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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 29, 1984)
-i Page4b/The Battalion/Thursday, March 28, 1984 Prideful panhandler existing in nation’s capital United Press International WASHINGTON — Noble Eaton lingers over his morning drink and draws leisurely on a cigarette before departing for work. “Can you spare a dollar? A little change?” He strives for a sincere, polite tone, then mutters obscenities at those who turn him down. He walks at a sluggish pace, asking government workers, ex ecutives and service employees the same question: But Eaton insists he prefers panhandling to shelters. “If you’re on that street and you can’t make a dollar, you’re not a man anymore,” he says. “If all you can think about is run ning to a shelter, you ain’t no where. You done gave up. “If you’re sick, then you be long in a shelter. But if you’re street people, you can make it on the street. There is no reason you can’t ask for a quarter or a dollar.” says he would like to get a job in got something they ain’t got. an auto shop, repairing trans-_ They have to go to work, and I missions, but views it as a remote don’t have to do a damn thing I possibility. His taut, weather-_don’t want to. beaten complexion, shoulder- jlexion, length gray hair and full beard would make any employer flinch. 9. SPRING SAVINGS 5 i £ I 20% off all Twisties 20% off all wedding bands and wedding sets in stock 30% off all Keep**# wedding bands and Keepsake" wedding sets in stock DOUGLAS JEWELRY Locally owned and operated for over 20 years. 212 N. Main Downtown Bryan 822-3119 Eaton has lived on the streets of Washington for more than 20 years. He sleeps in the city’s con demned buildings, often mig rating to the roof to avoid con flict with the police. During the summer, he sleeps outdoors, with a slab of cardboard and sheets of newspaper for bed ding. Extort can’t remember his age or the last time he worked. He “How am I going to look for a job, scroungy and dirty as I am? Who is going to hire me? I’ll walk on the job, and they’ll say, ‘Get the hell out of here’.” He often speaks with disdain of his sponsors — the 9 a.m.-to-5 p.m. set. “I might be hungry. I might ~ Ife be destitute. But I Feel like I’ve “Now if somebody asked me to do something, I’ll do it. But they can’t demand it, and I ain’t worried about no paycheck either.” Eaton puts his hands in his tattered jacket and stares straight ahead with glazed eyes. “Sometimes I walk out and think my thoughts out. I say, ‘Noble, what the hell are you doing to yourself? What the hell is the matter with you?’ “I can’t get attached to any body. I can’t get a reason in my life. I want a reason. 1 want something real, man, something to work for. What do I have to work for? The next bottle?” Eaton began drinking heavily when he entered the service. “I would stop drinking if I had a position where I can prove myself. I can read blue prints, run machinery — the whole works. If I can get that, the booze is gone.” Eaton drinks three to five pints of alcohol a day. He rarely eats a complete meal. “I don’t eat very often. When I do eat, I enjoy every bit of it. People give me money to eat. You know what I do with it? I drink.” When Eaton decides to eat, he goes to a fast food restaurant United ROCE your teen. where the workers knowIj first name. Theattendam the night's leftovers forli Eaton contrasts thcj danls’s concern with socks, difference. "They want to keep mem street with nothing.Idon’tl who is doing it, societyom thing. I do the bestlcani I’m a pretty good bum.lit come a professional ben society made me a profesj — until 1 get a break." Eaton pauses and them up his philosophy. “Make it nowandthehti tomorrow. You don’t h Dpc'iHents you’re going to waket row. And who is goingtoi you.'' Government looking for solutions lumber of homeless 1623 Texas Ave. College Station 693-0677 growing United Press International An ever-growing army of homeless people has sent gov- ernment and private agencies scrambling for solutions. The answers range from the beneficent to the bizarre and seem to have one thing in com mon, they usually don v t work. Beach, Mo., where the govern ment is buying the town because of dioxin contamination and flood damage. I } SPEEDY. ! IPHQTQ ! •oS- In St. Louis, an enthusiastic philanthropist suggested the nomeless be given the aban doned buildings in Times A collective howl prompted the same man to drop the idea and later propose instead a homeless trailer park. ask about our ceramic Classic Fotoglazed plates. for 1 ¥ irai w Film Developing and Printing with this coupon 110, 126, 135 only irai ra Ken’s Automotive 421 ra:. .ra. 1 hour service 1 day service on disc film E AC o Good until April 14, 1984 Mon-Sat, 10 a.m.