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About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 6, 2019)
SIUSLAW NEWS | WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2019 | 9A Homeless from page 1A The film Wolf of Wall Street was playing on a big flat screen as people of all ages gathered around, watch- ing, laughing. Koddas point- ed to the many bins that lined the rooms wall. “We’ve got bedding for folks, and some hats and gloves that we hand out,” he said. “We’ve got plenty of blankets and handwarmers, air mattresses, pillow cases. When they’re here, they can use the pillows and blankets. And we offer them some scarfs and hats.” He pulled out a handmade knit hat, smiled. “That’s a cool hat,” he said. “A lot of love went into that. Original kind of style. That’s kind of cool. Feel free to walk around and talk to folks. Here’s an interesting couple right here. I don’t know much about that gentleman right there. Feel free to tell them who you are. They’ll talk to you.” Sitting at one of the tables table were two older men, one sipping a cup of coffee, one working in a notebook. “I’m really ashamed of be- ing homeless,” the man with the coffee said. “I shouldn’t be homeless.” He paused a bit, then looked at the man sitting next to him. “But he’s a good talker,” he said, pointing to a man we’ll call James. “He doesn’t talk really loud, that’s his prob- lem.” “Yeah, I’m a quiet guy,” James said. But he was willing to talk. James “I just got laid off from con- struction. The last two jobs I worked I got laid off from. I got laid off of [a local restau- rant] because that’s seasonal. Got laid off on Labor Day. And then I got a job in con- struction, but things slowed down in the winter. But it’s not hard to find a job, not really, if you look for any sucker who comes pay my medical. two, three dollars, a couple of hard. And I’ve really been along, and they’ll treat you I had a place before the ac- hamburgers. And then I go looking hard. I know there’s like that too. I don’t mind cident. I had an apartment, I get a pack of cigarettes and opportunity out there. I can’t doing more, if I know how to had my life. I was in a motor- sit in the park. And wait for say whether I will find a job do the job. But most employ- cycle wreck. Now I got into the night. And then I pull out or not. It’s just my sleeping bag up to your en- and all my stuff. “When it gets to be 37, 38 degrees, we can’t come here. It’s got to be And I’m not thusiasm and how much you 32 or below to get in here. It’s hard at 37 degrees. I believe that in my moving. want to survive. heart. But you try and explain it to people who go home to an apart- “These peo- I don’t have ment or a house or a trailer. Where they got heat. That green duffle ple don’t really anything else. bag right there is mine. And it has a sleeping bag in it. That’s where I get it. You’re It’s just me. lucky you’re not But I don’t live. I don’t have a home.” injured. You’re want to leave — Hobbit, who stayed at the Emergency Cold Weather Shelter very fortunate. Florence. Ev- Once you get ery time I hear hurt once, un- about Eugene, I hear about ers just treat you like you’re a this car wreck, and the lady less you got a rich mom or the police situation and I hear disposable commodity. who owns the car is pretty dad or grandpa, you’re in about how bad they are on But I’m going to keep try- well to do. And my lawyer is trouble.” the homeless and how hard it ing. Struggling to do what I going to sue her personally James said, “Safety nets ar- is to find a job there. can. You just have to have a now. I might end up with a en’t stable.” It’s just the same about ev- fighting spirit. good chunk of change. I pray, “They aren’t,” Hobbit an- erywhere else. Unless you I’m staying in my car, while dude. swered. “It’s not fair in this have some kind of inher- it still runs. It’s a 1995 Legacy. If I got my money and got world. In the ‘60s, you didn’t itance or your family has Old, but I see Legacy’s all over my place, I’d go into my home have to lock your door. You done well, or you’ve got good the place.” and not leave. I would call my left your keys in the car. You backing, you fall to the way- friends, ‘You go do what you do that today and see what side and you’re dependent At that point, Hobbit sat want, but I’m sitting in this happens. They’ll steal your on government money. Or at the table. We asked what house.’ It’s too cold out there. car, your house, your bed and something else. Whatever brought him in. “Cold!” he And it’s getting colder and your wife. It’s not right what skills you could sell. said, then talked about his colder all the time. people do anymore. It’s amaz- My background is various. situation. When it gets to be 37, 38 ing to me. It goes from doing reserva- degrees, we can’t come here. “I carry that duffel bag tions from Continental Air- Hobbit It’s got to be 32 or below to get down the street. I don’t know lines to delivering bread for a “I’ve been in Florence for in here. It’s hard at 37 degrees. how many times the police bakery. It’s whatever my skills eight, nine years. I believe that in my heart. But stop me. I don’t have no war- can do. I was in a motorcycle wreck you try and explain it to peo- rants or anything. They know But with my last job here, and have a metal leg. A few ple who go home to an apart- me.” I’m finding I’m too old to do months ago, I broke my neck. ment or a house or a trailer. “Why do they do it? Just to construction work. Age is a I have four screws in it. Where they got heat. That annoy you?” James asked. big factor. I can’t do roofing I applied for SSDI (Social green duffle bag right there “They just don’t really get with my back. I can’t put dry- Security Disability) and been is mine. And it has a sleeping it,” he responded. “You have wall up on the celling with denied, denied, denied. So, bag in it. That’s where I live. I to go on the other side of the my back. If you can’t do that, my lawyer wants to sue the don’t have a home. If I had a bridge or pass Fred