After a long battle, Downtown is finally winning the war against the bums who come down here every day and scam/intimidate tourists out of their money. Since I haven’t written about this subject in a while, let me stress that I am not talking about the homeless who camp out Downtown and occasionally legitimately need a helping hand. I’m talking about the scammers are not homeless and who have turned panhandling into a career, who take money away from the homeless by appearing to be homeless themselves as part of their scams.
Willie who used to hang out around Main and Madison, aggressively panhandling people and making extremely lewd comments to women, hasn’t been seen in months. After the CCC hired the Downtown Safety Patrol, it didn’t take them long to figure out he was the #1 cause of problems in the core. He got arrested again and again, and his appearances Downtown (when he wasn’t locked up) became less frequent. I last saw him in March, sitting on a park bench commenting to another bum, “That’s the dude who doesn’t like panhandlers. Bitch.” He’s been scared to come Downtown and panhandle for months now, for fear of another trip back to jail. Who’s the bitch now?
Our least favorite parking scammer, who used to pretend to be a parking attendant at the Tri-State Bank lot at Main and Beale, had paperwork filed against him (authorization of agency) banning him from all Central Parking and Premier Parking lots Downtown. Guess what? This week he got hit with a criminal trespass charge, so he must have been caught on one of those lots. The Downtown safety patrol and police know who he is and are constantly on the lookout for him. Since June he’s spent as much time in jail as out, and when he is out we see him tiptoeing around, living in constant fear of being watched. It’s just about game over as far as his panhandling career is concerned.
Sharp Dressed Bum, who has been known to follow people down the street and cuss and threaten them after being told no, is in jail. It’s one thing to get hit with a panhandling charge, but it’s another thing to miss your court date for that charge. Now he’s in contempt of court and we won’t see him until at least the end of November.
Fake St. Jude Donation Guy is out, but he spent most of the past two months locked up for the same reasons as SDB.
You remember the bum who got a female bum pregnant a couple of years ago, then they panhandled with the baby? Well, he got arrested last month for disorderly conduct and obstructing a passageway. Not real serious charges, but once in jail, the idiot got nailed with a new charge for trying to sneak contraband in. That’s a felony. If convicted for that one, he goes bye-bye for at least a year.
Another big-time panhandler – he doesn’t really have or do anything that distinguishes him, but we’ll just call him “Henry,” because that’s his name – got stopped by the police several months ago. They searched him, and found a weapon. Guess what? Henry’s a convicted felon, so possession of a weapon is an automatic felony. Another bum we won’t see for a year.
We’ve cleaned up a lot of the regulars, but some are still out. Folks, if you want to help the homeless, give money to good organizations like the Memphis Union Mission, the Calvary Outreach Program, or volunteer for Door of Hope. Give to these organization and you will have a 100% chance of helping people in need, whereas if you give money to a panhandler on the street, you stand a high chance of enabling a bum’s alcohol and drug addictions.
Just got a text that Dos Equis Lager is the Fire Sale. I guess I’ll be spending a lot of time at the Saucer today. Soon as the netbook’s battery charges up, I’m heading down there.