Legless Homeless Man Killed

Have you ever come across an unusual news story that seems it should make Headline News, but it stays buried in the local news area? I have. A story that caught my eye today was about a legless transient man who was struck by a US Postal truck and died. The San Francisco Chronicle online article by reporter Marisa Lagos, about the incident is a short one. The homeless man was well known and liked. He got about on a skateboard. Joseph Kim is quoted as saying the legless man would often panhandle near his store during baseball games. The man's name was not released and of course the police are investigating the accident. The postal driver was making a turn on a green light when he struck the legless skateboarder.

Another story that will not get much notice is a tribute held by 40 people for a homeless man that was found beaten to death. The article, by Sunita Vijayan, does not say much at all about the tribute but says "read more in Salinas Califonian". Of course with the V-Tech tragedy, a homeless man's murder probably would not likely capture the attention of the nation's news media. In world news, an arsonist set fire to a homeless shelter in Lancashire, UK causing the 8 residents aged 16 to 25 to become homeless again. Because there were six "bin" fires on the street in a 5 hour period the arsonist may not have targeted the homeless youths shelter.

In Hagerstown, Maryland a 21 year old was sentenced to 10 years in prison for the August 26, 2006 beating of two homeless men. He and his friend had been drinking when they attacked the sleeping homeless men. The article does not identify the judge who sentenced the young man except by "Boone". What is interesting about this story is Boone is quoted as saying "Bums are entitled to victim's rights as well as everyone else." Like many homeless, the man in Salinas was a veteran. If a judge implies that all homeless people are simply "bums", that might be one of the reasons they are often victims of violent attacks by young men and women.

There are a couple of dozen news stories relating to homelessness and homeless people every day. Two of today's news stories mention families becoming homeless due to fires. One article about homeless counts disputes the figures, and other article says there are 140,000 homeless people in Detroit, Highland Park and Hamtramck. Can they all be bums? Reporter, Desiree Cooper, for the Detroit Free Press cites a survey saying "the top five factors that lead to homelessness are lack of affordable housing, low-wage jobs, mental illness, substance abuse and domestic violence". Hardly reasons for a judge to label homeless men sleeping in a park "bums."

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/04/24/BAGP4PEJGT4.DTL
http://thecalifornian.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070424/NEWS01/70424019/1002
http://www.thisislancashire.co.uk/news/headlines/display.var.1348213.0.arson_attack_on_homeless_shelter.php
http://www.herald-mail.com/?module=displaystory&story_id=164059&format=html
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070424/COL03/704240322/1001