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Road construction to force out homeless

Thursday, Dec. 8, 2005

Click here to enlarge this photo Photos by Tom Fedor⁄The Gazette Many homeless people live in a makeshift camp in a wooded area between Interstate 70 and East South Street in Frederick. Mike Spurrier of the Frederick Community Action Agency (right) and others are trying to alert the campers that the area is slated for demolition and construction at the end of this month. Above, Spurrier gives supplies to a camper who identified himself as Bobby. Click here to enlarge this photo Spurrier has placed notices all around the camp to let residents know about the demolition.

Some have called the forest fringing the cornfield home for years. Most are veterans of Vietnam and Desert Storm, and all will have to pull up stakes by the end of the month.

The State Highway Administration plans to bulldoze the property to build a road connecting East Street to Interstate 70, starting as early as late December.

Frederick police and the Frederick Community Action Agency are helping state officials locate the homeless who are camping in the roughly two square miles around Costco and the Maryland School for the Deaf.

Bobby (who declined to give his last name) was in the U.S. Navy in the early 1990s. The 48-year-old is the only member of his ‘‘posse” who was willing to talk about his situation with a reporter.

The others shied away from questions and the camera.

His tent is covered by a tarp to keep out the rain and snow. A few crushed beer cans litter his campsite, but otherwise his camp is neat. He can take care of himself, as can his buddies, he said.

‘‘We were all in the military. We ain’t brain dead. We’re survivors,” he said.

As Michael Spurrier, director of Frederick Community Action Agency, heads down the path along the cornfield to talk to Bobby’s buddies, Bobby said he will have no problem moving his belongings. He has friends in Thurmont and a place to store his gear. He takes work where he can find it, either as a day laborer or for Shuff’s Meat Market in Thurmont. If the weather gets too daunting, he said, he can stay in Thurmont, or head to the Alan P. Linton Emergency Shelter in downtown Frederick.

When Spurrier offers some assistance — a new transition home for veterans in Hagerstown, for example — Bobby listens politely and shakes his head. Resources are there for those who are ready to change, but they have to be ready, Spurrier said.

Until then, he passes out new Army blankets and puts fliers in every campsite he can find. The flier warns of the coming road construction, and advises folks of the danger.

‘‘If you’re camped in this area, please move your camp as soon as possible!” the flier reads.

Spurrier estimates that between 15 and 20 people are living in 10 tents in six encampments. He has met many of them, and intends to keep reminding them that the trees will be felled and the land plowed up by bulldozers.

The area has long been a favorite of the homeless. As a child growing up in Frederick, Spurrier recalls seeing ‘‘hobos” living out of old cars in the woods about 30 or 40 years ago.

Bobby said he prefers to live this way — on his own, nobody telling him what to do, especially women, he said. Sometimes, when he has earned enough cash, he will stay in a hotel.

Tucked up on a rise a short drive away is another tent. A barbed wire fence runs behind the tent, separating it from the Maryland School for the Deaf’s football field.

The path to the tent took Spurrier down a steep hill covered in snow. He squatted down in front of the tent, introducing himself and giving the word about upcoming construction.

The camper is more of a recluse than the others. He told Spurrier he has family in the area, but wants to move back to Florida. Spurrier thinks his agency might be able to help him get there.

Moving the campers now is good timing, according to Spurrier. The emergency shelter opened a few weeks ago, offering options to the men and women. Some, like the recluse from Florida, will probably move on to other cities or states. A few, like a woman Spurrier talked to recently, will take advantage of available services and try to change their lives. Others will find another tract of woods to hole up in.

Bobby asked Spurrier to be kept informed of the state’s movements and promised to get out in time. ‘‘I know what a bulldozer sounds like,” he said with a grin.