Page 4, Portland Observer, July 31, 1985
Hobo Parade draws attention to plight of homeless
by Nathaniel Scott
Last Saturday's F ifth Annual
H obo Parade drew cheers and ap
plause as it wound through the heart
o f the Burnside district enroute to a
rally at Tom McCall W aterfront
Park.
The bands played, short skirted
girls marched, approximately 25 lim
ousines dazzled the crowd, and floats,
a dancing bear and many o f (he peo
ple who live in the Burnside commun
ity celebrated the annual event.
According to Michael A. Stoops,
founder-director o f Baloney Joe's,
313 E. Burnside Street, and organizer
o f the annual parade, "Each year the
parade gets better and better."
“ This is the only time we [the peo
ple living in the Burnside district] can
have any fu n ,” Stoops said, adding,
"there is no reason why there should
be any homeless people in this state."
Stoops’ remarks were a sad com
mentary fo r the many people who
huddle in doorways, sleep in cars or
unroll sleeping bags or pieces o f card
board wherever they can find a resting
place when the sun sets on the less
fortunate.
However last Saturday’s parade
was a day o f celebration.
It was a time for the king and queen
to strut their royal stuff.
Eric "B la ckie ” Von Richter, this
year's king, has been a hobo for 35
years. He has ridden the rails and
"tra m p e d " many a mile. And while
friends greeted him with good na
lured cat calls, he said, "T h is is the
first time I ’ve been anything except a
tram p.” Von Richter added, " I want
ROYALTY - Queen Pat Reynold* and King Eric 'Blackie" Von
Rlchtar view their eubjecte in Saturday * Fifth Annual Hobo Parada.
(Photo: Kris Altuchar)
to thank everyone for being here.”
An estimated 300 people attended
the rally and another 200 or so lined
the parade route.
Queen Fat Reynolds was a bit more
gracious when it came time for her
to address the crowd. Her voice was
barely audible. However in an ear
lier interview she said, "T h is is scarey
because I am very shy.”
During the three years Reynolds
has volunteered at the Women West
Hotel, 127 N .W . 6th Avenue, she has
gained the title "G randm a F a t" be
cause o f her love fo r people. And
during her reign, she said, " I 'd like to
help [the Burnside community) by
making a better relationship between
the people who live here and the ones
who d o n 't."
And that kind o f action, " A better
relationship," was one o f the things
that gave a chilling effect to the gala
affair. Stoops said his goal is to ask
fix a "tem porary postponement" on
(Jie banning o f the sale o f "fo rtifie d
wine" in the Burnside community.
Darcelle X V , the popular night
spot at 208 N W 3rd Avenue, has
participated in the annual parade
unce 1982. Darcelle said, "T h is is
my neighborhood. I live, in Burnside
more than I do at home [and] I am
against anything that restricts people's
rights to do as long as they are not
breaking the law .”
Darcelle asked: "Once it starts
(selecting areas to ban the sale o f
‘ fortified wine’ — posting certain
parks o ff limits fo r 'alcoholic bever
ages,’ etc.] where does it stop?”
A number o f people, particularly
merchants who have business border
ing the Burnside community, are
asking similar questions. They are not
only concerned about the "m ig ra
tio n ,” but equally so, "th e constitu
tionality o f the situation."
However, Saturday's parade did
have its bright moments; at times it
glowed with acts o f love.
C ity Commissioner Dick Bogle
drew a rousing round o f applause
when he said, “ We need to support
programs that allow people to ex
change food stamps for meals."
The commissioner added, “ Our
goal should be to never again see a
door closed on someone wanting to
come in out o f the co ld ." Commis
sioner Bogle also said the City is start
ing a program that w ill employ people
from the Burnside community.
The celebration continued, and in
addition to the music and fun, there
was the volunteer o f the year award.
F redMeyeT'
Man expresses sentiments from
atop garbage truck.
(Photo: Kris Altucher)
The 1985 award went to senior citi
zens Walter and Lillian Kaleelage,
who have volunteered on a weekly
basis at Baloney Joe’s fo r the past
year The Kelcelages were given a
beautiful bouquet o f red roses.
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8-07-2-682 (DAB)
rhe problem o f America’s home
less in recent years has drawn exten
sive media attention as well as in
creased community sensitivity and
assistance. Yet, according to two
Howard University researchers, na
tional and local policymakers today
still have little inform ation from
which they can make "ra tio n a l pro
gram development decisions.”
In an in-depth review o f all o f the
research that has been done on the
homeless. Dr Norweeta G. M ilburn
and Dr. Roderick J Watts, research
associates at the Housing and C om
munity Development Studies Center
o f the Howard University Institute for
Urban A ffa irs and Research, cite
several flaws in the research that has
been done, and they incidate that
these flaws contribute to inadequate
and misdirected care being provided
for the homeless.
In most o f the studies that have
been done, they say, "th e definition
o f homelessness and its conceptualiza
tion was not sophisticated.” Their
extensive review showed that re
searchers "tended to assume that
the homeless population was basical
ly homogeneous,” and the research
ers “ apparently relied on the Dcpres
sion-era image o f the homeless person
as a ‘ skid-row derelict,' an older,
white male with alcoholism ."
Their study, entitled " A n Analysis
o f Current Research Methods for
Studying the Homeless,” concludes
that "there is no clear framework that
guides the research; consequently, it is
d ifficu lt to make generalizations
about the homeless.”
The Howard study says that “ con
ceptual ambiguities and the conse
quent lack o f clear operational cri
teria have contgributed flaws in the
methods o f homeless studies. . .The
research design o f many studies tend
ed to be rather unsophisticated, with
the m ajority o f the studies sampling
simply on the basis o f convenience.”
M ilburn and Watts say that more
attention needs to be focused on de
fining homelessness by including
additional factors such as the lack o f
social resources and social support,
the duration and patterns o f home
lessness, and the nature o f individ
uals’ relationships w ith skid row and
other institutions.
Further, they say, researchers
should provide descriptive inform a
tion on the facilities under study since
“ there is good reason to believe that
certain facilities and services attract
certain homeless clientele."
Looking to the future policy
making concerning the homeless, M il
burn and Watts indicate that policy
"could be greatly aided by a research
literature base that clearly establishes
linkages between the type o f homeless
people studied and the types o f serv
ices that they need and use.”
There is also a m ajor gap in pro
gram evaluation, they say, since no
systematic evaluations o f the pro
grams fo r the homeless have been
undertaken.
When M ilburn and Watts began
their study, they had four objectives:
1) To determine how homelessness
has been defined and operational
ized, and the sub-groups o f the home
less population that have been studied
during the last 20 years, from approx
imately 1964 to the present time; 2)
To review and critique the type o f
data collected and the research meth
ods used by investigators to study
the homeless; 3) To make recommcn
dations on the types o f data that
should be reported in most studies on
the homeless to aid in their compara
bility and interpretation; and 4) To
clarify gaps in the content and meth
ods o f past research that apply to pol
icy questions.
Help collecting
child support
35»
Plenty of Free Parking
Howard study
finds lack of
information
about homeless
7
The Migram and Seasonal A gricul
tural W orker Protection Act MSPA)
protects migrant and seasonal farm
workers in their relations with farm
labor contractors, agricultural em
ployers and agricultural associations,
according to a U S. Labor Depart
ment fact sheet.
«