
tributing factor.
“It was a domino effect," she says.
"Off the mall, over to the University.”
But Green believes the revised city or
dinance is not the only reason for the in
crease in panhandling. More transients
have migrated to the University area
because students are more likely to give
them money, he says.
"Students are just helping the tran
sients commit suicide because they just
spend money on alcohol," he says.
Ehrman, who has been meeting
regularly with the merchants, says the
group has considered several solutions
to the problem. They originally looked
into extending the mail’s regulations to
the University area, she says.
But Margie Beck, from the Eugene Ci
ty Manager’s office, did not believe that
solution would work, if you license any
solicitors, you have to license all
solicitors, “Girl Scout cookie sellers in
cluded,” Beck says.
“There are court decisions saying that
l »- 1
Ph.by Ml. hMl Wilhelm
Richard Green, owner of Rainbow Optics, says increased transient activity
along 13th Avenue threatens employees and customers of area businesses,
there are certain things you can’t
regulate,*' she says. "And begging is
one of them."
Deputy Chief Bill DeForrest does not
believe the licensing idea would work
in any case.
"It would have to be a civil procedure
and is not a jailable offense.” DeForrest
says. "What good would it do to give a
transient a ticket."
Increasing patrol activity by uniform
ed officers in the area also has bean con
sidered. City officials have discussed
the possibility of merchants contracting
off-duty Fugene police officers to pro
vide the increased patrols, he says.
Other possibilities include expanding
campus security patrol or bringing in a
private security firm, he says.
"More visible officers would
discourage panhandlers," Khrman says.
"It's a hard situation because there is no
direct answer. Whatevor we come up
with is not going to satisfy everyone."
The next meeting between merchants
and city officials is scheduled for late
March.
Green says that whatever the result of
the meeting, he and the other merchants
want to "send a message to transients
that we will not tolerate that typo of
behavior,"