Update: Photo at left was taken on 08/21/2008 and shows the back parking lot of the Ethan Allen property. There’s evidence of people hanging out and/or sleeping all around this property and in the wooded area behind the store, as well.
On Tuesday morning, Duke Energy workers found the body of a homeless man, Michael Keith Cooper, 50, outside of the old Ethan Allen furniture store at 4710 High Point Road. There are no indications of foul play, but the Guilford County Sheriff’s Office is investigating Cooper’s death. The News & Record printed an undated booking photo of Cooper from the Guilford County jail. I don’t recognize him from the picture.
Our NightWatch team visited the Ethan Allen location several times, looking for one of our homeless friends who had previously stayed in the Spring Garden Street area. I don’t recall finding anyone when we went by, but there were signs that someone was camping there.
Earlier this summer, a source told me about the death of another homeless man, whose name I recognized. His body was also found along High Point Road, near the Holden Road intersection, behind a business. The death appeared to be from natural causes. I have been unable to get any further information about his death, and I didn’t see it mentioned in the newspaper.
[...] The story of a man dying homeless and alone is tragic and sad. It’s the kind of thing that might make you want to cry. But after I’d been serving homeless people for a while, I learned that I couldn’t cry about every thing, because I’d never stop. I’d just cry all the time, every day. Because there’s something tragic and sad every day, usually more than one thing. So I’ve learned to save it up, and when that last thing comes that just bursts the dam, then I cry about all of it at once, and I weep and I mourn, and I get it out, and then I don’t cry again for a long, long time. [...]