Meyer. then… insurance company, so I’m home, I would run around in But then, if you go on the He had me working in peo- waiting for the results of that. my boxers.” other side of the bridge, that’s ple’s homes, charging $65 an I have Trillium, OHP and a state park. You can go over hour, for stuff that I wasn’t I’m a vet, and you want me We asked if Hobbit had there and stay for a week, le- even sure what I was doing. It to pay the medical when I been working, at which point gally. If the ranger comes, he was just a situation that I was was in a vehicle and got in- he and James got into a con- ain’t going to say a word to shoved into doing a job, that I jured? That’s what it’s coming versation. you. He’ll tag your tent, and know I could do, and I want- down to. I was in an accident. “I’ve been in so many ac- he’ll come back in a week. If ed to do right, but the em- I’ve never paid a medical bill cidents, even if I did fill out you’re there, they take it. And ployers don’t train. I told him in my life, and they want an application, they wouldn’t I don’t get it. It’s a state park. I could do drywall and things $129,000 for my neck. give me the job,” Hobbit said. You’re not doing anything like that, but he had a list of I was at Regency, I was at “I have a steel rod in this leg, but eating and sleeping and 20 other things. Can you put RiverBend, and then they I have a plastic elbow, and trying to get a job or getting in a deck, can you do lighting, kicked me out because my then I just got my neck done. my SSDI or whatever. And tilework? He gave a whole list insurance said 30 days and Second of all, you go fill out you displace people who just of things, but I couldn’t do it. that’s it. I said, well what an application, and they ask needs money.” The employers know that about my VA? But they where you live. I live in the James referred back to san- there’s a job market out there wouldn’t. Nobody wants to bushes. I’m not going to get a itation issues. job because of that.” “You know what I figure? “You don’t have the basic If you pack it in, you pack it stuff, like showers,” James out,” Hobbit responded. “You said. mean to tell me that you can Hobbit agreed. “I don’t carry a 12 pack of beer and have none of that. I got a val- some hamburgers out there, id ID. I just don’t understand. and you can’t bring them cans I can go pump gas. But they and trash back? Please. Get won’t give me a job because of a fire going and burn your my injuries.” trash.” “You’re in limbo,” James “I understand that, but said. there’s body functions as “I can’t do nothin,’” Hobbit well,” James said. said. “I sit here and I pray, “Well, they make plastic and I hold a sign. I hold a sign bags you can use for that,” to make money. And I hate Hobbit answered. doing that, but I have to sur- “And you’re conscientious. vive. There’s no way I can live. I am too,” James said. “A lot of If I want cigarettes, I have to people aren’t, and that’s what go to McDonalds with a sign people have a problem with.” that says, ‘Anything helps, Hobbit agreed. “I hear you God bless.’ And they give me loud and clear. You can go to FRAUDVILLE Saturday, February 9, 2019 5-9 p.m. FLORENCE EVENTS CENTER Annual Lip-Sync Contest GAMES includes bands from FOOD INE BEER, O W DA & S Oregon Pacific Bank Coast Insurance Coastal Fitness TR Hunter & More! ICE CREA BUFFET M DOOR PR IZES RAFFLES Silent, Live & Dessert Auctions (Items include a trip to HAWAII and Ducks football SEASON TICKETS) TICKETS: $30.00 available at Banner Bank, Coast Insurance Services & Boys and Girls Club also available at the door on the night of the event Call 541-590-3508 for VIP Tickets $50 - assigned seating & special prizes BENEFITTING: OF WESTERN LANE COUNTY a lot of places and see trash all over the place. I hear you on that end very strong, but not everybody is like that. “I love life and I love people to death. It’s just, you know, some people have bad issues and bad problems and most people see you with a back- pack and think, ‘Oh, he’s got a drug problem, or he’s got this.’ I don’t have that. I smoke cigarettes and I have a couple beers. That ain’t against the law, they’re both legal.” James nodded. “When he says a couple of beers, I can back him up. He hardly drinks.” Hobbit said, “No, I may have one or two beers, and I don’t drink till the afternoon. I don’t wake up at six o’clock in the morning and have a beer. But once you carry that backpack… If I walk around like I’m dressed right now, ‘My God, he’s clean.’ But if you carry a backpack in this town, they trash you. It’s get- ting worse in this town.” James said, “If there’s some- where better, I’ll go there.” Hobbit, who has been around town for about 10 years, said, “In the last six months, I’ve seen so many new faces. They come float- ing in, and then the issues come, and then they blame it all on everyone who carries a backpack. And that’s not a true statement. A lot of peo- ple get run out. You end up with tickets, and if you don’t go to court, there’s a warrant and they take you to jail. Most people leave town before they go to jail. Me, take me to jail.” “It’s not that good,” James protested. “It’s not three squares, more like a cookie, and a granola bar and an or- ange.” “And a slice of bread with some peanut butter,” Hob- bit said. “And they lock you in the cell for 24 hours. It’s very uncomfortable. I’m not proud of being that person. But when you get pushed and pushed by everyone, you just get tired of it. And get in trouble. “If someone were to say to me, ‘Hey, I got a part time job that you can live in my back- yard, I would be there. And I’d go get a tent. I don’t have one.” “Every time you get one, someone steals it,” James said. “All I have is a tarp,” Hob- bit said. “I put down my tarp and I put down my sleeping bag. If it rains, I get up and go sit at Safeway or the Civic Center. Or the library. Some- where where it ain’t rainin’. To me, this man right here is a millionaire,” gesturing at James. “He has a car. If I had a car, I’d been living there.” See Homeless page 10A
