A6 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
SATURDAY, APRIL 11, 2015
FROM PAGE A1
HOMELESS:
continued from page A1
a window while waiting
at the stoplight and beck-
oned him to the vehicle
to give him money, and
Day quickly hurried over
to collect before the light
changed.
He thanked the driver,
returned to his perch, sat
down and rested his back
against a crosswalk signal
pole near his backpack,
sleeping bag and a few
other belongings, while
his little dog lay on the
ground at the end of a
leash.
He began displaying
the sign again and watch-
ing the cars to see if any
of the occupants would
respond to the message:
“Down, out and hungry.
Anything helps.”
DECADES OF
HOMELESSNESS
Day said he is 42 and
has been homeless “off
and on” for the last 20
years. His life, he said,
took a turn for the worse
when his wife of five
years died last year.
“People don’t realize
depression can really take
it out of you,” he said.
“I’m just having a bad
time. I’ve been having a
real hard time.”
Day said he is mental-
ly and physically disabled
and that a doctor told him
he could not work. He
said he has degenerative
disc disease in his back
and hepatitis C, which
caused cirrhosis of the
liver.
He hadn’t used drugs
for seven years, he said,
until his wife’s death,
when he slipped back into
the habit. He said he oc-
casionally uses drugs now
to stay awake because he
has night terrors when he
sleeps.
He said he has para-
noid schizophrenia and
post-traumatic stress dis-
order from being severe-
ly abused as a child and
spending eight years in
the Marines during Op-
eration Desert Storm, but
the special operations to
which he was assigned
remain classified, so he
“can’t talk about it.”
“I don’t get my veteran
benefits because of all the
red tape,” he said.
Day said he does col-
lect $721 each month in
Social Security benefits,
and that money, plus what
he collects panhandling,
helps him and his dog
survive life on the streets.
“Sometimes I make
close to $100 a day,” he
said. “I appreciate every-
thing that (passers-by)
do.”
Most of the people he
encounters are very nice,
Day said, but he knows
some people say bad
things about him. He said
he worked in demolitions
in the military and learned
WR UHDG OLSV ZKLOH H[SHUL-
encing hearing difficul-
ties, so he knows what
people are saying behind
their vehicle windows.
“I’m a human being,
too,” he said. “I have
feelings. Since my wife
died, I’m real sensitive.”
HOUSING
DIFFICULTIES
Day said he lived with
his wife in Pendleton after
getting married in 2009 in
the Tri-Cities, where he
grew up. He said he had
been living in an apart-
ment with a man in Uma-
tilla but moved out re-
cently after the roommate
stole his Social Security
payments and tried to
overcharge for rent.
He said his goal is to
start saving money for
housing, but it is difficult
to find a place that will
allow him to live with
his 6-year-old Chihua-
hua, Baby Girl, whom he
has had since she was a
puppy. He said she is his
therapy dog, though not
officially registered, and
he couldn’t imagine life
without her. Some people
give him food for his dog,
he said, but he believes
more options should be
available for people who
are homeless.
“They need a shelter
out here or a place that
feeds the homeless,” he
said.
Although a shelter
would likely not accom-
modate his dog, Day ad-
mitted, he said it might
help other people in his
situation.
He said he knows about
10 other homeless people
in Umatilla and estimated
there might be as many as
20.
“They allow people to
camp out by the Umatilla
River,” he said.
THE PANHANDLING
POPULATION
Not all of the people
who hold signs asking for
money in Umatilla are
homeless, however.
Day said his former
roommate who stole from
him is one of the regular
panhandlers on High-
way 730 near Crossroads
Truck Stop, and that per-
son still has the apart-
ment.
“Umatilla doesn’t have
an ordinance against it,”
Day said.
Another
panhandler,
Kathy Wagner, rolled her-
self in a wheelchair to where
Day was sitting Thursday
and asked if he would let
her display her sign. She
said they take turns at the
busy intersection.
Wagner said she will
get a permanent prosthet-
LF OHJ QH[W ZHHN VR VKH
will no longer be confined
to the wheelchair, but she
plans to continue asking
for money until she can
get her Social Security
benefits “back on track,
probably in June.”
She said she is not
homeless but enjoys the
company of the other
people asking for money
at the intersection.
“I like coming out here
because, if there’s oth-
er people out here, we
just sit around and shoot
the breeze out here,” she
said. “It doesn’t give you
a chance to be bored.”
Day said, if he couldn’t
panhandle and collect
money, he “wouldn’t be
able to do anything” to
get money, but he would
try to figure something
out.
“I would find a way to
survive,” he said.
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SEAN HART PHOTO
Kathy Wagner holds a sign asking for money in her wheelchair
Thursday afternoon near the freeway offramp in Umatilla. Wagner
said she is not homeless but enjoys the company of other panhan-
dlers to prevent boredom. She said she will be getting a permanent
prosthetic leg next week but plans to continue panhandling until
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needed to resolve the matter.
Councilwoman
Mary
continued from page A1
Dedrick said the city must
“What started getting me proceed methodically to en-
angry about it was they would sure the solution was viable.
come into the bar and gamble
“Whatever we do, we’re
and buy drinks and then go going to make sure it’s done
back to panhandle,” she said. properly,” she said.
“... Unfortunately, we may
Dedrick
recommended
not be able to do anything residents stop giving money
about it, but it would be nice to the panhandlers to discour-
if it were illegal. In my mind, age the behavior.
it’s becoming an epidemic.
After the meeting, Umatil-
It’s making it easier for those OD 3ROLFH &KLHI 'DUOD +X[HO
people to do their drugs and VDLG RI¿FHUV KDYH FLWHG WKH
drink their alcohol.”
panhandlers for offensive lit-
At the City Council meet- tering in the past, but the loca-
ing Tuesday, people shared tions they frequent are public
similar concerns. Umatilla SURSHUW\VRRI¿FHUVKDYHOLW-
Chamber of Commerce and tle recourse.
Visitors Center Director Kar-
“As far as them actually be-
en Hutchinson-Talaski said ing there, they have a right to
she knows of people who be there,” she said. “Basical-
have even offered the pan- ly, if people don’t want them
handlers jobs, but they de- there, then people shouldn’t
clined the offers.
encourage that activity. ... We
In response to the out- can’t go down there and tell
cry to resolve the issue and them they can’t be there.”
rid Umatilla of panhandlers,
+X[HO VDLG KRZHYHU FLW\
Mayor Dave Trott said the RI¿FLDOVDUHH[SORULQJRSWLRQV
city cannot simply ban the that may alleviate some of the
practice because it is legally problems.
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“What we are looking at is
are trying to address the issue. the safety aspect of it, and we
“We are attempting to dis- can address some things based
cuss within the city measures on the safety aspect of it, as
we can take to alleviate the well as the state law regarding
situation,” he said. “... We’re motor vehicles,” she said. “...
trying to do something. It’s We’re vetting it through our
QRWDQHDV\¿[´
legal department, and, hope-
The City Council mem- fully, we’ll be able to come up
bers assured the audience ZLWK VRPHWKLQJ IRU WKH QH[W
they were aware of the sit- City Council meeting.”
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