-8 p.m. 1705 Texas Ave. S. Culpepper Plaza 693-4920 ¥ ¥.| Ira o o Ml S. Main — Bryan 822-2823 "A Complete Automotive Service Center” Tune-Ups . D , Clutches * Brakes Front End Parts Replacement Standard Transmission Repairs GM Computer Testing AM American Cars Datsun-Honda < Toyota One homeless family was handed a one-way bus ticket by welfare officials in Fresno Coun ty, Calif., and told to go to Tuc son, Ariz. The gesture raised a storm of protest in Tucson, where officials beligerantiy com plained the desert city was be coming a mecca for the indigent. “If somebody asked me to do something, I’ll do it,” Nobel Eaton, a homeless person in Washington D.C. says. “But they can’t demand it, and I ain’t wor ried about no paycheck either.” “I can’t gel attached to any body. I can’t get a reason in my life. I want a reason. I want something real, man, something to work for.” Homeless people "areij unemployed and thev afford housing,” Williami “The shelter serves a purpot it would be nice if morci offered — but it does ket rain off everybody’s hea cold off their backs." Still, labor statistics show the unemployment ranks shrinking. If so, why are the numbers of homeless increasing? And why do so many efforts to ease the crisis of permanent housing seem a day late and a dollar short? magnitude of the problem. ST. OPEN SATURDAYS' 10% Discount with Student |. D . on’ A United Press International C survey supports the contention O that there may be as many as 2 31 million homeless people in the .0: United States. In New York City Mj alone five times more people live in shelters than there were in shelters in the Depression year of 1933. Tom Williams, 45, a Volun teers of America employee in Sacramento, Calif., offers one- Research Atlanta, a non-n organization dial studies munily problems, foundki less people to be mental) abled, particularly those leased From mental hos drug abusers, especiallya lies; individuals unempla due to short-term economit dilions or lack of job needed by a modern ecom ex-convicts, and victims of sonal adversity such as illness or accident. “I came from out of state and I haven’t had steady employment For 10 months, except a few days here and there,” he said. parts (MMtor Card & VISA Accepted) L A similar survey just released by Psychology Today magazine agreed with the 2 million figure and said one-third to one-half of the homeleess may be former mental patients. “It’s mainly a job problem. They’ve been looking so long and couldn’t find anything that they just don’t look anymore. What they do find is for two or three days at a lime. They’ll earn $3.25 an hour and you can’t find shelter for that.” The Psychology Todajs found that in 1955 there 550,000 patients instatem hospitals compared to 125,000 today and mai those released during (lit two decades are homeless Wnuwco.fAif'-jflmto Darrell McCall Country and Western Dance 9PM to 1AM Saturday, March 31 Admission: $6 per person (price includes admission to Fairgrounds) A purchase of 8 tickets will reserve a table at the dance. Call Lisa at American Bank, (409) 295-6481, to reserve your tickets. Fairgrounds located just west of Huntsville on State Highway 30. Parking is Free But there can be no under estimating the complexity of the problem. Williams, who worked in the construction industry for seven years in Texas, should know. He used to be homeless himself. And the Atlanta stud) eluded that the stereotyped Skid Row winoorbumnolii describes the homeless, creasing numbers of woe young people, and the men disabled and economical^ placed enter the populaiiot To add to the problem ranks of the nation’s indii in e B rate WOMEN’S MEDICAL CENTER OF NW HOUSTON Problem Pregnancy? t nrennan<~u toctinr, •SuroinBl sterilisation Stuhal linatl •Early pregnancy testing •Abortion services through 18+ weeks •Private practice setting -Confidential counseling/Teen-age care •Surgical sterilization (tubal ligation) •Birth control information •Ultrasound evaluation •Complete GYN care by a Board-Certified Gynecologist 713-440-1796 Robert P. Kaminsky, M.D. Medical Director 17115 Red Oak Drive, Suite 209 (near Houston Northwest Medical Center Hospital) are getting younger—indi perhaps as many as 20,1” pie under 18 in NewYorii “Their needs are mass# medical, dental, legal, eli tional, psychological," said Bernard Poggiolo, head Youth Services Unit open out of the midtown bus ten in New York. ‘‘Frankly, they needed thing,” he said. “This<prol didn’t develop overnight b getting worse. Sometimes very disheartening.” he comes he stoned an call first fi trol? The room? A Most service a treating n ups .ifelir Lifeline, ; a-year, cr vice. Life the count mation a help for needs. 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