State may discourage overpass camp

4-27-2011 Oregon:

ODOT ready to put up no-trespassing signs

Robert Morrical says he can’t get a job because he is a registered sex offender. He’s says he drinks because he can’t get a job. He can’t stay at Helping Hands shelter because he drinks. So he stays under the bridge.

Morrical, 43, is one of a handful of men living under the Pacific Boulevard overpass near Albany Station.

“That’s what we have in common,” he said as he sipped a High Gravity malt liquor. “We have different reasons. We are all alcoholics. It’s a condition of the heart.”

Morrical and the others may soon have to find another place. Responding to complaints by passersby, Albany police say the Oregon Department of Transportation is about to put up no-trespassing signs under the overpass, part of the state highway system.

Morrical says that if he could get a job, he would get himself and his “family” — the other men staying under the bridge — off the streets for good.

Police say if folks wouldn’t give them money, they would move on without being forced.

But several of the men said they are there because they can’t stay at the nearby Helping Hands shelter. One said because it is full, the others because it does not allow alcohol.

One man used to stay in a nearby gazebo. Complaints from neighbors and nearby businesses put a stop to that.

From January to March of this year, Albany police had 17 calls complaining about “panhandling,” compared to 28 in all of 2010.

“We are seeing an uptick in panhandling-related complaints,” said Lt. Casey Dorland.

The number does not include complaints made to the mayor or other city officials, said city spokeswoman Marilyn Smith.

There is no city ordinance against panhandling. “It’s protected free speech,” Smith said.

“Ordinances such as loitering and vagrancy were struck down years ago as unconstitutional,” added Capt. Eric Carter of APD.

Panhandlers run afoul of the law only if they step into traffic during a green light, change the flow of traffic, harass someone, or keep others from using the sidewalk. In some cases, the individual could be cited for disorderly conduct. Waiving a sign is not considered harassment.

In cases of disorderly conduct or harassing, the person bothered also must be willing to sign a complaint and be willing to act as a witness or a victim.

“People say, ‘I don’t want to be involved,’” Carter said. “Then we can’t do anything about it.”

Officers at APD could not recall any car accidents caused by distraction over panhandling.

If that were to happen, the driver handing out the cash could actually be cited for impeding traffic.

Along with trash, there have been reports of human waste on and around the overpass steps, so ODOT put lime down recently as a sanitation measure.

The Pacific overpass itself is the property of ODOT.

The state department has agreed to put up no trespassing signs “any day now,” according to Dorland. When it does, police will be able to enforce it.

“Usually, when we start issuing citations, word gets out, and we start to see it fall off,” Carter said.

The captain said the individuals he sees under the overpass are some of the same folks he has seen over the past 15 to 30 years. They have been offered services but choose the homeless lifestyle instead.

“They don’t fall under the category of ‘lost their home because of the recession,’” he said.

Police advise against giving money to panhandlers for several reasons.

“Don’t roll down your window,” Dorland said. “You don’t know who they are. You don’t know what their history is. You are inviting in the potential for something that is going to be very negative.”

If you want to help, donate to a recognized charity. Otherwise, police say, more often than not, the money goes to feeding an alcohol or drug addiction.

“Then when they service their addiction, we get disorderly conduct calls,” Carter said.

Lee Beam, 63, is a Vietnam veteran from West Virginia living under the overpass.

He said Veterans Affairs sent him from that state to Seattle for care. After treatment, Seattle sent him to White City, and from there he was sent to Eugene, where he says he was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. From there he was sent to Roseburg. He said after he received drug and alcohol treatment in Roseburg, the VA drove him to Albany and dropped him off.

Beam has multiple sclerosis, pancreatitis and is nearly blind.

He holds a sign. The most money he has ever gotten was in Eugene. A man handed him a bank envelope with $212 in it.

“He said, ‘thanks for your service,’” Beam recalled. In Albany, the most he has received through holding a sign is $20. ..Source.. by AnneMarie Knepper, Albany Democrat-Herald